to ask you what things people spend money on that you just don't understand?

[FeelinTwentySixPointTwo]

This isn't a judgey thread or a bashing thread. People are absolutely free to spend their money on whatever they choose. Horses for courses.

But that said.. what expensive things do you see other people spending their money on that you simply don't "get"?

Mine is personalised numberplates. Cannot compute why anyone would care what combo of numbers or letters is on their car.

Interested to see what others think!

I fear not lovely.

It was in that spirit that I'd hoped MN'ers would respond.

I was under the impression people in theme parks were commonly there on some kind of voucher deal or membership rather than the door price?

With you on the coffees though!

Cigarettes

A college of DH mentioned that last month he spent nearly £200 in Starbucks, that blew my mind a bit but he is a higher earner and seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of it, I only drink tea so its not really the same for me.

A friend of ours was spending over £500 a month on car finance for a £10K new Vauxhall (they have very poor credit) but couldn't understand why we could go abroad each year.

I think most people have different priorities with money, its hard to understand someone spending money on something you get no enjoyment out of .

For some reason the reusable nappies were the gateway in 😂 I didn't really mind when it was just the children's nappies and then I suppose it wasn't a huge step to transition everyone once we were in the swing of things for laundry anyway. I absolutely appreciate it's not for everyone though!

Yes if they got a drink they would get it for free and save more money on the rest.

Labubus 100%. They creep me out personally.

Also only wearing high end make up. So much high quality make up is out there that isn’t expensive and works just the same if not better.

Nike socks on babies. Mine always lost socks daily until they began wearing shoes.

Like four pairs of first shoes. My sister in law got her DS’ first shoes recently and bought two pairs for home, a pair for nursery, a pair of sandals and a pair of wellies😳. I didn’t have the heart to tell her they’ll only last him a month!

Like when the cashier says if you pick up a drink you’ll get all of this for £3 rather than however much it is individually priced… usually a lot more

That was my personal reason for buying a puppy from a litter. I had no interest in rehoming an adult dog, at all.

My old boss has a personalised plate and it does make me laugh when I spot him about.
Nails, takeaways (mostly they are horrible), giant designer cars they can’t afford. In fact anything you can’t really afford but feel like you need for no good reason. I’m also agreeing with tattoos, they need to go out of fashion now, they do not look good on 99% of people. Massive lips, woman in M&S made me do a double take today, I imagine her sense of what is normal has gone out of the window.
massive hauls of clothes from those online places which all look cheap.

£600+ prom dresses.

I do see the value in having a new car on lease though and would have the best one I can afford.

Fabric conditioner. Mate you think it smells of flowers or some shit but you just smell rank.

Designer labelled stuff. Looks like you bought it off a looky looky man in Turkey.

Fake tits. Especially if done to please some tragic bellend male.

Trainers that cost over £150. I get that that is kind of the going rate but jeez, total rip off.

Tattoos
Gaming (Xbox games etc)

Coffee shop coffee/drinks.
Ridiculously expensive, totally addictive, the next big scandal for health and wealth.

Weddings/dos, designer clothes/shoes/accessories, expensive cars/motorbikes, make-up/jewellery/beauticians/hairdressers/cosmetic surgery, holidays to expensive and/or cringe destinations, cruises, mortgages for unnecessarily big houses, designer furniture, subscriptions to multiple entertainment platforms, pure breed pets, cigarettes/vapes, tattoos, david lloyd type gyms, horses, boats, tv sets over 40’’, CDs/vinyls/DVDs, brand new smartphones/tablets/laptops/gaming consoles, Christmas presents, sex workers, strip clubs, private schools, fancy wines/spirits, house cleaners, children. And yeah, definitely personalised number plates.

@Screamingabdabz I recently found out (from here) that they contain tallow so I stopped using it, 🤮 no wonder it clogs up in the W/M it’s such a horrible thought

Mine is personalised number plates too…

but I buy expensive handwash purely because it smells better and I like the bottle, when I could buy hand wash for £1, so I’m sure some people would think I was equally bonkers

I definitely should have put light hearted in the thread (botox/nails/tattoo bashing has been done to death and seems more of a class statement than a confusion as to why someone would want it) but there are some good ones on here that are in the spirit.

Also glad to hear a pp has a personal plate that's worth so much it's now an investment. I love that they're not as pointless as I had assumed.

Gambling in general. Not judging or disapproving, I just don't get it. I think I was born without whatever gene is responsible for making gambling seem attractive/fun. My mum is partial to a scratchcard and even they don't interest me in the slightest. Vegas and its casinos seems to be very popular for hen/stag holidays but I think I'd be bored rigid.

Conceptually, also chewing gum. It’s got no nutrition and you don’t digest anything, and you just chew and chew and then poof, nothing!
I do like chewing gum though, but I also think ‘why am I spending money on this when I could chew a piece of grass and it would probably be more nutritious and cost nothing’

Tik Tok

Buckets of coffee.

I was a person who bought a cheap car for a few hundred quid when I first passed my test. Twice actually, and both times broke down on tbe motorway with me and baby in the car which was terrifying and also ended up costing me significantly more than the car value to get repaired. Now I get cars on pcp because I like having safe reliable cars and know how much it will cost me every month and knowing it's vanishingly unlikely to cost me any more than that due to warranty period. You can still buy the car at the end of the pcp period if you want to keep it 🤷‍♀️

Dogs
Bottled water (unless you are on holiday)
Nandos