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Impulse purchase

Abstract

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Dec 27, 2002
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Tell us about some bad impulse purchases you've made over the years? I mean, you went to the mall to buy printer cartridges or something mundane, but you ended up walking out with George Foreman grill because you really believe that you're going to start grilling burgers and corn on your new grill rather than go outside and BBQ......which you will never do because deep down inside, you know that BBQs are way more awesome and not a huge inconvenience. What did you buy, and how much money did you waste? ;)


I'll tell you one: I went to the mall for a new printer, and I came home with an earring, and no printer. Mum wasn't too happy, but she didn't understand the temptation! :eek:
 
I bought an old jeep on ebay because I was going to get into car restoration and fix it up. Five years later, I have a rusty old jeep. Top that.
 
Oooo...cars...

I almost bought a corvette about a month ago...I was suckered into it by a test drive, it was love after that.

My husband and I agreed to sleep on it...Thank God.

I am so glad we avoided it, I love having no car payment at the moment...especially with gas prices being crazy as they are right now.
 
heh...my friggin' house. :rolleyes:

my ex and i lived a few blocks away from this cute little house that had been for sale for months. one day we were heading out for groceries, and we stopped in for an open house, just for giggles. we weren't even seriously considering buying a home at that point.

we loved it...and we bought the house.

here we are almost 2 years later...we're not together and the house is worth so much less than we paid for it. :eek:
i have no one to blame but myself, so no lectures please. ;)

simply stated...worst purchase ever. lesson learned.
 
Holy christ. I'd like to see someone top that ezzie. Buying a house on impulse, having it's value plummet (natural given the current conditions) and not even wanting it any more. eek! :eek:

Hope you're able to find some way to work around the problems.
 
edesignuk said:
Holy christ. I'd like to see someone top that ezzie. Buying a house on impulse, having it's value plummet (natural given the current conditions) and not even wanting it any more. eek! :eek:

Hope you're able to find some way to work around the problems.
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it wasn't so much an impulse, as we were able to afford the mortgage and such and were always told that buying a home was the start to financial security. but it definitely wasn't well-planned. it was more of a very bad decision, given the state of our relationship and the nagging feeling i had about the housing market. we got a good deal...but we also bought at what was *supposed* to be the low point of the market. :rolleyes:

and thanks...i'm hoping for a happy ending as well. :eek:
 
e is right. Nobody is going to top Ezzie's house. ;)


Is it worth your while to just keep the house and sell it in a few years, possibly renting it out in the meantime? When housing prices go up, they go way up, and very quickly. Who knows. Maybe in 5 years, your house will be worth a lot more than you paid for it, rather than a lot less. I'm no expert on the housing market though....


Nicolecat said:
Oooo...cars...

I almost bought a corvette about a month ago...I was suckered into it by a test drive, it was love after that.
Click to expand...

Haha, my mum and step-dad once went out for a walk, and came home with a new Volvo S70. I was completely shocked! I looked at both of them in the eyes, and asked the question any logical person would ask: "Why would anyone impulsively buy a Volvo!?!" :p
 
Abstract said:
Is it worth your while to just keep the house and sell it in a few years, possibly renting it out in the meantime? When housing prices go up, they go way up, and very quickly. Who knows. Maybe in 5 years, your house will be worth a lot more than you paid for it, rather than a lot less. I'm no expert on the housing market though....
Click to expand...
it may be worth it...the problem is that i'm no longer living there, and my ex can't afford the payments alone. he's got a roommate...for now. bottom line is: if it's sold now, we'll both be out a lot of money. if he can hold onto it for a year or two or three and sell for a tiny profit...i'd be ecstatic. :eek:

Abstract said:
I looked at both of them in the eyes, and asked the question any logical person would ask: "Why would anyone impulsively buy a Volvo!?!" :p
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great question. :D :p
 
I bought an Amazing Spider-Man #1 once. In retrospect it was probably a damn good investment, but I couldn't help thinking I spent HOW MUCH on a freaking comic book. I spent the next month trying to offload it.
 
Abstract said:
Haha, my mum and step-dad once went out for a walk, and came home with a new Volvo S70. I was completely shocked! I looked at both of them in the eyes, and asked the question any logical person would ask: "Why would anyone impulsively buy a Volvo!?!" :p
Click to expand...


One of a car salesman's best weapon is a test drive...it's really hard to walk away after driving something you really like. When they are telling you they can get the price where you want it, you feel invincible.
 
I'm the worst for impulse buying, i'm a slave to advertising.

I have 3 contracts out at the moment :/ Mobile Broadband (which I do use), my N95 8GB and my iPhone 1st Gen i bout out of impulse and gave to my sister!

Once me and a friend went out to the bakers for lunch and we looked in a superfi (hifi shop) i bought £2,000's worth of B&W Speakers :/ most expensive lunch for me, ever!
 
Oooo...

It wasn't me, but some friends of mine took their gov't issued stimulus check and bought a 60" hdtv... :eek:

I couldn't believe it, our's went to bills. :(
 
Nicolecat said:
One of a car salesman's best weapon is a test drive...it's really hard to walk away after driving something you really like. When they are telling you they can get the price where you want it, you feel invincible.
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True. I think I'd be pretty weak against a quick-tongued car dealer. I tried bargaining with a car dealer on a new car. They all let me get a $500 discount, but that's it. It must be the 'standard' discount they give to anyone who asks. :eek: I got a car broker to get me a price on the same car, and he ended up saving me $2000 rather than $500. :D


redwarrior said:
BECAUSE THEY CAN!:eek:
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It had the turning radius of a camel. It was fast though. They sprung for the T5 (turbo version) even though my mum never goes more than 5 kph over the limit.
 
Have you seen the volvo s60r?....Drool.

Only thing is...if I remember correctly, it was voted one of the cars least likely to reach 100,000 miles. :(:eek:
 
that 4th martini last night. I really didn't need it, but I had it. Was a reward for doing well on the GRE exam. 1410!

Paying for it right now a little bit. Getting older sucks!
 
A home gym I bought at the mall. It was at one of those kiosks and "on sale" for only $1000 (free shipping) with a fit salesman selling it. How could I refuse? It's a monstrosity of pulley's and cables. It proudly sits in my cousins garage unused for years.

BTW, I love my George Forman Grill. It's not great or anything, but it's one of the few pieces of crap I bought on impulse that I actually use on occasion.
 
My first car purchase for my g/f...

Brand New 2008 Mazda3 Paid Sticker..... and got raped at like 12% apr
 
Fry's Electronics is really bad, because they put all that crap near the checkout line just to get people to make impulse buys.

I'll walk in looking for a 2GB stick of RAM, and walk out with some Red Vines, a kite, and a nose hair trimmer. :)
 
Last impulse buy was a coconut, chili and lime roast chicken from Waitrose on Saturday.

Quite possibly the finest impulse buy I've ever made.
 
garybUK said:
I'm the worst for impulse buying, i'm a slave to advertising.

I have 3 contracts out at the moment :/ Mobile Broadband (which I do use), my N95 8GB and my iPhone 1st Gen i bout out of impulse and gave to my sister!

Once me and a friend went out to the bakers for lunch and we looked in a superfi (hifi shop) i bought £2,000's worth of B&W Speakers :/ most expensive lunch for me, ever!
Click to expand...

Oh I'm bad when it comes to impulse hifi purchases.

My first wasn't really true hifi in the sense, but it's still a good piece of kit nonetheless - a Tivoli iPal.

Then went on to purchase more impulse-y stuff. A Rotel RSX 1055 off ebay (which is currently lying around, unused), a vintage B&O BeoMaster 4400 (what an amp!), a pair of B&W DM7s in practically perfect condition with boxes & manuals & all factory-measurements, a Cyrus DVD8, a good pair of Soundstyle speaker stands, ceramic speaker isolation pads, 2 x iPods, random mics, random bits of studio stuff etc...

I'm a bad impulse spender, but I seem to have spent my cash on good stuff and rarely regretted it.

My dad bought his first hifi with his student loan, over £500 of stuff in the early 70s. :p
 
Over the past 20 some years, there are too many to list. Most (not all, but most), I have regretted.

Here are some:

Almost every car I bought was an impulse buy.

Computers, other pieces of electronic equipment to numerous to list.

Guitars, guns, camping euipment, etc..etc...

Now that I am 40, I look back and realize how foolish I was buying 90% of the things I did. The enjoyment was short lived, and many of the items I spent my money on ended up not working after a few years anyway.
 
JBL Creature Speakers for me iPod -- I have yet to connect the thing FIVE YEARS after buying it.

An 80gb video iPod a few weeks before the iPod Touch, filled with no more than 6gb of podcasts. (Of late, however, I've been loading it with Star Trek episodes, so I'm finally justifying its purchase.)

A Yamaha Digital Keyboard that looked great in the store, but had less capability than the one I should have gotten. (On the other hand, GarageBand and Logic Express have taken the MIDI input from what I bought and enhanced it greatly.)
 
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