I'm thinking of things like:
Often we don't realise how much we base purchasing decisions on "everyone is doing it", without researching properly or even just stopping and thinking about it for a second. What other examples can you think of?
This is an excellent one.
(Not sure why the downvotes - maybe that comment below trying to say it's sexist somehow?)
Not sure why the downvotes
With my post, I pretty much insulted 99% of the population. Chances are that you like at least one thing from my list.
It's like my other controversial post: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/213993#comment-3096161
Anyone who downvoted me probably is a person on my "hit list"
lol I'm getting good at this No. of downvotes = No. of upvotes thing.
Amazingly smart and well thought out post. I forgot how much money was wasted on killing others on the war front.
CS:GO SKINS
DOTA 2 SKINS
League of Legends Skins!
Fore skins :)
Hookers
Not a waste
they go by 'sex workers' these days, fitty.
Cocaine
Also not a waste
You are such a waste :)
Did some one say Charlie. maybe Charlie sheen lol
"Cocaine's a hell of a drug" - Charlie Murphy.
i was just watching the one where he is the black president… don't drop that yellow cake lol careful with that shit!
If it's not mentioned yet, Soft drinks from servos,etc.
Personalised number plates like "U.NV.ME". Complete tossers!
lol those losers are so desperate to be envied by everyone else.
Or even ones with the brand/model of the car, i.e. BMW318
Yes, tosses, but at a lower level. The badge on the boot already says it FFS.
The "envy me" guys usually have thin goatees and are in their 20s.
In WA, it's a one off payment to get personalized plates. ;)
Same in Vic.
I believe ACT is $2k a year and QLD is around $600.
One off payment in QLD too.
@malouphix:
Just checked NSW and they range from $180-$600 + an annual fee.
Mine in WA (surname) were about $400.
Alcohol
Why?
Isn't it just a way of life?
e.g. You're at a bar. OF COURSE you're getting something to drink. And I don't mean water.
What do you mean? I see it as a waste of money. You pay money to destroy your lungs and liver in the process. Might as well smoke weed, it's probably healthier than drinking anyways and you won't get to be hung over afterwards.
Yeah
But like, you're at a bar. I've always thought that a drink (alcohol) follows naturally once you're at a bar.
@inose: Its society that makes you think that you need to drink at a bar. But do you really have to?
@inose: I don't go to bars. Do I have to do that as well? But if I do go to a bar, I probably would drink some alchohol, but still its a waste of money. I also used to smoke and I thought it was a waste of money as well as collecting amiibos. They are all waste of money, but alas you buy because you buy. It just that when you compare alcohol to weed, weed is such a healthier option to get a "high".
@spn:
But if I do go to a bar, I probably would drink some alchohol, but still its a waste of money.
Sigh… yep. Waste of money, but we still do it anyway…
So it sounds like when you're at a bar, you DO buy a drink, as I've said earlier. You don't have to, but it's just… natural.
Remember the time when beer was something that you hated? It's an acquired taste, definitely.
I don't drink but at bars are either
- buy food (rare as they sell rubbish)
- buy non alcoholic drinks
- use the restroom
So you can go without drinking but it's like going to a restaurant and just ordering coffee, without any food. Sure they sell coffee but you don't go to one for that. You go to a cafe for a coffee.
How does drinking alcohol destroy your lungs?
Hotel room minibars!
Cigarettes, any food sold by cinemas, any products sold by convenience store, water in Darling Harbour, food and drink sold in the zoo, dentist work, taxi fare (gosh $50 for a 9-10km journey with no traffic?), fine restaurant dining (don't mind if it's Hurricane Grill), Sushi Train dining, $35-$50 buffet, iPhones, current house pricing, Australia Post more than 500g express shipping cost if can't use its prepaid satchel, opal card which treat transferring from different transport as a different fare (try as a family!) and hotels.
you meant Cancer man in X-Files? :)
Dentist work? Do you mean cosmetic dental work like getting a whole set of veneers done for a fake Hollywood smile? Or all/any dental work?
Coffee…is a magical beverage. I would circle around the supermarket contemplating whether to spend $3 on staple food but I’d drop $5 to get a cuppa without batting an eyelid.
Selling coffee is like owning a money tree.
hence why i'm doing exactly that part-time ;)
~Steam Summer and Winter Sale
~Stuff that I really don't need but hit their lowest price in OZB front page
egg nog
Taxis. Why do they still even exist?
To help people get around
Yeh but uber does the same for far less
Fair point, far less cost and better quality service.
But once the government starts regulating Uber (eg requiring mandatory workers comp insurance, licence fees, etc) the price will inevitably increase.
"Buying a plain white T-shirt for $100 because of the name on the label inside". I don't understand designer t-shirts. Classy men should be wearing French-cuffed long sleeve shirts, silk ties, and a half or full canvassed suit made of wool/silk/camel hair/cashmere.
or a dinner suit after 6pm
This is more of a side comment but I've had people get (profanity) snooty with me when I talk about the gadgets and stuff that I buy.
Yet they buy a (profanity) macbook and iphone at full price.
Yes, I have a smartwatch, tablet, phone and mini-pc, but I paid less than what u paid alone for ur friggen iphone.
They can't seem to understand how I can just easily buy stuff when I need it, maybe it's because I don't spend $3.7k on an apple laptop and phone every two years and I just save my money?
It's just funny how I get branded as the one who just "spends" all the time when infact I'm spending less and smarter lmao.
What is imao? imho = in my humble opinion. Seen it before but just curious.
laughing my ass off = Lmao
Just checked and "I" (Capital i) and "l" (lower case L) are indistinguishable on my computer, including pasting from ozbargain, but not viewing in ths reply form.
Anyway, "In My Arrogant Opinion" love it, going to use. But also can be used as "In My Actual Opinion" which I assumed first off.
You may indeed have seen imao, though, which means: In My Arrogant Opinion (no really, that's actually a thing).
Tax
the price of a functional civilisation
Modern cars. $40k boats to catch $800 worth of fish.
More than two Mobile phones, hi-priced postpaid internet, and phone accounts. It hurts me ;-)
Makeup, suits, alcohol, cigs, gambling, most temp accomodation.
Replacing appliances, furniture, tv's, cars etc without real need. Most items are repairable, even by the owner.
Renovating home because you have too much cash and nothing to do with it.
Bargains (just stirring).
Diamond engagement rings. Sure its all part of the wedding experience but too many girls don't want to say "got it cos its pretty" and justify it as an investment.
Magazines
Foxtel and Apple products.
What's the dumbest thing that way too many people spend way too much money on?
Apple and Microsoft Products.
Let me guess… Linux user?
Guilty on the one of the above mentioned products.
Unfortunately I can't find any iPhones on The Pirate Bay.
Trying to pirate something (getting something useful for free) is the complete opposite mindset of iPhone users. They unnecessarily spend more money and they're proud of it.
Never paid full price on a Microsoft product.
The Surface Pro 1st gen I got— $200 off thanks to discounts
Headsets and other computer keyboard/ mice— got a cashback for those last year
The Windows OS — my university provided em' for free, and I paid $15 dollars (each) to get two copies of Windows 8 because of the infamous loophole, which were upgraded to free to Win 8.1 and then Windows 10.
Office 2010 Professional Edition — got it with student discounts so only paid $60 rather than $199
Newspapers
Expensive TV sets from famous brand, with appealing futures like vivid color, 100HZ refreshing rate, building in OS (so called "Smart" TV) etc.
Anything LV, Hermes, Tiffanys, etc… sunglasses… every pair costs about $2 to make… (from your $10 servo pair to your $1000 pair)
Can you say Luxottica?
Just get the fake ones from Chinatown.
I got mine from Malaysia (CHinatown), 2 years ago. Still no problem.
bought some from aliexpress for US$3.57 - polarised lens, nice.
False. They actually do cost more than $2. Well into the hundreds actually. I used to work for one of them and saw the markup. It's not the 600000% people ignorantly assume.
I bought a Camelbak water bottle cos everyone on OzBargain was doing it… lol but itll come in handy I know it will. I can use it for the gym now instead of refilling a spring water bottle yay
It's got a "jet valve", so it makes it less appealing to use in an office environment (it's so easy to accidentally choke or miss your mouth) :)
Fine dining
Food.
Once you eat it, it's gone. Lol
So you should stop eating then :)
GST ?
Time is money, too many people waste plenty of time looking to save 13 cents on certain products. If you need the item and it's a quality item then pay $50 for it, only 2 hours work, better than searching for months until you find it for $35.
$35 where?
True, if we put our time into study/progressing our careers or running our own business rather than bargain hunting…
Wrist Watches……..
sure they are a thing for show off, and there are heaps of expensive BRANDS out there. I understand the social effect and all that but I cant get my head around spending thousands and thousands of $$$ on them.
I can't see anything wrong with it, if it makes you happy and you can afford it, why not ? You only live once and young once :)
you oughta look out (yolo), stay home and save for a rainy day, there will be plenty!
Scientology stuff…
It'll have to be weddings… people spend enough for a house deposit on these things, on the pretense that people actually care.
What I think most people miss, is that people are ultimately entitled to spend their money (assuming it isn't welfare based) on what they like. Isn't that the point of life? To do what YOU enjoy?
True, but lots of people are making objectively dumb decisions about what they spend money on.
A lot of the things people mention here are very poor value for money. They don't actually bring much (or any) pleasure or happiness. Just, people feel like they will, often thanks to insidious marketing and the herd mentality.
So I think it's worth people pointing out common wastes of money to get us to think for once about what we spend money on. Maybe we can help people spend more money on things that actually bring them enjoyment.
The thing is that when you break it down, there aren't a lot of things that are 100% objectively dumb purchasing decisions. A lot of the small things that matters to one person doesn't matter to another, and therefore there is no one way to judge a purchasing decision.
Take for example the pariah of the ozbargain forums, the iphone. Sure, a lot of people spend all their money getting one because of the name. But I've used both iphones and android phones from different price points. I've spent a good amount of time with both types. And I can say that I prefer using ios. Sure, android features are nice at times. But I don't judge the value of a phone based on how many checkboxes it ticks or how long the feature list is. I look at the build quality, the fact that i can go to a local apple store for support, and whether I prefer the interface/ecosystem of the phone. That is why I'm willing to pay more for the iphone, and while it's not necessarily a purchase that's cheap, I'm satisfied with the purchase way beyond the typically mocked reasons such as it's shiny, or it's cool, or it's got a fruit logo, or I'm a sheep.
I know people are going to say at this point, "but it's not twice as good as a $500 android!" Yes, and that $500 android is not going to be 5 times as fast as a $100 android phone, or have 5 times the features. But diminishing returns is just how the market works. No one is going to be getting twice the product for twice the price, that applies to all products.
Even things such as smoking or drinking, which are easier to justify as a worse purchasing decision than buying an iphone, aren't clear cut. For some people, they are social activity, or a way to relax, which means that it's got way more value than just "expensive thing that kills you."
Anyway, I think the lesson from this thread was that pretty much every product has people who couldn't care less and people who swear by it. Therefore the only value that one can assign to a product is a personal one, there is no objectively dumb product.
Sure, but the whole premise of this site is not just about getting what you want/need/feel like. It's about doing it in a smarter and cheaper way. Same can be said about perceived happiness attached to material things.
Some people think stuff makes them happy because that's what society and marketing tells them.
But the flip side of it is that society tells you to derive pleasure/happiness from other things too, stuff like having children, helping people. And that if you don't don't enjoy these things, you are are living a shallow and unfulfilled life. It's not just one single message out there about getting all that from material goods, the whole spectrum of society trying to impress its message upon you.
The key is to do what you like. The value of whatever you do is what you choose to assign to it.
The apple watch is a waste of money. Seriously, why you need a watch when you can pull out your phone and achieve the same goals? 'Glancing notifications' is marketing rubbish that has created an artificial need.
While the Apple Watch is overpriced, smartwatches in general can be useful in a lot of situations.
If I left my phone on silent and it's sitting in my backpack or drawer at work (I'm not allowed to carry a phone while I work due to workplace rules) I can still get notified when I receive messages or calls via my watch.
If I forget my phone and walk out of BT range my Pebble notifies me. It'll also tell me if the phone needs charging or not.
When I go bike riding and I can't carry my phone in my pocket, I place it in the backpack and the watch can control music playback and it also gives me GPS directions and tells me how far away my destination is.
All that functionality for $99 dollars. It's pretty damn good.
This comment is the best advertisement for smart watches I've ever seen.
What app do you use on the Pebble for out BT range notifier?
I really hope the bit about makeup and jewelry is in jest. Comes off pretty sexist. Also, last time I looked some men have a penchant for "gaudy" thick necklaces and pinky rings - but let's not stereotype an entire gender yes?