We’ve all been there. We think we know what we want, maybe we’ve been wanting it for years, but when we finally get our hands on it we wind up disappointed. It’s never a fun experience, but it often sticks with us and leaves us with an important life lesson we can share with others.
That’s sort of the point of this list. When someone asked others to share the thing they really wanted but regretted after, we gathered up some of their responses and brought them here! Heed their warnings !
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On the water.
“Buying a new ski boat. Expensive, too big to keep in the garage and burned $80 in gas in an afternoon (when gas was still affordable). Mostly I pulled the kids and their friends on wake boards or kneeboards around and around in circles while the air temperature was close to 100 and came home dehydrated and with a headache. A happy day is when you buy a boat. A happier day is when you sell that [expletive].”
A good night’s sleep.
“Waterbed. Biggest waste of money. Spent 1k on the most uncomfortable bed ever. Practically broke my back and sold it for 100 after just a year of using it.”
Waterbeds have always mystified me, I never understood how they could be comfortable. It’s good to know they’re not.
Professional setup.
“Marine fish tank. They look absolutely gorgeous when clean and running well however I didn’t bank on how difficult it would be to have it clean and running well…”
The name alone sounds intimidating to maintain! Maybe the large-scale stuff should be left to the aquariums of the world.
Flashy accessories.
“A $1200 Versace watch to impress a girl that I met off Facebook that I never ended up meeting in real life.”
This one’s rough. At least it was something functional that you could use for years? Or maybe they had a return policy?
A little too secluded.
“A house in the country. Was fun at first, have land, can do what I want. But now it’s a pain to get anything serviced on the house, deliveries take longer, and it’s a pain to go grocery shopping or just into town in general. And the upkeep on the land is now a time waste, and sometimes I just want someone to deliver me pizza! Moving into town this summer.”
The price of maintenance.
“A backyard pool. I always wanted one until I had one. It was a huge pain in the ass. Had to buy chemicals, had to test the water, had to clean it, found dead snakes in the skimmer baskets, had to get the pump replaced, etc.”
Format over function.
“Super cute but incredibly uncomfortable shoes. Wore them once and was awarded blisters.”
I feel this way about a pair of boots I was never able to break in. They were expensive, but no matter what I do, I walk away with bleeding ankles!
Vintage dreams.
“Can’t believe I’m the only idiot who needed to have a vintage RV. Holy [expletive], money pit. Two years later I gave it away just to get it the [expletive] out of my life.”
Vintage things being trendy now are probably putting a lot of people in this exact same spot.
Averse reactions.
“A Hummer. It was my biggest dream and obsession when I was younger. After I finally bought one it was the worst experience of my life I wanted to blow it up.”
I take it you found a different way to get rid of it then? Hopefully, anyway.
Don’t listen to your body.
“When I was in college I was in student dining & had three separate (& opposing) cravings. I wanted pizza, I wanted orange juice, and I wanted chocolate cake. So I got all three. It was not a good combination. Call it a trifecta of indigestion if you will”
Always there.
“Nose ring. Once I got it, it just felt like I had a booger in my nose that I couldn’t get rid of.”
I have some piercings, none I regret, but I kind of understand this feeling. Maybe I’m just too fidgety, but I always wanna mess with them!
Full circle.
“Taking out student loans to achieve a degree that will never pay me enough to pay back the student loans.”
Ah, the classic societal issue of the modern age. It plagues so many people of my generation and all we can do is just sit here with it.
What you love most.
“Working a job that involves skills from one of my hobbies. Now it feels more like work than the hobby.”
This is always a tricky balance to strike. Some people love to monetize their hobbies and can handle it, but for others it sucks all the joy out of it. Tread carefully!
Lockdown dreams.
“I bought a collection of lockdown gym equipment I had all good intentions for. It turns out a lack of free time wasn’t really the reason I wasn’t ripped.”
Never quite satisfying.
“Literally any time I get fast food. It’s never as good as my brain thinks it will be but I keep getting it anyway because I always convince myself it’ll be really good and it never is.”
