<p>So, what is the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made? The one you swore you would use all the time but that now makes you cringe or sigh or even curse every time you see it? </p>
<p>For me, it’s the spanking new ping-pong table folded up in our garage, taking up way too much space. We’ve unfolded it twice in four years. I bought it new from a sporting goods store, not even on sale, in anticipation of my D (who is much more sociable than her older brother) inviting scads of young male and female friends over to our house for sodas and pizzas and games of table tennis. We had to even borrow a friend’s truck to get it home. Well, the kids do come over and eat and drink but the garage turns out to be sort of small and not well lit for ping pong. Can’t see the ball! The driveway has a slope to it and gets too much ocean wind. Can’t find the ball! And apparently, ping pong can be sort of, um, boring. And its so much trouble to pull it out and set it up, maybe if it were just always set up but then there’s no room to park the cars, etc, etc… </p>
<p>So basically, it was like taking two or three $100 bills and lighting them on fire, except that the table mocks me every time I pull my decrepit mini-van into the garage. I should find it a new home, but I’m too stubborn. (This WILL turn into a good purchase someday, this WILL…)</p>
<p>I am envious of a garage you can get a car into.
We have a detached garage that could be big enough for a car I suppose- if it wasn’t for the fact that my husband never met an lawnmower/metal lathe/discarded door he didn’t like.</p>
<p>We never had a ping pong table- I suspect if we did, it would rapidly become a place to fold/store laundry.
We have started going out to play pool though, pool is much more fun, ping pong does get boring after a while.</p>
<p>But could be worse, you could be paying for storage of a boat you never get fixed up enough to take out.
To add to your ripping out dollar bill analogy, I heard one sailboat owner who races say, that racing is like standing under a coldshower and ripping up $100s
( although that must be what * floats his boat* because I didn’t see any sign that he was going to quit)</p>
<p>We have one of those too. We also have a drum kit. My younger daughter was taking lessons and really into it, so I bought her the set. Shortly thereafter, her instructor left the studio and she didn’t like the new instructor, so she stopped playing entirely.</p>
<p>See, sailboats and grand pianos are elegant and posh and exude good taste even if they just sit there. Ping pong tables that nobody uses are just pathetic and space suckers. And, well, head massagers, too, Tookie, but at least you can hide it in a drawer somewhere! :)</p>
<p>Ah where to start about dumb purchases–there are so many. The dardest thing is the kids start out loving them & then refuse to allow us to store or part with them. We have wooden blocks–several rubbermaid storage bins FULL of them, all in the living room. Kids haven’t played with them for years but still have conniptions when we try to store them. We also have wooden train sets with a similar fate.
I guess the dumbest thing we bought was cedar that we’re supposed to install in our apartment closet (to have a cedar-lined closet) shortly after we married (over 20 years ago). We moved it with us to our new house where it’s taking up a good portion of our garage closet, still in original packing. Oh well, at least it’s out of sight & not in the middle of the living room with our boxes of wooden blocks, train sets & stuffed animals. Note: the “kids” are now nearly 19 & nearly 17. I guess whenever we have grandkids, we’ll know where the blocks, trains & stuffies are.</p>
<p>My parents bought me a bunch of test prep books that I never even cracked open. They’re sitting on my desk right now. Waste of a hundred dollars.</p>
<p>PDA. Got palms about 5 years ago. Used for a few months, but got tired of losing everything because we forgot to change the batteries…</p>
<p>OTOH,</p>
<p>We have several things that others consider junk, but we use all the time:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>breadmaker. Got it 12 years ago. Gets used at least once a week, more in winter.</p></li>
<li><p>treadmill. Used on ebay. gets a real workout.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I’ll second the Nordictrak – we really did use it for a while, but it eventually became a very unattractive clothes hanger. It now resides in the basement.</p>
<p>I really like our breadmaker, which I still use regularly, and the baby grand was the best purchase we ever made. Oldest son studied piano for 13 years, and second son is in year 11. It gets regular use, and I’ve always hoped to buy each kid a small grand as a wedding gift someday.</p>
<p>The NordicTrak we got rid of awhile back. We too bought a baby grand piano for D who never plays it anymore, but S who never had a lesson loves to play and H plays so it wasn’t a total waste. Plus, it looks good in the livingroom. Also we didn’t know what we were getting into when we agreed to take a relative’s pool table when they were moving. It ended up costing just as much to transport and set the thing back up as it would have to buy a new pool table and everyone misses the ping pong table. But none of that compares to the time years ago when we went on a cruise and got caught up in the frenzy of one of those ubiquitous at sea art auctions. Shortly thereafter styles in home decorating and my own tastes changed and when we moved I made a convincing case that none of it “fit” in the new house. All are packaged up and stored in closets to this day! I don’t love cruises, finally agreed to go on another ten years later, but refused to go near the art auction this time!</p>
<p>Dumbest purchase we ever made had to be the blue-crowned conure (part of the parrot family). It was an impulse buy gone bad. Kids were too young to help care for it or really take much interest in the bird after the first few weeks. And yet there she was in our breakfast room squaking and screamiing 24/7. The bird constantly made a huge mess flinging food out of the cage. When we started noticing the trail of ants leading from the vicinity of the bird cage we decided the bird had to go. Luckily we were able to sell her back to the breeder(at a much lower cost than we paid of course).</p>
<p>We have the pool table and a piano. The pool table lives in the basement and gets a lot of use during the holidays when we have friends and relatives over. The piano gets a daily work-out with son and husband plays it in the winter. The breadmaker, however, just takes up shelf space. I’m not much of a bread -eater and never got in the habit of making it. I’m hoping one of the kids will take it when they settle someplace. </p>
<p>I’m the one has a hard time parting with kids toys and books. The only way I could justify buying a Brio train set was telling myself that it would last for generations and generations. </p>
<p>Worst purchase? Word smart prep for the SAT. I thought I was buying a couple of CD’s but they kept on coming and coming and each one was billed to my credit card. Might have been a good program but my Son just glanced at them.</p>
<p>Oh, animal purchases! That reminds me of the cousin to dumb purchases, which is dumb impulse favors. Five years ago my younger sister and her husband bought a Saint Bernard puppy. He was so cute. Then he grew up and turned into a 185 pound slobbering Saint Bernard dog, basically a small horse. They had a baby, moved to a nicer place but with only a patio instead of a yard and I unselfishly agreed to take their dog to keep our other dog company out back. Fast forward to six months later when the dog blew out his ACL ligament and it was either put it down or fork over the $4,500 for surgery. Sister couldn’t help due to unforseen medical bills from brother-in-law. Guess who is still driving the decripid mini-van two years later? But at least the dog fits in the back of it and I could care less about the slobbering mess he makes there.</p>