Kicking yourself? What are the most expensive mistakes you’ve ever made?

18Sep
by Cherryl

So what are the most expensive mistakes you’ve ever made?

Some mistakes cost us physically – like stepping on an upturned plug or chewing raw chillies.

Other mistakes may take an emotional toll, but today we’re talking about the mistakes that hit us hard in the purse and wallet, like a nuclear torpedo.

The expensive mistakes that leave us pitifully unable to point the finger of blame anywhere but our dear selves.

If ever there was a reason the kick yourself! Here’s a few of mine:

Tea Catastrophe

I recently spilt tea on my MacBook Pro.

Turmeric tea, to be precise.

Being a fairly chilled type, I can’t remember the last time I felt such a sudden surge of raw panic – apart from this moment.

The laptop carried on working just fine for about 24 hrs, then it went crazy.

Some keys stopped working, it started phantom typing and making weird shaky movements across the screen.

Then it stopped charging.

If your machine shows any of the above symptoms – it’s very likely to be water damage.

According to a reliable source, what I should have done, was tip the laptop upside down immediately – let it drain for a while and then cover it in dry rice. Yes rice – rice that that you cook and eat.

I tried the rice remedy a few day too late since it didn’t work. Apparently it can also get your smart phone working again if you drop it in water!!

Rice power!!

Anyway, the laptop was well and truly unconscious, despite it only being a small amount of tea that spilled onto it.

I was quoted an unspeakable sum of money to replace the keyboard area – with no guarantee that that would resolve the problem.

In fact, they said if the new keyboard didn’t resolve the problem they might have to replace the battery and/or hard drive – which would come with further throat choking quotes.

In the end, all sensible arrows pointed to buying a new laptop – seemingly cheaper than the potential mounting costs of repairing the old one.

I still need to go and collect ‘the deceased’ from the repair people – though I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with it.

Book in haste and repent at leisure

I can’t be the only one who’s booked a holiday online and then days later I notice the price has gone down dramatically, or I come across a better deal that I missed when doing my prior research.

Kick, Kick, Kick, screaming inside!!!!

That look when you’ve already booked your holiday, then you see it come up cheaper the next time you look……the injustice!!

Worse than that, was the one time I booked a holiday online, not through my usual agents of choice – oh no, I was going to bag one of those ‘really good’ deals from those ‘other’ holiday websites!!!

I found the perfect deal, couldn’t believe how good the price was and paid in full.

After a few self satisfied minutes, I decide to look through the order details again – feeling smug. The smirk soon evaporated, as I quickly realised my ‘bargain price’ was only a bargain because it didn’t include any luggage. None whatsoever.

It ended up costing £100 per person via the airline, to add on a measly luggage allowance each – then we had to pay more money on top of that for priority boarding – since that’s the only way this airline lets you bring hand luggage onboard. Crazy is an understatement.

I mean, who gets on a plane with no hand luggage or hold luggage – it’s not exactly a bus ride!!

The shock on my face that night (around 1am) must have been priceless – no hand luggage!! What the heck kind of airline was this? I’d never experienced anything like it, needless to say, it took me a while to get to sleep that night.

I’d been had – and I hated it.

Anyway, you win some, you lose some I guess, but when you lose it hurts for a good while – at least until you get on the plane and forget all about it!

Rest assured, I won’t make the same mistake twice.

The Small Print

Another superbly pricey mistake I made was when I bought my first (leasehold) home and naively paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Years later, when it came to putting it on the market again, the unhealthy lease meant I had to extend it first – and boy did that cut like a knife.

Tip – avoid buying leasehold properties at all costs if you can (it’s such a rip off system in the UK, compared to other parts of the world), but if you do, be sure to check the number of years remaining and make sure you’re happy with that before getting carried away with making an offer.

Over to you

I’d love to hear about your most expensive mistakes in the comments below; maybe you’ll help me avoid a few in the future!!

95 thoughts on “Kicking yourself? What are the most expensive mistakes you’ve ever made?”

  5. CAROL PATRICK

    In 1996 when we had a new fitted kitchen I signed up for extended Warranty insurances. Every year I sent a check off for each individual appliance, Fridge, Freezer, Built in oven, Built in hob, & Extractor fan. After several years – not quite sure whether it was eight or even 10 years, I received a letter stating that the Insurance underwriters had changed, & that they would no longer accept cover for extended warranty on appliances over eight years old! In those days it was before I had pc & home Internet, But looking back I am sure this was illegal. I had paid huge amounts out faithfully every year. Now I will never ever pay for extended warranty insurance on anything item!

    Reply

  13. Lisette Davidson (@Supersoniclady3)

    #MoneytoBurn – some time ago we purchased a fridge freezer so it would fit under our kitchen cabinets – when it arrived, it fitted beautifully but no way would it open in the right direction and the doors were NOT removeable so you could change them round – it was late at night and we decided just to put it straight out for the dustbin – £300 worth of fridge freezer BINNED as it was totally useless to us and we had bought it online and could not return it, having discarded all the packaging!

    Reply

  17. Joanne dawkins

    Brought a new 65 inch smart tv for the living room after having the old 40 inch for 12 years. A week later my partner was fiddling about with the radiator and asked me to hold the metal grill which goes all the way across the top of it, which i did, I then proceeded to lean forward to pick something off the floor while still holding the grill and gouged a 4 inch long line down the middle of the tv. It’s still there now 🙈. Luckily it’s not really visible when the tv is on but looks awful on a dark screen.

    Reply

  28. floridaborne

    When my kids were young, I bought a Yogi Bear campsite time share near a national park. The first few years were great. Then the time share fees went from $55 per year to $55 per month. The next year, the taxes and the time share fee were higher, so I stopped paying. I had paid the $11,000 in cash. When I moved to another state and eventually it was taken back by the people who sold it to me. When I bought it, I received a painting as a gift. I call it my $11,000 painting.

    Reply

  33. Lisa

    Well we were redecorating my teen daughters room and she helped me build a wardrobe, I then left her to tidy clothes away and she leant on the tv , (which was flat on the bed), the screen completely smashed from the pressure- it was 3 months old , a 42 inch smart tv ! I didn’t have the heart to shout as she had done an amazing job helping with the wardrobe arghhhh!!!!

    Reply

    1. Cherryl

      Financial expense and demands coupled with such raw emotional loss, all at the same time must be unbelievably hard to carry – I’m really sorry to hear that you have been/presently going through this – I really hope things settle and you manage to find peace within yourself and for your mum – bless her soul. I realise we all see things very differently – but I believe forgiveness is about the state of your heart toward someone (whether they are with you to know it or not) and you will feel better when that change in your heart takes place – forgiveness is an energy – not just saying and doing 💛x

      Reply

  46. Karen Usher

    Most expensive mistake – Booked a flight, I was doing it at work when I wasn’t suppose to be on my phone so I was rushing – 1 – Booking flights on the phone isn’t easy in the first place 2 – Should have been doing it when I had more time to concentrate….but the price was right, and I got excited…..booked the right date….in the wrong month. Tickets were non refundable……..I couldn’t travel on the dates that I was meant to travel on, lost all my money, husband was livid………lesson learnt the hard way.

    Reply

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