<p>I have to confess that I grew up in a camping family and enjoyed it. In fact, we spent one summer camping in a tent! My parents were helping to start a Christian campground and three other familes and us were rehabbing the main building with a kitchen. My sister and I were about 7 and 8 and spent the summer running wild with the other kids, building forts in the woods, swimming in a lake and having a blast. The Dad’s would come on the weekends but the Mom’s were in charge most of the time and did most of the work. Our family camped until my youngest was about 3 and then I just couldn’t take it any more. Both boys do (did) lots of camping/backpacking with Boy Scouts though so we do still have lots of gear and our daughter has learned to love both as well. I think it’s a young people hobby but one I look back on with pleasure.</p>
<p>I’d have to say that our dumbest purchase was the cross country skis that my husband and I bought (before we had kids) that we used twice around the neighborhood when we had a blizzard and couldn’t go to work. They are still collecting dust in the basement.</p>
<p>MallomarCookie, The marvelous battery powered eyeglass cleaner came with special fluid, one submerges their glasses and turns on the cleaner, and it shakes! H just notified me that he bought it at Sharper Image, just in case anyone would like to purchase one-LOL! I just want you to know that I was practically rolling on the floor after I typed this. I am laughing so hard (H is here with me) that I have tears rolling down my face!</p>
<p>Kathiep, We have tons of camping gear too, but it is used in our family.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/product/sku__SI696BLU[/url]”>http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/product/sku__SI696BLU</a></p>
<p>I have just been informed that this is the product he bought. I must correct the price. I was told it was $20, but apparently it is priced substantially more at 49.95! I am no longer laughing as hard now. In seriousness (jk) this is supposed to fill in the little scratches which is why he bought it. In his opinion, it did not do the job it was supposed to, and it has been discarded.</p>
<p>A big TV armoire just before wide screens came out.</p>
<p>“The 40-second cleaning cycle starts with the push of a button and stops automatically; the lid pops up and shakes off any excess liquid.” (from the battery-operated eyeglass cleaner ad).</p>
<p>I’m crying, too, northeastmom. Too funny. And I’m not showing this to my DH because it’s something he might like!</p>
<p>It’s been mentioned but I just have to vent…a pool! I was brainwashed into it 15 years ago. Anyway we live 5 miles from the beach and everyone prefers going there instead.</p>
<p>I dump chemicals into this hole, backwash it every week, for what? For crickets and beetles to get trapped, then I have to rescue them every morning because I feel sorry for them.</p>
<p>The copings chipped , I had them replaced this year, plus a new stretch cover put on. 10 grand. Grrrr. Never again.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>OMG that’s something I would do! </p>
<p>But 10 grand to maintain a hole in the yard? wow, I think you might win, 2331clk!</p>
<p>Ummmmmmmmmmmm…it would take entirely TOO MUCH time and space to list all of our dumb purchases. A much more concise list would be our SMART purchases. <em>lol</em> 
~berurah</p>
<p>Hey, I didnt know we were allowed to list spouses dumb purchases. Lets see how many of you moms can relate to this: BEANIE BABIES!! We have several storage cartons of these in the attic. Were they really for the kids to play with? If so, why are they in individual baggies with the tags still on? </p>
<p>In my wifes defense, I guess if the beanie baby bubble hadnt burst after 2000, we could have sold those retired limited edition beanie babies to pay for college tuition.</p>
<p>Beanie babies? Don’t remind me. One time at the height of the craze our local pharmacy/general store held a contest to AWARD one lucky winner the RIGHT to purchase Princess for a price that I am too embarrassed to disclose. I kid you not when I say that people were lined up in droves for this, investment opportunity of the magnitude it was! Guess who the “lucky” winner was? Of course the bottom fell out of the beanie “market” right after that. Another thing H won’t let me live down! Anyway, we have hundreds and hundreds of these from when D was into them - I can’t bring myself to get rid of them…yet.</p>
<p>I also remember with much embarrassment the day that D went to a friends house for a playdate. The friend was just casually tossing around a beanie that was supposedly valued at close to $400 by then. The mother was oblivious to the “worth” of the thing and I told her that the daughter would ruin the value if she let the tag get bent! She looked at me like I was from Mars. I think I was!!</p>
<p>oh, I think I blocked my beanie baby purchases. I too have boxes of these things. Now, if some of you get rid of yours now, MINE will sell on e-bay for a pretty penny when I’m 80 or so!</p>
<p>Yes, I got sucked in to the Beanie Baby thing, too, when DD was young. While vacationing in Florida one year, I found two Bronty the Brontosaurus bb’s for $10 each, so I bought one for DD and one for her best friend. I knew they were valuable at the time, but had no idea how valuable until we got home and did some research. I convinced the girls to let me sell them online and they each made $350 … $700 for a $20 investment. DD sold a lot of her Beanie Babies at a garage sale several years ago, but we still have several of them in a storage tub. I still can’t believe I allowed myself to get sucked in to those things.</p>
<p>For Christmas one year I made a Beanie Baby garland for the stair rail. My husband looked at it and wondered how much that “garland” cost. I quickly found something else to do.</p>
<p>As for dumbest purchases? A tie between the Ronco pasta maker (but, dang!, that was a good infomercial) and a hot tub (couldn’t ever seem to get the pH right, gave up trying).</p>
<p>They’re related: 1-Schwinn Bowflex 2-Stationary bike 3-Treadmill</p>
<p>Right now all 3 are staring at me, screaming “Use me!”</p>
<p>Instead I’m burning off a calorie or two an hour on the computer.</p>
<p>
**<strong><em>BLUSH</em></strong><strong>
Guilty as charged, ‘cept I **LET</strong> the kids play with them, thereby utterly TRASHING the ol’ investment! 
</p>
<p>
We finally trashed all the second hand and useless things of this nature and invested in a new Precor elliptical, the kind our local gym uses. I even occasionally respond to its beseeching look and hop on it! :)</p>
<p>It did tear at me a bit when I realized we owned the original Beanie “Platty”, as well as “Lefty” and “Righty”, who, at their heydey, were worth nearly $1000 apiece, if said Beanies were in pristene condition, still with tags.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, ours were also tagless and loved to death. So much for that big return on our five dollar investment!</p>
<p>And we STILL have about 300 of them!</p>
<p>Anyone interested in a complete set of Pokemon cards?</p>
<p>I told my kids to hang on to them till around 2040 – THEN they’ll be valuable, along with the Power Ranger toys we have in a box in the garage. Maybe they’ll be like 50’s metal lunchboxes and 60’s Barbies are today to the boomer generation.</p>
<p>I just did a quick check on Ebay and there are 11 pages of unbid-upon beanie babies, despite initial bids of $.99 or less in some cases… It’s sad. I have been encouraging my daughter to part with her beanie baby collection (3 boxes, of which only one beanie baby was more than list price) but she is saving it for her grandchildren. </p>
<p>However, I do have the dragon beanie baby sitting on my computer monitor right now. He guards my computer against evil 
And the turkey is part of our Thanksgiving decorations.</p>
<p>I have been giving the beanie babies away at Halloween- the kids actually are quite thrilled to get them.
We have quite a few- because the peak of the craze was when my then 8 year old was changing schools from a very small private to a much larger public, and a beanie a week for a short time helped her change focus from how much she did not want to be there. Of course then friends and relatives went a little nutso too.
But handing themout with just a tiny bit of candy, makes the fact that they aren’t getting much candy ( I have a thing against sugar),not as noticeable, and even the middle school kids think it is a great idea.</p>
<p>( we also gave her gameboy to a disabled friend to play with during dr appts, but I have no idea what happened to the pokemon cards- I think she gave them away too.)</p>