We have all been there, we all buy things that we have the good intention of using but normally fall short. Unless it is just me?! No, we have all done it! I am sure you can come up with a shortlist of things around you right now that you have purchased and never or hardly ever used! I know I can! Our bad spending habits don’t just affect us but they can trickle down to our kids and then that creates generations of buying products that we never use. Today we will talk about 10 Things We All Buy and Never Use. I had to take a good hard look at my own family too when it came to this list of things we have signed up for or purchased but don’t use for one reason or another. So follow along as we walk through this together!
10 Things We All Buy and Never Use:
Online Subscriptions – I am hugely guilty of this of this one. I have bought subscriptions to newspapers so I can read it daily. Or at least that is what I kept telling myself. In fact, I hardly ever read the articles. I would always make a note to check something out later that day, but life gets busy and I never get to it. I just keep dumping money into something I stopped looking at.
Exercise Equipment – Next up on our 10 Things We All Buy and Never Use, we all have excellent intentions. We all want to lose weight, get healthy, and in shape. We think if I just had a treadmill in my house then I could exercise when the baby is napping or before they wake up in the morning. What really happens is that we are dog tired from being up all night from the non sleeping baby to actually walk the next morning. Then at nap time we are like, might as well nap now! Have you been there? I can’t be alone on this one!! Then each day rolls into the other and the exercise equipment starts collecting dust. Bye bye money!
Kitchen Gadgets – Oh my wife is good at this one! She will see how fun those cake pops are, find a machine to make them and buy it! She’ll think she is going to use it at least once a week, but again it finds its way to the back of the cabinet never to be spoken about again. I love my wife but if she brings home another gadget I just might scream!
Magazines – Ok since I blamed the last one on my wife, this one is all me! I’ll be at the book store or grocery line and see a cool remodel project magazine or a new boat magazine and I just have to have it! I have even picked up Men’s Health magazines thinking if I just ate like this or did this workout I could be like that. I got caught up in the what if’s. Which brings us to the next 10 Things We All Buy and Never Use.
Gym Memberships – Let’s see a raise of hands of who has a gym membership? Come on, my hand is raised too! I joined a gym a few months back with all good intentions of going 3-5 days a week. They had childcare, a pool, a sauna, great exercise classes, and a gym for playing basketball. It had everything I wanted, except I couldn’t find the time to actually go. Between work, kids, sports practices and games, dinner, and household chores I didn’t have time to go. I think it is time to rethink about how serious I am about continuing to put money into something I’m hardly going to.
Cookbooks – Here is one I have had a tough time to come to terms with. I love a new cookbook with all the great photos of new dishes I eagerly want to try. If I am honest with myself then I know that I can save money on countless cookbooks by simply searching the internet for any recipe I want to make. Pinterest is a great go to for anything you want to search. I like that they all have little thumbnails so I can click on what looks good. I have recently donated a lot of our cookbooks to our local library so everyone can enjoy them too! Ready to keep learning about 10 Things We All Buy and Never Use!
Planners and Journals – Do you love planners and journals? I know I have a weakness for them. I just love all the cool covers and the promises of having a little bit of life organized. I get a new one every year with the intention of actually using it! What really happens is that I am good for about a month then something happens, I add a date in my calendar on my phone, and then the planner is a distant memory.
Souvenirs – I just recently go home for a trip across the ocean and my children wanted to see what all the souvenirs I brought back. Unfortunately I didn’t bring them back near as much as they were hoping for, because I realized that even those souvenirs can be really awesome to have and it holds a memory of where you went, it can be lost on the other person. I ended up getting 1-2 things that I knew was going to be really special to them. Other than those I took lots of photos of the places I went and what we saw! Those are the memories that have stories that they can then go and talk to their friends about. So next time you take that vacation to the Carribean, you might want to think twice about that really cute bird sign that you know would look just great out on your back patio.
Books – Ok, this technically could have been wrapped up in the cookbook heading, but figured it should be separate. I am an avid book lover and reader and think I need to buy all the books. I have so many books I have bought over the years that I have never picked up again unless it was to move it. My kids love buying books and part of me is like “Yes, they love reading” and the other part is “Oh, now I have to find a place for it to go!”. Instead what we started doing is taking trips to our library and started checking out books to read. That way it fills our need to get something new, but without the price of it! It’s a win/win situation!
Baby products – Ok here is the last 10 Things We All Buy and Never Use. I saved this one for last as it tended to come up after every child we had. With our first baby we bought almost everything under the sun because babies need a lot, right? Well 4 kids later that couldn’t be farther from the truth. We had every swing, carrier, carseat, toy, blanket, educational games, tummy time matt, and baby wearing product ever made. What did our babies want most? A clean diaper, a belly full of milk, warm clothes, a blanket, and a tons of snuggles. We eventually figured it out by child number 4. So, if you haven’t had children yet, talk to some folks who have and make a list of things they thought were helpful or not! In the end we all try to be the best parents we can be!
With all that we talked about, there are still other products I am sure that we’ve bought over the years and probably still buy to think we are going to use them one day. What we need to do is reevaluate and really ask ourselves what will we need this product for and how many times will it get used. If it is a once in a while product, then maybe ask around your circle of friends and see if they have it. If not then go ahead and purchase it if you want! If we can teach our children at a tender age the importance of using our money wisely, then we will have bettered the next generation …hopefully! We hope you loved this list of 10 Things We All Buy and Never Use as much as we did! Let us know if there are other products you thought of that you have purchased but never used! We love to hear from our readers!
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