What's your most expensive moment of stupidity?

[HangingOver]

Cheer me up MN.

I visited DF for the first time since moving a loooong way away on the train this weekend. The train fares were over £200 all in but worth it to see DF. Raced to the station today to get the connecting train home and realised the return journey I booked was, in fact, yesterday. Minutes to spare and only first class seats available. £198. So my two days with DF cost me over £400. What an absolute wally! Am trying to channel my inner Love Islander and just say "it is what it is" (and obviously being grateful I actually had the money in my account to buy it). I was trying to think back and I think this is probably my single most expensive incident of stupidity (the one time the waiter accidentally charged my card €300 instead of €30 not counting as that was his fault).

Tell me yours while I drink my fifth cup of free tea.

@OhEff think you win! Millions?!

Mine are:

Marrying the ex, cost me in so many indirect and hard to quantify ways. Giving up my career to be a trailing spouse (he was army), the divorce, endless nonsense with contact, paying to facilitate his contact including hotel stays when dd didn't feel secure he would return her when he was supposed to and wanted me nearby, legal fees, unpaid maintenance - off the top of my head reckon the divorce and contact etc alone cost me around £100,000 add in the lost career and I dread to think.

In terms of things, mainly buying 2nd hand tech. It ALWAYS goes wrong and the seller ALWAYS pissed me about! Will never buy 2nd hand again I'd rather go without.

Op - update - yay! Slight win then

Train travel (this comes under the ex crap) learned that those advance tickets are NOT actually cheap unless you're only doing a short journey with one operator. I was travelling from one end of the country to the other diagonally! So at least 3 different operators sometimes 5. If one train (usually 1st or 2nd of the journey) was delayed and I missed the connection then I had to stump up to buy new tickets as they're specific to the train and time. The company with the delayed train isn't contractually obliged to ensure you make a connection so they won't accept responsibility, the company who's train you missed doesn't have to account for delays by other companies. This is why we need NATIONAL rail back! And even advance tickets are extortionate. It was most of the time much cheaper for me to - bus to airport this end, fly to airport nearest wherever ex was, ex more often than not wouldn't meet at airport if it was more than 30 mins away so then train/bus at other end and he'd meet us at bus/train station. Total Fucking palaver! I couldn't drive at the time as meds I was on wouldn't allow. Ex travelled to us ONCE! and bitched about it for MONTHS! He got discounted travel and warrants etc but wouldn't use them to see his child!

Also I HATE flying Fucking terrifies me avoid it wherever possible snd ex knew this too. Bastard!

I didn't quite manage to put wrong fuel in car, but bought a car just after split from ex as he kept the family car. All pleased with myself I got a good deal. Got to the Asda petrol station, got out the car to fuel it and...realised I'd no idea what fuel it took! Completely spaced! Went up to the window to ask the 12 year old cashiers advice and she was just like no idea! Car behind me bloke was getting impatient. Came up and asks what problem is thinking I've broke down or something. Explain and he smiles, "have you checked the book that came with it?" That prompts me to remember I even HAVE this! Go to look, book covers all models which means still no idea. End up phoning the dealership I've just bought it from! impatient chap who I'm apologising profusely to is actually really lovely and says "don't worry about it. I'm still in the dog house with the wife cos I borrowed her car last week while mine was in for a service and..."

Yep

"...put the wrong fuel in AND tried to drive it. Cars a write off! I'm looking for a new one for her"

I end up recommend the place I just bought from

I did once fall asleep on the train on the way home from work and missed not only my station but the guard had to physically shake me awake at the end of the line. Cost me £45 taxi when I could ill afford it. That literally cost me dinner for a week

Good news- reading this thread has reminded me to cancel the hotel we had booked at Heathrow airport next week (should have been going to Vegas). Now to see if I can get a refund on the airport lounge we'd booked!

Bad news- its also reminded me that I didn't pay for the parking in town yesterday! You can log on up to 24hrs later and pay! Opps. Must download the app!

Going to the wrong airport and missing my flight… getting Uber (£80!) to the right airport as there was a small chance I’d still make it (I didn’t). New flight purchased for £700 but to a different state in NY than I was going to. Then about £30 in travel to the right one and a whole lot of time 😂
Honestly amazed at myself sometimes 🙄

Last week, I got home and couldn't find my house keys. Tipped my handbag out onto the car seat to look for them properly. Got out of the car and somehow managed to lock my self out of the car as well. Called the RAC, then my dad suggested I might be covers on my home insurance for a lock Smith. Fortunately I was. One I got back into the house and retrieved the spare car keys. I found the house keys in the car boot. Argh!!

Got a young adult cat from a rescue centre...they offered 8 weeks free insurance, 100% cover. Filed the policy in a safe place and put a reminder in my calendar for 7.5 weeks later to arrange my own.

6 weeks after we brought him home he didn't come home one night. He came back the next morning in an awful state...his tail was limp and dragging, his back legs were barely supporting his weight.

Rushed him to the vet and he'd had a 'tail pull' injury...basically got his tail caught in something and had to rip himself free causing all kinds of damage. He needed meds, x-rays, a full tail amputation and pins in one back leg.

Pulled out my insurance document and discovered I'd misread it...it was 6 weeks full cover, not 8 and it has elapsed.

£1900 bill.

Oh also I guess my bee David Lloyd membership for £100 a month that I have no desire to use as I found out I’m pregnant and feel sick all the time and can’t use the spa now… also would not of signed into a years contract if I knew I’d be on maternity pay soon 🤦🏻‍♀️

When iPods first came out, went for a run and dumped my clothes in a pile when I got back in, the next day put clothes+iPod in the washing machine and by the time I worked out what the clunking noise was it was too late.

@sociallydistained

Oh also I guess my bee David Lloyd membership for £100 a month that I have no desire to use as I found out I’m pregnant and feel sick all the time and can’t use the spa now… also would not of signed into a years contract if I knew I’d be on maternity pay soon 🤦🏻‍♀️

Ask them if you can pause it, my gym (not David Lloyd) let me when I explained about the sickness.

My loft conversion, remortgaged an extra 80,000 and a few more thousand on top for extras.

Whole roof had to come off which is why it’s more expensive.
I didn’t need one but wanted one as I wanted to go up stairs to bed (bungalow) and to have en-suite 😁
I love it, it’s not grand or anything but it’s all mine.

On a packed commuter train, lots of us standing in first class as there was nowhere to go without being crushed. Bastard inspectors got on and cleared up fining people £20 for not having first class tickets. Fair cop, got my purse out to pay the Fine, no purse. Left it in other bag which was at home. Total gits wouldn't let DH pay over the phone with his card and wouldn't accept me taking money borrowed from a colleague to a station. Got a prosecution notice in the post a few days later and paid a solicitor £1000 to get it lifted. A very expensive consequence of leaving my purse at home.

New (to me) car. Almost completely empty underground car park. The Weeknd's Blinding Lights on the radio. Gaily reversed out of my space at some speed...straight into a concrete pillar.
I hope at least the security guys had a laugh watching the CCTV.

on holiday in Belgium , lost passports , wallet etc. Drove miles to get emergency passports in Brussels that cost 200 quid then got to Eurotunnel to be told we needn't have bothered as they had all our details from the outbound trip.
worse was buying a massage chair for 1000 quid at a home fair , used it maybe five times , then it broke and no warranty

Going on a weekend break to Barcelona with my mum, checked in online before leaving home, at security handed my passport over to find I’d picked my dh’s up and not mine. No time to get back home for mine, mum got the flight and I had to pay for a seat again the following day. What an idiot.

Packing to go abroad for the trip of a lifetime.
Keeping out my passport, plane tickets, tour confirmation, travellers cheques (yes, this was the 1980s) and £250sworth of local currency.
Packing those essentials into a money belt / passport holder thing, except for the envelope of currency which I tore up and threw away before leaving my room tidy for the trip.

Flying to see friends in Melbourne. Arriving and going to ring them, and realising they lived in Adelaide.

Years back, a family member (not close family) was dispatched to get a lottery ticket with their usual numbers. Went to the pub, en route, had a few drinks and forgot to buy the ticket
All 6 numbers came up, would have made them millionaires a few times over.
It’s never spoken of 🙈🙈

I didn't know Hawaii had more than one island and booked our flights and Hotel on different islands..only realised when I wanted to work out how far away we went from the airport

Taking an overnight train to Frankfurt to call on a friend while interrailing. Arriving and going to ring him before remembering he lived in Freiburg.
There is a theme running here...

Oops, agreed to HS2 thinking it would only cost about £37.5 billion and it now turns out it could cost £98 billion. And it's not even finished!

Silly me. Oh well I suspect no one will notice - good job I changed my name from Boris at at start of this.

Oh bugger I may have just have given the game away...

My friends brother got seriously drunk his last night in Ireland and missed his flight home to New Zealand and it was a cheapo ticket. Not sure exactly what it cost him but it was over a thousand euro to sort.

@MissingH0me

Funny how there is are common themes of tech and transport.

Just remembered another one. BIL owed us $1000. He brought it over in a paper bag for some reason. We accidentally recycled it!

Someone I know took their life savings out during last recession and wanted to keep money at home as it was safer. He then somehow ended up throwing it out in the rubbish! £almost £100k He’s never recovered

There was something wrong with my first car and I gave it away to a garage for free. Still see it being driven around town 10 years later . Still cannot get over how stupid I was!

Putting a brand new cashmere jumper into the washing machine and it coming out like a barbie top..............

Coming out of hospital from seeing my nan for the last time and forgetting I was in DH's car not mine. Spent nearly an hour walking round a multi storey car park trying to find it before ringing him in tears saying it had been stolen. Then realising it needed fuel on the way home, and putting petrol in it instead of diesel.

Brand new TV, cleaning up a week after buying it and chuck a toy, aiming for the toy box. Hit the TV and broke the screen 😭

PaulGallico, thanks for the tip! Fortunately I’m a bit of a HP fan myself so am just as excited to see it as the kids, just trying to forget the £££