I'm thinking of things like:
Often we don't realise how much we base purchasing decisions on "everyone is doing it", without researching properly or even just stopping and thinking about it for a second. What other examples can you think of?
What if your family doesnt like bread?
Cigarettes
and gambling, the two major idiot taxes.
and Alcohol, the three major idiot taxes
I smoke.. and I agree! LOL
Banned from what?
that was the first thing that came into my mind when I saw that topic
Absolutely agree. You would be better just burning the money; at least it wouldn't kill you whilst you were doing it. Both my parents smoked, my dad had his first heart attack at 51 and my mum died of lung cancer at 69. Giving money to men in suits to kill you.
Gym memberships, people sign up for gym and never actually make full use of it, some just lift weights and treadmill (all of which can be done in the comfort of your own home and at the park)
Sport equipment that you use 4 times which now rusts in the garage
$60+ phone plans when you don't even make $150 worth of calls.
Food and drinks at special events, cinemas and at the service station — just walk a little more and find yourself a much cheaper place to buy from — the supermarket and the asian mini-marts. Use your GPS!!
Speaking of GPS, many smart phones nowadays have a pretty competent GPS with unlimited map updates. Nokia HERE is great for that. Don't waste money buying maps…
Throwing away edible food — just because the juice is 1 day past expiry doesn't mean it's always bad.
Driving extremely short trips when you could be just walking or bicycling
Degrees or diplomas with crappy privately run institutions which are not reputable but charge an arm and a leg for the course
I have found gym memberships are commonly used by women to demonstrate that they do exercise, even when they don't.
During conversations with female work colleagues I often ask what sports, if any, they play. The answer is almost universally "oh, I don't play sport… but I have a gym membership… that I don't…" and the conversation slowly trails off because the last time that membership was used was September. Last year.
do these same women wear gym clothing everywhere except a gym?
hey, you gotta be ready to bust out 100 burpees, if required, while waiting in line to order that almond milk cappuccino..
Waring gym clothes everywhere (including the gym) saves time, money, and puts a spring in my step. :)
Gym membership, now improves your sexual appeal!
Effects
Buffs
* +1 Charisma stat
Debuffs
$70 a month actually… :(
Which gym is $45 a month? I'm with Zapps and I'm paying $51.80 a month.
$45 a month, that's pretty cheap compared to most.
@subywagon: powerlifting club membership, $460pa. Socialising with club members who are there every week. Club events. Coaching. Worth every cent.
People throwing away food because it's past the expiration date, without even tasting or smelling it first, is one of my biggest peeves.
Expiry dates on all products are really strict in Australia - not sure why, might be something to do with the "average person" not storing it correctly.
Just sniff or taste the thing - it won't kill you. You'll know if it's no good.
And people confusing "best before" with expiration. I remember Unicorn camembert & brie used to have a blurb on their wrapper about how they had to have a "best before" date, but that date is actually the earliest you should eat it and it's better if you leave it for a couple more weeks.
Best before dates just mean the product is considered best before that date. If kept packaged, it's usually only texture or nutrient content that reduces after that. They're still safe to eat for an indefinite time. Some foods don't even have expiry dates; usually those with no animal derived content. (I studied food labelling as part of a certificate course.)
@catbrain:
You're welcome.
I actually bulk buy pre-packaged food from a local discount supermarket. It's usually past the best before date by several months, but it doesn't really matter. Plus, I'd rather spend $1 on a box of fruit & nut bars than $3.99 for the same thing at Coles. I'm hanging out for them to get more long-life cartons of soy milk. Last time they had them in, I bought them by the carton of 12x one litre cartons. I had a huge stack, next to the fridge, of around one hundred litres! :-p
ahhh, hadn't considered the nutrient content changing. Not that it bothers me - whatever fills the hole (ooh err missus). Thanks for the info.
Expiry dates on all products are really strict in Australia - not sure why,
It's to cater to the lowest common denominator who can't rely on their own common sense and need the state to explicitly proscribe what isn't safe.
Common sense is not that common apparently.
Gym memberships
Bodyweight fitness isn't really the same as weight training, and there are a lot of reasons one might not want to walk outside (weather, location, terrain, etc). Gyms are convenient and offer far more robust services than you could ever scrap together on your own. You're entitled to your own opinion as to whether or not it's worth the buy-in cost, but let's not deny that it has advantages.
Agree it's about what you like.
So many people here will spend $1200 on a TV but call gym membership a waste. Many people go to the gym because that's what they enjoy. My gym membership is $300 a year, I've found the industry has become so competitive and cheaper that it's not such a drain these days.
$300 a year is insanely good. Where's that at?
@ProspectiveDarkness: Planet fitness at Casula. Doesn't include classes which I wouldn't use and has heaps of equipment and room. Never have to wait for anything.
gym membership is actually probably the best investment you can make in your life, providing you end up using it regularly. No amount of money can buy health (see: Gina Rinehart)
Buying a gym would be a better investment. There are not many business models that rely on people giving you money for a service you both know they are not going to use.
@GaryQ: Best equipment for home use:
a Totalgym &
hand & ankle weights. You choose a lot of uphill paths & walk for 30 -45mins. (do arm rolls & "uppercuts as you walk) & then back to do 20 -30 mins on the TG.
It works astoundingly well!
Some people buy gym membership because that act as a motivational push (you've spent blah amount in getting a membership, so you should be going there kind of mindset). That said, I've never liked treadmill (I think it comes with having worked an indoor environment with really bad ventilation (a bunker)). Gym membership for me is more of for the weights (I cannot use one in my room because it's a flat) and that motivational push.
If you're already doing pushups and such at home regularly and have come to the point where you really need proper weights to isolate muscle groups, then you're in the 1% of gym members for whom a gym membership actually makes sense (as long as it's sensibly priced).
isolate muscle groups
That's not really the only benefit gym equipment provides. You can't exactly squat +80kg in the comfort of your own home.
Living in a one bedroom apartment doesn't leave much room for gym gear, especially squat racks. I guess I could buy and move into a two bedroom apartment for another $100,000+. At $400 annual gym fees, it'll pay itself off in a couple of centuries :P
I can't imagining anyone squatting +80kg anywhere and it being comfortable. Hold on - you're not talking about lavatories, are you?
If your concern is regarding safety, that's what safety bars are for.
And for that you need a power rack. And while a home gym would be vastly preferable to me, it's just not feasible. Hence, gym membership.
You can't exactly squat +80kg in the comfort of your own home.
If your concern is regarding safety, that's what safety bars are for.
@woz:
I can't imagining anyone squatting +80kg anywhere and it being comfortable. Hold on - you're not talking about lavatories, are you?
That's over 440 courics!
@surethang: exactly this, space in the home has a value that is much greater than say $20/week (my membership is only $10).
You can't exactly squat +80kg in the comfort of your own home.
Speak for yourself:
Some people buy gym membership because that act as a motivational push (you've spent blah amount in getting a membership, so you should be going there kind of mindset).
They should pay me half their membership fees and I'll call them weekly to suggest a home workout.
I have a gym membership because of the creche. Worth every cent.
I don't have my daughter in childcare so it's the only time I get (when I'm not working) without a toddler hanging off me.
Gym Memberships and Treadmills or cardio machines in general. Why pay a couple of hundred a month to walk on the spot in a sweaty gym staring at a wall when you can walk or jog around the park for free.
I walk past the gym.
Why pay a couple of hundred a month to walk on the spot in a sweaty gym staring at a wall when you can walk or jog around the park for free.
Can't exactly jog behind a hot cardio bunny in yoga pants at the park for as long as you can at the gym.
Just sayin' ;)
I have really bad ankles and knees so an eliptical is needed if I want to do cardio.
…or you could swim?
@mgowen: Which would also require a membership or paying for access to a pool :)
Assuming they don't live near any appropriate open bodies of water.
Because it's 30+ degrees outside for a good portion of the year. And humid.
Too much 'nature' in the form of flies, bugs, swooping birds etc.
Too many trip-hazards to watch for.
Too many snotty kids (including my own) annoying me as I go round the park. Seriously, I was too early for the creche last week so tried jogging with my kids in the park. It was a freaking disaster. Never again.
I'll quite happily take my air-conditioned cardio machine in front of a TV whilst my kids play happily in the creche, over a park any day.
Yes, it is actually cheap babysitting.
That's what I think too. Like today I went on a forest walk with my dogs. Much nicer breathing in the forest air than the B.O…
I do use the cardio machines though for a 15min warm up before weights when needed.
There is a forest near my house. I think it's behind a heap of trees.
Cuz it brings attention to yourself
I have a home gym and just signed up for a gym membership.
Power rack and treadmill at home (Granted I wish I didn't buy the treadmill as I don't use that enough since I just do weights at home)
I bought the gym membership as I got bored of doing nothing during my lunch break at work and figured the gym would be a good time killer.
The gym membership thing is a little narrow sighted. It takes quite a bit of money to get a decent home gym going.
All I do is lift weights, and I would have to invest around 10k to get an equivalent workout. That would just be squat racks, racks of dumbells bars benchpress etc. That'd be me foregoing anything remotely fancy like leg press.
Not to mention that I don't have the rubber floor or equivalent open space to launch 100kg of dumbbells in front of me once I'm done chest pressing.
I do agree it's a huge waste of money when you don't use it though and you see that all too often.
Rubbish.
All you need is a power rack, decent one with olympic bar and weights will set you back $1500. From that you can do squats, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, pull ups, all barbell exercises, dips. What do you need dumbells for that cant be done with that setup?
Flys
@kobrien456: They are not the core muscle building / strengthening exercises. Most people doing fly's would benefit far more by doing a couple more sets of bench.
Besides the rubbish music this is what annoys me most about gyms, seeing people performing all these ridiculous fluff exercises and then seeing them squat 60kg, bench 40kg and most times not even deadlifting.
You can do fluff when you spend 6 hours a day training.
So real & original and more importantly, it's practical guide.
Yeh, I don't even have enough space in my apartment for everything I use in the gym. I certainly can't build a power rack myself. All of this equipment by the way would costs tens of thousands of dollars - hardly cheap compared to gym membership.
Cant afford to buy a house or pay rent on time but always money for $100 Tshirts, crappy tats and iPhones
Beard oil
Ebay promotions
Strange Chinese things that cost under $1 posted by TA
Pulled beef - its a scam. Oh and showers.
Yum cha when you have to share
Cake cutting service fee, when you didnt ask for the cake to be cut, so you have to imagine what it looked like.
Pizza - just use vouchers everyday at the same place, but it might ruin your reputation
Number 6 hahahaha
8) Premium Rice - importing a container load and planning to sell it via the front/back yard of the house.
Yes thats another one - i suggested to him to sell individually by the grain to maximise profits!
Made me slightly sad that I was able to understand all your references. I'm here way too much.
Leave behind your cash-out money at self-checkout
Mystery box from Kogan
Negative ions generator
wow you really pay attention
I now realise I spend too much time on Ozbargain.
That reminds me, the crappy Usb battery charger from Newfrog never arrived…
Its probably coming with Santa - only 3 months to go now!
No 3.. No more $1 posts please.. specially by TA.
most of these are pretty good i reckon..if they ever turn up.
The ring bottle opener is good value at 1cent.
The LED rave finger things, not so much
LEVEL UP!
New Ozbargain level: Veteran
4 - Pulled beef - its a scam. Oh and showers.
Are you saying pulled showers are a scam, or beef showers?
Yes
Beard Oil is worth it and is cheap for what it is.
I had to collect a year's worth of beard trimmings to extract a few measly drops of oil.
How many stones did you collect to get a pint of blood?
I did no.7 for 3 days a week starting from 2 weeks ago (Thanks for Backspace) and yesterday the team supervisor started to notice it and asking how come you can get much lower price on the pizza (he still ask even though I paid online) ?
Payback time for bargain….
What vouchers? :\
I think number 7 was in reference to a suspected troll thread that popped up a few months ago?
8) Dropping thousands of dollars on a car and forgetting to check under the bonut.
Absolutely. You definitely have to check under the bonut things. If the big thing is leaking, simply walk away.
What the heck is a bonut I thought to myself…
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bonut
What the heck does this have to do with buying a car???
A cut cake ruins all celebrations
Cigarettes.