To ask what the most ridiculous thing you have ever spent money on is?

I hadn't read the thread before but I have now and I'd like to express my sympathy to those who have sad stories to tell, especially @AuntieEstablishment - I am so sorry for your experience.

But I also have enjoyed many of these stories - especially the red-haired barbie and the seagull pasty. The things we do eh!

I too would like a pic of the crocodile family pls @AveAtqueVale

An empty violin case.

At one point we had several violins in the house (3 of us played) and decided to package up a learner one of my brothers to donate to a village in Malawi. I picked the worst case to send it in.

Turned out the case was the one that came with my slightly, actually, valuable violin which belonged to my step dads father and was something of a family heirloom. I had no idea if the case was valuable too and didn't want to make anyone suspicious by asking. So I bought a beaten up old case on eBay that had similar colours, scuffed it up, broke the lock, bent a hinge to match what I remembered of the original, and hid it in mum's attic (which is where I had told them it was). Never told a soul, it cost £50!!! I have no idea if he would have been angry to this day.

He's old now so hopefully i will never see the consequences of my lie.

Best post on here in a long time !!

🐊 🐊

I can't think of anything off the top of my head but I wanted to thank you for making me laugh (with you, not at you, and in a very kind not nasty way I stress) after a crappy day! This has really made me smile OP and I hope the parent crocodiles love their adopted baby as much as they loved the child that has now flown the nest! Hope you're feeling better soon 💕

Is there a concern that the Lego crocodiles might reject the replacement baby and eat it?

I don't see the issue 😂

I just spent 10 pounds on getting crisps and ice cream delivered.
I have no defence

This is very wrong.
I almost feel like it should be illegal, but that's probably bit authoritarian.
But it is preying on people at a very vulnerable part of their life.
So sorry you went through this.

That looks amazing! What a great purchase.

Got mine from Armstreet, custom made, but the business is in Ukraine, so ive no idea how reliable they are anymore, but the customer support was top notch when i had mine made in 2017.

I went with the full "King's guard" set.

@AveAtqueVale

far too many things to mention!!

Coukd you ask the toddlers Mum to swap crocodiles? I would, get the REAL baby back!

I love this!

You've missed a trick here. You should rotate them regularly so that they get equal amounts of wear and tear. Then if one gets lost, the replacement can slide into position with no questions asked.

Yes, I have found this out the hard way.

£25 on a hotwheels size character from Blaze and the Monster Machines. My little one asked for the set from Santa but they only came individually and one eluded me despite weeks of trawling toy shops. That one cost as much as the rest of the team together. He loved it though.

I bought a seagull a pasty from Greggs a few weeks ago. I'd watched it fly down to pick up a paper bag believing it had food in. It was so disappointed when it discovered the bag was empty, so I dodged into the shop and bought it one to make up for the disappointment. It was well happy 😂

Cigarettes. I used to smoke 20 a day.

Oh, I have one of these.

DD1 has red hair. Bright, glowing, spun with gold and orange and blonde hair (except for her eyebrows, which are transparent, and her lashes, which are palest blonde). At the time she was little, all dolls were either blonde or brunette, with the very, very occasional concession to equality with a single black or dual heritage doll in some ranges.

When she was four, there was a special edition Barbie mermaid produced in limited numbers in the US. And it had red hair. (NB, this was years before The Little Mermaid).

Bearing in mind I was on about £125/week with £84/week in rent and council tax costs alone (no top ups for working parents at the time), I took a day off work and travelled into London, as the only shops that had them was Selfridges or Hamleys. I fought my way through the crowds because, naturally, DD's birthday was at the end of November and she only announced two days before her birthday that she'd heard of this from a friend at school who had seen them there.

The crowds were awful. The heat, the noise, the confusion, the QUEUES and I searched the racks, but couldn't find one. I nearly burst into tears when an absolutely lovely, very young sales assistant asked me was I OK and what I was looking for and, after keeping me waiting for another 35 minutes, disappeared out of sight. Then her head popped up from under another till and she had one in her hand. I then had to stump up fifty fucking quid for this thing when the standard ones were about a tenner - without crying too much out of sheer gratitude. If anybody so much as glanced at my yellow bag in the tube crush, I gave them a Death Glare.

DD was over the moon when she opened it, played with it loads - but she'll never know the ridiculous lengths I went to so she could have a doll that looked like her.

These days, you just type it into Google/Amazon/whatever and you'll find any type of Barbie you want. But all that time, effort and shitload of money went on one Mermaid Barbie that spent its time without her tail (because it was usually sat on the stupid cat's back) as she played with it until she was eight.

Totally ridiculous. But totally worth it.

I've wanted my own suit of armour since I first saw one on holiday when I was about 5. DW knows that if we win the lottery, its going to be my first purchase before even paying the mortgage off 🤣

A sleep consultant. I thought she would help us with getting DD to sleep better. She turned out to be a charlatan who did nothing but criticise and belittle and basically told us to do controlled crying/CIO. The woman had a dreadful toll on my mental health.

I love blasting aphids off plants with the hose. Not sure it would work on a balcony tho.

I did once spend £10 on playmobil guinea pigs coz they were cute abd we have guinea pigs. I also spent £500 on vets bills in the final year of my favourite guinea pigs life.

I spent 1k on a retro video full size arcade machine, was a moment of madness and boredom in lockdown. We played in it loads for a few months but not anymore.

This happened to me a couple of years ago. I know I didn’t leave the house and we got new carpets so had to empty the bedroom and take everything out.
We looked for hours checking every area in the house but after 2 years I’m guessing I’ll never find it.

In the end I bought a replacement for a reasonable price on eBay. I noticed a lot of people sell single ones so maybe this is a weird phenomenon or there is an AirPod fairy who sneaks in during the night and takes them?

You could sell the other AirPod you have and case so it’s not a total waste of money? Or buy a replacement?

It still bugs me after all this time wondering where it disappeared to. The only explanation me and DP can think of is that I got up to go to the toilet half asleep and it fell out and got flushed away.

If you ever find it please update!

I have a Smurf money box. When I spotted there was a Smurfette one on eBay, I bought her to keep him company. It seemed only fair.

Hot water bottles with faux fur covers. The colours were all so nice I didn't know which one to choose - so I bought loads, including hot water bottles (also different colours). I bet I've got more than a dozen - all hidden around the house so people don't know how absolutely bonkers I am.