talk to me if you stupidly bought something £££ you couldnt really afford

[WhyDidIDiddle]

In my defence, I have had a horrible time featuring death which has left me on a swing between dark depression and f*ck it do it now you might be dead tomorrow.

I bought a pair of shoes that I really liked but were a ridiculous amount to spend on shoes of any kind. I feel a bit sick when I think of it. I will keep them as its not bankrupting but it is stupid out of the savings money. I do like them but it was really really really stupid. No one should spend that much on a pair of shoes.

Hoping I am not alone and someone can make me feel a bit better with similar tale that didn't end horribly.

If you can afford 20k on cutlery and it will give you years of pleasure, what’s wrong with that?

People buying things gives other people work. The problem with consumer culture is things that don’t last, whereas in 200 years time the PP’s cutlery will be a much loved family heirloom or an antique find someone will be delighted to find and own.

I've just remembered about 18 years ago I impulsively spent a few hundred on a at least a dozen (huge) bales of second hand clothing. They arrived on a lorry and I had to stack them up in the garage, taking up almost every inch of space.

My reasoning being that I was going to open an eBay shop and also I was bound to get a fab new wardrobe out of it because there would definitely be hidden gems, right?

Wrong. They were full of the worst crap charity shops couldn't sell - think brown trousers from the estate clearance of 75 year old men. Everything smelt old and musty. I only ever opened one bale because I realised due to the air tight compression there was a warehouse size amount of fabric in these bales that would have filled my entire house if all opened.

I don't know what the hell I was thinking.

It was massively inconvenient having all that space taken up but I stuck my head in the sand for the best part of a year until DH put his foot down and said one way or another they have to go. So I ended up selling them on as a job lot on eBay at a massive loss. I don't think I even got £50 for them.

Thinking about it DH has been remarkably tolerant of my half baked 'brilliant' business ideas over the years. This was probably the most annoying.

@TimeForATerf

But you have insurance? So if did loose it it could be replaced? I think you can also get tiny tracker things, like for glasses, if you want to take it out and about.

After a lot of deliberation, I did a bit of overtime last year to pay for a new MacBook, so did have the money and technically was able to afford it, but I have almost no savings, still house share and my pension forecast is looking dire. So maybe the sensible thing would have been to save that £1.3K. But the MacBook gives me so much pleasure to use, I feel I’ve already got my money’s worth.

I think that life is so short and as long as you’re not putting yourself into a damaging and vulnerable situation by buying whatever, then there’s no problem.

I bought a vintage Balenciaga city bag in tan a few years ago for around £500. It was so worth it and I use it heaps. I've seen that they've gone up in value since so could potentially resell it some day but I probably wouldn't... plus I use it so much it's definitely going to be showing signs of wear soon.

And £1,000 on a gaming laptop when the only game I've played in the last decade on PC is Rollercoaster Tycoon!

A couple of years ago I dropped about £2.5K on a 2-week cruise to a bucket list destination.
I'm self-employed, so had to consider lost wages of perhaps another £1K. Then spending money... It probably cost me close to £4K all in.
It was a LOT of money for me, and in the week or so before going, a little voice in the back of my head was telling me I'd been pretty foolish.
But, it was an AMAZING holiday, and one I'll remember for the rest of my life.

I ask myself what else I'd have done with that money? And honestly, it would just have gone on bills!

Oh this lovely picture of these beautiful cats made my heart lurch.

My sister who lived in South Africa, was one of the top breeders and judges of Abyssinian cats. We visited her often and her ‘Abby’s’ had free range of her farm, apart from her breeding queens who had a huge pen and run of their own.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Abby cat in the U.K. My sister died 12 years ago and my BIL sold and gave most of the cats away to the breeding/showing fraternity.

Haha....I have been eyeballing these since mentioned on here a short while ago 😅. Where did you put yours?

As an idiotic/way too smitten undergraduate I once took out a whole student loan to pay for a long distance flight to visit an ex boyfriend who had moved abroad. I also had to pay thousands in pounds to BT for calls to said ex.
The relationship only lasted about one year after that and the loan took me ten years to pay off...
Still makes me feel slightly sick.

I said people are different and I respect that. I still personally find it completely ridiculous. Especially when there is so much suffering in the world.

Mine is solid, from the early 19th century, and still wouldn't be worth 20k!

Oh loads OP - I am the queen of buying stuff I can't afford 😂

Theatre / music tickets (we might never see them again!!!), holidays, furniture, cashmere cardigans from Sezane... The list is endless!

Most recently is Wimbledon tickets, a walnut and leather chair for our new bedroom and new Birkenstocks.

I want to know more about this trifle now :)

Absolutely gorgeous! 😍😍😍

Buy quality, buy once.

And work on cost per wear. If you spend £30 on a pair of shoes from Next but only wear them once for one event then the cpw is £30.

If you buy a pair of £300 shoes but you wear them 10 times, then cost per wear is also £30. Wear them more than that and they become cheaper than the cheap shoes.

People tend to wear and look after expensive stuff in a way they don't when it comes to fast fashion. Which in turn makes the expensive stuff more economical over the long term.

I was questioning OP's memory, rather than their veracity.

Mistakes - recently a jimmy choo handbag which is too heavy and the wrong shape and some stunning diamond earrings in white gold (I only wear yellow gold!)
No regrets purchases - an aquamarine ring, my omega watch - most of my designer shoe collection

Wtf. Cutlery. £20k

I went a bit mad after DH died and spent £10k on a kitchen and bathroom renovation for a house I didn't even own. To be fair I very much enjoyed them while I was living there, but two years down the line when I moved out and bought somewhere, I was a bit perturbed at my own idiocy.

I also got drunk at an airport once and spent £300 on giant Prada sunglasses. In my defence, they are FABULOUS and I still wear them 10 years later.

Some of these put my idea of overspending into context! I’m still getting over being railroaded into buying a £5 blusher from a department store beauty consultant. It was1972 though and the same price as the weekly rent of my student bedsit at the time. I felt absolutely sick as soon as I realised I’d agreed to it.

Great blusher though. 😊

OP, you have done nothing wrong, enjoy your splurge.

One of mine was a saxophone.
Post Uni, dumped by a boyfriend, decided that I would play the saxophone (he was a faux jazz enthusiast). Spent £1200 on an instrument that turns out to be pretty hard to play. That was about six months rent at the time. Held on to it just long enough to be able to sell it for £400.

My brother bought a lab pup, when he moved in with gf, now wife.
Cost him £3k in vet bills in the first year...(but was then an awesome dog for fourteen years).

Also, 20k on cutlery?!?

YANBU if the shoes were bought from your savings. You're free to spend your money how you choose.
YABU if the shoes were bought from the family savings.

Not clear from your post if it was family money or your own personal savings.

@billydilly I had a book about cats as a child with pictures of different breeds, and spent many hours looking longingly at the Abyssinian (that and the Turkish Van cat).
They are gorgeous.

Weve been there, ended up selling and buying a lovely scruffy cob for a couple of grand who she adores 😂

I can recommend as I live locally to this family business.

www.nearlynewcashmere.co.uk/pages/about?srsltid=AfmBOoodpFUfnTHOl1OiIuYUzRANSKHmXJna7jXJWD0OH8w_ilMpLGK8