The only saving grace here is that you're not alone. We've all made purchases we lived to regret, and we've all learned a lesson or two along the way. Fortunately, some people were willing to share their stories so that you don't have to make some of their biggest mistakes. Here are peoples' most regretful purchases:
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#25 Clothes Make The Man
A $1,000 suit that I only wore a handful of times over the years before a) I lost weight and it stopped fitting me well, and b) its cut started looking dated and unfashionable.
I bought it after college because I'd always heard "Every grown man needs at least one good suit. You'll use it a lot over the years, and suits are timeless so you can keep it forever." I'm sure some guys would get more mileage out of a suit, but not the case for me.
#24 Family-Sized Snack
The family size cheddar and sour cream Ruffles that I nearly finished in one sitting. I’m disgusted by myself...
#23 The Proposal
I bought an engagement ring for a girl in college I thought I wanted to marry. When I showed it to her she freaked out. Now I was stuck with a ring that the department store would not take back or refund me. After some haggling, they agreed to exchange the ring for a store credit. I ended up getting a down sleeping bag. Turned out to be a better deal in the long run.
#22 Serious Gaming Addiction
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game. They are so addicting to me that I’ve literally sunk years of my life into them that I will never get back. Even today, while I do have a decent job, I want to move and get a better job, but every day I come home and play instead, and it’s a cycle I cannot seem to break
#21 Premium Beverages
I was in Japan for the first time two years ago when I wandered into an adult beverage shop. I saw a bottle of the famous Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2016. I heard about the 2013 release causing a stir as a Japanese adult beverage had dethroned Scottish heavyweights. The bottle was $300 so I knew I had to buy it.
That night I checked my bank account and saw it was actually $3,000. I went back to return it the next morning but they absolutely would not accept any returns—a country-wide policy, apparently.
I haven’t been able to sell the bottle, nor do I think my taste buds are refined enough to justify the cost. Maybe I’ll open it when I get married or throw a tasting party one day. For now, it’s just sitting in storage, bubble wrap and all.
#19 Forever Snoozing The Alarm Clock
An electric blanket. I’m addicted to it now. It’s too hard to get out of bed, even harder than before.
#18 Accidental Luxury Purchase
A pair of $900 earrings. I was going to buy them for my fiance's 10-year-old daughter to wear for the wedding. The "price tag" was a tiny sticker on the back of one that didn't have a currency symbol of any kind, but I assumed they were more like $200-$400 since they were similar to a pair I already owned. They were not, and I was too embarrassed to admit I didn't realize the cost when I agreed to buy them. I obviously wasn't going to give them to a 10 year old for that price and my own ear holes have closed up, so no one has ever even worn the stupid things.
#17 Multi-Thousand Dollar Dream Mattress
A $4,000 foam bed. I don’t even think it is comfortable. One of the dumbest things I have ever wasted my money on, and it was so much money.
#16 Water-Damaged Waterproof iPhone
My iPhone 7 worth 2 months of my salary and it didn't last me a month because dumb me thought it was fully waterproof and tried to take pictures underwater. The warranty voided and the phone was dead.
#15 Snowed In For The Holidays
I live in a tiny mountain town with a tiny airport. There was a blizzard the night I was supposed to fly out to see my family for the holidays. The highways were closed, all flights grounded for days.
Obviously, I could not use my original plane ticket. My loving family, none of whom live in places with real winters, coaxed me into buying an expensive, last-minute plane ticket from the nearest big city (3 hours away) for the day after the blizzard, convinced I would find a ride down to the city. I don't know how they guilted me into it but obviously, the roads were still all closed the next day so that ticket was useless.
#14 Uncrowned Trampoline Champion
My kid's mini trampoline. I can’t even jump on it with them and they are always trying to kill each other on it. Someone always ends up hurt/crying. If I could jump too then I could just body slam them both. One of them was going to get wrecked anyway. Let mom get some giggles out of it for once. Fricken children’s trampoline.
#13 Doggy's New Playmate
Our second puppy.
My wife and I got our first pup who is a toy poodle/Pomeranian about 4 years ago. Perfect dog. Housebroken, does not chew anything other than his toys, listens when he's called. We thought we were at a point where we could afford a second dog and it was mostly to give our pup a little friend during the day while we were at work. This one has a completely different personality (toy poodle/Maltese). He's been a constant headache with chewing up all our cables and shoes, incredibly difficult to housebreak and to top it off the older one just doesn't like him at all. The older one seems sad now that he's not the only child.
#12 Bad Gamble
$30,000 worth of spins on quarter slots at the casino. I kept chasing my losses and ended up filing for bankruptcy and moving back home with my parents at 23. Three years later I'm still suffering the consequences of destroying my credit, all because I thought I could buy back my losses $0.25 at a time
#11 A New Jersey Chew Toy
A $100 Michael Jordan hoodie. I thought it looked cool and then when it arrived I realized that it was not my style at all. I never wore it and then my dog ate it.
#10 Trick Or Treat
Once I was walking with a friend in front of the Metropolitan Museum in NY, and I somehow got it in my head that I needed something to eat before we went in. So just then some guy appears offering candy to support a basketball team or something, so I thought “well okay he’s legit.” My friend was about to say “no thanks” but I cut her off and was like “yeah how much?” Then he tried to scam us by mixing his numbers around, he said: “10 for 2” or something like that and I thought he meant 10 candies for $2 when really he meant 2 candies for $10.
It was at that moment I realized he wasn’t legit, what am I doing, but I was too far in to back out. So I just haggled the price down and purchased his “goods” so I wouldn’t have to embarrassingly walk away. Needless to say, I didn’t eat the candies, and the moment we walked away my friend was like “what were you thinking?” We had a good laugh but I guess it just flew over my head that he was a scammer.
It didn’t feel right to throw the candies away, so I brought them home and put them in a cabinet on display so I’d remember never to buy anything on the street again.
#9 Home Buyer's Remorse
This house in December of 2005 at the height of the mortgage boom, two months later the market collapsed, I lost 30% of the value and I've only been close to being above water once since...
I badly want to move. I hate being stuck here, my ex is on the mortgage and won't approve selling it unless there is profit.
#8 Cool New Laptop
The 2013 Mac Pro
It cost me about $8,000.
I've had to get the GPU's replaced repeatedly. I'm currently on GPU 4 and 5. It constantly has issues, mostly caused by overheating, in spite of the fact that I keep it in a well ventilated, cool, air-conditioned spot.
Guess what? You can't cram a tower worth of computer parts into a tiny little cylinder and "cool" it with one single fan! The laws of thermodynamics still apply to you no matter how "bold" and "innovative" you are.
I've never been an Apple "fanboy" but this has actually caused me so much frustration that I've built a PC and switched to Windows full time. I have no loyalty to a company that blatantly disrespects their customers.
#7 One Size Too Small
#6 The Mall Vendor Tricked Me
A nail buffering stick from one of those vendors at the mall. Paid $40 for that crap. Later found out you can buy the same thing for a couple bucks at any grocery store.
I was fooled once, but never again. Don’t even bother attempting to sell to me, mall vendors.
#4 A Picture Worth A Thousand Words
My degree in digital photography. $40,000 has revealed just how many people out there are willing to take advantage of you, to use you to build up their brand, and to pay you with "exposure" and that they will simply stop talking until you hound them enough with breach of contract and small claims court that they pay you for remainders of the $350 photo shoot you re-edited for them 3 times to get them to be happy.
I enjoy everything about it, the creation, the design, the history, the documenting of life but there are so many out there who have ruined it for me.
Dundalk Institute of Technology
#3 Living With Brain Cancer
The purchases I made while having brain cancer. For example, I bought a unit that records track car performance. I don't have a track car.
#2 Roomba, Clean My Room
Roomba. It hasn’t once completed a full clean without running out of power, the tray being full, tray seat error, etc.
I have a small house. I expected it to be smarter than it is. It seems to love cleaning underneath my bed more than anywhere else.
#1 Maxed Out Credit Card
Maxed out a student credit card for my horrible roommate. It's been a year and a half and I still can't consistently get the balance under the card limit. We don't even talk anymore. I hate my 20s.
