Biggest waste of money you've witnessed?
 

I will never claim to be good with money. But I have a friend who recently finished paying off his credit card after 4 years. He's obsessed with MMORPGs and wants to play one that's coming out. He's kind of obsessed with games running effortlessly on his system. If he has even a smidge of lag he gets mad. So he's planning on wasting his money on this.

Is it just me or is that insane?

I doubt anyone has any that are as bad, but if you have any similar stories feel free to share.

Of course it is insane. It's Mexicanware.

Might as well use 2/4th of that money for ordering seperate parts off Newegg and building it yourself.

My cousin and her new husband bought one of those high definition plasma TVs that hang on your wall. They paid up front, in cash from her husband's last check before he had a two week break before he started a new job, and put the thing on the wall in their bedroom. I'd have personally put it in my living room. You know, so that other people could enjoy it. But whatever.

Well, after blowing several thousand dollars on this TV her husband goes to start his next job (he's a safety worker for petrochemical plants) and they won't let him into the plants because his license is expired. He couldn't get it renewed because he had several outstanding tickets that amounted to like $2500 or something. We had been telling my cousin for months to take care of the tickets but she and her husband seem to be unable to control their impulses to spend money on crap instead of using it to pay for necessary things. Never mind that her husband could have been arrested if a warrant would have been put out on him (I can't remember if there was a warrant or not). Obviously an HDTV is more important than not being thrown in jail. After paying for the TV they couldn't afford to pay for the tickets, so my cousin went whining to my grandpa, who of course forked it over because he has a soft spot for her. They would have been up a creek if my grandpa hadn't helped her.

The moral of this story: Get your priorities straight. Or get a rich grandpa who will bail you out when you're in trouble.

High end weddings. /thread

Its SO ridiculously stupid. I just cannot really put it in words in how much that money should had been for a HOUSE or savings for their kids or god forbid their own freakin debt or marriage counseling/divorce proceedings. :\ I've visited too many weddings that were doomed to fail.

Those of you who have read my journal wherein I bitch and moan about how my car is treated by my sibling figure already know a lot of this but perhaps my little sis should get her priorities straight too. Both her and her husband have good jobs and somehow they can't seem to buy a car.

A CAR.

I see them coming home with random trinkets, armloads of games and movies here and there but no car. They could easily use some of that money buy a car and, once (if?) they have one, to pay someone to look after and maintain their car; because both are too fucking lazy to check a dipstick for oil and thus the reason why they don't have a working car in the first place. Worst part is, my car is slowly going to shit and when (again, if?) they buy a car, all the problems that it has now are never going to be repaired and I'm gonna be the one footing the bill to fix my own car.

Some peole, man... You give 'em an inch and they'll go on for fucking MILES. :/

In my opinion, that's more of a waste of money than a computer. But seriously, tell him not to get an alienware. If he doesn't want to built it himself, tell him to go with Falcon Northwest. Falcon Northwest Computer Systems, The Ultimate Gaming PCs.

Edit: Woah, I just copied and pasted the Falcon Northwest link and it automatically changed it to the text above. Is that GFF's doing?

You could say that, but that's all he uses his PC for. And it would take decades for an MMO bill to add up to what he's going to spend on that PC. There is so much stuff on that PC he won't even use including the Blue Ray Player and 15/16ths of the hard drive space. I mean seriously. He doesn't even browse the internet unless it's an MMO's official message board.

Also as far as the building it yourself part. He's basicly computer illiterate. He can't figure out anything himself and always asks me to help him. I'm not even a computer wiz myself, but I figure things out easy enough. I taught myself how to make AMVs and he wanted me to teach him how... when he wasn't even using the same software. I'm not a freaking tutor...

I always thought buying "fashionable" brand name clothing was a massive massive waste of money.

"It's got a little alligator over the right breast! That embroidery is worth an extra $100!"

wut.

Also minimum payments on credit card bills.

Fixed.

I was at H&M one time with a friend, he was gonna buy a $70 that we would wear during a school trip that was soon approaching. While waiting in line, we see this family buying a shitload of clothes. This pile was HUGE. To my guess, it was probably a good half of the women's selection and a good half of the men's selection. They go through half the pile and the total is about $1,200 already. Suddenly the wife of this guy paying comes by him carrying another outfit. The husband motions her to add it on to the pile.

I was thinking to myself, "WTF" the whole time I'm witnessing this. They're buying all this clothing that's gonna go out of season in about two months... So my friend finally pays, and there's still a pretty decent amount of clothing left on the counter for this family, as we walk out, we see the total reach up to about $2,100...

Why the fuck would anyone need that many clothes. H&M has nice clothes, but it's not worth buying the whole fucking store. <_<

Maybe they were on What Not to Wear. :P

As for the topic, all I gotta say is Super Sweet 16.

Oh god. The guy I mentioned in the first post used to buy Tommy Hilfiger clothing in high school. I always thought that was retarded. I never understood these kind of clothes aside from bragging rights for how much money you spent on them. Which honestly I don't think is something to brag about.

Tonight my girlfriend backed out of a vacation we had planned next month.

Bye bye $700 non-refundable plane tickets!!!!:D

My best friend's father is possibly the WORST compulsive buyer I've ever met in my life. The man LOVES technology... hasnt the SLIGHTEST clue how to use it. He's bought at least 10 different iPods over his life... he's down to 2 because he keeps losing them. "Ally, how do you make a playlist?" "Didn't I show you this last week?" "I forgot! Can we sit down for a couple hours and you show me again?"

Plasma screens, the latest computers... NO IDEA how to use them. Once I returned home from school after a long time away, and I was welcomed home with "The wireless isnt working. Can you fix it?"

Also, shiny things. I went to BJ's WholeSale Club with him once, and we have to walk by the jewelry section at the entrance. He immediately was distracted by these little glass animals, each about $30. When I told him he didnt need any, he said "You never know when you'll need a gift for someone" and talked abut buying ten of them. $300 worth. Thank god I convinced him otherwise, because they would have gotten lost in their pig-sty of a house anyways.

Not to mention his 'hobbies'. Camping, exercising, redecorating, and fly fishing. All expensive hobbies, and fly fishing is the only one that he does continually. The rest is all on random impulses.

I think the worst part about all this is that he used to own his own business, but because he screwed up his back horribly when he was younger, he recently sold it to his nephew. So he's on a totally set income now, has gone through 6 back surgeries in the last 4 years, and STILL buys completely on impulse.


Also, one of my personal 'favorites'... fucking PURSES. I cant understand why a woman would spend upwards of $100 to $1000 (yes, I've seen them) on a PURSE. I use this little purple backpack I've had since like 5th grade... or (surprise!) my pockets.

Ugh, owned so hard :(

Early adopters are huge money wasters. I did that once with a laptop and learned my lesson hard. Since then I did that with my Wii and I did it many years ago when iPods first dropped. I've had success with those two but that's it. The majority of early adopters end up fucked rectally (iPhone, HD-DVD, etc).

Biggest waste that I've personally witnessed would be when a crew of 13 people including myself dropped $1500 each on a film that would never see the light of day because the director was an incompetent twat. Temari can back me up on this enormous waste :gonk:

I can be a pretty impulsive buyer. Not to such a grand scale as some of the already posted examples, but I manage. One recent example is Folklore for PS3. I bought it about 4 months ago and have not played it once and don't even have the urge to play it. I think that I bought it just to have a new PS3 game, but I really didn't even have any interest in playing it then either. o_O

Here's another one. A few years ago, me and my buddies needed to look for some mats to do our wrestling training/sparring on. After much searching, and use of 411, we found this martial arts store. The mat that we wanted was $395 plus tax. It was a 4' x 12'. Needless to say, it was a rip off. I opted for 5 pieces of these puzzle mats. Spent $150. Well, let's just say, we might as well have been bumping on concrete...

Federal Government, AMIRITE??????

In all seriousness, however, at the College-Level the money waste is unbelievable. They know they can get whatever funding they want between raising tuition and state aid, so they're comfortable spending it on anything.

My particular rant is about scholarship athletes. Look, we can't find pennies for people unless they're the academic equivalent of Tiger Woods and yet we'll give full rides to any bozo who looks like he can toss a ball. They need to get stricter on this stuff. They come in, they get tutors and excuses around classes, they get criminal records that they get pardoned from, and they get more tolerance than anyone else. And what do we get? A bunch of guys who can't go 30 seconds without a holding penalty or a botched pass for a turnover. If you can't learn the basics of the game, you lose your scholarship. Period. It's all you're damned here for, it's a lot easier to learn than what the actual students are here for, so get it right.

waste of money = car
best value for money = home :D

That totally depends on where you live and how much you travel. For example, I can't imagine living in New Jersey without owning a car at one point.

There's a girl with a Swarovski crystal-encrusted laptop at my school.

Where should I hide the body?

Actually, a home is a horrible investment for your money. Ignoring the fact that the home market's crashing right now, having that much money (a few hundred thousand) tied up in a house and doing nothing is a lousy investment. It's far better to keep a mortgage - build up your credit report and invest the money you're not keeping frozen in a few pieces of wood/plastic in the stock market where it can actually do something.

yeah cause with the drastic day-to-day up-down movement that the stock market has been recently is also a good idea of a place to throw your money http://spcows.ae2t.net/kareha/src/1204905175691.gif

Face it, you'd be better off just telling him to go into a casino with $300 and "invest" it there. At least the odds might be more in his favor then.

Let's see... I remember paying about 700 dollars to get into a college, 500 to get an apartment, and 300 to get a plane ticket down there. But, at the last minute, I couldn't go down because, surprise surprise, I didn't have enough money to support myself when I looked for a job.

Abd not a cent of that money was refundable. Lost 1500 buck-a-roos, which, to a college student, is about a half-year's part-time work at minimum wage. Go higher education.

Airport Security... Billions thrown into the incinerator... what a waste of fucking money.

In case you hadn't noticed, our entire economy is geared for the benefit of stockholders. Corporations are legally required to treat their employees as shittily as possible to maximize shareholder value. If you're NOT in the stock market, you're going to get screwed over, period.

I've seen my friends lay down huge amounts at the casino and lose it all, I've always considered that a waste a money. Usually this happens when they're already in a hole and they try to get themselves out, and the hole just gets deeper. Gambling isn't even enjoyable after that point D:.

So yarr, gambling and losing large amounts is the biggest money waster I've seen.

Wow, I was feeling bad, but this thread took the weight off, I blew $600 on a convertible top for a car that I never rebuilt. Still have the top, but it's been 4 years :P

Leasing or Renting.
Of course it would depend on what it is, Renting a apartment is a waist of moeny, but many people don't have a choice, I have rented a apartment for a few years and now have a house. With a house I pay a little more then I did with rent, and If I want to sell, I get all that money back and use it as a down payment on a different house it I want, I didn't get shit when I left my apartment.

My brother is leasing a truck, I to this day I can't figure out why. For the lease to be valid you are limited to a number of km per month (At least I think is't per month) and he can't sell it so he won't get any money back. He even had the nerve to ask for my car so he can meet someone so that he won't waist the miles on his truck. Flat down said no.

I'm going to go ahead and politely disagree with you on this one. I'm leasing a car and I love it. I don't have any children to pass the car on to, nor do I foresee needing to sell it. I have a brand new car that runs like a dream, and the dealership pays for most of the service. Plus, when the lease is up, I have the option to buy it out (which I might consider). I was thinking of buying a used car, but I'd be paying more monthly for a much older car, whose reliability would be questionable. It depends on your situation, I guess, but for me right now, leasing is a good option.

It's great to hear that Its working well for you, but trust me, if you knew about my brother and his family's lifestyle, you would be wondering why on earth they are leasing.

They use their truck ALL the time and I am willing to bet that they have to pay for the extra miles they have used on it, I was living in their basement apartment when they got the truck, so I am willing to bet that the thought leasing was a safe bet assuming they could use my car, when I refused to let them touch my car their plan back-fired. They should have done their research first and planned around it.

I agree that leasing is a waste, but there are plenty of times when renting makes perfect sense. People who have to move around a lot shouldn't bother with buying - the fees and selling costs'll kick your butt. And when the housing market's poor for buyers, buying's not that smart either. Now's not too bad of a time to buy a house, but there have been plenty of times where it didn't make financial sense.

Mmm, that's valid. Pretty much as long as you are well aware of the risks in leasing, you should be fine. Admittedly, I'm well over where I should be on my mileage since I commute to work, but after I move, the car will be used MUCH less than it is now, so I'm not worried about going over the eventual 36,000 mile limit when my 3 years are up. And even if I do, I will likely buy the car out since I love it so much.

Are insurance rates higher when you lease a car? I've never done it and don't know anyone that has.

Nope, there's no difference in the rates.

I'm also going to weigh in on the leasing car argument. I've got a lease and I love it. Sure, I'll probably trade it in when my three years are up, and have nothing to show for the money I've spent the entire time, but I don't trust my instincts when buying a used car. I'll probably wind up with a beater, it's in my blood. So, this is a good compromise. Plus my car be bitchin' yo.

Not to say that cars are a good investment outside of utility, homes traditionally do not change in value much unless your area experiences blight or gentrification. But you're an idiot, I'm only responding to you because I really like seeing my sig.

I've been working up in Fort McMurray, Alberta over the last 18 months where compulsive shopping is practically a lifestyle all depending on the specified person in this area from my point of view.

A lot of people who work up here are so amazed but how of an increase in terms of a paycheck they get when it comes to finding work up here. They can go from making 10 to 15 dollars an hour to making 35 to 45 dollars an hour with a living allowance of $198 a day to go along with it. Trust you have to be making that much with the cost of living as high as it is up here, but sometimes that can be oblivous to some people. They see anywhere from 3 to 5 grand on a paychceck, and think they have a lot of money to burn. my house back home is worth about 150,000; If I had purchased that same house up here it would cost anywhere between 500,000 to 750,000 up here.

I've seen my share of seeing people spend countless amounts of money from anywhere to over the top expensive vehicles, lavish trips to just about any kind of electronics. I remember going to the source and seeing someone spend almost $10,000 on a variety of electronics during the holidays. There have been times that I've stayed up in work camps and I've actually seen people play paycheck poker.

For me personally even though I make $25 an hour as an environmental field inspector the majority of my money goes back home. My money can do a lot more back home then what it can do here.

The way I look at it, its their money they more than welcome to spend it how they see fit, even if I see it as a waste.

EVERY SINGLE FUCKING PERSON WHO BUYS BOTTLED WATER
It is, no shit, like one thousand times more expensive than the water form the tap. People come up to the cafe I work at, in a mall, and fork out $3 for a bottle of mount franklin. RIGHT NEXT TO THE COUNTER WE HAVE THIS WHOLE STATION OF JUGS OF ICE COLD WATER AND GLASSES. IT'S FUCKING FREE WE GIVE IT TO YOU AND WE'LL EVEN WASHT HE GLASS. WE DON'T CARE. But no, these fucking morons continue to buy Mount Franklin bullshit.

It's fucking tap water run throuhg a filter. BIG FUCKING DEAL.

My parents blew around 1,000-3,000 (can't remember how much) on trimming, plus the cost of getting it painted and installed.

My dad also drives an electric wheelchair 80% of the time because walking is too hard (in his defense, he's had like 8 heart attacks in his life).

It's been about 2 and a half years, and in that he's managed to knock the trimming off of a wall entirely, and gouge it almost all the way through in another part. There isn't a time I can remember where I've swept and hadn't swept up splinters and whittlings from his ventures into the kitchen.

And that's not counting the door that he's all but wrecked, and the bathroom cupboard doors he's ripped off, and the front door he's scratched. I don't think I need to go on anymore.

We now call him the human wrecking ball.

Some things come to mind:

The old 'I'll watch it later' for DVD's or 'I'll get around to playing it later' for games. The idea basically of storing up games/ DVD's when one knows that he/she will never play them all.

i tug off dudes

EDIT: I think I might just leave this here as an example of the type of dipshits I have the pleasure of living with. They also waste money.

Leasing is for suckers - by the time the lease is up, the car is used and then you're either buying a used car or you're going to go out and lease something else.

Champs go to repossession auctions and get cars on the cheap.

It's used, yeah, but it's been used by me, so I am at least aware of any risks involved in the car. I wouldn't be buying it blindly like I would any other used car.

But they don't know that. They probably buy the bottled stuff just to be on the safe side.

There's a acquaintance of mine who've wasted thousands on guitars, amps and so on, but he can't really play the guitar that very well. He's thinking that the more expensive equipment he's got will make everything sound much better, but he's sooooo wrong. I've gotten a friend who's really friggin good at the guitar, and he's poor and can't afford a new guitar even if he needs one. I think he should have the stuff instead.

I swear, you're talking about my younger brother. He's bought four or five guitars in the past two years or so, and he only really plays one of them. Why would you need more than one anyway? Also on the list is four amps, each new one bigger than the last. And the clincher here--he thinks he's king shit on the guitar, and he SUCKS. I can't stand it when he plays; it's like he's just cranking out noise.

That, and we live in an apartment building. He plays it so loud sometimes... He even got us an eviction warning one time.

Buying audio cables for $3000 per meter. I've seen it happen.

I hear you there, people tend to to that with sports too.

Stupidity is no excuse!

Paying near 200$ bills per month for a cellular phone is something I'd call, one of the biggest waste of money. I work for Bell Mobility and I do customer service. I see cases of people paying for shitty little services like bikinis/hot male models or mobile poke and stuff like that which is money thrown in the lake.

Also, Mortis, I'm guilty of the thing you mentionned. I bought some video games that I knew I wasn't going to play.

I have to agree with the bottled water issue, people who buy it are indeed morons, just get a filter jug for your fridge, if you want to take some with you, use a sipper bottle. So much cheaper.

A friend of mine purchased a Blu-ray dvd player, and he wishes to buy a playstation 3 this year too...

Ugh ><
How much is a stand-alone Blu-ray player nowadays anyway?

More than the PS3... That's for sure.

I understand why people want a big wedding, and why they are willing to spend a lot of money on it. The way I see it, it's most likely the only day in your life, aside from you funeral maybe, where everything will revolve around you and your husband/wife, so why not make the most of it? Yes, a lot of people say that they are happy if they can just be with the two of them, but I'm way too shallow to appreciate that, I basically want a gigantic wedding with tons of people to witness me and my wife's moment de gloire. Besides, I don't really know how it's in the US, but in Belgium, the parents pay for the wedding most of the time, and the couple gets tons of gifts and money, so why not invite some more people?

People say it's incredibly gay of me, but I love splurging obscene amounts of money on shopping, and I always find a way to justify it to myself (i.e., I'll wear it for years, it really matches that blue pair of jeans that I have,...). I know I have pretty expensive taste, Diesel, Replay, Hugo Boss, Lacoste (only the latest collections though, their older stuff is really not that good), and a lot of people find it ridiculous that I'm willing to spend a lot of money on it, but what's the problem if I'm ok with it all?

I'm usually an impulsive non-buyer. I go to the store with a list, and talk myself out of 3/4 of it.

I don't understand how people can spend so much money on luxury things. Things like huge-screen tv's and stuff. Maybe I'm just too practical for my own good. I found it hard to spend money on a digital camera even, because I just couldn't see myself needing it. It took me two weeks to talk myself into getting it for the simple reasoning of wanting it. Buying my laptop was a neccesity in many ways. Communication, school, hobbies etc. So paying 1200 for my laptop wasn't a major waste in my eyes. I got something really good, with a great warranty and a few great accessories. But I've seen people buy shitloads of things that they'll never need. I don't know, I just hate seeing people spend all their hard earned money on things they don't really need.

I don't mind gambling if it's a couple of quid in the IT box, but I have a friend who used to spend practically all his disposable income that month on slot machines. He wouldn't be phased by coming away with about a quarter of what he'd spent, saying that the coffers were full and if he kept playing he'd hit the jackpot. Luckily he's learned to moderate since then.

Also agreeing with the bottled water. I'm sure someone ran a scam once by simply making his own label, bottling his own tap water and selling it at a regular price. A sly trick but it goes to show how stupid some people can be.

I was going to second games and movies that are rarely, if ever played again, since the same guy I was talking about before must have well over 200 DVDs and plenty of games, most of which are scratched to hell due to his untidiness. However, he always seems to know where to get things cheap and it's probably less expensive than renting. Also, if they are in good enough condition, there are plenty of places that would let you trade them in for cash, so it's not a total loss.

The biggest waste of money I ever witness happened a few years back when two of my friends blew their entire student loan (6 or 7 grand) in a bit more than a week in the video lottery machines at our student bar. They kept influencing one another to play more. Both left university that semester since they had no way to sustain themselves. One never went back, and the other was back the next year and feeling pretty stupid.

Biggest waste of money eh?
It's a good thing I don't actually live here, because it's been 6 months and I must have spent at least $300 on vending machine crap.

If I bought it at the store maybe it would cost half that?

The figures aren't high, but they add up over time I think.

Definitely my little brother. He's wasted cars (changing the god damned oil isn't that difficult and yet...), racked up a myriad of parking/speeding tickets, court dates, lawyer fees, and generally manages to break or lose things often. He's the type of child you hope to god you'll never have.

company spent tens of thousands $ on a computerized, automated, touch screen redic system they later just threw away cause they fired the guy who set it up, apparently they hated him that much.

also staffed a full time phd (100ish $/year?) for 3 years, and all he did was make graphs in excel, only came in 3 days a week to boot

edcross: What exactly is a redic system? I hope I'm not just misreading a typo.

Biggets waste of money? $6-700 on an Apple iPhone. You really need your phone and your mp3 player on the same device? Okay, pal.

First thing that popped into my mind was smoking. It's sad to think about the huge amount of money people spend on cigs (when you look at it over a long period of time) just to kill themselves more quickly.

$6000 custom computer.

My friend bought this custom computer to play WoW and Crysis. Normally I wouldn't call that a waste, but he over clocked it to the point that it basically blew up. It is so far costing him $2000 and rising to fix it all.

Probably my flatmate, a complete nerdatron. Warhammer, LARPing gear, train tickets to go to the LARPing events, PAYING for the LARPing events, Yu-gi-oh cards, Pokemon games...I let him off with video games since they're easily sold on and enjoyed but the rest is a bit too much. He lives off the bank of Mum and Dad as well as a Student Account with a large overdraft.

I think considering since this is an Internet community, it would be safe to say that the biggest waste of money I've witness (according to you guys) would be my own purchase of twenty-five CDs at full or near-full retail price, since most of you probably download all your music anyways.

I download music, but the effect it has on me is the opposite of most people. Usually I either don't like it that much and never play it again/delete it or I feel a compulsion to "support" the artist and buy the CD in full, even though I already technically I have all the music from it. Two examples of this would be my buying of Eric Serra's, "RXRA" and Marit Larsen's, "Under the Surface" - both expensive imports.

Some family friends dropped at least $100,000 on their wedding.
Not even kidding, the food alone was $100 a plate. And there were about 200 people there.
And they gave everybody silver heart-shaped measuring spoons as favors. I don't want to think how much the woman spent on her dress.

Weddings are expensive sure, but there's no reason to go over the top.

Well...I do actually buy CDs of groups that are underrepresented and I feel could use the money, especially if they're with a smaller label or independent. Unfortunately most of my downloaded musics come from somewhere outside the country, which makes acquiring the physical disc somewhat...expensive.

I bought my friend a $200 War Hammer starter kit as a farewell gift. He told me he always wanted one.

But after about a month, he stopped playing.

Nothing can top mine. My friend inherited around $65,000 from his grandmas passing. He was around 17-18. His parents are dumber than he is, didnt really care about em. He eventually used it all within 6 months. Not buying anything useful like a car, or investing it in something, nothing!! Some notable things he bought include:$4,000 worth of hentai
$2,000 dollars for a PS3.

The PS3 thing was he tried to buy on on ebay when it came out for 1,000, but he actually bought a PS3 domain name! LOL. We were on him about that for months. So he spent another thousand gettin a PS3.

The rest he spent on random stuff or things he hasnt said anything about. Either way, biggest waste of money ever!

The weekend I was getting out of boot camp, they let us go out in town and to the local mall and whatnot, my friend bought a $400 watch that tells him his heart rate and a bunch of really useless stuff. Luckily I was able to convince him of his folly and he returned it.

I work in the restaurant at the local golf club. There's a family that eats every friday night. They're messy and wasteful- pay for a huge meal, and then only eat 1/5 of it. Their children mess up the place (10-14 year olds, so they should be capable of being at least somewhat tidy). They buy things such as bottled water, and then only drink a mouthful. It's ridiculous.

My grandmother impulsively buys trinkets and decorations (a trait my mother seems to be taking on) for her house. Every surface has something sitting on it. Come Christmas time, there are new Christmas-themed stuffed animals and Santa figurines on all the tables and shelves. And she wonders why she's struggling to repair/renovate her house...

This sort of behaviour continues to baffle me.

Have you ever actually told him how much of a tard he's being? Hell; has anyone? There's no problem with him liking nerdy shit (although even by the standards of people here that's excessive, Yugioh what the fuck), but I'm annoyed just hearing about spending habits that idiotic.

Seems I've already replied to this, but I have a few more things to list:

People who buy pre-built brand name desktop PCs when you can get more bang for less buck, free of shovelware that kicks into action upon bootup.

Idiot richkids with laptops that far exceed their usage needs. I already mentioned the brat I went to school with who owns a crystal-laden computer, but I've always facepalmed massively at the number of thirteen and fourteen-year-olds with 17-inch Blu-ray-equipped Vaios with 250GB HDDs when all they do is play FIFA '03, check their Facebook profiles nine times a day and fill them with amateur-porn-surfing-incurred malware.

My mother, who when shopping in the UK, outright refuses to buy any Tesco Value products as she dismisses them as "student shit". I got into a massive argument with her over her buying £15 steak last time she was this side of the pond. Then again she's adept at siphoning funds from her rich boyfriend anyway, and I eat well when she's around, so it balances out.

Lastly, a fifteen-year-old kid from my old boarding house IM'd me yesterday to tell me that he'd just bought Photoshop and was having some problems figuring out how to use it. Fill in the blanks.

I can't believe I didn't think of it before!

In January the New South Wales state government threw away several million dollars on a ticket machine system upgrade/modification (known as the 'T-Card' system). Due to miscommunication between the government and the contractors designing/installing the new system, there was a clusterfuck of astronomical proportions. The deal was called off and now all of our train stations across the state have half-installed gates and card scanning posts, half-modified ticket machines and incorrect signs.

gg Australian state government. Now they're trying to revive the project (which was 10 years in the making apparently =/ )

NSW revives failed Tcard project - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

i ordered like 20 cds from amazon and all of them turned out to be crap.

I think blu ray is a complete fucking waste of money. It's like, "hooray! finally movies like the Matrix and Aliens cost $5.00 per DVD at Target" for about 10 sec. and then the good 'ol consumer anxiety kicks in and makes people decide to blow 5-6 times as much to get the stupid blu ray version.

The biggest waste of money I ever made would probably be the 60GB iPod photo. After 2 decent years, the hard-drive took a shit and I don't want to spend $200 or whatever to get those idiots at Apple to fix it (i.e. send me an entirely different one with all my songs wiped off of it). When the stupid thing finally bit the dust, I decided to cut the spending b.s. and started using my Sony Disc Walkman again (which plays MP3s burned onto data CD-Rs).

I'm generally a bit flabbergasted by the amount of spending people do when they've got disposable income (mainly live-with-mom-and-dad types and others who have some kind of financial edge they keep on the down-low). My brother ran out and bought a Wii and an X-Box 360 the week they both came out, and now doesn't even touch the Wii...and the X-Box has been broken for like 5 months. I feel like a complete winner since my last console purchase was a used Dreamcast ($20 with four controllers and tons of game discs) that I play all the time.

Another thing people need to stop wasting money on is fucking pets. I want to kidney-punch any jerk who tells me that they're financing a god-damned dog from Shake-A-Paw or any one of those umpzillion mall pet stores that should be put out of business for animal cruelty. I have three cats and the pricetag for all of them combined equaled $80.00 in adoption fees, which in a sense benefits one in the long run as most adoption agencies will provide payment for vaccinations, deworming, etc... I think my brother's Shake-a-Paw dog tagged out at over $700, but it could be more. In addition to that, he's paying full price at the vet's office, etc... All the hubbub about breeding and pedigree that the chain stores put out there is a bunch of overblown bullshit and last time I visited the animal shelter, there were still dozens and dozens of fine-looking dogs/puppies (more than a few probably came from the mall originally).