Great 'What's your biggest ever waste of Money?' Hunt

Former_MSE_Penelope
Former_MSE_Penelope Posts: 536 Forumite
edited 11 January 2011 at 7:42PM in Shop but don't drop
Great 'What's your biggest ever waste of Money?' Hunt

Regrets, we've all had a few, and when it comes to MoneySaving, a few worth mentioning! So what's been your biggest splurge, mistake or regret others can learn from? We want to hear MoneySavers' money up in smoke stories.

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  • pop80_uk
    pop80_uk Posts: 7 Forumite
    edited 14 January 2011 at 3:29PM
    My biggest waste of money has to be my first car, 17 and I bought a Rover Metro for £800 and then insurance TPFT for £1200 a year, then proceeded to waste around £1200 pimping it up.........

    All for two years motoring when the un-comfy, slow and frankly death trap dangerous car failed its MOT with the dreaded rusted underneath.

    It was good only for scrap and I made about £200 from the scrap and a few parts......

    I may as well just burnt a load of fivers! :( When your young you will never be told though ;)
  • luxor4t
    luxor4t Posts: 11,125
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    We booked excursions through our holiday company and, despite the steep prices, thought we were getting the 'best' deal. In resort, of course, we found that the identical excursions were freely available through local tour operators at significantly lower prices .... a hard lesson, but well learned.

    On subsequent trips we have booked locally, our best saving being two balloon flights for £48 compared to the tour company's 'special offer' of £120 per couple!
    I can cook and sew, make flowers grow.
  • Putting my teenage son on a mobile phone monthly contract. What was i thinking! Aaargh.
  • Fred56
    Fred56 Posts: 74 Forumite
    The world's worst money wasters
    1. Cars - no explanation needed
    2. Foreign Holidays - I can't think of any that have been worth it, most deeply disappointing.
    3. Moving home - huge con - you young people, just decide how big a house you need, buy it and stay there for life.
  • I saw my hubby's fave hair gel product on special offer at 99p each (normally £2+) so I stocked up and bought twelve (!!!!) Then 2 weeks later he decided to shave his hair from that day on!!!!

    Not a huge amount of money wasted, but a funny one! :rotfl:
  • elliep_2
    elliep_2 Posts: 711
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    £60 for DVD boxset through ebay from a dodgy seller. Never got any DVDs and only managed 1/2 the money back through paypal as seller hadn't set up his bank account properly.

    My boiler, it keeps breaking and costs £100 or more to fix each time, and has cost £500 in the last 2 months. If I had the money upfront I'd have been better off just buying a new boiler a few months ago. The plumber did say that the boiler itself is OK though and 3 months ago he didn't think I needed a new one.

    An old car that had a similar problem to the boiler. I've learned not to keep repairing a car if it starts breaking frequently, just sell and get another one. I've had my current car for 4 years and it's about to reach sale point I think.
  • 24skins
    24skins Posts: 1,773 Forumite
    edited 14 January 2011 at 3:30PM
    Buying the kids ridiculous amounts of toys when they were small. I used to spoil them rotten at Christmas and when we moved house a couple of years ago found literally hundreds of pounds worth of things that had been sitting in cupboards untouched for years, it all went to the charity shop because toys lose their value so quickly. If I had my time over again I'd get them a couple of well chosen pressies each year and put the rest of the money into a bank account or pension for them, 'cos all kids really want is to play with people and 'stuff' is worthless to them.
    Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
  • Issyc
    Issyc Posts: 5,423 Forumite
    24skins wrote: »
    Buying the kids ridiculous amounts of toys when they were small. I used to spoil them rotten at Christmas and when we moved house a couple of years ago found literally hundreds of pounds worth of things that had been sitting in cupboards untouched for years, it all went to the charity shop because toys lose their value so quickly. If I had my time over again I'd get them a couple of well chosen pressies each year and put the rest of the money into a bank account or pension for them, 'cos all kids really want is to play with people and 'stuff' is worthless to them.

    Totally agree with you! Give kids your time, a few empty boxes and some paints and they will be happy for ages.
  • Sharon87
    Sharon87 Posts: 4,011
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    I spent £50 or so on a second hand camera from ebay. Few months later I replaced it as it was rubbish! Still got it, need to try and sell it!

    Also on a previous job I spent so much on Nandos it was crazy. We had a Nandos 2 doors down and I went there once or twice a week (sometimes more!) It's a waste looking back on it, but Nandos is gorgeous lol. I ate out most days, should have saved that money for now! (finished a month ago at that job)

    Don't have much else that was a waste of money - it's usually buying substandard technology products thinking I've saved money, then having to replace them quite quickly with better quality items! I'm rubbish picking out good quality, long lasting technology products. I've had 6 digital cameras in about 7 years (first rubbish and broke, 2nd one trigger button fell off due to overuse, 3rd one I sold to upgrade to 4th one, which I still have, a DSLR. 5th one, see first part of post and 6th one my current fairly good quality one, which I hope will last!
  • Issyc
    Issyc Posts: 5,423 Forumite
    Getting married.
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