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

psb

A fab pair of Armani shoes ! Bought in the Rome shop when I had been walking about and had swollen feet and didn't take that this into account at the time and when I got them home (all £300 worth of them) and feet were normal size they were toooooo big for me! Size 37 (which I am, so they actually come up a size larger). They are still in the box and have never been outside. Every now and then I try them on in case my feet have grown but no luck and they are the classic cream and black high heel brogue ones and so beautiful - ah well a lesson learnt!

bargainbetty

Cream carpets. That was four years ago, and I am currently saving up to replace them, because they aren't cream anymore, and if you try to clean up a spill you make a clean spot unless you shampoo the entire room.

Shoes: many, many pairs of shoes. Many, many pairs....

sharpe04

Biggest (recent) regret (and an expensive one) - believing what all the car comparison sites told me about quality and reliability, we bought a 2008 Toyota Yaris, after taking a far too short test drive.

Turned out to be a miserable owning and driving experience.

Problems - terrible brakes (very harsh, either on or off - "Normal for the car, Sir"), awful gearbox (crunched every time going into 2nd - "Can't find anything wrong, Sir"), noisy, not particularly economical, dreadful ride (was the SR model so maybe to be expected - low profile tyres), endured the famous Toyota recall, hard seats, over complex built in satnav, snotty main dealer. These and a few other niggles, annoyed us so much we traded it in for a Citroen after 8 months, losing about £2800 on the deal. Couldn't live with the awful thing any longer.

Moral - even if "experts" tell you that a car is the best thing since sliced bread, take a long road test and don't think you'll get used to stuff you feel is a bit iffy at the time.

Only upside - the colour was ravishing!

sim11

Wedding to ex husband.
All the presents bought for ex husband.
All my wages going into the house with ex husband, while he !!!!ed his up the wall.
Ex husband getting awarded everything in divorce, because i had just given birth at the same time as i was suppose to be in court.
Ford cars, never had a good one. Said i would never buy one again, and guess what i did.
Cigs, would strangle my kids if they grow up and smoke.
Clothes for kids, i always buy them too many.
Fully reburbishing house costing a fortune, finally finished sat back and enjoyed it for a couple of months, Only to get flooded out. Heartbreaking throwing everything out that you own.
TOYS funny one this one, because although we all say. Things like, well they hardly played with that one. I would not miss my childrens faces on Christmas morning for all the tea in china.
BEST SPENT MONEY
Anything that makes my children happy.
Nintendo wii, the screaming that my son did when he opened that on christmas day just over three years ago, was worth it alone. They was very hard to come by, and i had to do a 70 mile round trip to get it a week before christmas. He had already been told that alot of children would not get it because santa had not made enough for everyone. It has hardly ever been put down since. Was definately worth the expense.
A mini cooper that i paid 350 and got 850 part exchange, a year later.
Pugeot 306 diesel, best car i have ever had. Wish they still made them.
Netbook could not live without it now.
ALL THE LOVELY BARGAINS I GET, THROUGH THE LOVELY PEOPLE ON MSE. COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT YOU. XXXXXXXXXX

SnowyOwl_2

Cigarettes for years and years...I have calculated roughly how much I spent on them, it's a big fat four figure sum, but I've blotted that number out of my conciousness now. I gave up over 10 years ago, and miss them like a hole in the head - I didn't need them in the first place, nobody does!

Around about the time I ditched the cigs I decided it was about time I found Mr Right and so joined a dating agency called Sirus. It cost over a grand to join (desperate? Moi? OUI:rotfl::rotfl:!!). They sent lists of other members and to contact them you had to phone a premium line number. Nobody ever contacted me:(:(. I met three blokes in total, one was filthy rich but never in a million years would I have looked at him twice - he was not a nice person, one was a cretin, and one was nothing more than alright. I didn't see any of them more than once. I was well and truly scammed. Oh and I am still single, ten years later...though I have realised that I am supposed to be single and have not been looking.

I have gone through the usual array of household applicances - cheap vacuum cleaners that were rubbish (eventually splashed out on an expensive Miele but this has actually worked out cheaper than the four old ones put together), juicer, egg boiling machine. I was previously addicted to the Old Style board on MSE and the wimmin on there convinced me that a breadmaker would inspire me, have me canonised as Patron Saint of homemaking, make my house smell beautifully comforting and transform it into a homely home rather than be just a house. That was utter bo*locks of course, and the breadmaker which cost me nearly £100 is now collecting dust in my mother's spare room.

In my younger days I spent hundreds on vinyl albums. I've a few collecter pieces, but nothing worth more than about £30, which is far less than I paid. For some reason I sold my midi stereo thus robbing myself of the means to play these damn vinyls. What was I thinking, anybody know?

About three months before I sold my last house I bought a composter from the council. It was only a few quid, but since I was moving from England to Ireland I was hardly going to bring the bloody thing with me. Again, what was I thinking?

When I took out my first mortgage I went for the endowment plan. Yeah, well no point in explaining that that was an utter waste of time. I have already paid off my mortgage without it, and have since stopped paying into it, but my money is still festering and diminishing as I type. I don't believe I was missold as the paperwork clearly said that the final pay out may be less than what I put in. I haven't a clue what to do about it.

Some of my best buys in the past have been on holidays - I wouldn't give a minute of any holiday back, I love going to new places. My social life was a riot for quite a long time and I don't regret any of it nor the money paid out to finance it. I joined an expensive gym and went about five times a week for several years. It was worth every single penny as I loved it. Unfortunately I had to leave due to ill health but ultimately spent about 12 months expecting to get better before facing facts that it wasn't worth continuing my membership:(

jackyann

sharpe04 wrote: »

Biggest (recent) regret (and an expensive one) - believing what all the car comparison sites told me about quality and reliability, we bought a 2008 Toyota Yaris, after taking a far too short test drive.

Turned out to be a miserable owning and driving experience.

Problems - terrible brakes (very harsh, either on or off - "Normal for the car, Sir"), awful gearbox (crunched every time going into 2nd - "Can't find anything wrong, Sir"), noisy, not particularly economical, dreadful ride (was the SR model so maybe to be expected - low profile tyres), endured the famous Toyota recall, hard seats, over complex built in satnav, snotty main dealer. These and a few other niggles, annoyed us so much we traded it in for a Citroen after 8 months, losing about £2800 on the deal. Couldn't live with the awful thing any longer.

Moral - even if "experts" tell you that a car is the best thing since sliced bread, take a long road test and don't think you'll get used to stuff you feel is a bit iffy at the time.

Only upside - the colour was ravishing!

Just have to say that the 6 Toyotas owned by various family members have been the most reliable and best value cars (allowing for inflation of course!) we've ever had - and my most expensive car mistake was a Citroen! Can only speak as I find!

And on kids' toys - decide on one or two "construction" type toys and tell gift-givers what they are. Ours were Brio & Lego and are going strong 30+ years on.

joegw

1. Petrol - Should cycle & walk more!
2. Golf gti (1st) - Gearbox failed
3. Golf gti (2nd) - more problems
4. Ford fiesta - engine failure within 6 months of owning it! (I wish I didn't need a car!)
5. CD's - Bought far to many (800+) with money I should have been saving! Sold nearly all of them now.
6. Alcohol & Smoking - Still drink from time to time but so glad I quit smoking.
7. Takeaways - Is a pizza really worth £15?
8. Hypnotherapy - £50 a session x15+ (Counselling is far better!)
9. Personal Training - Only a waste if you doing lots of points 6 & 7.
10. Debts - Not paying them off enough when I lived at home!

winnoch

joegw wrote: »

7. Takeaways - Is a pizza really worth £15?

£15:eek: I honestly don't think I've ever paid more than £7 or £8 for a pizza, either in a restaurant, takeaway, chip shop or supermarket! And I probably eat some form of pizza every week or two. What are you doing; buying the largest size and adding every single topping available?!:rotfl:

Only other reason I can think of is that you're going to Dominos, who seem to charge double the price of their (deeply average tasting) pizzzas over all the competition, and still get custom :doh: I really don't get why people go to Domino's .... it's not as if you're paying a premium for a better product.

Vaughanstar

bargainbetty wrote: »

Cream carpets. That was four years ago, and I am currently saving up to replace them, because they aren't cream anymore, and if you try to clean up a spill you make a clean spot unless you shampoo the entire room.

Shoes: many, many pairs of shoes. Many, many pairs....

Yeah we made this mistake in our bedroom, never again!

sunnysea83

for me its got to be clothes I never wear and end up ebaying at half the price, fitness dvds that I try and dont do again, shoes, makeup, food that I buy cause its on offer and then forget about.

Topshop store card owed £250 must have paid double that interest and PP which I dont even remember singing up for

The best things I have ever bought are my house I love it, my house bunny and kitten and anything I have ever bought my OH because knowing he's happy makes me happy.