What things do you buy that you KNOW you shouldn’t buy?
Wilde’s great line about resisting everything except temptation comes to mind.
I have a humidor filled with cigars. I smoke rarely - less than once per week. My current stock would take me through New Year’s Day 2007 with no problem.
But I’m seized with the irrational desire, when I see a cigar display, or an online link to buy cigars… to buy more.
What do you buy that’s crazy?
Books and DVDs. I have hundreds of DVDs, and thousands of books. I’ve got them three and four deep in the bookcases, I’ve got them in drawers, I’ve got them in boxes, I’ve got them covering ridiculous amounts of surface space. But I can’t stop!
For me it’s CDs. I have probably around 1,000 now, but I keep buying and buying and buying. The worst is when someone on one of the many Yahoo groups of which I’m a member decides to offer a bunch really cheap, like $3 a piece. I know they probably suck (and they usually do), which is why he’s selling them, but I cant help it. I must have more music! More more more!!!
For me; it is Computer stuff. I always need a new gadget, a bigger harddrive and nicer monitor or printer.
I keep buying books but I tend to buy overwhelmingly used books and I don’t mind having an outside wall insulated by Books. 
Jim
Books that I’d be better off borrowing from the library.
Cigarettes. I quit for four years and started up around Halloween. I plan on quitting new years eve. This time I’ll be taking my wife with me. If she quits then it will have been worth it.
Amen, brother, but add comic books to my addiction.
And the collectors’ market is flat, so no go there, either. :smack:
I think I like having all my books and DVDs, but what I really don’t need any more of are pajamas. I love pajamas. I buy pajamas all the time. The odd thing? I usually sleep naked.
Cigarette lighters. The fancy butane varieties, I must have at least a hundred of them.
For some reason, I can’t avoid buying LED flashlights. Finally I just rationalized it – everyone collects somethings, so I might as well collect something vaguely useful and reasonably cheap.
This is a subset of my tool-buying obession which has resulted in my having tools around the house that have never actually gotten used (yet).
I have a Nalgene bottle problem. Everytime they come out with a new color, I have to buy one. I could bottle a swimming pool if I ever needed to.
Model horses. I have 450 , you would think that is enough, wouldn’t you? But noooooooooooooo… I keep adding to the collection. I rearrange the shelves , shuffle then around, just to squeeze one…more…in…
CD & DVDs. I have way more than I need , and don’t actually listen to all that much mucic OR sit down to watch a movie. I am a sick , sick woman.
Craft supplies. I have plenty to keep me busy, but am compelled to buy more. You know… in case I get bored. :wally
Shoes are a bad one. I keep telling myself I only have two feet and there are only seven days in a week. I do not need thirty pairs of high heeled dress shoes or the four pairs I currently have in my shopping basket at Zappos…
But the stupidest is fancy kitchen stuff. I’ll see something cool and try to convince myself I’m suddenly gonna start baking and therefore really need a fancy Kitchen Aid stand mixer in tangerine. I’m 38. I don’t cook. I still have the salt canister I bought when I first moved out twenty years ago and it’s half full. Why do I always think a fancy kitchen gadget will turn me into Julia Child?
I also have tons of pajamas, and sleep naked. But the thing is, pajamas are all I wear when I’m at home. I suppose I still don’t need twenty sets, though.
Books. I have 10 in the queue and more on the way for Christmas. And I will still buy more, I’m guessing.
Sweets. I eat way too much processed sugar. And chocolate. I have started eating apples but I still crave processed sugar.
Potato chips, books, cigarettes, CDs, makeup, and the worst… OFFICE SUPPLIES.
I am a hopeless case of *I must buy. *
Books and DVDs top the list, here. My husband’s weakness is Legos and any toy having to do with knights or castles. We could replace the siding on our house with Legos. I also have a weakness for kitchen gadgets, jewelry, lengths of fabric, and Barbies.
I need a bigger house.
Fabric. Oh yeah, fabric. It’s so pretty! And I know I’ll use it in something eventually! It’s a lot like candy, only without the calories, thus better. I do quilt a lot, but I have way more fabric than I could really use very soon, especially since I usually buy some for whatever project I’m doing (because my stash is not big enough, yep). The thing is, if you don’t buy it when you see it, you’ll never see it again–so you have to buy it. Anyway I love all that fabric.
Books I’m not so bad at. I’m pretty good at checking out too many from the library (73 right now, but that’s because my daughter is reading 2 or 3 easy chapter books a day), but I don’t buy a whole lot, only the ones I really want to keep forever. Of course, that’s still quite a few books, but I get a lot of them used at least. I can go into a bookstore and leave without buying something–though I do always write down some titles to get from the library.
Fabric, though, I have to buy. Whenever I go to any other city, I have to check out the quilt stores and usually buy something. (For you non-quilters, this is hardly unusual; we’re all like this.)
Art glass. Particularly the funky ash trays/candy dishes from the 40’s - 50’s. I also have a decent collection of Murano glass.
Cannisters. Like these. They like the space above my kitchen cupboards in all their tacky glory.
Nail polish. Between the kid and myself we have well over 500 bottles of polish in every imaginable hue. It’s not uncommon to decide “Hmm, I want a rosy pink” then have to wade through 20 bottles of different shades of rosy pink to find THE rosy pink.
DMS floss. I do a lot of cross stitching. I have every color they make, sometimes 3-4 skeins. Just in case. Don’t ask.
Cigarettes and Diet Coke. They are my lifeblood. I know for a fact that over the years my dad has earned at least a couple hundred dollars in recycling the aluminum.
Books, although I just realized (when I bought two more the other day) that I have been extremely good this year. I think those are only the fifth and sixth books I have bought all year! It’s taken a lot of concentrated effort not to buy more.
And yarn. I don’t need any more yarn, but…it’s so pretty! Somehow I am always able to rationalize starting new projects and procrastinating yet again on the five ongoing projects I have in my yarn cabinet.
