People who are usually good with their money have that one coveted item they're willing to break the rules for and shell out the big bucks.
But in some cases, after the impulsive purchase is made, regret sets in.
Did the buyer really need the merchandise? Or could they have spent more time looking for a different version of the item to get a better deal?
Regardless, those who wound up having buyer's remorse weighed in after Redditor Flowerlock asked:
"What is something you regret spending a lot of money on?"
Sometimes, you wind up throwing money away.
Four-Legged Liability
"So I bought a camel at an auction one time. He was expensive but the damage he did around the farm was worse. Destructive, stinky creatures…but they’re so weird you just have to love ‘em."
"Looking back I probably should’ve spent my money on literally anything else 😅"
– FancyPickle37
Reclaiming Life
"Drugs! I spent thousands of dollars over the 10 years of active addiction. I not only paid with cash, but also paid with my life, health, relationships and more. Totally not worth it at all. Coming up on 3 years clean and sober!"
– Maleficent-Wave-2134
Supper Club
"Going out for dinner so much. I get into modes where I eat out almost all the time, then realize I've spent $1,000 or more in less than a week on dining out."
– Actual_Experience_78
Ring Value
"Honestly? My wife’s engagement ring. I spent a pretty penny on it despite her begging me to go cheap our entire relationship."
"I know she loves it anyway but the money could have been better spent towards our wedding or our house."
– WorleyInc
Redditors meant well and had high hopes.
It turns out the let down wasn't worth the pursuit.
Miseducation
"Law school. I was a lawyer for 14 years. Hated most of it. Wrecked my health overworking. Still owe on my student loan too."
– Synthwoven
Chaotic Nuptials
"My wedding. I'm not a very social person so basically it was a $20k silent panic attack surrounded by 120 people, half of whom I don't even know. If I could go back in time with this knowledge, I'd do a $20k elopement and travel together for a few months or something."
– highly_uncertain
Fleeting Fashion
"Clothes for special occasions."
– InternationalOil2586
Health Risk
"Cigarettes, it's not a lot of money but sitting here thinking about, you're literally buying poising and killing yourself."
– postnutts
These consumers took their chances and found luck wasn't on their side.
Rolling The Dice
"I've spent so much money on board games."
"I should play."
– aintnufincleverhere
Swing & A Miss
"Golf clubs. I still suck like before."
– No_Photograph_2039
Taking A Chance On Love
"Christmas presents for my high school girlfriend only to find out she had been banging multiple dudes while we were together. F you, Emily."
– cptnredbeardo
I can't help but think of the excited partygoers who shelled out a ton of cash to attend the 2017 Fyre Festival, which famously wound up being a major scam after it was postponed and eventually canceled for insufficient security, food, and accommodations.
Unfortunately, nothing could prepare what awaited them on the island.
Thankfully, 277 ticket-holders were expected to receive approximately $7,220 in refunds, thanks to a US federal court settlement.
When shopping for a product, consumers have a wide range of options to choose from.
Headphones, for example, are offered for sale in various forms, including for those who prefer in-ear-buds or over the hear headsets.
Of course, good quality is something that costs them more, and figures into the purchasing decisions.
But there are certain things many consumers just don't understand about others' buying choices.
Curious to explore this, Redditor Don_Tommasino_5687 asked:
"What product can you not understand people buying high end versions of?"
There's a certain demographic for which many people don't think spending a lot of money is rational.
Not Made For Walkin'
"Baby shoes. They can’t walk."
– A_Cat12886475
Infantile Fashion
"Clothes for infant/toddler range. They're just going to get ruined or outgrown."
– markphil4580
Wasted Shades
"My idiot dad bought Ray-Bans for 4 and 5 year old kids and yelled at them when they used them as shovels at the beach."
– AR713
Brand names are pricey. Is it really that worth it? Some consumers think so.
Luxury In Protection
"When I was in San Francisco last year, I saw people with Gucci face masks."
"Really? Really?"
– BakedTatter
Pharma Preferences
"Ibuprofen/paracetamol costs 10-20 pence for supermarkets own brand in the UK. Compared to like £5 for branded that does exactly the same, plus a bit of caffeine or something. Just have a cup of tea for crying out loud."
– IJHaile
Sounds Like A Waste Of $$$
"Beats by Dre. Sh*t is overpriced garbage. There are many options that far outperform for less than half the price."
– BehindBlueEyes5001
Goop It
"Celebrity brand items. I'm sure there are some good ones, but usually it's stuff like the first generation Beats by Dre that were performing around the same level as off-brand headphones that cost 90% less."
– Grievuuz
Statement Of Success
"Most of the things mentioned here are not bought because of its main function but as a status symbol to signal others that you are well to do and hip."
"Watches, purses, cars, clothes all fill that criteria."
"The real thing I cannot understand are things that are 1. Unnecessarily expensive and 2. No one gives a sh*t about, like luxury bottled water."
– jorsiem
There are those who can't speak for themselves that could care less about brands.
Where The Kitty Lies
"Luxury pet bed. Lots of cats love boxes and will be happy with a shoe box more than a $100 cat bed. And get soft fabric and do a rough sew job for a soft blanket. Been able to do that for less the $10 and the kitties still have and use them years later."
– wiccacat18
Now, Catch This
"My dog loved footballs, loved playing with them, loved chasing them, loved playing a tenacious defender when I'd try to dribble one past her, loved killing them. Left alone with one she'd put in a solid afternoon's work ripping that f'ker to shreds and then proudly come trotting up to me with the ragged rubber inside bit. And I'm like 'Great, but now you no longer have a ball.' I started buying solid plastic ones, they survived longer. I guess everyone needs a hobby."
– ButterflyAttack
The Exception
"The most I spent on a dog bed is $80 AUD, which is a fair amount. But I have an old girl who is 15 and needed support for her old lady bones, so she has a very nice full-on orthopedic, pocket spring and memory foam mattress-bed."
"It's so good. I needed one thick enough that her weight didn't make its stuffing compress down so she could feel the hard tiles under it. This one doesn't at all, I a full-grown human can lay on it and be supported. It'll be the only time I spend that much on a dog bed. Old doggies deserve the best."
– ErinnShannon
There was a time when I didn't bat an eye for spending over $350 for a pair of Diesel jeans just because "all the kids were wearing them."
The cut of the pair I settled on didn't quite fit me or look flattering from behind, but I wore it with pride, flaunting the brand name while I wore them out.
Looking back on my buying choices, I roll my eyes as I sit here comfortably in my $29.99 pair of jeans I found at Target.
Designer jeans...pffft. Maybe it's an "getting older" thing, but comfort will always determine what buy and don't buy.
Every now and again, when we go out shopping or treat ourselves to a nice meal at a restaurant, we can't help but find our jaws drop when we notice a price tag.
Sometimes, we might force ourselves to admit that the main course, cashmere sweater, or advanced cooking product was worth every penny.
More often than not, though, we find ourselves wondering if the item in question is, indeed, worth its exorbitant cost.
The answer almost always being no.
Redditor Thic_water was curious to hear the most overpriced clothes, food or merchandise anyone has ever come across, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most overpriced thing you’ve seen?"
How much would the upgrade cost?...
"When I was in Dubai 2 years ago there was a cell phone store in the mall that sold phones that ranged from $30k -$120k."
"They were basically phones covered in diamonds and gold."
"That's $100k for something that is probably already obsolete."- holla09
A Cauliflower By Any Other Name...
"A couple of years ago, Mark's and Spencer Food, a high end supermarket in the UK, tried selling 'Cauliflower Steak' which was a thick slice of cauliflower for £2.50."
"It was covered in plastic."
"You could literally buy a whole cauliflower in the same row a bit further down for 40p."
"They were crucified for it, it was hilarious."- patchyj
"Oh, Canada" Indeed...
"$800,000 for a 500 square foot 'condo' in Toronto."- B-416
"Cell phone plans in Canada."- Unending_beginnings
Flag Celebrate GIF by sendwishonline.comGiphyAn Ironic Miscalculation...
"I remember seeing a basic scientific calculator for like $300."- Saper-Ja-
Cheesy Goodness...
"I swear, people sell oddly-shaped Cheetos for THOUSANDS."
"Literally THOUSANDS."- KipsyCakes
The Counters Better Glisten...
"I saw a small thing of Lysol wipes being sold for $22 in a store last week."- rickeysneekzzz
Sick Art GIF by Jimmy ArcaGiphyAll Right Then...
"A few years back Nordstrom was selling a rock in a leather pouch for $85."- Happy_Fun_Balll
Can You Say Outdated?
"I saw an external ZIP disk reader in the clearance bin of Wal-Mart for 10% off it's original price."
"In 2011."
"So it was going for $180 and had parallel ports."
"in 2011."- AudibleNod
Will They, Though?
"In a downtown consignment shop, an oil painting of sheep grazing in a meadow had a price tag of $18,700."
"It was by an unrecognized artist."
"When asked why it was priced so high, the shopkeeper said 'because someone will like it and buy it'."
justin timberlake GIFGiphyJerky
"Beef jerky here in the UK."
Kud13
"In the US, Beef Jerky costs around 30 dollars a pound, around 23 pounds in the UK. It is one of, if not the most, expensive beef products you can buy, other than a live cow."
Casual_Reddit65
"That’s because it loses 2/3 of its weight when it’s dried. That’s why it costs 3x as much as plain beef."
hereforthecommentz
Printer
"Printer ink. I had a friend in college who would buy a new $20 printer every time the ink ran out bc it was cheaper than buying ink."
narcissistical_
Medical Necessities
"Insulin. Discovered over 100 years ago and is now synthetically produced and still is being sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars in many cases. The drug companies decided they were going to make their gigantic profit margins off life-saving medicine."
t1runner
"I remember when you could get test strips for like $10 over the counter. Now everyone wants a prescription and a wad of cash. Like I'm never not going to be diabetic, why do I need to keep renewing this prescription..."
diabeticwino
Military
"As a machinist who has made things for the military, most people don't understand what overpriced means."
Sirhc978
"Preach. I bid a job for the military and they told me my bid was too low. I added a zero and got the job. Price I initially quoted would have been profitable for me."
sub-hunter
Nokia
"Gold-plated, diamond-encrusted Nokia cellphone."
Deleted
"Why the hell would someone try to put fancy armor around something that's already indestructible?"
ikindalold
Scissors
"I once saw a scissor to $90. It wasn't anything fancy, it was in a grocery shop. $90..."
FuzzButtQuestion
"You should know that hair stylists can pay upwards of $2,000 for a pair of scissors. Many actually make payments on the scissors and pay to get them sharpened frequently. I never knew this until I saw the look of disgust and utter defeat when a hair stylist dropped a pair of scissors while I was getting the mop chopped."
twopacktuesday
Glasses
"As someone who is half blind, glasses. I get the dirt cheap ones, and it still costs over $100 for the privilege of being able to see."
TheRealHirohikoAraki
Concessions
"Food in movie theaters. The prices of everything is jacked up so much !!"
User Deleted
Sometimes, people might price things stratospherically high in hopes that some might assume it must be of great value and pedigree.
But no matter where it's from, or what it's made of, a rock in a pouch is just that.
A rock in a pouch.
What other things would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.
We don't often think about how effective many of the items we purchase are–whether we buy them out of necessity or for leisure.
We just expect many of the accessible items like home goods or kitchen appliances to work the way they should without giving a second thought to their impressive feat of engineering.
But when you actually consider how many of the mass-produced items for sale are extremely well made, we might have a newfound appreciation for these products.
Curious to hear specific examples, Redditor Gourmet-Guy asked:
"Which cheap and mass-produced item is stupendously well engineered?"
These practical tools are a marvel.
They've Been Crushing It
"Soda/beer cans. The design has existed for decades with few changes."
"It’s a way of using a relatively small amount of cheap metal to withstand the pressure of carbonated beverages with a reliable opening mechanism."
"During pandemic I also noticed that some companies stopped using thicker material on the upper ‘ridge’ of the can, probably due to supply shortages. They instead used a sort of stepped system that appeared to be almost as strong."
– Die_woofer
Porcelain Throne
"Toilets. I've been a plumber 20 years and very little has changed, or needed to."
"Minimal up keep, cheap and easy repair, very long life."
– RPO1728
Stackable Wonders
"The intermodal shipping container, a/k/a the Connex box. There are millions of the damned things all over the world, in use every single day. They are stackable, can be locked together, attach readily to ships, truck trailer frames, and rail cars, and can bear enormous loads."
"The cost of their manufacture compared to their economic use value over their useful lives is next to nothing."
– MrBarraclough
Fascinating Fasteners
"Zip ties - such a simple piece of plastic but so versatile. I have one of the old fashioned chain link fences, some of the fasteners on the middle poles broke and in high winds the fence was swaying like crazy. A half dozen zip ties on the three posts and it doesn’t budge and nobody even knows they’re there"
– larryb78
How did people camp in the early days without these useful tricks?
They're Lit
"Matches are underappreciated because people don't really understand how complex a match and striker are."
"From the Encyclopedia Britannica...."
"The head of a match uses antimony trisulfide for fuel. Potassium chlorate helps that fuel burn and is basically the key to ignition, while ammonium phosphate prevents the match from smoking too much when it's extinguished. Wax helps the flame travel down the matchstick and glue holds all the stuff together. The dye-- well, that just makes it look pretty. On the striking surface, there's powdered glass for friction and red phosphorus to ignite the flame."
"Now, the fun stuff-- striking a match against the powdered glass on the matchbox creates friction. Heat from this friction converts the red phosphorus into white phosphorus. That white phosphorus is extremely volatile and reacts with oxygen in the air, causing it to ignite. All this heat ignites the potassium chlorate, creating the flame you see here."
"Oxidizers, like potassium chlorate, help fuels burn by giving them more oxygen. This oxygen combines with antimony trisulfide to produce a long-lasting flame so you have enough time to light a candle. The whole thing is coated with paraffin wax, which helps the flame travel down the match. Just don't burn the house down."
"As antimony oxidizes, sulfur oxides form, creating that burnt-match scent. The smoke you're seeing is actually tiny unburned particles resulting from an incomplete combustion. Individually, they're a little bit too small to see but grouped together, they form smoke. There's also some water vapor in there."
"By the way, all the stuff that we're explaining in 90 seconds, it all happens within tenths of a second. Chemistry's fast."
– SultanOfSwave
Insta Flame
"The lighter."
"Spontaneously ignite fire basically whenever you want.."
– LefterisLegend
It's electric!
So Efficient, So Cool
"Not exactly cheap, but I'm impressed that I can have a ceiling fan run on high for 15 years straight and not have it explode on me."
– FadeToOne
Fan Of Fans
"I seriously startled myself when I realized the only time my ceiling fan had been off since I moved in was when the power went out."
– No-Confusion1544
The Transistor
"I remember how amazed we were in 1985 to see a chip with 68,000 transistors. Now they’re at 68 billion."
– chriswaco
Back In The Day...
"My favorite part was in school my professor talking about how they used to do the layouts on transparencies by hand."
"Or how during Apollo the guidance aspect of the program was buying up a significant portion of the national production capacity of transistors."
– giritrobbins
Portable Power
"Batteries are marvels of engineering packed tightly into a miniscule canister, even AA batteries are incredibly sophisticated internally."
– HuntertheGoose
Don't underestimate their simplicity.
Life Saver
"Road reflectors - Countless lives saved."
– OurLadyOfWalsingham
Bumps In The Road
"Similarly, rumble strips. On the shoulders and in the center. I'm sure they've saved my Dad's life many times over."
– Rit_Zien
We take many everyday objects around us for granted.
Now imagine what life would be like without any of the examples above existing.
Life would be significantly different, amirite?
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Many consumers are guilty of purchasing products and making assumptions on how to properly handle them.
Sure, IKEA assembling instructions will undoubtedly be referenced—albeit with lots of hair-pulling–but there is certain literature attached to the merchandise that is conveniently forgotten.
The neglected piece of information is the warning label, and contrary to much public denial, they're there for a reason.
What is it about them that makes us conveniently gloss over the fine print, even if the word 'WARNING' is in bold and all caps? Do we, as educated consumers, think our common sense is sufficient?
Curious to explore this notion, Redditor rynoman12 asked:
"What is the 'WARNING: DO NOT...' label that is ignored the most?"
The following warned against specific body contacts.
See What I Mean?
"Glitter eyeshadow usually has a 'Warning: Do not use in the immediate eye area' and can cause damage to your corneas (even send you to the ER if you can't get it out) if even a particle gets in your eye."
Hear Me Out
"Do not insert inside the ear canal."
"Okay but why does my ear have a gspot then?"
– Cannanda
Screw Labels
"In my case would be like 'warning, do not wash/Gentle cycle/Hand wash...' and other shirts labels because I hate the feeling of that square thingy on my neck and first thing I do when I buy a shirt is ripping it off."
– V02D
Careful the things you ingest.
Toxic Chemicals
"WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals, which are known to the State of California to cause cancer, are known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm."
Harmful Sip
"My sis came back to Scotland from San Fransisco a few years back with a tourist-tat coffee mug for me. Bloody thing said on the bottom that there was a chance I'd get cancer if I drank from it.
That's Just Nuts
"The warning on a 100% pure peanuts bag that it MAY contains peanuts."
"Lucky i always get a peanuts bag with peanuts."
Bad Combo
"Don't drink alcohol with medication."
"I swear everyone I know seems to just ignore that one or just not read the warnings or interactions with their medication in general."
These are warnings specifically aimed towards the safety of children.
Questionable Caveat
"That stupid warning on nerf guns that tells you not to shoot them at people."
"Uh, okay, sure."
"I think it says 'Do not shoot directly at the face', probably because if it hits an eye, the damage may be serious."
– ACA2000
Half-Baked Warning
"Eat raw cookie dough. Better to die hunched over the toilet from salmonella poisoning than live on my knees."
Gotta Bounce Solo
"The warning on every trampoline ever that says to only allow one person on the trampoline at a time."
"Part of my job is actually to write these types of warnings and precautions (I'm a technical writer - I don't decide what the warnings are, lawyers do that, but once they know what warnings they want, I work with them to make sure it's worded clearly and concisely)."
"Anyway, my company used to do trampolines, and my boss remarked on how he has never known anyone to follow that precaution, and that in fact, if you were ever to see a kid jumping by themselves on a trampoline, you'd probably think, 'Oh how sad - that poor child has no friends!'"
You would think most of us have common sense, and that the warning label is on a product just in case.
But that concept was lost on these consumers.
Remember the woman who used Gorilla glue as a hairspray replacement? We all know how that worked out: a trip to a plastic surgeon.
Well, a Louisiana man thought that woman who suffered the consequences of applying the strong adhesive on her scalp was lying.
So he tried it on himself by using Gorilla glue to attach a plastic cup to his lip.
Sigh.