20 Things That Are a Rip-Off and You Should Never Buy, Are You?

We all enjoy spending money on things we like or want, but some of those “wants” can be quite frivolous. A user asked, what can’t you believe people actually buy or spend money on? and here are the top things. Honestly, we cannot believe some of them.

1. Expensive Vehicles

We all love luxury, but some people buy expensive vehicles when they cannot afford them. It is always important to understand and budget your monthly spending to live a life of financial freedom. 

A Mortgage Loan Officer says “It is EXTREMELY common nowadays to see people who make 30-40K a year with car payments that are 600-700 a month. It is definitely the most egregious debt I tend to see on people’s credit reports nowadays (even over student loans) because the monthly payments are just so outrageous.”

Read: Kill It Now: 10 Frugal Things That You’re Doing, But Aren’t Worth It Anymore

2. Number Plates

There are many people who spend a crazy amount on number plates. For example, Delaware. In an auction, the winning bid was $410,000 — yes, nearly half a million dollars — for license plate No. 20.

The Fuscos are commercial real estate brokers who are into collecting number plates for 20 years now. Recently, they bought a number plate “11” for a staggering $6,75,000

A user shares “Here in the UAE, people (mostly Emiratis) sell and buy license plates and phone numbers that have interesting combinations of numbers on them. Currently, the license plate ‘130’ is going for the equivalent of US $120k. And the SIM card for ‘3333335’ is worth $17k.”

3. AOL Memberships

“AOL memberships My mom still does it. I can’t convince her otherwise. Drives me crazy.” said one.

4. Lottery Tickets

Trying out your luck is one thing, and spending hundreds and thousands of dollars on lottery tickets every month is another. Try addiction!

“The lottery. It’s one thing to drop a couple of bucks on a ticket or two, if only to dream. But people that drop hundreds of dollars that they usually can’t afford thinking they’ll be a millionaire the next day baffles me.” shares one.

5. Fancy Water

The use of water is simple. It is to satisfy thirst and a lot of people don’t understand spending an insane amount on some special water claiming something.

Have the money? Go crazy. If you are broke or don’t have a budget, drink simple water. 

“Fancy water, there are so many different kinds of water all claiming to be special in some way. No way I’m paying $8 for a bottle of water.” shares one.

7. Phone Wallpapers

We absolutely don’t understand this.You can find billions online for free, why spend a couple of dollars for them?

Read: Online Jobs That Pay Weekly (or daily!) – 64 legitimate WFH options!

8. Bottled Water

“Bottled water. In Scotland, at least. We have some of the best quality water in the world from all our taps for free. No Evian.” said one.

9. MLM Schemes

Even after the internet is full of warnings and explaining why MLM are scams, we don’t understand why people trust these schemes.

“The worst is when you can someone out and call it a pyramid scheme and they respond that it isn’t a pyramid scheme, it’s multi-level marketing. That’s the damn definition!” says one. 

10. New Christmas Decor Every Year

There are several ways to add new Christmas decor every year. You can make them, or buy them for cheap. However, adding new and expensive decor each year (while you throw old ones) makes no sense to us. 

“New Christmas decorations every year – we’ve had ours since I was a kid. We buy some to add to it, but it’s the same every year in contrast, I had a friend in school who bought brand new decorations every year in a new color scheme and simply discarded the last years!

Considering it’s only up for a few weeks, I couldn’t believe how wasteful!” shares one.

11. Overdraft Fee

“Overdraft Fee with the bank. I know this isn’t actually buying something, but if I could get back the money I gave my bank for this through my 20s, I’d probably buy a house with it.

Turn it off and let your card get declined. I swear, sometimes I’d buy a $1 pack of gum, and $35 would go to the bank. Got so bad I would be negative $600 to the bank when payday came. Pay them back and maybe have $200 left, so I’d have to go back to the negatives every time. Lived like that for years. Terrible.” shares one. 

Read: Don’t Be Fooled: 10 Harmless Things That Can Actually Be “Dangerous”

12. Cable Modem Rental

“I rented a modem from the cable company for ~5 years, then my wife and I moved to an area with a different ISP. Got a modem from them and rented that one for almost 6 years. $9 a month I spent on that stupid modem. The cable company tells you that if something happens to the modem, they’ll replace it if you’re renting theirs. I’ve never had a cable modem fail, ever. It was laziness on my part.

Finally came to my senses this past spring and bought a nice Netgear modem for $60. It’s easy, and then calling the cable company and giving them the MAC address and a couple of other bits of info. Many people are unjustly intimidated about doing this, but it’s so worth it.” shares one.

13. iPhone Games

We understand love to Apple, but a Redditor shared how he knows a dude who spent hundreds on some stupid iPhone game. 

14. Dog Weddings

Dog weddings are a thing and a market. You can find dresses, caterers, etc for it. While it is cool to pamper pets, it is absolutely insane to spend money you don’t have.

“I saw an article a few months back about a gay couple who had a lavish wedding for their dogs with guests etc. which cost more than $10,000. I know that people are entitled to spend the money they make in whatever way they choose, but what they did is wasteful, nonsensical (for the dogs at least) and completely frivolous.” said one. 

Read: How to make quick money in one day (Earn $100 quickly!)

15. Weddings

“Weddings. I mean, obviously, they’re going to cost money, and that’s fine. But why do people have to spend so much money?!” said one.

16. Fancy Pets

There are so many people who spend thousands of dollars on genetically manipulated pets. A user says “they often end up having health issues when there are so many really wonderful animals in shelters that desperately need a home.”

17. Expensive Baby clothes

“Name brand” or just expensive baby clothes. They grow so fast, plus they get so dirty. But sure, let’s spend $40+ on an outfit they wear once for a few hours.” said one.

18. A New iPhone

A new iPhone every single year is the most frivolous use of money.

Read: 10 Jobs That Only Exist Because You Are Stupid and Careless

19. Diamonds

People spend a tonne of money on diamonds when you can get lab grown diamonds for cheap.

“I don’t understand the logic of a buying diamonds. Ignoring the blood diamond controversy, the monopolistic hold of DeBeers, and idea of spending a tons of money on a decoration just when you’re getting married (and there’s a ton of other use for that money, such as a mortgage), diamonds a shiny, clear stones. Crystals and cubic zirconia are also shiny.

Also, it boggles the mind that the average buyer has no independent ability to assess its value, you can only go to a jeweler and have it appraised (with many offering radically different values. Epstein’s classic piece “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?” is really an eye-opener.”

20. Prom

A user shares “Prom. I get it. It’s a “very” important moment in your life but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to sink $2000 into some dance just because it a couples dance. I could honestly get something much better with $2000.”

21. Expensive Bags

There are many who spend thousands of dollars on expensive bags even though there are many ways to get branded bags a steal.

If you love Gucci, for example, but don’t to spend tonne of money,  you can grab Gucci dupes here.

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This article was originally published on Mrs. Daaku Studio.