Over the years, I have spent compulsively multiple times due to my poor financial judgment. Some of it cost lots of money & some of it not so much. With the accumulation of these spendings, the total amount may amount to a lot which could have been used to invest & perhaps earn some money from it. There are so many things that I have bought over the years some of which can be worthless purchases, not worth the price, or even limited usage. I do regret most of the items, but at the end of the day, it has taught me to be a better spender due to the mistakes that I made.
Here Are My Top 5 Purchases I Regret Buying:
1. CarWhen I bought my Naza Suria in 2008, I already had a car from my brother & I just had to continue the installment from him. My younger self wanted to “upgrade” my car from manual to auto & I ended up being stuck with a car installment for 9 years. On top of that, my Naza Suria car value when I sold was only worth RM800 compared to my old Perodua Kelisa which my friend was able to sell for RM7000 in the same year. I nearly made another mistake by wanting to purchase a Mitsubishi Lancer 2 years later I bought my Naza Suria. Thankfully, my loan was not able to go through back then.
The reason why I regret this is because of the timeline that I was paying. If I would have just stuck to the Perodua Kelisa from my brother, I would have finished paying off the loan in a shorter period & sell it for a better value if I am upgrading my car. With my new purchase of my Toyota Yaris, I choose a shorter loan tenure which is 5 years. If I want to sell my car now, I can sell it at a profit as my loan amount left RM58,000 as of my writing & the current second-hand price for my car model is RM75,000.
2. WatchI bought my Tissot watch somewhere in 2011/2012 for RM4,250 as a “reward” to myself for getting a “higher” paying job. The funny thing was, I did not buy it with cash, but I bought it using my credit card on a 12-month installment for it. It was definitely a worthless reward for me as I was putting myself in a credit card debt situation. Even though I had a more expensive watch purchase years later, I am proud to say that I am buying in cash instead of using a credit card.
3. HandphoneWhen I had issues with my iPhone 4s back then, I had no choice but to upgrade to a new phone. During this period, I have already adapted to my current lifestyle where I am making better financial decisions. Buying a Samsung Galaxy S7 was my way of trying to save money instead of spending money to buy an expensive & overrated iPhone. I was wrong. A year later, my Samsung S7 had an issue with the screen & phone started to lag. To change the screen, I had to spend almost RM1,000. Perhaps I was just unlucky, but my experience with Android phones has not been the best. A year plus later, I have no choice but to change back to iPhone 8 Plus & I sold it to upgrade to my current phone as I need a better phone for filming purposes.
4. Gaming ChairUsing a better chair was never something I look into until the recent WFH lifestyle. At that time, I have already moved into my new house where I relied a lot on my dinner table to work. From time to time, I have to shift to a different location around the house to do my work as it was uncomfortable to work on a bar stool & table. That was when I decided to invest in a gaming table & chair. When I was surveying the chair, I was looking to purchase a chair that was similar to my gaming table theme which is Joker theme color of green & purple. I found 2 different brands that have that color which was Secret Lab & Osim Gaming Chair. I ended up choosing the Osim Gaming Chair due to the massage feature even though it was more expensive than Secret Lab. My only regret is, I am not using it frequently enough to massage therefore it is pointless for me to spend that extra amount of money on the chair.
5. FridgeWhen my house was ready & pending renovation during the MCO period, I actually housed a friend temporarily when he lost his job. To ensure that the house was in a liveable condition, I decided to purchase a fridge & other items so that he could live comfortably. My only mistake was the size of the fridge was too small. I did not feel it until recent months when my house renovation is ready & I started to cook at home. When I buy groceries, I have a habit of buying more so I don’t have to go to the mall that often since the nearest mall to my place is 30 minutes away. The problem is the freezer & fridge capacity is too small. I should have purchased a bigger one instead of going through the current problem that I have.
Conclusion:
Over the years, I have learned to be a better & smarter spender despite me still making mistakes from time to time. These lessons have taught me something new & learning from them will definitely make me a better & smarter spender. I am sure that some of you do make some mistakes or purchases that you regret later on. Feel free to share your experience in the comment section so that we can learn from each other.
OSS!
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