Compulsive Buying - Do you buy unusual stuff you don't really need?

[Burl Source]

I don't mean tools and handle material, everyone here does that.
I mean other things that you bought just because you thought they were cool or unusual.
Nowadays I try to direct my compulsive purchases toward unusual wood.
But.......I still give in and buy things I don't need and will probably never use.
Except to take them out to look at and go oooooooooh!
(one time I bought 50 alligator teeth)

My last compulsive purchase was these 3 pieces of rutilated quartz from Turkey.
They are not really valuable but I like to move them around under a light and look at the gold threads that go through the stones.
And, yes.....I am easily amused.
Here is a bad photo of the quartz.

What kind of unusual but un-needed stuff have you bought compulsively?

 

[rwn2000]

What kind of unusual but un-needed stuff have you bought compulsively? My wife would say "everything in the gun safe". But admittedly, I have a problem with flashlights. I've got cheap ones, expensive ones, and everything in between. The Gearhog deal today was a Cree P2 flashlight and i ordered 2.

 

[james terrio]

Not really, no. I rarely spend "extra" money on anything I can't eat, drink, smoke or make something else with. It's almost unAmerican of me to admit that

 

[JayGoliath]

I bought knives with impulse but not anymore. It 's a long walk but stream-lined my liking and preferences to one ultimate, proven design.

Anything that you couldn't use and only for aesthetics? You are care-taker, not someone who enjoys the fruit of joy.

 

[Remyrw]

When I was younger, yes, I tended to accumulate random junk. I've broken myself of that habit. Moving several times over a few years, small apartments... You learn to minimize how much stuff you drag around with you. I've also learned that it is pointless to get too attached to the easily replaced stuff. I have things I have sentimental attachments to, things that are rare or difficult to replace, and things that are particularly valuable but not easily replaced at cost. Anything else is likely to be trashed/given away, sold or otherwise disposed of without a second thought.

For example, while I really like my Ruger 10/22 it's really not worth hauling around if I move. I haven't done anything special to it, I can walk into a gun shop and buy five more almost identical to it. Sure, I tuned it up a bit, but nothing not easily repeated. If I move and space is at a premium it gets sold. So do things like DVD players, TV's... Sure, you don't get enough to replace them, but the difference isn't worth the hassle.

I also found that it's a lot easier to make the budget work when you aren't spending at random. I don't buy much of anything without thinking about it ahead of time. I window shop a lot, buy just a little. The vast majority of the time I find that my would be impulse buy would have been a waste.

 

[Mudbug007]

I thought I was immune from such follies, but recently while cleaning out some storage bins in the Garage, I came across quite a bit of "stuff" that I had no idea why I bought it. I only have to assume at one time, I thought I really needed it, or would need it. Some of it I trashed, some I kept because I thought I might need it again in the future

The older I've got, the less I buy on impulse, but it still happens every once in a while. Just went to a big gun show last weekend and made it all the way through without buying anything. I can't say the same for the flea market I went to afterwards though