To ask what's your stupidity tax?

[autienotnaughty]

Stupidity tax - something you have done that's ended up costing you financially or emotionally.

I'll go first.

I'm in the house one Friday night with dh and the kids. Eldest has a friend over who I offer to drive home. Can't find the car keys anywhere. I nip out to the car (I have form for leaving the car unlocked) discover that not only is the car unlocked but the keys are in the ignition switch on (as in lights and radio should be on but engine is not running). Probably been like that around five hours so the battery is completely dead.
Dh cannot revive the dead battery so end up paying ££ To increase our emergency cover to include home start and £££ for a new battery.
All in all a pretty expensive mistake. This sort of thing happen to anyone else?

Not sure if it's a stupidity tax - more likely a hormone based one tbh but over the years I have:

Thrown out brand new, just bought from the expensive butcher, fillet steaks for 5 people

Locked myself out of the house and had to pay a lock smith

Had a complete mind blank and for some unknown reason, threw the metal ladle into the bowl in the sink but completely missed. Hit (and smashed) a double glazed window. DH was

Packed a pair of boots in a suitcase, put it in the attic, thought I'd lost them so replaced them. Found them a year later.

Left milk in a cupboard for 2 days instead of the fridge.

Absent mindedly put a metal container of crispy beef in the microwave. Ruined both the food and the microwave.

I am a liability

I have ADHD so the stupid tax is just the weekly tax for me😩. Recently ordered ds uniform on m&s and instead of ordering it to be picked up in store, I put delivery.....to my old address 🤦🏼‍♀️ £62 gone (of course new tenants took it and pretended not to have received it). Keep losing ds bus pass, even though he gives it to me so he doesn't lose it (the irony).
So many I can't even say.

Forgot to pay the Dartford crossing charge in time. Paid it as soon as I realised and emailed to say so. They responded with a curt explanation that late payment would not be recognised and to await an enforcement notice. It will be £70 reduced to £35 if I pay within two weeks. Great. Thanks for that. Would have been £2.50. Idiot.

Mine and DH did an expensive 1 together!
DH lost his house key ages ago and we were sharing mine, kept forgetting to cut a new one.

I was out walking with DS 6mo in a sling, locked myself out. No way in. DH couldn’t get back for 2 hours so we walked about. Sunny and warm so fine. DH got back and the locksmith was busy until late, so went for dinner, had to buy nappies and wipes for DS, waited in the car. 8.30pm locksmith came had to change whole lock. Cost £££.

I got out the car and on the passenger seat, was my DHs lost front door key!!! 🫣

How did you chuck out the steaks?! Ouch!!

First holiday I was taking my children on. We were so looking forward to it. Bought airport parking, etc.
Got to London Gatwick, only to discover I was meant to be at London Stanstead.

Was too embarrassed to tell anyone, and luckily my kids were only 5 and 2 at the time.
Drove to Stanstead, Got new flights for the next day, stayed at hotel near the anirport and told my DCs the holiday was starting there and then.
££ down the drain, but was not going to disappoint my DCs.

I find these threads comforting. That most the time these massive moments that leave us stressed and frazzled eventually just become stories.

Where was DP in all of this?

@MonicaWalkaway

I was very hormonal and feeling the need to do a deep clean. I collected a bag of stuff that needed to go to the tip. Put it in the car, went in to town, bought all the ingredients for a steak dinner for DH, me and 3 friends. Went to the tip, picked up the wrong bag and threw it in.

No idea how, the rubbish bag was plastic, food one was a cloth reusable one. Rubbish one was massive and full to the brim, the food one wasn't.

And to make it worse, I didn't even notice until I got home, showered etc and was ready to start cooking. DH was annoyed (putting it politely).
It cost us twice - once for the steaks and again for the takeaway for 5 we had to buy to feed us all

Subscribing to the Times Literary Supplement.

Good thread this - me and DP are regular contributors to Stupidity Tax - although not very original (both have been mentioned and set off flashbacks). My DP had a (long haul) flight booked for 0035 on a Friday night only to turn up at the airport 24 hours late (just as we were arriving at Heathrow to meet them). We also had an incident where we had to change cars at the last minute due to a repair so I inadvertently put our regular registration in the the parking ticket machine and not the work car I was actually driving. Even though we explained what we had done AND supplied evidence that our car (which we had paid for) was actually being repaired in a garage 200 miles away we still had to pay a £100 fine (and we didn't even get a refund on the ticket we had bought) - those firms are absolute scum! (the airline were surprisingly reasonable - I think we only paid about a third of the regular price for a flight 48 hours later) - it did mean my DP managed to miss my parents golden wedding anniversary - I'm still not sure whether they think that was a good thing or not.

I didn't think you could misfuel cars anymore, I thought the nozzles were different. I always double and triple check but a few months ago I was obviously distracted and picked up the wrong one and it didn't fit in my car, thank goodness. I probably would have double checked but it was still very fortunate for me.

Very small error but put the wrong reg no into the machine when paying for parking, so had to pay again with the right reg no. Only lost about £1.80 but it was still annoying!

Got stung with a fine for not declaring a vehicle as SORN... all because I could not tick one box.

Bought a £200 item online.. the company went bust so I never got my item, but did not feel able to chase a refund either.

Countless fines for overdue library books.

Loads of clothing that does not fit because I can't face the hassle of returning them.

Spending much effort on carefully done coursework for school/college/uni - only to only get passes as I always handed it in late.

Not chasing a £700 tax rebate I was owed. Too much effort to call up about it.

I have paid several thousand in council tax over the years. I have been on UC since 2017, and back then was entitled to a 100% discount... but the forms were too epic for me (14 pages). With a nudge from my DP, I have since done it, but the forms are now just few boxes, with no bank account statements to send in or anything. Is only 80% discount now though. And no backdating.

Paying £57pm for broadband that costs £26 to new customers for 18 months because I can't face calling up and changing it all.

I am also a high rate stupidity tax payer (ADHD) so parking tickets appear unexpectedly in the post about once every 3 months. I once accidentally drove around for 6 months with no car insurance because I thought it auto renewed.

just 2 weeks ago I posted my car and house keys into the big textile recycling bin in the supermarket car park. I had driven there in my car so had to walk the 2 miles home and spend £200 on an emergency weekend locksmith to get in my house and get my spare set. Then get up at 5am to go meet the bin men to retrieve my keys.

Despite being a Martin Lewis fan and knowing and fully understanding his ASAB rule on holiday insurance, keep putting it off until ‘tomorrow’. Massive health emergency and missed family holiday if a lifetime costing £££££.

I think I'm a high rate-stupidity tax payer... Too many to list. But the most recent realisation that I gave a load of books away a couple of years ago, and found out last week that one of them is worth a 5 figure sum 😵This would have made a significant difference to our lives had I not, for once in my life, attempted to declutter!

I just went through a19 tunnel a few days ago and completely forgot about it - will get a £30 fine in a few days apparently. I’ve not driven near there before and wasn’t expecting a toll road.

Oh oh I have a good one!!

Back when DS was a baby, we booked a holiday abroad. I had never been before, but dutifully went about applying for DS' passport and got my boss to sign his photos. Sent it off and then the week before we were meant to fly, still no passport for baby DS. We were meant to fly out on a Monday, but Friday came and still no passport. Called the passport people and it turned out I had got my
Boss to sign that the photos of DS were a true likeness for me not DS! So my
Boss had to answer an email from the passport office, I had to get new photos taken for DS and then drive the 50 mile round trip to work to get the photos signed again, then get the photos sent next day signed delivery.

I called every hour on the hour on Saturday in the hope that someone received them, but the office shut at lunchtime, and DP was so angry with me that I cooked up a plan. DP would fly out as planned from Manchester on the 6am flight. and I would take DS in his pram on the train to bloody Newport passport office to collect the passport, then fly out from Cardiff on the 5pm plane. Now, I was hedging my bets because no one had told me that the passport would be ready for collection on the Monday, and someone had said it is likely to be Newport but could be Liverpool, so I was really gambling.

Anyway, got to Newport with my carry on bag of luggage, DS and the pram. As I exited the train station, I called the passport office who said no it's Liverpool. I cried and immediately spent £80 booking a train ticket back home. Then called again just to be sure, and was told yes it's in Newport but you can't collect till 3pm. It was 11am and pissing it down 😂 I spent the next 4hours walking around Newport shopping centre, miserable that I'd already had to pay another £100 for the flight from Cardiff and lost another £80 on the train ticket I wouldn't be using.

Finally got DS' passport, paid £50 for a taxi to get me to Cardiff airport and missed the plane, so then had to rebook for 5pm the next day AND pay for a hotel. It was only the next morning that I realised I hadn't got any more nappies left and had to check out with DS in a hand towel for a nappy, get the bus to Barry to buy more in Boots and then spent the day on Barry Island before getting a taxi back to Cardiff airport.

I'd never flown before, so to say I was a nervous wreck by that point and going through security on my own nearly broke me is an understatement. Once we were through, DP messaged to ask if I'd booked a transfer and I had no idea what he was talking about, so had to do that.

I cried when the plane took off.

I haven't been abroad in the seven years since 😂😂

Loads!
mainly online subscriptions to free trials that I then forget to cancel 😩😩 todays one was Adobe PDF editor which has an annual commitment not just monthly so £150ish mistake

online stuff bought and not returned for refund so lying around the house

food wastage - buying for full family when 2 are away for Uni

I threw a tatty old bag away. It had been well loved and I wore it to death, hence it's tattiness.
Unfortunately I hadn't checked all the pockets properly and after the bin men had been I realised my car key was still in it.

Oh god this. I don’t know if this is still the case, but you had to phone them up to cancel. I hate making phone calls so put it off for ages, and was also shite at remembering to skip the month so instead I effectively spent hundreds of pounds on a pair of leggings (I did get some other stuff out it in the end, but definitely not as much as I put in).

Because of DP's autism and mental health issues any unforeseen developments or problems knock him for six. Panic, severe anxiety attack, meltdown. He was so stunned and incredulous he was on repeat and verging on self-destruct. I was stupid to agree to help her because I knew she disliked me but I assumed her love for him would take priority.

This should enter family legend imo, have you told your DC about it since? (I have a high tolerance for embarrassment though!)

Lost a whole bunch of keys recently- in my house. All easily replaced apart from my car key- fortunately I have a spare but car keys expensive to replace and I'm hoping the others turn up before I lose this set.

Left a pair of prescription sunglasses in a premier inn last year. Improved this year and left a whole suitcase in a holiday cottage. Good going.

A couple of years ago I was driving the dc to holiday club and running a few minutes late to work. I clipped a kerb and needed 2 new tyres.

The mistake I regret the most was when one of my friends became homeless whilst having Covid and I invited her to stay at my house. Some MNers might remember this story. I hired a van at my expense and drove 150 miles to pick her up and all her stuff. She ended up staying in my house for 18 months, during which I paid for nearly everything, lent her £500, paid for the majority of her food, never asked her for a contribution towards bills. I gave her about 3 months notice to leave and the day I asked her to go she told me in great detail that I wasn't on the same "intellectual level" as her.

But the most expensive mistake I ever made was agreeing that my ex could have a significantly bigger proportion of the house equity than he was entitled to. Almost as soon as I transferred the money to him, he stopped paying maintenance.

No good deed goes unpunished. 😂

Before I became a single parent I never did any of this stupid shit. 😩