post off: what purchase was pure folly?
Every year, the Intex Easy-Set inflatable pool arrives in stores, bringing with it the promise of low-rent backyard summer fun. Back when I was suffering through deeply humid Midwest summers, I convinced my husband that one of these babies was exactly what we needed. Now, don’t get me wrong — the pool worked perfectly well, and when people with actual children stopped by, it was enjoyed. But it turned out that any time the pool was not in direct sunlight, the water was freezing. (They do sell a cover that helps heat the water; we didn’t have it.) Soon our dog decided it was an oversized water dish that she could step right into, emptying gallons of it in the process. The last straw was the realization that garter snakes enjoyed congregating in the tall grass around the pool’s edges — I’m not afraid of snakes, but I also didn’t relish stepping on them in bare feet. After we donated the pool to a local school’s rummage sale, we had a huge dead spot in our yard that neighbors called “the crop circle.” Ah, summer memories. Okay, so make me feel better — tell me about a pricey purchase that ended in regret. — Mary T.
One that comes to mind for me is an expensive jacket I got from a boutique that doesn’t take returns. It was an impulse buy, I guess. I no longer allow impulsiveness, unless I know for sure I can return it! Thanks for your cautionary tale about the pool. We’ve discussed a similar solution for escaping the disgusting DC humidity, but I think I’ve just been talked out of it.
I bought my husband a telescope w/computer program for Father’s Day one year. He’d always said he wanted one and that it had a computerized setup made his geeky side tingle.
It was first set up in our livingroom. I moved it after I got tired of dusting it. Used? Never.
It was then set up in my husband’s office. Moved again when it kept getting in the way of the cupboards. Used? Nope.
It now resides in its original box in our shed. Never once been hooked up to the computer, used or even pointed skyward. Okay. That’s a lie. It was pointed out the window in its original location in the livingroom. But no one ever LOOKED through it. *sigh*
HA! we just got one of these, it just arrived and it is super ghetto in appearance but i LOVE IT. we did buy the cover that traps the sun, and i am surprised to say it works. it was $15 for the cover and i think that makes all the difference. i wish i could DIY it to be a little more attractive though. we are planning a white trash themed BBQ in the spirit of it. we might park our car on the lawn too :)
I should have never bought that house. Biggest. Mistake. Ever.
Two Words: Mobile Home.
Wow that is some story. We have an inground pool in the back. No one swims in it though. Giant money sucker is all it is :p Good thing we love the house otherwise I’d implode the thing. It needs painted to the tune of $5K which we don’t have lying around. Biggest oops purchase I can think of was bolts and bolts of fabric to do a room in a house for upholstery and drapes. Then we got transferred, the room wasn’t finished, and I’ve yet to find a house it will work in (that was 4 moves ago!). Although I’m still dragging about $700 worth of fabric around… hmmmm maybe its time to donate it to the local theatre group? What do you think, any other ideas?
Mine was an electronic drum kit for £1200 – I was starting drum lessons but I really don’t hae much of a sense of rhythm and got bored pretty quickly. I sold it in the end, for £800. So it wasn’t a total loss, I guess.
I bought an interior frame backpack for an anticipated assignment to rural Nepal. Then I got pregnant and assigned to Malaysia. That was 16 years ago and I’ve still never set foot in Nepal. And have still never used the $250 backpack. (The 15 year old is awesome, though, and I’ve never regretted HER, at least!)
A six foot diameter bean bag chair. It looked so cosy and casual in the store. In my living room, it was a schlumpy disaster. It took a good few minutes to settle in comfortably, and forget jumping out to grab a snack from the kitchen on a commercial break. It was a process. The final straw came when we adopted a kitten who peed on it. We were in a fourth story walkup apartment, so we rolled the damn thing to the back fire escape and pushed it over the edge, twenty feet from the dumpster we then dragged it to. The loud sound it made when it hit the ground was the most satisfaction I ever got from it.