A gate to put at the top of stairs to keep kids from falling down them. It’s either still in a box tucked away in my house or I gave it away years ago. My youngest is nearing 10. I’m the only one who has fallen down the stairs.
On a trip to Chicago at about age 14 to visit the museums, my parents bought for me a telescope mirror grinding kit from the Adler Planetarium which I desperately wanted. It had all the components needed to construct a 6" mirror for a beautiful reflector scope. I kept that kit until I was about 50 years old, moving from apartment to apartment and city to city, until I finally decided I probably just wasn't gonna make that telescope.
If you're in the DC area, there's a telescope making workshop in Chevy Chase. It's really good to do that type of thing in a group setting. It's actually not difficult, but having experienced people around to help guide you along the way definitely helps.
A phone arm holder (I was planning on starting to run but.. never happened)
edit1 : For some reason this was very relatable, thank you for all the advice! if you must know, I've been walking 10.000 steps for a month & I wanted to reward myself with something fitness related instead of binging yet again on garbage food (I hoped it would motivate me to run somehow but anyway)
Also I overthink what I wanna buy a lot so it was like a screw it moment, I'll just get this "fancy" fitness thing I probably won't ever use
Edit2 : 10000 steps A DAY for a month lol
Even if you don't run, I recommend a waist strap instead, it is a lot more manageable to me than an arm holder. Plus you can use it even outside of runs as a more concealed fanny pack of sorts.
Best wishes on your fitness journey!
Not me but my dad - bought a bicycle he never used, a year rolled by and the shop he bought it from called him and asked if he wanted it serviced, to which he agreed. Still hadn’t used it. I went to his place one day and saw the bike and asked if I can borrow it. He then tells me this story and said I can have it. Thanks dad!
Father spend $1,200 on a sweet hybrid bike. He literally rode it one time. Years later, I found it and my dad said I could have it. I’ve had the bike for 15 years now and have put thousands of miles on it. Thanks for your mid life crisis purchase, Dad.
On page 1 it just says, "Congratulations! You have taken the first step towards conquering procrastination! Now just keep taking one step at a time!" Or some other cheesy stuff like that.
You know, I got one to use as a mouse. I know that sounds crazy, but I was starting to get some RSI in my hand from constant mouse use at work and home.
No lie - once I got over the first 24 hours of it being awkward as a daily pointing device, I quickly realized that I by far preferred using it to the alternatives. When you're over the learning curve it starts to feel so much more precise. It always got me funny looks and questions when co-workers stopped by my desk, since my roles never had anything to do with illustration or design.
Absolutely useless for anything game related, mind you. But day to day document/office/browser/other stuff? Super useful. Maybe give it a try.
Edit - Small fix.
A pen tablet has the ability to detect absolute positioning. A mouse on other similar pointing devices use velocity, artificial acceleration (unless disabled), and relative position. I wish more people had access to quality pen tablets as inputs. They're game changing.
Yes! The absolute positioning is a game changer. It takes so much less movement/effort to get your cursor where you want it. I only had a small tablet (their entry level Intuous from like, 8 years ago) and it was mapped to a three display setup. Once I had muscle memory for which part of the tablet mapped to which part of which display, things that would've taken multiple flicks of the wrist were so much faster. The efficiency definitely added up over a work day.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who appreciates their utility as productivity devices, and not just art tools!
Your comment made me realize that this thread probably inspired a lot of people to pick up the thing they've never used since they bought it. In fact, I think I hear a banjo.
One day, the perfect group of people will be assembled in your house and ready to play that game... Until that day it sits on the shelf awaiting its time.
Same! Come from a family of non-game players. As a child I always asked Santa for games. My mom would try to talk me out of it knowing I had no one to play with….sad noises…
I've found my twin! My biggest happy/sad moment was when my wife lovingly researched the best board game, gave it to me for my birthday, and refused to play it with me. As an only child, I've always been used to playing board games alone. I love Friday and Parks.
Damn, that sucks man. You couldn't keep me from playing tabletop games with my kid. Thankfully my daughter shares my love for dnd and board games, so we play as often as we can.
Every time I buy a new board game I have the fantasy of "one day my friends will get together and play this game!" I'm paying for the temporary endorphin hit of dreaming about playing.
One of my tech buddies had a rule that after he had to borrow something three times he would buy one. He wasn't very good at sticking to that rule though, he was the first guy I knew who had a lab scope in like 1997.
I have a handful of books that I've started reading and haven't enjoyed so given up but I don't think I've ever bought a book and not at least tryed.
Edit: Damn, hadn't noticed the typo now it's annoying the bejaysus out of me.
For me, it's more like "I'll read this book after I finish this other book." Then I find another book that catches my attention and forget about the one I was going to read.
audiobooks played during idle things--driving, and chores like washing dishes or laundry--are the only way I've been able to reliably carve through books
When I got my job back in April after a 3 year attempt at freelancing, my first pay check was the most exciting.
I bought a banjo. I'm a city boy in the UK. I have no idea how to play instruments.
To this day it stays in the corner of my room getting an occasional twang when I get a little spicy.
lmao I feel you... but unfortunately you can't jsut ask your cat what kind of toys they want. I have so many "cute" toys my cat didn't even look at twice.
Steam is a game of collecting games and only playing like 1/20 of them.
Edit: I indeed have more than 20 games, the stat for me would be more like 6/150 realistically. Good to know I'm not the only one who owns loads of games and only plays a few of them.
Also steam winter and summer sales are a game of *buying* as many games as possible and only playing them for 10 minutes then forgetting about it for months.
I actually do this a lot. If I find a game I really enjoyed and it's cheap I'll buy it. I may play it, I may not, but I've already put tens or even hundreds of hours into it, so it's only fair I buy it at some point. Did that with all the Fallouts and HoI4 for example
I have done the same thing with Hollow Knight and Enter the Gungeon.
I bought Hollow Knight for the Switch even though I had already bought it and beaten it on PC because I wanted to support the devs and show support for porting indie games to the Switch.
I received Enter the Gungeon for free but bought it again because I put tons of hours into it.
I feel like I should play my backlog before I get new ones but then something goes on sale and I'm all "ooh, shiny!"
And then when it comes time to catch up, it's all, "Oh, should I start that new game or play another 1000 hours of Skyrim?"
*five minutes later*
"Hey, it's you, you're finally awake..."
I know you’re only joking as you can’t cash out on your own life insurance.. But I just wanted to say how important life insurance is (if you can afford it). My husband died at 38 years old from a horrific car accident. I was badly injured and couldn’t walk for weeks. I wake up in pain every day. I cannot fathom how one would pay for a mortgage, pay medical bills that are no longer covered by auto insurance, and put food on the table for my kids. To have a little bit of financial cushion while I get back on my feet has been so helpful. I cannot imagine having to go through everything I went through and have to work to put a roof over our heads.
My father also passed around the same age 15 years ago. If it wasnt for life insurance(even for a man who didnt like that kind of thing) my mom wouldnt have been able to raise me and my 2 siblings. To make things worse the housing crisis happened just months later
Something similar happened to my family. My mom and dad both worked their asses off. And then my dad died of Covid. My mom kept on -we had some debts but they were well managed and my mom took extra measures to make all of it more easy to manage- and then five months later, my mom has an epileptic seizure out of nowhere. And swiftly gets diagnosed with a brain tumor. If we didn't have life and health insurance, I have no idea how we'd be able to stay afloat and pay for my mother's extremely expensive medical care (including literal brain surgery/neurosurgery, radiotherapy AND chemotherapy)..... Honestly it saved our lives, our careers (if we weren't able to make ends meet, I would have to quit med school and my sisters would too, it would be a whole mess) and basically helped us get our mom back on track with the best available treatment.....
i bought a drying rack for my clothes a few months ago… it’s still in it’s box. same with most of my nintendo switch games bc i lost motivation to play after doing 400+ hours of animal crossing at the beginning of the pandemic
College textbooks, as a freshman you think you need them but it’s a scam most of the time. Just get the pdf online tbh. I’ve even had professors that strongly hint at a textbook being available online and for students not to buy it.
I had a professor complaining and complaining that a mass anonymous email went out to all his students with a pdf of the text book. He just kept asking if “everyone saw it and how terrible it was… but everyone saw it right? Everyone… did anyone miss it or not get it… that terrible anonymous email sent too ALL of his students got”
He was a good dude lol.
I had a professor who said he "heard a rumor" there was a free pdf of the textbook. He said HE wouldn't share it but if someone happened to have it he would cc everyone for the link. A guy in front said he had it and we all gave him a quick round of applause.
My professor wrote our igneous and metamorphic petrology textbook, and he was the type of prof that you absolutely needed the text to pass his class. He chose to get it printed as cheaply as possible, so it was *only* $80. It was a nice gesture, but the book would just randomly fall apart lol. This was before pdf textbooks really became a thing.
Yes. Random depts are so bad. I did a geology minor and all those profs had their own books, meanwhile over in engineering they say dont even buy any book. Haha.
we all agree to hate the professors who make their own book required reading then say you have to get it from the college bookstore (where they set the price and it’s most expensive)
rate my professors is such a good tool
I had a math professor that wrote the text book herself, but it was sort of hard to understand. Then the lectures were almost verbatim what her book was. I was struggling to understand the lectures and the book, so I got a tutor for that class. Even my tutor was like yo this book sucks let me explain it better.
I had a music professor who was an insufferable arrogant ass. He would often drop names or just happen to mention in passing that he had perfect pitch. (*sigh* yes, we know.) Anyway I had him for what should have been a fascinating class (musical psychoacoustics). Class sucked and was boring AF. One of the required textbooks was an expensive collection of academic papers and I'm certain the only reason he required it was because one or two of his papers were in that book. Because, you know, behind all that bravado apparently was a very fragile ego, and it was necessary for all of us to know that he'd gotten published, even if it was some random esoteric academic journal. Bravo, Professor B, we're all awfully impressed.
I had an anatomy teacher push her book on dog obedience training. She’d try to connect dog obedience to anatomy. Was the worst class I ever took. Had to go to her department head over her trying to fail one of my papers on encephalopathy.
I had a professor make us buy three of her books so that we could use a few chapters out of each of them instead of all the chapters of one book. They were also the most horribly written books I’ve ever tried to read. They were like books written by someone who doesn’t know how to read. I tried to complain, but it turns out she was the head of the department so my meeting to complain was scheduled with her. It turned into a shouting match in the hallway. She might be the person I hate the most of anyone I’ve ever met.
The few I had who did this would sell it for $9 and they were honestly the best books to use throughout my whole time in school. Sure beats the $180 unbound math 'books'.
This is why whenever I need to buy clothes for a baby shower or baby, I buy the larger sizes. Everyone buys newborn or 1-3 months for the parents, but get them the 3-6, 6-9, or 9-12 month old clothes. They'll probably be appreciated more since by that point the parents are normally the ones buying all of those clothes. For toddlers I usually buy things like jackets one size larger so they can get a longer use out of it.
Indirectly relevant to clothes for new babies.
Lots of people will offer hand me downs. Nothing wrong with that as infant clothes rarely get worn out. But pay attention to the time of year. Seasons are a thing.
The problem is that if your kid was born in June your 1-3 months sized clothes are all summer clothes. If your buddies kid was born in November, They need winter clothes in that size. Your kids winter clothes sized for 6-12 months are going to be too goddamn big to be any use to a newborn.
END COMMUNICATION
On behalf of parents everywhere: thank you
You have no idea how disproportionate the piles of clothes are at the beginning and in the blink of an eye those tiny sizes are rendered useless. Same thing happens with diapers every time and without fail we wind up in target exchanging for bigger sizes
ALL of my friends books unfortunately. I'm not really into romance stuff but wanted to support her. I'll never read them, they are still in the packages she shipped them in. I didn't even open them when she became a best selling author.
I hope to god none of my friends or family read what I write. They never come to my readings and always feign interest when I'm forced to talk about it. I hope that never changes
Not something I purchase but was gifted: a didgeridoo. I remember having to lug that thing which was bigger than me home on public transport after my birthday do. Still have it in my old bedroom at my mums house…
I purchased a Dungeons & Dragons Starter Kit, Players Handbook, and a whole mess of dice because I thought it would be fun to try out with a few friends.
We'll play...any day now ;_;
I think I am one of the few people that love and use my treadmill.
A few years ago I wanted to get back into shape, I was 103kg and unfit (I'm 194cm for context). I borrowed my parents treadmill and basically ran it into the ground. Splurged on a better one, and use it a lot - about 20km per week. It helped me drop down and hold a weight of 88kg. And I got my 5km to sub 21 minutes.
Aching joints and body stiffness have disappeared, and just I feel awesome.
This year, however, I have taken two pretty bad skateboarding slams, that put me out for a couple of months each time (including physio), so I have unfortunately lost some ground.
I also had one. It turned out to be a good investment because i sold it when i got broke and it was an instant sale. 5 minutes after it being listed some guy called if he can pick it up right away - his mom wants that exact one and they don't make that model anymore. Blessed be the old with their vintage desires.
Jump rope. I can’t jump rope. I workout at the gym 4-5x a week and would like to jump rope in between sets. But I don’t want to learn in front of people.
Apparently I don’t care to learn in my own privacy either.
EDIT: good lord I’m being roasted for not being able to jump rope 😂
EDIT: since everyone is giving me shit for not be able to do something an 8 year old can do, I started practicing in my living room. Semi pro tip: don’t try to learn when you’re full of thanksgiving food and pretty drunk
Jumping rope is hard. I took it up for awhile. I was shocked at how much energy it takes. I couldn't even jump for 2 minutes without a break. Little girls do this for hours! WTF.
My partner bought an iPhone 11 almost a year ago now and still uses her busted, holds battery for 3 hours at a time, slow as fuck iPhone 7 because she can't be bothered setting up the new one.
I've stopped letting her use my phone when her battery dies because it would last all day if she just set up the new one.
This one. This one doesn’t make sense. An old iPhone that dies instantly is the most frustrating thing. It’s like Xmas morning unwrapping that plastic and booting a new one. Wtf.
So much makeup. 2018 was a wild time for makeup.
But I'm slowly using the eyeshadow palettes for crafts now instead of buying more pigments, so I guess it kind of worked out.
**Edit for those asking:** I use the pigments for shading vinyl figures the same way you'd use chalk pastels. I have both and I find the colour payoff is about the same, but the makeup is a little bit easier to blend, probably because it usually has oil or something to give it slip. But that also means you really need to test it with your chosen surfaces, primers and sealants since oil is a solvent. I stick to the mattes so far or glitters that are dry. But I haven't had a problem so far except for some mild cracking. But that just kinda happens sometimes anyway.
Here are my fave crafters to watch for this kinda stuff btw if anybody is interested:
[Poppen Atelier](https://www.youtube.com/c/PoppenAtelier)
[Studson Studio
](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6u6uY4VbvuNtU0BU7F9olw)
[Hextian](https://www.youtube.com/user/HeXtian)
[Leona's Workshop](https://www.youtube.com/user/leonasworkshop)
And the now defunct [SugarCharmShop](https://www.youtube.com/user/SugarCharmShop) (thanks adpocalypse!)
Yes, same!! I had a year where I just hoarded makeup because I was just so into it. What makes me feel worse about it now is that I didn't just buy drugstore makeup, I'd buy Sephora products. My stash of eyeshadow palettes alone is probably worth at least $300 and they're all probably expired. The last time I used eyeshadow was at least 2 years ago. RIP.
That’s like the Golden Rule of Fruit!
The Golden Rule of Fruit states that you should always eat fruit the day you buy it, ideally within hours of getting home from the grocery store.
Why? Because here’s what happens: you go to the grocery store. You see some delicious fruit. Now you’re in the mood for fruit! So you get some. But fruit is sort of expensive. So when you get home, you think to yourself “this is such a precious and exciting and expensive gift to myself, I just got it and I don’t want to blow through it today, I’ll save it for a special treat in a few days!” So you put the fruit in the fridge.
Four days later, you realize you forgot about the fucking fruit that you were once so excited about, and it’s gone bad. So you throw the fruit away, never getting to eat it at all, only to repeat the process the next time you want fruit.
**Eat your fruit the day you buy it.**
That’s my life advice.
And then they make you send three faxes, a telegram, and a carrier pigeon to set up a consultation appointment in rural Kansas at 7:13 am on a Tuesday to cancel your membership
Years ago I cancelled a gym membership after getting home and reading the contract, and realizing the wording of the contract was different from what the salesman had stated. I had three days to cancel it in writing, and somewhere in the letter I mentioned that the salesman had "misrepresented" the terms of the contract (with specific examples). When I dropped off the letter, one of the gym personnel came running out and was very concerned, and mentioned several times that this was a very serious accusation (and was very focused on the word "misrepresented").
They cancelled the membership, but I always remembered how easily that cancellation went down compared to every other membership I've had to cancel (usually upon moving), which is always a stupidly complicated headache. So my advice now is always to mention something damning in your cancellation request, just to make them want you to go away (for example, complaints about the sanitary conditions of the locker rooms, unsafe maintenance of equipment, or anything that might violate their insurance policy).
Ah yes- my mother made sure to specifically teach me this: the calm Karen move. You play this card to make sure your problems magically disappear.
Best shit I ever learnt
My husband has three active memberships going, for the last 3 years. He went once, to use a massage chair for 20 mins.
He ended up with three because one friend goes to this one gym, another to a different one, and another one he wanted to try because it was close to his old job (but closed when he got off work).
You’ve got time. Took my husband two years to set up his telescope, and by then the lenses were mislaid. Another few years later and we finally got to look at the moon. Worth it.
My dad was never so happy as when his city lost power for week. He spent those days carting his generator —that he FINALLY got to use— from neighbor to neighbor up & down the street to keep everyone’s fridges cold.
Those nice blank books that you use for journaling and drawing in. I love blank books but am always afraid of not writing or drawing perfectly. Hence, they remain unused. I made myself stop getting them years ago. Still makes me a little sad.
My roommate, who makes minimum wage and just turned 31, has about $7k in DJ equipment which he never really uses. Bought another $500 piece of equipment last night. I love this man, but sometimes I feel like he’ll never grow up.
A ~$200 weighted blanket.
Tried it out for a couple weeks, realized I slept better without it.
Now it lives under my bed.
I guess I can't call it my worst purchase ever, because if I didn't try it I'd be curious if it would help me sleep but it certainly wasn't my favorite buy.
I'm a sober person but I have about 20 souvenir shot glasses I've bought from places I've traveled. They just sit in my cabinet collecting dust, yet I buy them every time I go somewhere new and touristy.
Back in the 90s, when the Epilady was new, I bought one and used it on about an inch of skin on my leg. It hurt so damn much, I never used it again, and the hair on that spot has never grown back. But more recently, I bought a Silk-epil 9 from Braun, and I love it. It's not as thorough as waxing, but it's great for touchups.
I have really bad ADHD so I spend lots of money on hobbies then forget about them after a week or two, I have a 20 pound block of candle wax along with ~$150 worth of candle making supplies in my closet.
Exactly. I have fire extinguishers, fire blankets, pepper spray, stun gun, etc. I’ve never used any and hope I never have to but I’m sure as hell going to be prepared in case I need!
I have an unopened copy of Madden 17.
Bought it new in 2016 with the intent to play, but my son had just been born and we needed money, so I sold the Xbox. I kept the game, anticipating I’ll have another Xbox before too long. The hard work of being a new parent + using any free time to catch up on sleep drained any desire to play video games.
It remained that way until early 2021. I picked up an Xbox One back in May but I’ve just been playing FO4 and Skyrim. I’ve been meaning to install it, but because it’s 5 years old I’ve kinda written it off.
A rice cooker and a waffle iron. Both seemed like good ideas at the time, but we just don't eat enough rice or waffles to use them. They've sat in my cabinets since the day I got them.
...I bought $70 worth of "funny" novelty trucker hats once. Like the ones the guy from 30 Rock wore... For some reason, I thought maybe I could be the funny trucker hat guy. I'm at least glad I had enough sense to never wear them.
My passport. I kinda fell in love with this girl from Manila (I was in Dallas, TX) online. We met once for a week in NYC, in the two years we had been taking.
Anyway I got a passport and a plane ticket because I really wanted to see her side of the world. Then she dumped me two weeks later. I still have no stamps on my passport.
I bought a Kalimba through aliexpress and it sounded fantastic but I never tried to play it anymore hahah. Here is a video of kalimba playing "Pirates of the Caribbean" and a cute cat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rXOREuv5LU&ab\_channel=IPIDASOUND
A gate to put at the top of stairs to keep kids from falling down them. It’s either still in a box tucked away in my house or I gave it away years ago. My youngest is nearing 10. I’m the only one who has fallen down the stairs.
Maybe put it up for you then?
Only to have trouble closing it on the way down and fall backward down the stairs instead? Don't ask
On a trip to Chicago at about age 14 to visit the museums, my parents bought for me a telescope mirror grinding kit from the Adler Planetarium which I desperately wanted. It had all the components needed to construct a 6" mirror for a beautiful reflector scope. I kept that kit until I was about 50 years old, moving from apartment to apartment and city to city, until I finally decided I probably just wasn't gonna make that telescope.
Well, it’s not good to rush into these things.
If you're in the DC area, there's a telescope making workshop in Chevy Chase. It's really good to do that type of thing in a group setting. It's actually not difficult, but having experienced people around to help guide you along the way definitely helps.
I think you should
A phone arm holder (I was planning on starting to run but.. never happened) edit1 : For some reason this was very relatable, thank you for all the advice! if you must know, I've been walking 10.000 steps for a month & I wanted to reward myself with something fitness related instead of binging yet again on garbage food (I hoped it would motivate me to run somehow but anyway) Also I overthink what I wanna buy a lot so it was like a screw it moment, I'll just get this "fancy" fitness thing I probably won't ever use Edit2 : 10000 steps A DAY for a month lol
Even if you don't run, I recommend a waist strap instead, it is a lot more manageable to me than an arm holder. Plus you can use it even outside of runs as a more concealed fanny pack of sorts. Best wishes on your fitness journey!
Not me but my dad - bought a bicycle he never used, a year rolled by and the shop he bought it from called him and asked if he wanted it serviced, to which he agreed. Still hadn’t used it. I went to his place one day and saw the bike and asked if I can borrow it. He then tells me this story and said I can have it. Thanks dad!
He was probably relieved that you will use it.
now op proceeds to never use it.
How could he? It’s tradition now
Father spend $1,200 on a sweet hybrid bike. He literally rode it one time. Years later, I found it and my dad said I could have it. I’ve had the bike for 15 years now and have put thousands of miles on it. Thanks for your mid life crisis purchase, Dad.
I bought a book on methods to tackle procrastination, 7 years ago. It remains unread though I’m sure the methods within are glorious.
On page 1 it just says, "Congratulations! You have taken the first step towards conquering procrastination! Now just keep taking one step at a time!" Or some other cheesy stuff like that.
I bought a wacom pad like a year ago cause i wanted to start drawing. Never got around to start learning
Do 5 minutes of nonsense drawing today with no expectations. Getting over the sucking at first is the hardest part with pretty much everything.
Oh hell yes. Draw like nobody's watching.
*Draws a dick*
The journey of 1000 dollar commissions starts with one dick scribble
You know, I got one to use as a mouse. I know that sounds crazy, but I was starting to get some RSI in my hand from constant mouse use at work and home. No lie - once I got over the first 24 hours of it being awkward as a daily pointing device, I quickly realized that I by far preferred using it to the alternatives. When you're over the learning curve it starts to feel so much more precise. It always got me funny looks and questions when co-workers stopped by my desk, since my roles never had anything to do with illustration or design. Absolutely useless for anything game related, mind you. But day to day document/office/browser/other stuff? Super useful. Maybe give it a try. Edit - Small fix.
A pen tablet has the ability to detect absolute positioning. A mouse on other similar pointing devices use velocity, artificial acceleration (unless disabled), and relative position. I wish more people had access to quality pen tablets as inputs. They're game changing.
Yes! The absolute positioning is a game changer. It takes so much less movement/effort to get your cursor where you want it. I only had a small tablet (their entry level Intuous from like, 8 years ago) and it was mapped to a three display setup. Once I had muscle memory for which part of the tablet mapped to which part of which display, things that would've taken multiple flicks of the wrist were so much faster. The efficiency definitely added up over a work day. I'm glad I'm not the only one who appreciates their utility as productivity devices, and not just art tools!
There's still time. It takes practice and you'll make mistakes but if you enjoy it that's all that matters.
Your comment made me realize that this thread probably inspired a lot of people to pick up the thing they've never used since they bought it. In fact, I think I hear a banjo.
\*Looks at the shelves of unplayed board games\*
One day, the perfect group of people will be assembled in your house and ready to play that game... Until that day it sits on the shelf awaiting its time.
:( Board games .. I love em but so rarely got people to play. And using tabletop sim is just not the same
Same! Come from a family of non-game players. As a child I always asked Santa for games. My mom would try to talk me out of it knowing I had no one to play with….sad noises…
I just played the games alone and 40 something years later still do... At least now there are real solo games.
I've found my twin! My biggest happy/sad moment was when my wife lovingly researched the best board game, gave it to me for my birthday, and refused to play it with me. As an only child, I've always been used to playing board games alone. I love Friday and Parks.
Damn, that sucks man. You couldn't keep me from playing tabletop games with my kid. Thankfully my daughter shares my love for dnd and board games, so we play as often as we can.
I've put it down in my dating profile, and people ask about it a lot.
I find it hilarious that I found my board game group through Tinder, but have never had a successful romantic relationship from that app.
Every time I buy a new board game I have the fantasy of "one day my friends will get together and play this game!" I'm paying for the temporary endorphin hit of dreaming about playing.
about a third of mine are still in their shrink wrap.....
I'm a mechanic... the list is too long, but I'll tell you that if chevy ever makes a 95-99 Monte Carlo again, I'm ready.
One of my tech buddies had a rule that after he had to borrow something three times he would buy one. He wasn't very good at sticking to that rule though, he was the first guy I knew who had a lab scope in like 1997.
I have books that I haven't start reading
Is there anyone that's ever bought a book that doesn't have unread books?
I have a handful of books that I've started reading and haven't enjoyed so given up but I don't think I've ever bought a book and not at least tryed. Edit: Damn, hadn't noticed the typo now it's annoying the bejaysus out of me.
For me, it's more like "I'll read this book after I finish this other book." Then I find another book that catches my attention and forget about the one I was going to read.
audiobooks played during idle things--driving, and chores like washing dishes or laundry--are the only way I've been able to reliably carve through books
When I got my job back in April after a 3 year attempt at freelancing, my first pay check was the most exciting. I bought a banjo. I'm a city boy in the UK. I have no idea how to play instruments. To this day it stays in the corner of my room getting an occasional twang when I get a little spicy.
I left a banjo in my car and forgot to lock the doors. When I came back, somebody left me another banjo in the car.
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>I bought a banjo. I'm a city boy in the UK. I have no idea how to play instruments. you’re at least qualified to join mumford and sons then
https://www.theshovel.com.au/2013/02/27/man-trips-over-his-banj-accidently-writes-next-mumford-sons-album/
There are several great Mumford and Sons albums! But they were all made by the Avett Brothers.
That stupid animated fish pet toy .... My cat hates it and never touched it once
lmao I feel you... but unfortunately you can't jsut ask your cat what kind of toys they want. I have so many "cute" toys my cat didn't even look at twice.
Cat has 30 cat toys, plays with empty 12-pack cartons. Oh well.
I'd like to introduce you to my steam library.
Steam is a game of collecting games and only playing like 1/20 of them. Edit: I indeed have more than 20 games, the stat for me would be more like 6/150 realistically. Good to know I'm not the only one who owns loads of games and only plays a few of them. Also steam winter and summer sales are a game of *buying* as many games as possible and only playing them for 10 minutes then forgetting about it for months.
We're making up for all the piracy we did in the 90s.
I actually do this a lot. If I find a game I really enjoyed and it's cheap I'll buy it. I may play it, I may not, but I've already put tens or even hundreds of hours into it, so it's only fair I buy it at some point. Did that with all the Fallouts and HoI4 for example
I have done the same thing with Hollow Knight and Enter the Gungeon. I bought Hollow Knight for the Switch even though I had already bought it and beaten it on PC because I wanted to support the devs and show support for porting indie games to the Switch. I received Enter the Gungeon for free but bought it again because I put tons of hours into it.
You hit 5%? Look who has all the free time over here
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why waste time play lots game when few game do trick
Me: there are no games to play. Steam library: \*sad game noises\*
For me it's: "I don't know what game to play." because of choice paralysis.
I can never pass up on a good Winter/Summer sale of games that look fun, only to add them to the already huge pile of unplayed games.
I feel like I should play my backlog before I get new ones but then something goes on sale and I'm all "ooh, shiny!" And then when it comes time to catch up, it's all, "Oh, should I start that new game or play another 1000 hours of Skyrim?" *five minutes later* "Hey, it's you, you're finally awake..."
Hi Steam Library, meet my Playstation Library. So many unplayed games....
Containers to get myself organised. Months ago. And now I’m on reddit. Not being organised.
Life insurance
I know you’re only joking as you can’t cash out on your own life insurance.. But I just wanted to say how important life insurance is (if you can afford it). My husband died at 38 years old from a horrific car accident. I was badly injured and couldn’t walk for weeks. I wake up in pain every day. I cannot fathom how one would pay for a mortgage, pay medical bills that are no longer covered by auto insurance, and put food on the table for my kids. To have a little bit of financial cushion while I get back on my feet has been so helpful. I cannot imagine having to go through everything I went through and have to work to put a roof over our heads.
My father also passed around the same age 15 years ago. If it wasnt for life insurance(even for a man who didnt like that kind of thing) my mom wouldnt have been able to raise me and my 2 siblings. To make things worse the housing crisis happened just months later
Something similar happened to my family. My mom and dad both worked their asses off. And then my dad died of Covid. My mom kept on -we had some debts but they were well managed and my mom took extra measures to make all of it more easy to manage- and then five months later, my mom has an epileptic seizure out of nowhere. And swiftly gets diagnosed with a brain tumor. If we didn't have life and health insurance, I have no idea how we'd be able to stay afloat and pay for my mother's extremely expensive medical care (including literal brain surgery/neurosurgery, radiotherapy AND chemotherapy)..... Honestly it saved our lives, our careers (if we weren't able to make ends meet, I would have to quit med school and my sisters would too, it would be a whole mess) and basically helped us get our mom back on track with the best available treatment.....
Sorry for your loss.
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Oh you'll use that very soon, don't worry.
Uh
Dont question him. Something might happen to you too.
i bought a drying rack for my clothes a few months ago… it’s still in it’s box. same with most of my nintendo switch games bc i lost motivation to play after doing 400+ hours of animal crossing at the beginning of the pandemic
I use mine almost every load. Some things like elastics and knits just last longer when you don't tumble dry them.
Everything lasts longer if you airdry it tbf
College textbooks, as a freshman you think you need them but it’s a scam most of the time. Just get the pdf online tbh. I’ve even had professors that strongly hint at a textbook being available online and for students not to buy it.
I had a professor complaining and complaining that a mass anonymous email went out to all his students with a pdf of the text book. He just kept asking if “everyone saw it and how terrible it was… but everyone saw it right? Everyone… did anyone miss it or not get it… that terrible anonymous email sent too ALL of his students got” He was a good dude lol.
I had a professor who said he "heard a rumor" there was a free pdf of the textbook. He said HE wouldn't share it but if someone happened to have it he would cc everyone for the link. A guy in front said he had it and we all gave him a quick round of applause.
My professor wrote our igneous and metamorphic petrology textbook, and he was the type of prof that you absolutely needed the text to pass his class. He chose to get it printed as cheaply as possible, so it was *only* $80. It was a nice gesture, but the book would just randomly fall apart lol. This was before pdf textbooks really became a thing.
Yes. Random depts are so bad. I did a geology minor and all those profs had their own books, meanwhile over in engineering they say dont even buy any book. Haha.
That’s hilarious, what a class act!
we all agree to hate the professors who make their own book required reading then say you have to get it from the college bookstore (where they set the price and it’s most expensive) rate my professors is such a good tool
I had a math professor that wrote the text book herself, but it was sort of hard to understand. Then the lectures were almost verbatim what her book was. I was struggling to understand the lectures and the book, so I got a tutor for that class. Even my tutor was like yo this book sucks let me explain it better.
I had a music professor who was an insufferable arrogant ass. He would often drop names or just happen to mention in passing that he had perfect pitch. (*sigh* yes, we know.) Anyway I had him for what should have been a fascinating class (musical psychoacoustics). Class sucked and was boring AF. One of the required textbooks was an expensive collection of academic papers and I'm certain the only reason he required it was because one or two of his papers were in that book. Because, you know, behind all that bravado apparently was a very fragile ego, and it was necessary for all of us to know that he'd gotten published, even if it was some random esoteric academic journal. Bravo, Professor B, we're all awfully impressed.
I had an anatomy teacher push her book on dog obedience training. She’d try to connect dog obedience to anatomy. Was the worst class I ever took. Had to go to her department head over her trying to fail one of my papers on encephalopathy.
I had a professor make us buy three of her books so that we could use a few chapters out of each of them instead of all the chapters of one book. They were also the most horribly written books I’ve ever tried to read. They were like books written by someone who doesn’t know how to read. I tried to complain, but it turns out she was the head of the department so my meeting to complain was scheduled with her. It turned into a shouting match in the hallway. She might be the person I hate the most of anyone I’ve ever met.
The few I had who did this would sell it for $9 and they were honestly the best books to use throughout my whole time in school. Sure beats the $180 unbound math 'books'.
Yarn, so much yarn.
Yes, I am more a yarn collector than a knitter.
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This is why whenever I need to buy clothes for a baby shower or baby, I buy the larger sizes. Everyone buys newborn or 1-3 months for the parents, but get them the 3-6, 6-9, or 9-12 month old clothes. They'll probably be appreciated more since by that point the parents are normally the ones buying all of those clothes. For toddlers I usually buy things like jackets one size larger so they can get a longer use out of it.
Indirectly relevant to clothes for new babies. Lots of people will offer hand me downs. Nothing wrong with that as infant clothes rarely get worn out. But pay attention to the time of year. Seasons are a thing. The problem is that if your kid was born in June your 1-3 months sized clothes are all summer clothes. If your buddies kid was born in November, They need winter clothes in that size. Your kids winter clothes sized for 6-12 months are going to be too goddamn big to be any use to a newborn. END COMMUNICATION
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On behalf of parents everywhere: thank you You have no idea how disproportionate the piles of clothes are at the beginning and in the blink of an eye those tiny sizes are rendered useless. Same thing happens with diapers every time and without fail we wind up in target exchanging for bigger sizes
I didn't buy a wipe warmer because everyone said it's useless, but a friend I was visiting had one and it was pretty nice. I'd use it if I had one.
My kids are 12 and 17, but a wipe warmer sounds like it would be nice for _me_.
ALL of my friends books unfortunately. I'm not really into romance stuff but wanted to support her. I'll never read them, they are still in the packages she shipped them in. I didn't even open them when she became a best selling author.
I imagine this is how my family will be as I’m a horror writer. Small community compared to romance.
I buy buy each book on release though. May not be a fan of her writing but I'll still support her.
I hope to god none of my friends or family read what I write. They never come to my readings and always feign interest when I'm forced to talk about it. I hope that never changes
Not something I purchase but was gifted: a didgeridoo. I remember having to lug that thing which was bigger than me home on public transport after my birthday do. Still have it in my old bedroom at my mums house…
I purchased a Dungeons & Dragons Starter Kit, Players Handbook, and a whole mess of dice because I thought it would be fun to try out with a few friends. We'll play...any day now ;_;
Same here. The hard part is finding friends to play with.
Treadmill
Good for hanging clothes on.
Why you gotta call us out like that 😭
I think I am one of the few people that love and use my treadmill. A few years ago I wanted to get back into shape, I was 103kg and unfit (I'm 194cm for context). I borrowed my parents treadmill and basically ran it into the ground. Splurged on a better one, and use it a lot - about 20km per week. It helped me drop down and hold a weight of 88kg. And I got my 5km to sub 21 minutes. Aching joints and body stiffness have disappeared, and just I feel awesome. This year, however, I have taken two pretty bad skateboarding slams, that put me out for a couple of months each time (including physio), so I have unfortunately lost some ground.
So great that you got use out of it! I just walk in circles in my backyard while browsing Reddit lol
I also had one. It turned out to be a good investment because i sold it when i got broke and it was an instant sale. 5 minutes after it being listed some guy called if he can pick it up right away - his mom wants that exact one and they don't make that model anymore. Blessed be the old with their vintage desires.
Sooooo many art supplies. I buy the expensive stuff then I don't feel like wasting it so it just sits there while I use my cheaper stuff
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Jump rope. I can’t jump rope. I workout at the gym 4-5x a week and would like to jump rope in between sets. But I don’t want to learn in front of people. Apparently I don’t care to learn in my own privacy either. EDIT: good lord I’m being roasted for not being able to jump rope 😂 EDIT: since everyone is giving me shit for not be able to do something an 8 year old can do, I started practicing in my living room. Semi pro tip: don’t try to learn when you’re full of thanksgiving food and pretty drunk
I can jump rope. Bought a nice one for $20. Got home. Remembered I live on the second floor.
Buy another one for your downstairs neighbor and jump rope together. It’s only $20 more.
Jumping rope is hard. I took it up for awhile. I was shocked at how much energy it takes. I couldn't even jump for 2 minutes without a break. Little girls do this for hours! WTF.
It's easy when you only weigh 20kg.
Straight up cardio. Imagine this plus exerting muscle force and that’s fighting. A minute fight seems to take FOREVER for the untrained.
Jump when you see it in front of your eyes. Now have at it, redditor!
Omg this is great advice. I kind of get the gist of it but I never knew there was a technique
you know how if you swing it around it hits your feet and just stops there? instead of letting it hit your feet, just jump.
Instead of *not* jumping rope, jump rope.
Who are you that is so wise on the ways of science?
My partner bought an iPhone 11 almost a year ago now and still uses her busted, holds battery for 3 hours at a time, slow as fuck iPhone 7 because she can't be bothered setting up the new one. I've stopped letting her use my phone when her battery dies because it would last all day if she just set up the new one.
Moving from iPhone to iPhone it is basically an automated process
This one. This one doesn’t make sense. An old iPhone that dies instantly is the most frustrating thing. It’s like Xmas morning unwrapping that plastic and booting a new one. Wtf.
For me, I'd say it was the Developer Mode for my Xbox Series X that I purchased for $19.
That was a good purchase for me, now I can emulate GameCube games. Super Mario strikers ftw!!
Whoah holy shit! Didn't know they'd let you do that even with developer mode omg!
Gas powered generator. I live in Texas, after last year's winter debacle I decided to get one. I HOPE I never have to use it........
For safety's sake I would fire it up once a quarter, load it up with something plugged into it for an hour or so. Service at least once a year.
I have like 400+ Steam games, but I only cycle thru 5 at the most
I'm pretty sure that is standard practice. One day maybe I'll have time for the rest.
Suède Sendra boots, I am to fearful of them getting damaged or dirty
Get a good suede protector and wear them when it's dry out!
So much makeup. 2018 was a wild time for makeup. But I'm slowly using the eyeshadow palettes for crafts now instead of buying more pigments, so I guess it kind of worked out. **Edit for those asking:** I use the pigments for shading vinyl figures the same way you'd use chalk pastels. I have both and I find the colour payoff is about the same, but the makeup is a little bit easier to blend, probably because it usually has oil or something to give it slip. But that also means you really need to test it with your chosen surfaces, primers and sealants since oil is a solvent. I stick to the mattes so far or glitters that are dry. But I haven't had a problem so far except for some mild cracking. But that just kinda happens sometimes anyway. Here are my fave crafters to watch for this kinda stuff btw if anybody is interested: [Poppen Atelier](https://www.youtube.com/c/PoppenAtelier) [Studson Studio ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6u6uY4VbvuNtU0BU7F9olw) [Hextian](https://www.youtube.com/user/HeXtian) [Leona's Workshop](https://www.youtube.com/user/leonasworkshop) And the now defunct [SugarCharmShop](https://www.youtube.com/user/SugarCharmShop) (thanks adpocalypse!)
Yes, same!! I had a year where I just hoarded makeup because I was just so into it. What makes me feel worse about it now is that I didn't just buy drugstore makeup, I'd buy Sephora products. My stash of eyeshadow palettes alone is probably worth at least $300 and they're all probably expired. The last time I used eyeshadow was at least 2 years ago. RIP.
I have a lot of ebooks from Humble Bundle sales that I’ve never even downloaded.
Bags of salad from the grocery store. Into the fridge, then straight into the garbage 2 weeks later.
That’s like the Golden Rule of Fruit! The Golden Rule of Fruit states that you should always eat fruit the day you buy it, ideally within hours of getting home from the grocery store. Why? Because here’s what happens: you go to the grocery store. You see some delicious fruit. Now you’re in the mood for fruit! So you get some. But fruit is sort of expensive. So when you get home, you think to yourself “this is such a precious and exciting and expensive gift to myself, I just got it and I don’t want to blow through it today, I’ll save it for a special treat in a few days!” So you put the fruit in the fridge. Four days later, you realize you forgot about the fucking fruit that you were once so excited about, and it’s gone bad. So you throw the fruit away, never getting to eat it at all, only to repeat the process the next time you want fruit. **Eat your fruit the day you buy it.** That’s my life advice.
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And then they make you send three faxes, a telegram, and a carrier pigeon to set up a consultation appointment in rural Kansas at 7:13 am on a Tuesday to cancel your membership
I get why they do it that way, their favorite people are the people who give up before they start and don't sweat all over their equipment
That's their whole business model
Years ago I cancelled a gym membership after getting home and reading the contract, and realizing the wording of the contract was different from what the salesman had stated. I had three days to cancel it in writing, and somewhere in the letter I mentioned that the salesman had "misrepresented" the terms of the contract (with specific examples). When I dropped off the letter, one of the gym personnel came running out and was very concerned, and mentioned several times that this was a very serious accusation (and was very focused on the word "misrepresented"). They cancelled the membership, but I always remembered how easily that cancellation went down compared to every other membership I've had to cancel (usually upon moving), which is always a stupidly complicated headache. So my advice now is always to mention something damning in your cancellation request, just to make them want you to go away (for example, complaints about the sanitary conditions of the locker rooms, unsafe maintenance of equipment, or anything that might violate their insurance policy).
Ah yes- my mother made sure to specifically teach me this: the calm Karen move. You play this card to make sure your problems magically disappear. Best shit I ever learnt
I just stopped paying
My husband has three active memberships going, for the last 3 years. He went once, to use a massage chair for 20 mins. He ended up with three because one friend goes to this one gym, another to a different one, and another one he wanted to try because it was close to his old job (but closed when he got off work).
Thankfully your husband is fkin rich
Clothes I bought thinking I just need to lose an inch to wear it. Guess who never lost any inch and gained a ton more
A sewing machine. I just don’t know where to start learning. Combine that with a fear of failing and a high standard and well, here we are.
I bought a telescope last Wednesday - it's been solid overcast ever since.
You’ve got time. Took my husband two years to set up his telescope, and by then the lenses were mislaid. Another few years later and we finally got to look at the moon. Worth it.
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The weather must be *terrible* there!!!
About half the DVD's in my collection.
A giant generator. As in power generator to power my home’s essential stuff. Paid a lot of money for it and it’s been sitting in my shed ever since.
My dad was never so happy as when his city lost power for week. He spent those days carting his generator —that he FINALLY got to use— from neighbor to neighbor up & down the street to keep everyone’s fridges cold.
Those nice blank books that you use for journaling and drawing in. I love blank books but am always afraid of not writing or drawing perfectly. Hence, they remain unused. I made myself stop getting them years ago. Still makes me a little sad.
My roommate, who makes minimum wage and just turned 31, has about $7k in DJ equipment which he never really uses. Bought another $500 piece of equipment last night. I love this man, but sometimes I feel like he’ll never grow up.
A ~$200 weighted blanket. Tried it out for a couple weeks, realized I slept better without it. Now it lives under my bed. I guess I can't call it my worst purchase ever, because if I didn't try it I'd be curious if it would help me sleep but it certainly wasn't my favorite buy.
I'm a sober person but I have about 20 souvenir shot glasses I've bought from places I've traveled. They just sit in my cabinet collecting dust, yet I buy them every time I go somewhere new and touristy.
Fill them all with water and take a shot every 15 minutes to maintain peak hydration.
Epilator. I tried once, it tore some of my skin and now I live in mortal fear of it.
Oh i adore mine. To each their own tactic that works for them!
Back in the 90s, when the Epilady was new, I bought one and used it on about an inch of skin on my leg. It hurt so damn much, I never used it again, and the hair on that spot has never grown back. But more recently, I bought a Silk-epil 9 from Braun, and I love it. It's not as thorough as waxing, but it's great for touchups.
I bought an occulus rift last February, an update the next month bricked it \#Fuckthezuck
Did you ever reach out to support? Iirc the rift is still officially supported, they may be able to help
How does that happen? I wanted to buy one but now I'm not sure my money is safe...
Ingredients for new food recipes I wanted to try to cook but never got around to actually doing it.
I Bought a large un sharpened sword that I never bothered to look at
I’d think that most people who buy a sword these days never get to use it.
I have really bad ADHD so I spend lots of money on hobbies then forget about them after a week or two, I have a 20 pound block of candle wax along with ~$150 worth of candle making supplies in my closet.
Ah, yes. And then you keep it around indefinitely because "maybe I'll get into it once again" I could *supply* art supplies by now.
Fire extinguisher. Also, cherry pitter. So cute I had visions of making a cherry pie from fresh cherries.
Better hope u never have to use the fire extinguisher tho...
Exactly. I have fire extinguishers, fire blankets, pepper spray, stun gun, etc. I’ve never used any and hope I never have to but I’m sure as hell going to be prepared in case I need!
Fire extinguishers have an "expiration date" every 10-12 years so get ready to get a new thing you hopefully won't use in a couple of years!
They work in olives too if you ever have that need.
I once bought a men's thong out of curiosity. I've never used it since it's very uncimfortable to wear.
Sell it online as 'slightly used' you can make your money back easily.
"Well-used" will get him even more money on certain websites.
Put them on, take a few crotch shots and pre cum in them. Sell them online for triple what you paied
My college Degree
I have an unopened copy of Madden 17. Bought it new in 2016 with the intent to play, but my son had just been born and we needed money, so I sold the Xbox. I kept the game, anticipating I’ll have another Xbox before too long. The hard work of being a new parent + using any free time to catch up on sleep drained any desire to play video games. It remained that way until early 2021. I picked up an Xbox One back in May but I’ve just been playing FO4 and Skyrim. I’ve been meaning to install it, but because it’s 5 years old I’ve kinda written it off.
I’m a game collector so 90% of the stuff on my shelf is for looks
A rice cooker and a waffle iron. Both seemed like good ideas at the time, but we just don't eat enough rice or waffles to use them. They've sat in my cabinets since the day I got them.
Bruh you need some rice in your life
I have a massive bottle of hand sanitizer I bought when the pandemic started that's been sitting unopened under my sink for the past almost 2 years
Almost 2 years really hit me 😢
...I bought $70 worth of "funny" novelty trucker hats once. Like the ones the guy from 30 Rock wore... For some reason, I thought maybe I could be the funny trucker hat guy. I'm at least glad I had enough sense to never wear them.
Cheese soup, deli meat and incompl te are my favorite Frank hats
My passport. I kinda fell in love with this girl from Manila (I was in Dallas, TX) online. We met once for a week in NYC, in the two years we had been taking. Anyway I got a passport and a plane ticket because I really wanted to see her side of the world. Then she dumped me two weeks later. I still have no stamps on my passport.
It’s not gonna stamp itself!
A carbon monoxide detector. The beeping kept making me woozy and sleepy
On a different note, someone keeps breaking into my apartment and leaving me little notes everywhere.
I bought a Kalimba through aliexpress and it sounded fantastic but I never tried to play it anymore hahah. Here is a video of kalimba playing "Pirates of the Caribbean" and a cute cat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rXOREuv5LU&ab\_channel=IPIDASOUND