Have you ever bought something, thinking it was a bargain, and regretted it?
I buy shredded cheese for salads weekly. I found a packet that was 1.29 instead of 2.50. great bargain, i thought.
I took a handful after i made the salad and went What the hell? Then i looked at the package, and read imitation cheese. Ingredients were interesterified soybean oil, whey, gelatin. I learned my lesson.
Mmmm, imitation processed cheese food. Just the thing for everyone whose diet is lacking enough plastic.
Cheap-o kitchen knives. I think I’ve had disposable razors hold an edge longer than those things did.
Those pre-made salads in a bag by Dole or whoever. For the same $2 I could have bought an entire head of swiss chard or romainge lettuce + some carrots and red cabbage. I don’t care how easy it looks, it just isn’t a good deal. And yet I fall for it almost every time.
My house. 
I could have gotten 2.5 houses in my neighborhood for what I’m paying for this one. I could have been fantastically wealthy right now.
Actually, the Caesar salad they make that comes with the dressing is pretty reasonable and tastes good. But all others are not that special.
For me, it was Final Fantasy X-2. I bought it for $7.99 and was stunned at how much I hated it. I’m the target audience as well, being a fan of the series and style of games.
A real “surprise regret”, too. Those are the worst.
I once bought two pair of shoes in the same color because they were on sale and I thought I’d have the other as back-up when the first wore out. But now it seems they’ll last forever, so that second pair is redundant and I wish I had my money back.
My car. It’s been sitting at the shop for a few months now because I can’t afford to have them remove all the sludge from the engine that seems to be a typical problem for Dodge trucks. shakes fist
Yep. Bought my wife a flower shop in May 2005. Closed it in Oct. 2006. I am still paying $456 per month on what I hope is the last outstanding debt. That will go on for another 6 years.
I bought a Daihatsu in the late '80s and by the time it got old, no one had parts for it. Like not even a replacement part when the heater went.
It was an odd little car that apparently was just a little different from all others and the company only sold them in the U.S. for a while so I couldn’t even gets parts from junkyards.
My following car (which I still have) is a Honda Civic. 120,000 miles and haven’t needed a part, but I’m guessing they’ll be there when I need them.
Oh, and I also bought the complete firs season of “Eastbound and Down” without ever having seen an episode.
Really regret that
You can make a head of lettuce, even one you’ve already started cutting, last longer by wrapping it in paper towels instead of in plastic.
On the other side of the coin, I usually end up regretting buying a head of lettuce - it sits in the fridge until I put it on the compost heap. If I buy pre-made salad, it has a much better chance of getting eaten.
I kinda regret buying an expensive desktop computer a few years ago. We bought a laptop last fall, and it turns out I’m a laptop person (I thought I was a desktop person). I’ll know for next time.
You’re paying for convenience, but the stuff turns into brown sludge overnight if you don’t eat it all up the same day!:mad: It just doesn’t last once exposed to air.
I ordered online some cotton quilted ‘throws’ in a fruitless attempt to cover up my shabby cat clawed furniture. Not only are they too small, but the color isn’t right. They advise I only have one month to return them (at my expense) and it’s too late. They MAY let me exchange them for a different color, but it would be expensive and inconvenient to pack them up and send them back, so I guess I’ll have to just make do.
Oh, yeah, I just remembered my new electric Black & Decker can opener - the lid magnet fell off the minute I took it out of the box, it doesn’t open large cans, it doesn’t open small cans, hell, it barely opens regular-sized cans. It is, in a word, useless. If I hadn’t already thrown away the perfectly functional but incredibly ugly 20 year old can opener, I’d be putting that ugly thing up in my new kitchen.
For some reason when I buy these pre-made salads in a bag they seem to spoil very quickly once the package is opened if they are not used up the same day. If I have to throw out any produce or other food, it’s certainly not a bargain.
I bought the VHS tape of Black Beauty, “starring” Mark Lester. Worst five bucks I ever spent, and I gave five bucks to a panhandler last week.
Bought “in Bruges” did not enjoy it AT ALL - anyone want it?
It’s because they’re already washed and sitting there in their own fluids.
See my post about the paper towel method. It really works.
Yeah man. Maybe not the exact same situation, but my house was a good deal when I bought it 4 years ago. The cheapest house in the neighborhood.
It’s still the cheapest house in the neighborhood, but everyone’s property values have gone down and it’s pretty clear I’ve overpaid by this point. My friends just bought a house nearby for $6k less with twice the living area.
This seems to have expanded beyond food, DVDs, and other Cafe Society topics, so I’m moving it to IMHO.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
A Cuisinart rice cooker.
It was a 4 cup model, that looked well made, but I swear they put the same heating element into it that they put in their 10 cup version. It was impossible to make rice in without having water and starchy foam spilling all over the countertop. When I found myself standing next to it for most of the cooking cycle, so I could lift the lid and stir when it threatened to overflow, I decided it just wasn’t going to work.