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

Hmm_2

Fred56 wrote: »

3. Moving home - huge con - you young people, just decide how big a house you need, buy it and stay there for life.

Ha! I couldn't agree more!DH and I have lived in 4 places in the last 8 yrs and it's cost us thousands!

marsha8

My biggest waste of money was just at the end of 2010. I searched on Google for a Nano 5th generation with a higher Gb than my current 2Gb Nano. On about page 10 I spotted a great deal - £89.00 for a brand new Nano. Had trouble paying with my debit card "Payment failed" so eventually tried with my Credit card & after 2 attempts I was successful. I had 2 emails confirming purchase in Chinese & 2 in English!? I then discovered that my Debit card payment had been successful as well as my Credit card & therefore I had 2 coming my way. Tried emailing them but to no avail. Finally my first arrived (never got the second one) only to find that it was a fraud with folders marked 2007 on it & not recognised by my Apple computer or by my itunes library. Thus I have paid out £190 for nothing. Having bought over 1000 items on the net I guess I had to have an accident some time & although I am always cautious I will be even more so in future. When on a site where prices are in GB pounds do not assume the obvious.

MsConfused

My bridesmaid! I knew she was a little jealous that I was getting married so wanted to make her feel special by offering to buy her any dress she wanted for the wedding. She chose an extremely expensive one and then demanded I buy her a jacket, shoes and jewellery to match. Stupidly I did (although I didn't give in to her demands to buy her underwear too! :mad:). She never once said thank you (just criticised everything even though she picked them!), and we stopped speaking when I got back from honeymoon. Still to this day I don't know why she turned so evil! But all in all I spent about £300 on her I would have much rather of spent on... well anything but her!

DUKE

I don't usually waste money as I always think long & hard before I'll part with a penny.

This wasn't actually my fault entirely - Many years ago I paid £250 for my first car (2L Capri) only to discover that it had a dodgy MOT. I ended up selling it on for spares a few weeks later for just £50

Also I bought on impulse (which I don't normally do) a mini notebook for £170. When I got it home I decided that it was a mistake & wanted to return it. My husband said we'd keep it & he would use it, but he never has.

airgead

MsConfused wrote: »

My bridesmaid!we stopped speaking when I got back from honeymoon. Still to this day I don't know why she turned so evil!

Me too!!! Except my bridesmaid fell out with me the day of my hen night, didn't come to the hen night, didn't come to the wedding, hasn't spoken to me since - kept the dress though!!!!!!

My biggest waste of cash was probably a web design correspondance course which cost over £1000. paid monthly over about three years. I think I did the first three assignements, and then stopped. I have been told I can still take it up again anytime I like - even though it was 8 years ago!!! Maybe ought to be my resolution for 2011..

evespikey

Driving lessons!
Had BSM for months, thinking that the reputation would = quality but the instructor was rubbish, didn't improve me at all and also didn't seem like he cared! Rang up to resume my lessons and was told that he'd left! (Wouldn't have been suprised if he was asked to leave). BSM rip you off by making you take 2 hours back to back, which is £50 a time. I'm now back to the local independant instructor, but the fact is, without a car to practice on, you end up burning money on lessons very quickly. Add to that student loans, no savings, and not having a job...my bank balance is going to be 0 within a few months but if I finally pass my test next month it will be worth it! (sort of )
I wish beyond everything I'd taken the fast pass course- it would have saved me hundreds of pounds.

DrGigglez

I once bought a watch for £5 only to notice when I got home that the watch didn't work. I think I was distracted by the different colours :S. You may say that's not a lot of money but I was in my teens and living off pocket money

Spookeychick

Fred56 wrote: »

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.

Wow - If we all lived to these ideals we'd spend our lives working to pay for the one house we live in our whole adult lives; never go overseas for a 'foreign' holiday and see new places / people and have new experiences; and of course, never drive anywhere cause it's a waste of money!!
I'm all for saving money but come on, you gotta live a little too!!

Suzkin

Oh for hindsight...
1) Buying my 1-bed house - and then discovering just how much repair work was (still is) needed. Then realising I needed more space (and not being able to afford extension etc. or to buy again).
2) Not completing my masters degree due to ill health (with the biggest pain now being the psychological 'unfinished business' attached), and still having to pay the university for it.
3) Not being in a position to drive outside of lessons, and failing my test twice; then passing on third attempt, but having to pay out hundreds again the next time I drove - over 20 years later.
4) Paying PPI for a couple of years when I first took out the mortgage - when I didn't need or understand it.
5) Laying insufficent membrane the first time round, on a big garden project - I still need to go out weekly esp. in Summer and pull out the weeds...
Oh the list goes on...

Suzkin

Spookeychick wrote: »

Wow - If we all lived to these ideals we'd spend our lives working to pay for the one house we live in our whole adult lives; never go overseas for a 'foreign' holiday and see new places / people and have new experiences; and of course, never drive anywhere cause it's a waste of money!!
I'm all for saving money but come on, you gotta live a little too!!

Hey Spookeychick, that's seems me all through and through, I'm afraid.

I walked everywhere (very Jane Austen-esque) up until the age of 42. And now I'm currently having to pay all over again for little real gain, with all the waste pipes leaking, the rendering falling off, penetrating damp on both front elevation and single skin utility room etc. I think I'll end up dying in this little 1-bed terrace!:o