Money down the drain - tell me your tales of misery!

[SomeOtherGirl]

Bad luck comes in threes, and I've had three money ones this week (the second one's not too bad)!

1- DH used a toll bridge that won't let you pay at a toll gate, you have to log on to the website when you get home. Guess what, he forgot - and used it in both directions. £80 fine coming our way! (And he wonders why I'm so neurotic about stuff! :-D )

2 - The toilet broke and needed replacing. I called a plumber and he wanted £160 plus VAT for the first hour. DH is currently redeeming himself for item 1, with a youtube 'how to' video and a toilet from B&Q. Dodged a financial bullet there! And shredded the divorce papers. Phew!

3 - But the most annoying one - I just mucked up an accommodation reservation in a really daft way that has made it cost an extra £130. Nothing I can do to undo the damage - I've tried, it is what it is - basically I lost out on a one-off discount. Urgh. That's a lot of money to me!

When this kind of thing happens, it makes me reflect on how difficult it is to save / earn money, and how easy it is to lose it, if you're daft enough (like us!!) For example, last night I spent three hours on the internet researching baby equipment to save £30 on the price of a baby item for imminent DC2. I was dead chuffed to have saved the money and was all pleased for a bit. That's three hours of an evening to save £30. How have I just thrown away £130 then?! What is wrong with me?

Now I'm wondering what I could have done with that £130, all the lovely things I deny myself in the interest of saving money.

*15 books for DC
*Probably an entire layette (if you still use that word!) for DC2
*10ish reusable nappies
*A total hair makeover including dye, perm and other glitzy stuff
*260 cans of diet coke
*A babysitter and meal and cocktails out on two occasions for me and DH
*A fancy upgrade on the pram I want to get for DC2 but can't justify
*A fancier phone next time I upgrade
*proper leather boots this winter
*A Rymek keyboard (total frivolity!)
*Petrol for four and a half round trips to see my DPs
*Tickets to go and see DPILs
*A lot of cinema tickets
*A lovely(ier) birthday present for DH
*Some clothes that aren't in the sale for once! (And therefore probably fit a little better)

I could go on :-D

Then I was thinking, hmmm, what could I do to make up that money, little by little - and I realised the world doesn't really work that way. I found 18p on the street the other day and felt I'd won !!!

So aibu to ask you to cheer me up and tell me the face palm moments when you realise you'd lost / squandered / wasted a load of money, what would you have done with the money if you hadn't lost it, and whether you managed to do anything to make it up in the end? :-)

Was it quite a new bridge, OP?!

Bought a mirror for our wedding table plan to have professional sign writing on it. Gave the mirror measurements to the printers -Naturally it wasn't cheap. Didn't account for the frame so it didn't fit, and had to pay for it to be done again.

Don't beat yourself up - it happens to the best of us.

Our local Aldi carpark has signs up saying you can only park there for 90 minutes. I had never noticed these signs, but then I don't take an hour and a half to do my shopping so it's never been an issue.
Last week after a particularly stressful day I parked in the carpark then sat for a couple of minutes adding a few things to my shopping list. Next thing I knew I woke up with a start having dozed off. I'd been asleep for over an hour. Thoroughly embarrassed I went and did my shopping as planned, and went home quite satisfied, because I'd spent much less than I would normally.
Three days later I received a letter from the parking company who control the carpark. My car had been parked for over two hours. £70 fine for an afternoon nap!

Loads and loads, many more expensive than this but ds coming home for the weekend for the first time from university. Time to go home. Had to cross London by tube, several changes. He ran to the station and his train he had a ticket for was just leaving the platform. He rang me upset about it as he didn't have any money left. I said don't worry, I'll treat you to another ticket, train leaving in an hour. Go and sit down in Costa with a coffee near platform. An hour later he rings and says he's missed the train again as lost track of time . This time I say right I'll buy you a ticket going in an hour but this time you have to stand waiting on the platform stating up the track so you don't miss it again!!!! He didn't!

*staring not stating

DH (use the term 'Dear' loosely) took the free LinkedIn premium upgrade when he was looking for a new job over a year ago, but liked being able to snoop on people without them knowing so didn't cancel it, over a year LinkedIn premium costs a bomb. And his ancestry uk membership which rolled on for god knows how long, when He spent a month or 2 doing 'research'. We could have had an extra holiday based on those 2 things alone.

I booked a surprise trip to Iceland for DHs big birthday a few years back. One day got an email from them to say there had been a change to my flight schedule which I read and it appeared as though they had changed the return flight from Gatwick to Heathrow. I was beyond appauled and sent a very strong email to the airline before calling them up to rant some more. Only my part way through the call did I realise this was my mistake; the flight change they were referring to was a 20 minute departure change and twas I who had booked the wrong airport to fly back to and just somehow not noticed! To this day I don't understand how I had been paying that little attention. There was absolutely nothing else for it but to book another return flight to the correct airport and completely ignore the original flight. Every other option cost more money including the option to get a train from Heathrow to Gatwick which is absurd frankly but that's a different issue.
What made all of this even more distressing was we had just arrived at a hotel for a friend's wedding the following day and as this was a surprise, I was frantically trying to sort all this out whilst hiding from my DH in a tiny hotel room and pretending everything was fine when I could not have been more angry at myself. Several hunderd pounds worth of flights down the drain completely. I'm still mortified at my own stupidity now!

@Whatisthisfuckery

The same ex girlfriend made me miss half a gig I’d been desperate to see because she’d lost her phone. We had to retrace our steps in the dark using the torch on my phone looking for it. It was in her coat pocket all the time, wedged in the fold of her purse. She was a clumsy cow.

Oh, and I dropped an brand new iphone6, paid for outright, down the toilet. It was actually the second iphone I’d dropped down the toilet but the first was right before my upgrade was due so it wasn’t as bad.

Was it £130 per ticket or for both? Why so expensive even at £65 per ticket?

Did you not fancy staying in Birmingham anyway for an overnight break?

@FudgeBrownie2019

DS1 needed new school shoes in January of this year. I hung on as long as possible (his feet are truly enormous) and finally gave in. Cue Covid 3 weeks after I bought them and his feet went up another size over lockdown. £90 down the drain on shoes that still look brand new.

I once signed up to a door-knocker-chugger for a charity donation, only to discover a few days later that they were shitbag scammers and destroyed my bank account. I think they rounded out at around £800 before I could freeze the card.

Could they not be returned?

I feel you OP I'm currently on statutory maternity pay. This country is terrible for maternity allowance/pay in comparison to other countries. I'd actually cry if I lost £130 because that's a big chunk of my dreadful monthly pay at present. My toilet leaked and I'm currently trying to go through the insurance to pay for it but the excess is £500 which is basically a whole month of statutory mat pay! The toilet is integrated and all boxed in so had no idea it was leaking until we saw a lovely patch and crack on the ceiling downstairs. I live modestly but in a bit of an affluent area where if I drop my child anywhere I'm surrounded by stepford wives clogging up the area in their BMW or Range Rover SUVs who live in big houses and don't need to work. They are chatting in their groups in their leisurewear where £130 would be nothing to them. 😒 DH and I work very hard but get little return. Frustrating!

@Maryann1975

The grand national this year, (at the start of lockdown) it was run virtually. I have never placed a bet online in my life (or even in a betting shop) but Dh and i decided to put a bet on. He chose the horse. I rushed and got really stressed trying to open an account, but managed to do it, but didn’t really understand the system. Put the bet on with very little time to spare. I then managed to cancel the bet, no idea how. The horse then bloody won. I’m self employed, so had very little money coming in and Dh was furloughed. We would have won £200. I was devastated. I cried and cried. Life was tough anyway and I felt I had completely thrown away £200.

Aww, that's disappointing but as the virtual Grand National betting was all in aid of charity (unlike the normal Grand National) think of your lost £200 as a £200 donation to a good cause rather than something that was completely thrown away.

Some of these (theatre tickets and birthday gift) have reminded me of some others.

I ordered my mum a beautiful bouquet via Groupon (great price) for mother's day. I forgot to change the default address details and they were delivered to me. Very nice they were. I then spent a fortune on inter flora same day delivery.

Shortly before lockdown my husband treated us to theatre tickets. A play I have always wanted to see. His best friend was directing so he was very keen too. We have a 6 year old daughter and a 15 year old son who babysits on the odd evening for £20. All sorted.

The day before (lucky he checked) H realised he had booked for the matinee. Daughter had her best friends birthday party to go to and was bitterly disappointed at the thought of missing it. Son grudgingly agreed to take her there on the bus and hang around (he still got his normal fee). He later said it was the worst experience of his life - 15 little girls dancing around him singing frozen songs and declaring him a "prince".

Aw, that's sweet, "honey.*

Uncle offered us a lovely wardrobe for free - accepted gratefully without thinking it through

Had to hire a van - DH then reversed into a post so lost our deposit. Then go the wardrobe home and it was so heavy we had to get removal men to take it upstairs. So happy to see it in place and full of joy that would have lots of extra storage space - then found DH had put the key 'somewhere safe' so we had to pay for a locksmith to open the door

Free wardrobe ended up costing about £500!!

Just paid nearly £500 for Botox and fillers, and am struggling to see any difference! I’m at the stage where I’m actually convincing myself that I do look subtly different, but I think that’s just to justify the money spent. Lesson learnt!

@Thighdentitycrisis

bought a second hand sofa that wouldn't go up the stairs to my flat - its a house conversion. Had to leave it blocking the shared hallway and then give it away on freecyle.

‘Pivot’ ‘Pivot’ 😂😂

@Aiguablava you should have a tube that goes in the back and out a window so the warm air goes out.

@blowyernose

I feel you OP I'm currently on statutory maternity pay. This country is terrible for maternity allowance/pay in comparison to other countries. I'd actually cry if I lost £130 because that's a big chunk of my dreadful monthly pay at present. My toilet leaked and I'm currently trying to go through the insurance to pay for it but the excess is £500 which is basically a whole month of statutory mat pay! The toilet is integrated and all boxed in so had no idea it was leaking until we saw a lovely patch and crack on the ceiling downstairs. I live modestly but in a bit of an affluent area where if I drop my child anywhere I'm surrounded by stepford wives clogging up the area in their BMW or Range Rover SUVs who live in big houses and don't need to work. They are chatting in their groups in their leisurewear where £130 would be nothing to them. 😒 DH and I work very hard but get little return. Frustrating!

I'm only going to be getting maternity allowance - if you spend a year bringing up your baby then go on to have another, you get really poor support for the second. Smp/MA, into the swirly vortex you go!

When i went to study in Spain I called STA travel to book a youth hostel for the days immediately after my arrival in a city in the south. They emailed me the details but this was before smart phones so I printed it off. I got off the plane and looked at the address - it was for a hostel in Madrid, hundreds of miles away. I called them in a panic from a pay phone and they said it was impossible I could have requested the city I was actually in because they didn't have any hostels there anyway.

Huh?!

@bibliomania

My parents had a light grey stone fireplace fitted. Turned out larger than expected. Then they had it varnished and it turned dark grey.it was like an enormous cliff looming darkly over the room. Took years before they could afford to get it removed.

This made me laugh.

Got a brand new Iphone 6 through work on a Friday. Saturday went out drinking and had phone in my back pocket when I went to the loo............yup straight down the toilet and totally ruined. So I bought another one with my own money (can't remember how much but several hundred in those days) and within 2 days of getting it, got out of the car in school car park to open boot for DS totally forgetting phone was on my lap - it landed face down on the tarmac and the screen was smashed. Replacement screen required as well as a very robust phone case!

Many occasions of buying clothes/shoes for children that just weren't worn or they grew out of within days of buying said items

Dog had a very poorly front leg- concerned that she had broken her toe or something. Trip to vet for consultation, x-ray (and sedation for this), examination and consultation at pick up as well as binding of said paw. She hadn't broken it - she had twisted the claw whilst digging for bloody rabbits in the woods! And the bill was over £400. When she did it again a few months later, I bought some Vetwrap for about £5 and bound it up myself.

Was burgled last year and the bastards took my car keys and house keys. Had to have all locks changed - house locks covered under house insurance but still cost me £100 excess for a £140 bill. Car locks had £500 excess as they keys needed replacing too! And because they didn't reprogram it properly after disconnecting the battery, the infosystem didn't work properly so I had to make three trips to the insurance companies garage 30 miles away so had extra fuel costs too!!!

@Livelovebehappy

Just paid nearly £500 for Botox and fillers, and am struggling to see any difference! I’m at the stage where I’m actually convincing myself that I do look subtly different, but I think that’s just to justify the money spent. Lesson learnt!

I was just about to do that very thing when lockdown happened. I'll not bother now. You've just saved me £500

@Aiguablava

I love your name! Its my favourite beach. I long to go back there.

Mine is proper bloody idiot territory. Bought a car for the first time last week, had no one to talk me through it so just researched as much as I could about cars and using legit garages. Bought a second hand one that I could just trundle along in until I felt confident enough to drive something with more value, but not an ancient tin of shit either.

Less than a week of ownership and it's currently sat in a garage as it's 'too dangerous to drive'. For a car that apparently has months left on the MOT, the battery is gone, engine has faults, and the fuel tank is corroded to the point of leaking. Looking at losing the price of the car, or forking out £££ to have it repaired. It's been a really shit year even with Covid aside, cannot believe I've been stupidly done by this on top.

Thousands lost on our holiday which we didn’t go on in case it went on the quarantine list, and it didn’t 🙁