My Biggest Money Regret aka the $1200 Jeans Story

Let me start off by saying that I have A LOT of money regrets, and I have documented most of them already.  Things like spending money on cars that I couldn’t afford, trips that were outside of my budget, or not making a budget for that matter. This is particular story, however, really hits a nerve to this day. It’s also one that I’ve mentioned on the site quite a few times.

When I was younger, and possibly dumber, I spent a lot of money on clothes. I love clothes. I had a steady paycheck, was making way more than most of my friends, and had no regard for money or the concept of frugality. On one particular Thursday, a few friends and I drove an hour to one the biggest malls in Ontario. I was on a mission to buy jeans. But not just any type of jeans, I wanted these particular name brand ones. We wandered through various stores and finally found them.

How much were they, you ask? $475 plus tax. Yes, I know how ridiculous it is for a personal finance blogger to have spent $500 plus on a pair of jeans. Now imagine how much worse it is for that blogger to have bought two pairs and some overpriced tank tops.

My total invoice from that store was $1290. I can still remember it to this day.

1200JEANS

The reason I remember is that when I got home, I decided to take the tags of all the items, just in case someone (my parents) saw the bill and had a heart attack.

A few days later, my mother decided to go through our closets to clean out and donate any neglected or worn out articles of clothing. Lo and behold she finds my brand new jeans, and after looking them over and noticing the various amounts of rips and holes, decides that they needed to be donated.

You read that right, she donated $1200+ worth of brand new jeans.  I was extremely upset but I couldn’t say anything because she didn’t know how much they were worth. All she kept saying was that the jeans were ripped and she had never seen me wear them before.

I learned this lesson at one of the lowest times of my spending habits. It taught me that just because a name brand item seems valuable to me, doesn’t mean it is to everyone else. I try to keep that in mind everything I find myself wanting something out of my budget.  I hope whoever ended up with those jeans realizes how valuable they were since they weren’t going to protect anyone from the elements.

Its sad to think about what I could have done with that money, but I am happy to note that I will gladly talk anyone out of buying expensive jeans. Because at the end of the day, Salvation Army and Goodwill doesn’t care whether you spent $30 or $300, they will still sell them for $4.95 or less.

Have you made any purchases that you regret?

30 Comments

  1. 1200 on jeans that were then donated. Now that is a super sad day… I actually am one of those sale shoppers, and would buy tons of clothes just because they were on sale, not because I actually needed them. When I ended up donating my clothes at the end of school, there were equal amounts of older clothes as well as new ones. It was a lesson learned that no one needs that many clothes!

  5. oh wow~ It’s a painful and funny story. You didn’t even get to wear them.

    My mom did something like that to me when I bought a whole new skincare set for a couple of hundred dollars. She warned me that she’ll throw out whatever’s on the floor of my room if I don’t clean it. I didn’t clean it and she grabbed everything and threw it outside in the community trash box including my new skincare set. I cried because I had to save money for it before finally buy it. One more lesson, clean your room because mom really means it when she says she’ll throw out everything.

    http://michellesfinancejournal.wordpress.com/

  7. That hurt to read, just imagining how much the next person spent on them. I would’ve cried. The most I’ve spent on jeans is right around $80 and I would be livid if someone donated those. Yikes!

  8. My jaw just dropped I couldn’t even imagine. I remember when I was in middle school I saved up all my money for this Georgetown Hoyas Jersey that was $60 and one night I back talked my mother (big mistake). She marched upstairs at cut that jersey in half…. I remember it like it was yesterday. The only lesson I learned that day was to watch my mouth, but I haven’t paid that much money for a jersey since. Matter a fact, I don’t even own jerseys anymore.

  9. Did you go to the store she donated them from to buy them back?
    That must have hurt!

  12. Oh my god. Haha. I’m laughing but also crying on the inside for you. Sounds like something I would have done. I was notorious for sneaking purchases into the house when I lived at home. Sometimes I would keep them in the trunk until my parents left in the morning and then bring them inside. Should have known then and there that I had a spending problem and would end up in debt as an adult.

  13. Oh my god. Haha. I’m laughing but also crying on the inside for you. Sounds like something I would have done. I was notorious for sneaking purchases into the house when I lived at home. Sometimes I would keep them in the trunk until my parents left in the morning and then bring them inside. Should have known then and there that I had a spending problem and would end up in debt as an adult.

  15. Ouch! I didn’t even know that you could buy jeans that cost that much. I’ve also never spent that much money in a clothing store ever. How long did you wait to tell your mom about the true value of the jeans?

  16. Holy crap. This is straight out of a chick flick screenplay! How insanely ironic. I have the sudden desire to hit up my local Goodwill in search of denim!

  18. Oh my gosh – I didn’t see the charity donation coming! That’s hilarious… heartbreaking for you at the time, but in retrospect, it’s a great party story 🙂

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