10 dumbest purchases

Yep, it's time for Monday Listicles! Twin mom Kerry has suggested this week's topic, "10 dumbest purchases." This will require a bit of thinking...most things that come to mind are on the theme of" Things I have bought for my kids that have not panned out."

1. Beer making kit
I got this for Mike once, and it sat in our basement until it was past use...we got rid of it.











2. Diaper wipes warmer
We bought one of these when Chris was a baby, and we never used it. We got rid of it, and then several years later we had Kieran. He fussed with the cold wipes, so we bought another one. Sigh.

3. Bike trailer
We bought this at a moving sale--from a neighbor who was supposedly moving away but never did--and we similar to our neighbors' lack of follow-through, we never used it.

4. Karaoke machine
This was a present for our oldest son, Chris, complete with a bunch of karaoke CDs. He enjoyed it while it lasted, but then it broke and now we have the useless CDs. And now there's the Wii and PlayStation. Who needs a karaoke machine?

5. Thomas the Tank Engine set
One of my first eBay disasters, the set was supposedly Brio, but when it arrived, I discovered that much of it was fake. I find it very difficult to spend much money on eBay, because it's always a risk. (The seller was very uncooperative and rude.)

6. Robot
Kieran was desperate for a robot one Christmas, and I bought one on ebay...he soon got tired of it.

7. Heelies
Another item Kieran was DESPERATE for (Christmas)...he never got the hang of wearing them, and we took them to the resale shop, where we got a fraction of what we paid for them. They are trickier to wear/ride than they look! And I think I learned my lesson about buying Kieran's impulse gifts...I think!

8. Worm bin
Kieran and I went to a worm bin making class a few years ago, and we just have never stuck with it. I cleaned it out last summer and started over again, but I'm sure it's spoiled again. It's just not our thing...such great intentions we had!








Kieran and me in the hammock in 2004, before it collapsed!
My head still hurts!

9.  Mexican hammock
Mike got this when we were in Oaxaco, Mexico before we had kids. He'd always wanted a hammock. He hung it up in the backyard between two trees, finally, but it fell one day I was in it, with Kieran on me...and it hurt! And I am really not that heavy!

A tie for #10:

Timeshare
This is the stupidest purchase, by far...we bought into a timeshare while I was pregnant with our oldest son, Chris. They manipulatedly assigned a pregnant salesperson to us--such suckers we were! Typical of us, I talked Mike into purchasing it and then I immediately had buyer's remorse that evening. By the next day I had complete regrets and called to cancel our purchase (Oregon law gives you three days to do that). The timeshare people were not happy and they were very unpleasant...but as I told Mike, I just had a feeling that we shouldn't make that kind of a commitment. A few weeks later, Christopher was born at 24 weeks gestation and we were in full crisis mode.

Honeymoon trip to Spain and Portugal
We were supposed to go to Europe for our honeymoon, and we had our tickets in hand...only to discover that Mike couldn't leave the country until he got a green card. We had to forfeit our plane tickets with no refund. Later we saved up our money, thinking that we'd take a grand European tour, but we spent that on our first house. Now, 23 years later, we still have not gotten to Spain and Portugal!

Thanks to Stasha at The Good Life for hosting Monday Listicles, Check out more dumb purchases on her blog...it will make you feel so much better!

Comments

  1. You dodged a bullet on that timeshare!!!

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    1. Yes, I know! My parents also bought a timeshare around the same time, and they backed out too!

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  2. stopping by from the Listicles blog hop, I love the list, especially the kids toys. Dino has broken so many toys and I wanted to smack for buying those darn toys.

    have a great monday

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! Yes--it's sad to think how many toys have been broken and how much $ wasted!

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  3. My daughter got me on healies too...They are brutal and one can easily kill themselves with them.

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    1. Yes, I had read that...so we made our son wear a helmet when he wore them, which he wasn't happy about. He never really got the hang of them!

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  4. Beer making kit made my list too. Great list!

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    1. Isn't that funny? I would love to make beer sometime...but it's quite an investment of time and money!

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  5. That is the second beer-making kit that I've seen on the lists (lol).

    I almost talked my sweetie into a timeshare/vacation scheme...we were in Hawaii and they were snagging people to listen to a 1-hour presentation and then you get something free. I went with full intentions just to get something free - it was an all-expense paid trip to a luau buffet show. We listened and listened, and at the very end... I was sold (lol). We didnt buy, BUT I still enjoyed a very memorable luau/buffet/dance show/pig roast. It turned out to be one of the highlights on our trip.

    Thinking of the beer-making kit, one thing I forget to put on my list is the Funnel Cake Making Kit....never used.

    I found your blog today through Monday Listicles.

    Have a great day!
    http://artpark78.com/blog1

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    1. Funnel cake making kit--that is too funny! I subscribe to a blog called "Unclutterer," which specializes in posting one-purpose items like that. Usually they turn out to be pretty worthless!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. My oldest had a pair of Heelies once. I had forgotten all about those things!

    That stinks so bad about your honeymoon trip. I hope you get there someday.

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  7. The Spain and Portugal trip breaks my heart! Ahhh!
    I feel almost too bad to let you know that you helped my esteem. We had one of those bike trailers and we used it all of the time.I feel a little better about The Monster Bed. :) Ellen

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  8. Thanks Ellen...breaks my heart too! I'm so glad I could make you feel better about the monster bed. :)

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  9. We never went on a honeymoon either. Soon my friend, soon!! I always wondered how those hammocks hold people up. Now I know!

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