Ever experience buyer's remorse? I know I have. Impulsive, unnecessary, and overall stupid purchases can be the bane of anyone's bank account. But your's probably is nowhere near as bad as these Redditors.
u/victoriwnl asked: What are some dumb purchases you made?
I see the Sign....
sign language GIF
Giphy
I bought several sign language books because I wanted to make friends with a deaf kid at my school. I ended up learning a tiny amount before discovering he was a total creep who wouldn't stop staring at my feet.
Meowed.
So I have this cat this constantly dressed up in stupid crap and I know that people judge me for it, but in reality I figured one day that maybe he was constantly biting and scratching me because he was cold. Turns out I was right and if he doesn't have a sweater on he just goes right back to being an fool.
I no longer judge anyone with any animal in any sort of ridiculous attire because I would rather have some one think I'm a crazy cat lady than be covered in scratches and bite marks.
Annabelle?
I bought a faceless doll to scare people. Turns out I was the most scared one.
I got a scary doll too, it was $30. It was so I can creep people out with it. Turns out they're creeped out for the minute they see it, but I saw it every night on my desk in my room and it creeped me out. One day the hair started moving on its own, and when I checked it out, it was a bunch of small flies. A fly laid it's eggs in her hair.
It was something like "Apple Sine Doll"?
How To....
I've bought a lot of how to kits/books. Like how to knit, how to calligraphy, how to paint, how to write poetry, etc... have I learned how to do a single one of those things? No, no I have not
Edit: y'all thanks but I am aware of the existence of YouTube, google, and libraries... that would be why I'm saying they are dumb purchases lol.
Dane Undone.
dog show GIF by Westminster Kennel Club
Giphy
Bought a onesie for my Great Dane. don't know why I bought it but I think he liked it.
"get whatever you want"
I bought an $80 pen one time.
Edit: I was about 8 yrs old, and was driving to Florida from NY with my dad and sisters. My dad is super showy (and I have no idea where he got the money) so at a rest stop, he handed us each a $100 bill and said "get whatever you want." So I bought the pen for $80. He was not happy when I got back to the car.
Edit edit: My father and I don't get along, and one of the reasons is he throws money at everything instead of actually solving the problem. So this was basically just to keep 3 little girls quiet during a 19 hour drive. It was pretty typical of him.
Edit edit edit: I'm 33 and no longer have the pen. Idk what happened to it over the years, but I hope someone who loves pens found it and gave it a nice life.
Snapshot
I thought I was buying a vintage Polaroid camera but when it arrived I realized it was a giant poster with a small picture of the camera in the center. I have a bad habit of not fully reading the description before buying (the exact reason I had to go to summer school in the 7th grade) and my boyfriend forced me to hang the poster for a full year as a reminder of what a dummy I am.
House
A house in 2007.... it's still not worth as much as we paid for it.
My parents bought in 2004. Around 2012-2013 when I was applying for the FAFSA, it gave an error when I entered that their mortgage was more than the house is worth.
LIIITTTTT!!!!
A cactus that lights up.
Hey now. I love my lighty cactus. In fact, I'm sitting next to mine right this instant and it's already lit up!
Fish Luxury....
$400 dollar fish tank lighting. I wasn't carpenter enough to build the hood to mount it. It sits in the basement as a monument of my idiocy.
In the past I convinced me parents to spent $500 for fish stuff. I don't know how they were convinced.
Ryan & Ambien....
I had accidentally doubled my dose of pain meds right before I went to go see a showing of the film Drive. On my walk home I ordered a pair of what I thought was the gloves Ryan Goslings character wears in the film. A week later I got them in the mail and realized they were 3 sizes too big and a entirely different color. 160 bucks down the toilet. That night I took my Ambien and apparently decided to try again after staying on the computer after my sleep meds had kicked in. I bought the same pair of gloves.
Crappy Birthday....
suspicious birthday cake GIF
Giphy
An ex broke up with me. She was the first person I dated and didn't really know how to navigate the break up so I bought her a really thoughtful gift for her birthday a month later. What a waste of money and time looking back on it.
Over Niagara....
This kills me every time I remember it and it's honestly made me into the extreme money saver I am today. When I was younger, my family visited Niagara Falls. I had $50 (which is A LOT for a kid with no job) and was excited to buy some souvenirs. I spent it all on key chains, I only got like 6 of them which made it to $50. They were all of the same place, too. It's not like they were from different cities. I wasted all the money I owned on FREAKING KEYCHAINS. Who even uses those?? It haunts me to this day.
Useless Air....
michael jordan basketball GIF
Giphy
Not me, but my mom. She surprised me with a pair of fancy basketball shoes for my birthday, even though I'd never expressed any interest in such a thing, and I was neither cool nor athletic. I brought them to scout camp a few weeks later and lost one of them in the mud.
They were original, size 11 Air Jordans. In 1984 or 1985.
Still Cringing....
I'm usually pretty conservative with my spending but I have bipolar disorder and sometimes when I am manic I go a little nuts with dumb purchases. My two worst are probably a top of the line spin bike (which I had never tried before) for about $1000 and I resold for 300 once I was out of the episode) and I also convinced myself to join a hockey league. I spent $1200 on skates, pads, gloves, stick and helmet. I have never skated and I still haven't. All the gear is in the back of my closet and I cringe whenever I stumble across it.
Slide....
200 dollar Gucci slides for my high school graduation. Yeah, I bought them for the joke of saying I wore gucci slides to my high school graduation but they aren't even that comfortable so I just re-sold them to someone. KindaA**
Blame Canada
Today I purchased these foot balloon/condoms for my dog to walk in the snow (the ice always leaves her paws bleeding). Of course her nails ripped them apart in 3 mins flat. I have yet to find a solution for my dogs paws in winter, I'm a failed Canadian.
The Dalmatian....
fun lol GIF by Disneyland Paris
Giphy
When I was 7, I saved up for a 1' (foot) high porcelain Dalmatian from a department store. My pocket money was £1/week, the dog cost £27.
My mother still has it at her house. It's the kind of thing a 70 year old would buy. I have no freaking idea what was going on in my head.
EDIT: I think it was ceramic, not specifically porcelain. Maybe as tall as 18 inches. This is the closest I could find https://images.app.goo.gl/8Jb9fZLipec4zV8aA
I was obsessed with getting it, and I never had buyer remorse. It's also so completely out of character.
Getting Gnawed
Those claw covers for cats to stop them from scratching up your furniture.
They were ripped off the next day. He was gnawing at his little feet until every one was gone. LadyCreepsPasta
I've trained my cat to not scratch furniture by placing a sturdy scratch pole close to the furniture he would scratch. Every morning when he is eager for breakfast I made him scratch the post before putting down the food. I've done some basic dog training before but so far I've gathered that cats only respond to positive enforcement. I kept encouraging him with treats if he would scratch the post during the day and I've never had any issues since.
Bugs?
Omg when I was in 1st grade, we got school bucks for good behavior and we could "buy" things with them at the school store once a week. One of those things was a ceramic bunny and when it was my turn to buy something, I RACED over to get that bunny so no one else would get it first... no one else was going for that bunny. After I thought about it, I was like wtf was I so worried about. Anyway, the reason I wanted it so much was to give it to my mom as a gift and she kept it for ages.
Twice...
Accidentally bought stuff in clash of clans. Twice.
I knew a guy in high school who worked at Burger King part time just to exclusively fuel his Clash of Clans addiction. He legit spent his entire checks on that game. Wonder how he feels about it now.
Green Death
Staying Alive Dancing GIF by Patrick Hosmer
Giphy
75$ in plants only to let them die because I forgot about them.
There should be like an SPCA for plants. You know, some place you can guiltlessly drop off your mangy neglected plant
Halloween Blues...
I spent $60 dollars on a electric blue ceramic pumpkin.
Edit: it is a different shade of blue then I thought. I haven't seen it in years because I hid it in the back of my garage after I broke the stem off.
https://imgur.com/tAkk6LO
Online Info
I bought books when i was in 1st semester, later realize that i could have read online. So sold them after the semester.
After my first semester and realizing that not every teacher even used the books, I waited until I got the syllabus for each class to see if we in fact needed them. This was when shipping still took 7-10 days too, so I would just use the library copy (if available) or share with a classmate until I got the ones in the mail. But still, I felt good about saving a few hundred dollars every semester.
It's still an insane rip-off though.
My Looks
I have so many... maybe the personal training package & gym membership I kept too long because I felt awkward cancelling. I'm still fat.
bad romance....
lady gaga power GIF
Giphy
A crappy mall katana... while I was on a date, no less.
It was a first date. There was not a second.
Edit: since many of you are requesting details, here goes:
This was close to 20 years ago. I was 19. I had just moved into a new apartment, and thought mounting a katana on the wall would look mature and cool. It never made it up on the wall in any place I ever lived. I eventually sold it at a garage sale. Got $20 for it.
The date wasn't going terribly up to that point, but it was also clear we weren't destined for a second date.
I've never owned a fedora, and thought I grew out of my nice guy/neck beard tendencies by 10th grade. Maybe it was a last gasp attempt for those traits to manifest themselves.
I hope she remembers it, preferably with a laugh. I certainly remember it. I have three boys, and they will definitely hear about it as a cautionary tale. tomdincan
Ruined...
Bought a motorcycle from somebody that didn't "properly" take care of it. There were a few small warning signs but I just let the fact it was the specific model I was looking for, in my price range, with things I could easily fix, cloud my judgement. Basically anything he touched on the bike I have had to replace, or more accurately, pay a shop to replace, because I don't have a garage or really the time/energy to do much of the work on it myself.
It was a little bit cheap (and came with a bunch of spare parts) but I really wish I'd held out longer and paid a bit more for one that had been better looked after, because it would have probably worked out to be cheaper and less hassle to boot. But I live in a pretty small market and was after a specific model, so it might have been 6-8 months.
Altogether the expense hasn't ruined me - I bought it to sorta celebrate getting back into full-time, salaried work - it has definitely made me enjoy the bike a lot less than I have previous ones. I will definitely vet the PO of my vehicles more thoroughly in the future - have just been pretty lucky until now I suppose.
* he did sorta try, which is the problem...
Life Choices
Cocaine. Expensive, addictive, and dangerous all to feel a little euphoric and annoyingly chatty for 30 minutes at a time.
Way way back in the day, I and one of my friends used to spend about 800 bucks a week , sometimes more. I remember getting ready to go on a two week long road trip with her and a couple other friends, and we blew about 3 grand on it, just so we wouldn't run out while at this huge gathering in the woods. It's a strange feeling doing lines in a tent with a bunch of US Marshals and national forestry service people trotting by on horses....
Crabs & Me....
Giphy
I went on a first date with the girl that I liked, we live in New Jersey and it was July so obviously I took her to the boardwalk. While we were there I saw a vender selling hermit crabs, and my dumb fool thought it'd be funny to buy them as a joke and try to impress her. I then realized after spending $30 on two crabs (two because one would get lonely) that I needed a proper set up.
So we went to petsmart and got a tank, food, sand, and a log for them to play on. Long story short I spent over $100 on hermit crabs and supplies. Not to mention that the girl completely friend zoned me, which is okay because now I have my two crabs Pickles and Júrgis to keep me company.
The Meds....
When I was high off pain meds after my ACL surgery I was on amazon and saw a typewriter that I really wanted. Order it— and it was a picture of a typewriter on a notebook. I'm still mad about that lol
Update: wow, I did not expect so many people to relate to this lol
Everything just seems like a great idea when you feel like you're floating.
It was $12 so I didn't really care about returning it and honestly, it's a funny reminder that I like to have around
My family still brings it up to tease me about it but it is funny so I can't blame them
Super update: I found the link on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T2OLV3U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Gimme the Whip!
Had a crush on a guy I barely knew who told someone else who told me that this guy was into dominant women. A few days later I dropped nearly $600 on bondage gear, an entire strap on setup and what I imagined to be dominatrix outfits. Everything arrived in the mail by a couple weeks later. I tried on everything, looked all manner of ridiculous and suddenly realized I had never planned beyond that point. I couldn't come up with any non-mortifying way to try to let this guy know that I was prepared to dominate him.
Like, I couldn't even decide if it would be less ridiculous to pretend I had always had all this stuff and been into such things, or to admit I bought everything on the off chance that a near-stranger I was infatuated with might be down for it. In the end I gave it all away to an elderly gay couple on Craigslist. That was my $600 value charity donation for the year. Wasn't even tax deductible.
Oh the Apple....
steve jobs apple GIF
Giphy
In 1997 Apple stocks were at an all-time low, $4/share as I recall. I went to a financial adviser to inquire about purchasing Apple stocks. Instead, he convinced me to invest my $5000 in a safe labour-sponsored mutual fund that had a 70% tax rebate.
The labour sponsored fund is now tied up in litigation for mismanagement and worth nothing.
If I had invested in Apple instead, those shares would now be worth 3.2 million.
For the Future
I was drunk when I learned that Futurama was leaving Netflix. I was distraught as it's one of my favorite shows. 3 days later I received a package on the doorstep. It was the special edition complete series box set of Futurama. I didn't understand why it was there, but my wife told me that I had drunkenly bought the show out of "solidarity" and then deleted the email receipt because I thought sober me would cancel the order. I then swore her to secrecy until it arrived, at which point she was allowed to fill me in.
Dinner at Burger King...
love him burger king GIF by Cheezburger
Giphy
I bought 5 bitcoins back when they were a dollar each. Wasted some time watching it nickel and dime.
My girlfriend wanted to go out to eat. We were tapped out from medical expenses. The bitcoins had reached $5 each. Five times my money, enough to cover a meal.
And that's the story of how I took my wife on a five.figure dinner date.
For the Win.
A $200 monopoly board game made of wood I found at Winners. It has a drawer for the money and monopoly game pieces but the dividers are made of plastic, thin cheap plastic like the original board game. I was unimpressed so has to return it.
College purchases are probably the worst ones.
So many unnecessary things early on in college. It was the first time I had some kind of income from working a part time job, so I thought it was absolutely necessary to buy all my textbooks instead of renting them or finding them online for free.
I also spent a f*ckton on dorm room stuff, which hardly anyone was going to see or care about since the dorms came furnished anyway. Lessons learned, I'd definitely pass on that advice to anyone going into college in the US.
RIP Megavideo. Gone but not forgotten.
Giphy
Lifetime Megavideo subscription. It was shut down shortly afterwards for copyright infringement.
Well, you get what you paid for. It was just that it was for Megavideos lifetime, not yours.
Story checks out.
When I was 17 I had unknowingly saved up a lot $2,000 from work - I chose to spend this on a double neck guitar.
That's the most 17 year old with unexpected $2000 to blow purchase ever.
Always go for the BahnCard.
My first time in Germany, I was only there for a few months, so I thought "I don't need a BahnCard; I'm not here for a full year." Then I spent well over 1000€ on train tickets. The whole time I could have been saving 50% AND collecting loyalty points.
So did a lot of people.
Giphy
Bought $50 worth of Beanie Babies because I thought they'd be worth something
Also bad - buying those plastic tag protectors, and an expensive giant case to display said Beanie Babies to keep them in pristine "collectible" condition.
Worth every cent.
Airplane WiFi. So I could be browsing AskReddit right now.
I've spent once 20 bucks on airplane wifi on a 12hour flight. Only for reddit. No regrets.
Big mistake.
Deciding to go to grad school in 2012 -5 years after graduating- for no other reason than "I have no clue what to do with my life".
Relatable.
Giphy
I traded a rather rare volume into a local used book store because I had two of them. Then went back to the bookstore a month later and excitedly bought MY OWN BOOK BACK because it was rare and I didn't think I owned it.
I was wrong.
Fair.
Spent over $100 or more buying clothes for my avatar on a virtual reality game when I could've spent it on...you know, actual clothes.
I miss PlayStation Home too.
The things we do for love.
I commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of my then girlfriend's dying pet rat.
She had told me her rat was about to die a month before I got it. By the time it was ready, the relationship had ended and I didn't know what to do with it. I paid 90 for it and it was absolutely worth the price. Artist did an amazing job - I just didn't have anyone to give it to now.
I ended up giving it to her anyway. I regret doing that since I probably just made her feel guilty.
Thing is, I was fully aware we were about to break-up. I just liked her so much and I was totally alone in a new state. I didn't think I was good enough to earn her love - so I tried to buy it.
Real dumb.
A beautiful home.
Giphy
A mobile home. Worse yet, I paid the down payment by credit. Stupidest thing I ever did. Then when I moved to another state I found that they are not actually very mobile.
It is a great expense and a lot trouble to move them. I wound up letting it get repossessed and eventually had to go into bankruptcy.
It was hiding.
An iPad. I didn't go online a whole lot then, I don't play games, idk where my intentions were. Then I misplaced it. Like, I was questioning if my mom or I sold it without remembering. 4 years. The iPad gone 4 years. I just wished I'd remembered why I sold it & what did I buy instead?
Yea, no. It was next to my chair wedged between the wall. Super critical purchase, obviously. Gave the rediscover one to my mom since hers was used to death.
Asked where I found it, told her. She's like, you're such a responsible shopper, the thought that goes into your large purchases, I could learn something.
Well, reminded her I bought hers too and hate how much she uses it...shame if they both went back into the abyss.
Oof.
My mom got me and my two older brothers Pokémon cards from the farmers market. They both got blastioises (a very rare card) I got a charizard, (an even rarer card) they both convinced me blastoise was better so the next day I traded my charizard for a blastoise at school. My brothers laughed at what an idiotic trade that was. I cried. The next day I went back to school to talk to the kid and get my charizard back. He moved to another state.
My whole life is in shambles now.
Relatable.
Giphy
When I was around 15, I wasted a lot on Adobe products which I barely used. I never clicked much pictures and actually had no interest in the photoshop stuff. The only product I used was Illustrator for UI/UX design. I almost wasted $2000.
That's a lot of stuffed animals.
Crane game currency. Had an addiction to winning prizes from an app. Spent over $1000.
