this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2026
19 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

41479 readers
1703 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !uspolitics@lemmy.world


7) No Hit-and-Run questions.
Please don't delete your post for no apparent reason. If you plan on deleting a question later, say so in the post, or if you feel that you have a good reason to remove it, message a mod beforehand. It's not fair to the ones who took their time to answer, and it's not in the spirit of the community.


8) No Bots.
Posts or comments from bots, LLM's, AIs, Neural Networks, Transformers, or Marvin the Paranoid Android are not welcome in AskLemmy. Real humans only please.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Doesn't have to be thousands of dollars. Just a thing you spent money on that turned out to be a complete waste.

top 21 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world 7 points 22 minutes ago (2 children)

I was young and dumb and didn't know how to say no.

Timeshare.

It's so hard to get rid of. Fuck that thing.

[–] anonymouse2@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 minutes ago

Maybe I'm lucky, but I just stopped paying the maintenance fees. It never showed up on my credit, the phone calls stopped years ago, and all I get is the occasional scam offer in the mail to help me sell it.

[–] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 2 points 17 minutes ago

I was married, in my 40’s and listened to my now ex hubby #2 because his family had several. The payment was $600 a month… a second mortgage for a one week vacation? The timeshare, nor our marriage, lasted long after that.

[–] radiofreebc@lemmy.world 8 points 52 minutes ago* (last edited 52 minutes ago)

Cocaine and cocaine accessories.

[–] Ioughttamow@fedia.io 2 points 6 minutes ago

Getting into debt while being underemployed. Thank goodness for my wife, my privilege, and the fcra. Though I suppose it’s more the undiagnosed (until my mid 30s) ADHD that led to that, and most of my other problems

[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 minutes ago

Should have decided to be born rich. Darn.

[–] mafishfayda@lemmy.world 2 points 4 minutes ago

An old job where transportation literally cost me half my salary.

[–] DigDoug@lemmy.world 15 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

University

I spent 50 grand and 4 years of my life to be told by prospective employers that I either lacked real world experience, or that I was overqualified. It took me another 3 years to find a job after university - one that doesn't require training and is barely relevant to my field.

I get to hang a pretty piece of paper up on my wall, I guess.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

Overall, I guess this wins

[–] hobata@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 hour ago

formatted my drive 2010 thinking the bitcoin scam would not last so long.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 2 points 32 minutes ago

Probably the time I used a cash machine in a weird place in my home town to draw out the maximum I could for Christmas spending and all I got from it was the receipt saying the money had gone from my account.

The place was weird because, although it was in a very public square, it was kind of high off the ground, like it had been installed for people over 6ft tall. I am not that tall. The novelty appealed to me anyway. Mistake.

I was so ashamed, I never reported it. I didn't think I'd be believed.

If you want actual things, I own a pre-smartphone electronic personal organiser that I used about five times and about a dozen calculators from when I got really into them for some reason. And at least one of those was "parts only" that I completely missed in the description.

But if I could undo anything, I'd rather have that cash machine money back.

[–] buttmasterflex@piefed.social 19 points 1 hour ago

Got convinced by someone I very much trusted to join an MLM as a 19 or 20 year old. After my parents learned about it, they were able to talk some sense into me, and I realized I was part of a pyramid scheme. I got out and basically broke even, which was honestly the best possible outcome of that whole scenario. It unfortunately degraded my relationship with the person who convinced me to join, and I never really could fully trust them after that.

[–] Chivera@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago
[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 2 points 55 minutes ago

My kid’s mom.

Girl is a hole in spacetime that I’ve been throwing money into for eight years now.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 hour ago

continuing to attend college without a plan to graduate

[–] Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world 10 points 2 hours ago

Underestimating the lengths that Trump admin would go to prop up equity markets during COVID

[–] miraclerandy@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

Bought a house with my ex and we were instantly house poor. We didn’t account for buying things for the house at all. Ended up selling and moving two years later at a loss even though we sold for a bit more than we bought it for.

[–] disregardable@lemmy.zip 1 points 53 minutes ago

My entire existence is a financial mistake. To make a financial mistake, you have to have finances in the first place.

[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Community College machine shop. Too many graduates, not enough available positions.

Maybe a few $100 in total so not too bad.

[–] Anti_Iridium@lemmy.world 2 points 21 minutes ago

I on the otherhand cannot wait until I can have a place of my own with a lathe and mill.

[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 hours ago

The crypto craze of 2017