What purchase do you regret the most under $30?
5I'm split between the knockoff iPhone charger that I for some reason won't throw away hoping it'll actually charge something once and the (popular local deals retailer who dabbles in goods) "give us $10 and we'll send a mystery gift" that, even with my purchase history available, led to me receiving a women's size 7 pink stone ring.
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I bought one of those sleeveless exercise shirts that was a boys 2XL.
@Kevin, where's the regret in that? Sounds like a traveling gun show...
Never again on those P.O.S. iPhone charging cables. I purchased a 10'-0" one. It worked for a day.
I purchased two Disney Mix Sticks MP3 players for my nieces off of w00t! I could never get those things to work properly even after buying the music sticks. The player ran me $11.99 and the music was $15. Waste of money!
For under $30, I think any real lingering regret would take it actually ruining something that was worth more than $30 (or harming me or my family). I've got plenty of higher value stuff filling up my regret-bank.
Higher end things are way easier to point out. Just a fun challenge to think of something that burned you that might be lingering despite its low price point (and ease of which it could/should be forgotten)
This is a really good question. Man, so many. Probably a clothing item. There's a special kind of disgust that wells up in me when I'm cleaning out my closet, getting rid of the stuff I don't need, and I have to confront some ill-fitting, ill-advised, never-worn, poor purchasing decision.
Trying to think of one... it's gotta be one of those "gifts that keep on giving." Maybe something where I got the $20 version because the $50 one seemed overkill. Something where the cost of frustration far exceeds the cost of getting the pricier widget.
@fgarriel, You raise a good point. I've definitely bought an app (or two) for $3 and then got frustrated during in-game and bought upgrades to beat a level (or two), thus leading to a purchase price far higher than I would have ever been okay with at the original buy
Got it. It was a toy box. A plain, white toy box from Target. It was a self-assembly doober with the 5-language assembly diagram, 7 cam bolts and a 1/4" painted MDF bottom.
The bottom, being only 1/4" thick, warps under any stress - such as being a box that is trapped in a box, in a container, on a boat, crossing the Pacific Ocean. The warping made it not sit in the dado/slot very well.
For years I carefully moved it whenever it was in need of being moved (generally, Christmas when the entire house is transformed into an even larger mess). I should've just thrown it away, but it didn't meet it's final resting place until this Christmas when I picked it up and the entire contents remained in place.
January 26th, 2010. I had to look it up, then found it was $34.99*, posting anyways because this thing would have still sucked if it was free.
http://www.woot.com/offers/vupoint-film-and-slide-digital-converter-jan-26
It had such an exact level of suckage that theoretically it was working but it was so crappy and cumbersome to use that I threw it away after wasting 3 hours trying to upgrade the drivers.
*oh, I guess as CEO of Woot at that time I can claim Woot's cost was my own so it probably still qualified.
Ha, the "stuff you bought" link on my Woot account is just where I went to look for my answer to this question.
@Matthew - same here.
Most recently - a stool from Target. I bought a lower-end but relatively solid stool for my standing desk. Instead, I got a cracked, garbage stool and potentially my card/identity stolen.
Long-term, it was a used fishing rod. Hooked a pretty large striper, and it was about 15ft from me when the rod disintegrated. I spent the rest of the day drinking, so it wasn't a total waste.
@ohjonnyboy, I'm wondering if IKEA has broken a generation of Americans from ever trusting pre-assembled "assembly required" furniture...
Well, it's added value to the antique market, that's for sure. But I think there will always be a need for "some assembly required" gods.
I have a whole pile of cat toys that have never been played with. They enjoyed the shipping boxes and brown packing paper they were sent in, so it's never been a total loss. You'd think I'd learn. But see something and think I've discovered the perfect toy and buy it despite what lesson I should have learned. I slap myself on the side of the head again. Each is only like maybe 2-10 bucks. So pick anyone of them for the regret. All together it's a lot more than $30 though. Cats.
Mine is something that, while cool, never gets used. Shatterproof wine goblets. They were used once and now take up space.
@Thumperchick, One of the better purchases I made was plastic wine "glasses" from Target. They look like glass (at least for now until the inevitable haze sets in) and allow my friends and family to enjoy a drink by the pool without me freaking out.
I should just start setting them out for craft hang outs. hrmm
Uh, after reading some of the responses...mental note, don't buy furniture from Target. Stick with groceries and toiletries.
I would say, like the others, buying the cheap-o iPhone cables, but then again...how long would said cords that cost me $0.01 last anyways? Honourable mention...some crappy ski masks that I bought that were 2/$10. I don't even know where they are at the moment...
Most of my "under $30" purchases amount to anything car-related (re: Hot Wheels and Matchbox), so I am generally pleased with my purchases.
Ah a life without regret or remorse. +5 Shield
If only @brandon
cue "Dreamweaver" as thought bubble goes up and sequence of happy, fun activities roll through
@brandon, is Tia Carrere in this? LOL
For me it would be the dinner I bought my now ex on our first date. Wow what I could have saved myself if I had just skipped that! :)
Mystery box on midnightbox.com. Missed the BOC during a WootOff and comforted myself with a $12.50 mystery box that included an elbow brace, an iPhone 5 case (I don't have an iPhone 5), touch screen gloves (I already have two pair I don't use) and a CORSET!! Yup. A real corset. At least that's what I think it is. Not even a cute, sexy Victoria's Secret kind of thingie, but an ugly 1940's looking torture device. Urgh!
@BelyndaG, I could use some touchscreen gloves!
@Bingo, they say that hindsight is 20/20...LOL
Definitely the accelerometer IC with pins that weren't breadboard-friendly. I had the hubris to think I'd be able to solder it no problem. The next day I was back at Tanner Electronics picking up the more expensive Sparkfun accelerometer with a breakout board.
@matthew, I'd have to second this, I've had to donate so many shirts with embarrassing things on them that I never wore...
