Top Ten Dumbest Purchases Ever!

I will fully admit that when it comes to my kids, money doesn't seem to be an object (whether we have it or not). Mat and I both decided long ago that we didn't want to have to limit the amount of activities our kids did based on finances. Basically we figured we would rather go without or work longer hours to be able to give them the opportunity to participate in sports, dance, music, whatever was within reason for a child to do. Somewhere along those lines, that type of thinking completely took over our attitudes toward our kids. Mat was joking last night that Bailey has a new pair of jeans for everyday and I have "A" pair for everyday. One little word but it explains so much. Then of course the guilt settled in and I thought about the addiction I have with buying my kids clothes. (After all I had just spent another $60 on an outfit for Peyton that day...WHO DOES THAT???) I would NEVER spend that on myself and thought I would never spend that on my kids either. Well, I became a parent and things changed. What I wish sometimes that I COULD change is all of the CRAZY things we've spent money on becoming adults (which we are still working our way on becoming). So here it is, as good as I can think of...Our top ten dumbest purchases ever!

10. A pair of True Religion jeans (along with many other dumb clothing purchases) for a 10 year old.
9. The ski boat we bought when Bailey was a baby. We took it out once in April and sold it that summer.
8. A big-screen TV for the upstairs family room. We don't actually have a TV in the downstairs family room so we thought this would be where we watched movies and spent time. WRONG! The only use it gets is by a bunch of 7-9 year olds playing the Wii on it.
7. Our house. Don't get me wrong I LOVE LOVE LOVE our house. It was nevertheless a dumb purchase. We owed 1/3 of what we owe on this house on our last one and the timing and everything when we built just wasn't the smartest. Disclaimer: Even though the home is worth FAR less than originally and we've put a TON of our own cash into it we still are not upside-down in it and we wouldn't trade it for anything!
6. Stamps. Rubber scrapbooking stamps, many of which have never been used. Although I've actually sold a bunch from my stash there are still those that remain collecting dust, while the ink dries out, on the slight chance they'll actually get used one day.
5. Pretty much all of Peyton's furniture and baby accessories. With the first 3 kids we didn't have much income as we did with Peyton. In fact with the first 3 it was crazy tight! We actually did need to purchase new items for Peyton since we had given away all of our previous baby things, we just didn't need to get as many or as fancy of items that we did.
4. Exercise equipment. This includes everything from the elliptical (I HAD to have) to the "as seen on TV" items that I was positive would be easier than going to the gym.
3. A gym membership. 'Nuff said.
2. Cars. This includes the SUV's that my ego thought it needed that were so NOT practical I really don't know what we were thinking. Yes, I now drive a minivan, my ego is no longer...It can't be when driving a minivan.
1. Seriously, I can't just narrow it down for the last one. We have made MANY dumb purchases and been very careless with the direction we've allowed our money to take (not all bad purchases were our fault but WE allowed the bad purchases to be made with OUR money). I think of the financial security we would have without that darn ego always working its way into our lives. I admit though, I'm HAPPY! We gave ourselves to the end of the year to pay of a credit card that we had allowed someone else usage of and it subsequently reached over $20,000, and it is looking VERY likely that we will meet our goal. We have been able to refinance our crazy house payment and lowered it by $450 a month! We have been able to KEEP our house while others sadly have not. :( We have been blessed in so MANY MANY ways that I can't dwell on the past and just hope to have gained insight for the future. :)