Really, Really stupid purchase???

Queen Bee · #1 07/03/11, 06:14 PM

What has been your stupid purchase?

I hope, I am not the only person who ever purchased something, got home and realized they just 'threw' away their money!

Yesterday, I went to visit my oldest dd, of course she wanted to go to the the mall. We had lunch, walked thru tons of stores, she purchased a few things and THEN we were getting ready to leave--and I spotted the 'hawkers' in the middle of the hall.... You know those that work at the Kiosks---It was the "balance bands" ... Reg. 25$ but on sale for 19.99$ "WONDER" bands I thought 'oh, why not?" and pulled out the money... got my band--she was kind enough to put it on my wrist and bag my plastic container--handed me the receipt.. As I walked, around the stand to leave--there is a huge sign that states--"NO refunds, exchanges, returns".... Then I get in my truck and start home and start fiddling w/ my rubber band and realize--there is not even a magnet in it--there is a small cheap o' stamped hologram and some raised printing.. I paid 21$ for a red rubber band!!!And kicked myself for the rest of the night..

So, what was you most stupid purchase... I hope, I am not the only one...

Cindy in NY · #2 07/03/11, 06:19 PM

Years ago we bought one of those exercisers. The kind you sit on and when you move the handles, the seat and footpedals move also. I used it a few times and found that it hurt my back. After several times of trying to sell it at a yardsale, it ended up on the lawn with a free sign. I pity the poor sap that hauled off that giant clothes rack! Oh, and we paid a whole lot more than $20 for it!

Ohio dreamer · #3 07/03/11, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cindy in NY

Years ago we bought one of those exercisers. The kind you sit on and when you move the handles, the seat and footpedals move also. I used it a few times and found that it hurt my back. After several times of trying to sell it at a yardsale, it ended up on the lawn with a free sign. I pity the poor sap that hauled off that giant clothes rack! Oh, and we paid a whole lot more than $20 for it!

My mom swears by her Health Rider. Looks like a "gimmick" to me, too, but she's happy.

OH MY, I have bought many things that fall into the "what was I thinking" category. Much of it has gone off the Goodwill. I'm staring to think the weather radio I bought DH for Christmas might be one.....here we are in July and he has YET to set it up!!

roachhill · #4 07/03/11, 07:25 PM

I wouldn't worry to much about $20 in stupid tax, we all manage to pay far more than that at some point. I'm beginning to wonder why I felt the need to add a short bus to my driveway, I can't really manage to keep it filled with diesel if I actually drive it. LOL

arabian knight · #5 07/03/11, 07:45 PM

Oh ya.
A 2 year old miniature Zebu. 200 bucks. Never could get him tamed.
I KNEW I should have gotten a "bottle baby" but spending 200 on such a young one didn't seem right.
But I would have been dollars ahead by getting the baby mini Zebu, not the 2 year old one.
I finally traded him for a miniature Donkey. WAY better choice~

pattycake · #6 07/03/11, 07:52 PM

I made some stupid decisions when I was a young Mother in the 1970"s. I was a stay at home Mom with no transportation. On contract I bought a water softener and a Kirby Vacuum ! I also remember some salesman selling Children's Bibles that I also bought! These were things that we needed and they were sold on time so why not? I had never been taught to look at the big picture. My sweet husband was finally able to teach me how finances work!

fffarmergirl · #7 07/03/11, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pattycake

I made some stupid decisions when I was a young Mother in the 1970"s. I was a stay at home Mom with no transportation. On contract I bought a water softener and a Kirby Vacuum ! I also remember some salesman selling Children's Bibles that I also bought! These were things that we needed and they were sold on time so why not? I had never been taught to look at the big picture. My sweet husband was finally able to teach me how finances work!

That brought back some memories. When did the traveling salesmen disappear? I remember my mom buying a whole library of children's bible story books, a set of encyclopedias, and I don't know what else. Thank God she never bought a Kirby.

We actually did enjoy the books . . . . but they were too expensive and she wouldn't have bought them if she hadn't been pressured by the salesman.

Fair Light · #8 07/03/11, 08:01 PM

Oh...OK...I'll tell....I also got took by the hawkers at the mall kiosk...It was near Christmas and the mall was very crowded. These young Egyptian women were selling cosmetics made with dead sea salt...I was walking by and she made eye contact with me ( should have not been looking)....I stopped and she applied this oil with heavy salt on my hand.....My hand did feel really smooth so I paid the $25. for a jar of the stuff. Then I saw the "no returns" sign and knew I had been took....I turned around to return it but it was too late. The worst part though was that with in 2 hours I became violently ill...As in horrible vomiting as in stomache flu....I couldn't help but wonder if this was coincidence or not.....When I got better I had to take a magnifying glass to read the ingredients...oil...salt...ugh !!! Went back to the mall and ofcoarse they were long gone.....now, I don't speak to hawkers...stupid me...because I should have known better....

Harry Chickpea · #9 07/03/11, 08:22 PM

1976 "Spirit of America" Nova. Judging from the problems it had, and what happened to the country after...

beakerello · #10 07/03/11, 08:25 PM

Way to much money spent in places I had no place being as an 18 year old. $5 cover charge, $20 here $20 there without ever leaving my seat. That's my biggest regreton foolish ways to spend money.

pheasantplucker · #11 07/03/11, 09:31 PM

If you google bar tricks...there is an explanation of those balance bands...yeah, you got taken.

tinknal · #12 07/03/11, 10:27 PM

I put a $40,000 addition on a paid for house for my wife.................who left me a year later.

hillbillygal · #13 07/03/11, 10:47 PM

Dh and I have had several of these in our 10 years together. I'm still mad at myself for paying a meat processor to cut up a deer that was more like the size of a large dog instead of doing it myself. Found out that you pay one fee for a deer regardless of its size. That was $50 (+gas) down the drain. Now, dh usually recruits bil to help cut up any deer we're given. They cut and cut and when they can't cut any more, the dogs eat really well.

Peacock · #14 07/04/11, 02:18 AM

Oh, gosh yes, that Kirby vacuum. I heard so many people swear by their Kirby, so we bought a refurb that still cost about $800. My DH is a sucker for salesmen. I hated that thing. It cleaned well, sure, but it was so heavy I dreaded using it and such a pain to use the attachments. So we got rid of it. But I kind of wish I still had it now because I've had terrible luck with vacuums. Just bought one recently for Christmas and it's already not working right. Some problem with the wiring.

I have a long, long list of stupid purchases. The worst I think are the vacation souvenirs. All I really want to take home from vacation is photos and memories, but somehow we end up with all kinds of cheap made-in-China doodads.

haypoint · #15 07/04/11, 04:30 AM

I hate to brag, but my stupid purchase is one for the record books!

About 30 years ago, I had an incubator. I enjoyed hatching chicks. It held a couple hundred, but mostly I’d just fill a tray or two, a couple times each spring. When the Health Food Store couldn’t keep up with my supply of eggs, I began to hate plucking chickens and the fox ate all the ducks, I stopped raising poultry and sold the incubator.

After the divorce, I felt liberated not to have that voice, “ What do you want that for?” ringing in my ears. I watched eBay for months. I searched all sorts of web sites trying for a cheap replacement for the one I sold. Just when I thought I had one, I’d be outbid or discover the equipment had been sold.

Then I stumbled onto a beautiful commercial Jamesway Incubator. They are the Cadillac of incubators. A bit larger than I really had in mind, but priced right. This unit had a main door and an upper hatching door. Solid wood, with a dark walnut varnish. The Jamesway 3940 Incubator was nearly 6 feet tall and almost 4 feet deep, but only about 30 inches wide. It could be mine for $100.

After a few emails back and forth, I discovered the incubator was 800 miles away. No problem, I like to travel. I was going to get my incubator. But, then a couple important details presented themselves. To this day, I wonder how I allowed myself to plow ever deeper in this foolish adventure. The price truly was $100, but there were 10 units and they wanted to sell them all. Looking back, I can see their wisdom. To find a fool that would buy one is difficult, finding ten fools darn near impossible. So, I accepted this massive purchase without much concern. I’d just sell the extras and likely turn a profit.

Over the years, I’ve forgotten where in this story I discovered what the number 3940 meant. You see Jamesway listed their models by the total number of eggs each unit could hold. I guess it didn’t sink in that I was traveling from northern Michigan to south of St. Louis, MO to purchase incubators that would give me the hatching capacity of just under 40,000 every 21 days. Yahoo!

They weigh about 400 pounds apiece and filled my pickup truck bed and my tandem axle flatbed trailer. I hauled them to a rental storage garage, just until I could get the extras sold. That was about 6 years ago. That monthly rent payment is like the support Arnold Schwarzenegger has been paying. I can afford it, but I don’t want anyone to know about it. I traded three of them for some missing trays. Then I sold one on eBay. It brought $20 and the guy from northern Minnesota never came to get it. The single turning mechanism works all units, together. Without the turner, an individual incubator is useless.

Logically, the thing to do is to save one unit, with the turner, and set the rest on fire, eliminating the monthly rent for storage.
I have developed my own little voice that says things like: “What do you want that for?”, “Do you really need that?” and “Won’t it cost more to fix up than what you could pay for a new one?”

chamoisee · #16 07/04/11, 02:52 PM

My dumbest purchases have involved goats. Let's see here....

There was the time I paid $350 for a recorded grade doe due to freshen as a yearling. She was very small for her age...had a cutesy short head (which wasn't what I liked)...was skittish and fearful....and freshened with almost no udder or milk, although what little there was was high and tight. I think I sold her for $75. She produced maybe a quart a day....Rip off!

There was the $600 linebred buck (actually, he was highly inbred- there is a difference!) who lacked libido to such an extent that it took 45 minutes of work and waiting to get him to breed a doe once. I had the tease him a lot and then get the doe to stand perfectly still when he finally mounted her...or he would just give up and walk away. His kids were mostly bucks, and the daughters I did get tended to be worse than the dams. I only kept one or two doelings from him.

There was the $150 Oberhasli doeling I bought for my son from a herd that was "guaranteed CAE negative". She was adorable and very loving...and she turned up CAE positive. The "guarentee" was worthless. It broke my little boy's heart when I sold her for meat.

There was the long and lovely $500 doeling bred to freshen as a yearling...last daughter of a nationally famous doe. She was CAE positive and infected the best animals in my herd...which had been negative for years.

There were two La Manchas...I have no idea how much I paid for them.. brother and sister from Rockin' CB lines. The owner had fattened them up into butterballs and raised them in a hygenic little bubble. When I put them on pasture with limited hay and grain during the summer, they got sick. The doeling freshened with no milk to speak of....and never did lose the flesh over her ribs.....

I won't even go into the money wasted on semen from bucks I knew nothign about....

Queen Bee · #17 07/04/11, 09:24 PM

Thank you all, for sharing w/ me -- it does help to know I am not the only one who has 'thrown' away good money..

Tatorbug · #18 07/04/11, 10:05 PM

My stupid buying mistake is re-buying things that I already own that are lurking in my basment or some other disorganized pile around here. My usual thing is to re-buy tools that I cannot find as I have a nasty habit of not putting things back!! My Bad!

Old John · #19 07/05/11, 09:01 AM

I bought a Beautiful, 3/4 length, Leather coat, a few years ago, "Because It was on Sale". I wore it a few times. And, I quickly found it was "No Bargain".
It was stiff as a board, (good cowhide). It was Hard to get Zipped, from "down there" halfway down my thighs. The Zipper never wanted to get started. It was a good looking Coat, though.

I kept it a couple of Winters. Then I gave it to my #1 DSon, who is about the same size I am. He could not stand it being so stiff. So he worked some leather conditioner well into the leather. "Still Stiff".
Then he put it into the clothes dryer, on extreme-low heat.
I think he ran that coat 4 or 5 cycles. ETA........Hours!

When he got finished he had a nice Beautiful, "Distressed Leather Coat". He did offer it back to me.
But, Hey, "I told him he Earned it".
"Wish I'd thought of how to fix it."

Mutti · #20 07/05/11, 09:06 AM

My DH is banned from buying off the TV. Period. When he starts touting a commercial he's seen I mention the Pocket Fisherman, the earphones for hearing the tv better, the dealie to smooth your grout professionally, need I go on?