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What was your dumbest purchase ever?

Posted Mar 10 2008, 08:55 PM by Karen Datko
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"DebtKid," feeling buyer's remorse about his 1 a.m. purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite that has since been gathering dust, is holding a contest for the stupidest purchase ever. He's gotten quite a response from readers and other bloggers. The winner will get his DS Lite.

We'll give you a few of the highlights. "Krninco" at Compulsive Debtor's Finance Blog has several doozies: a $400-plus bowling party for her daughter, "Mini Me," (and to prove that she wasn't too extreme, krninco provides a link to a St. Petersburg Times story about parents who threw a $3,000 birthday party for their 1-year-old, complete with a publicist).

There's also the $5,000 piano "purchased in hopes that one day Mini Me would become Mini Mozart," and Beauty, a hugely expensive bichon frisé that bites and leaves little presents on the floor "to show you she can." Oops, we almost forgot to mention that krninco bought a $200 car seat for the little dog.

"Seasicksquid" at Seasicksquid's Cookie Dough recounts a tale of youthful misspending. She and three friends were supposed to go to a Coldplay concert in Detroit, but she forgot to buy the $50 tickets before they sold out. So she ordered four nonrefundable tickets online for $600 each. Only one of her friends repaid her. "We had a fabulous time in the end, but I don't think it was worth the 1,500 odd dollars that it cost me, plus all the interest," she writes.

Amanda at Me vs. Debt got sucked in by a phony debt-counseling service that took her $400 fee and disappeared. "Singlemomindebt" spent nearly $1,000 for a treadmill that soon became "the most expensive coat rack that I'll ever own." She and her boyfriend split up and she let him keep it so he could sell it and give her half the proceeds. A fire in his apartment destroyed it. It felt "the burn it never got to experience through use," she writes.

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Comments

 

for sure the timeshare.. we did get a great deal on it, as we purchased it from ebay, but the maintenece fees are going up every year. over $600 now, and thats about what you can find a week in a resort for anyway.  so, now we  are forced to pay for a vacation every year,. or we lose our money.  i feel sorry for the people that actually pay 30-40 thousand dollars,, you will never get your money out of it.

dumbanddumber (Posted 03.12.08 7:35 AM ) Report Abuse

I bought a Huge satellite dish so that I could get the NFL ticket.  This was before the onslaught of mini dishes.  This one rotated back and forth and you actually got a lot of tv for free, you just had to find it.  The problem was the dish cost $2700 and I financed it through the company I bought it from at 27% interest.  I paid roughly $175/mo for the next four years to own the thing that allowed me to buy the NFL ticket.  I no longer use it and it sits in my ex-mother-in-law's backyard.  

nolongerwatchfootball (Posted 03.12.08 8:12 AM ) Report Abuse

Two gems come to mind in the equity markets of the 1980's. Biosyn fuel company privately held for bio diesel about 25 years to soon. Loss $20,000 built on the Carter years of emotion in the gas lines. MonoClonal company research for gene therapy with all the super stars in medical community a can't lose transformation in drug treatment problem was to early before human genome map complete invested on names not business confirmation loss $30,000.  

Stay away from emotional can't fail themes do your homework. Yes, I was finance industry person who let the head get ahead of the business plan testing.

Irish Banker (Posted 03.12.08 8:36 AM ) Report Abuse

Me and my wife fell for the Kirby Vacuum cleaner sales pitch. A $1400 vac for ONLY $700. What a deal! I attribute it to being youthful and ignorant. We still have the vac but it is no better or worse than a $100 vac. Later on they tried upgrading us to their latest model. Yeah, right. We almost fell for the sales pitch for a home water softner/filtration unit after hearing about how contaminated the tap water was, from the sales person of course. We cancelled the deal before it went through. Live and learn.

John C (Posted 03.12.08 9:06 AM ) Report Abuse

Ballard Power - options

Jim Malcolm (Posted 03.12.08 9:29 AM ) Report Abuse

I traded in a perfectly good (and paid for) family car to have a mid-life crisis (at 25).  I bought a Mazda RX-8 that turned out to be the biggest lemon I ever drove.  It looked cool, but was in the shop every three months for at least three days.  I finally had to have the ENGINE replaced and I decided the crisis was over.  I bought the car for 20K and a year later the Mazda dealership said they would only give me 8k for it in trade.  I ended up trading it at another dealership for 11k so I basically spent 9k to drive this car for one year.....

No longer in crisis (Posted 03.12.08 9:31 AM ) Report Abuse

A huge suitcase for $200.  It was big in the store, but by the time I got it home, it looked like a freakin' piece of furniture!  Problem was, by the time you filled it up, it went way over the weight limit allowed by the airlines.  So I used it once and then it sat in our basement storage room mocking me each time I went in there. Finally gave it to Goodwill last year just to be done with it.  Oh yeah, had to buy 2 more (normal size) suitcases to replace it.   sheesh......

baileysmom (Posted 03.12.08 9:35 AM ) Report Abuse

After consulting with Consumer Reports I purchased the best BETA money could buy.  Within weeks I knew VHS was taking over.  I still own the BETA!

Charlie G (Posted 03.12.08 9:38 AM ) Report Abuse

PERSONALIZED M & M'S FOR MY NIECES BABY SHOWER!!

4 SMALL BAGS COST OVER $60.00 AND NO ONE EVEN NOTICED AS THEY WERE THROWING $5.00 PER BITE HANDFULLS IN THEIR MOUTH UNLESS I BROUGHT IT TO THEIR ATTENTION TO READ THEM. THE REALLY BAD PART WAS, YOU COULDN'T EVEN READ WHAT THEY SAID UNLESS YOU GOT THEM IN THE LIGHT WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS.  REALLY DUMB PURACHASE!!!!!!!!!

GAYLA (Posted 03.12.08 9:40 AM ) Report Abuse

I once purchased a "brand new shrink wrapped in box" cam corder for $50.00 right outside the lincoln tunnel in NY (we were stuck in traffic).  As soon as we got through the tunnel and opened the box, lo and behold, we discovered that we spent $50 for a box of rocks...of course it was too good to be true!  My family still laughs about this one.

Sillygirl (Posted 03.12.08 9:43 AM ) Report Abuse

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