20 Things I Regret Buying – Tips on Buyer’s Remorse & Money Management

Buyer’s remorse is a thing that happens to all of us. Today, I’ll share what I regret having spent money on.

As I shared before in my lessons from being broke, I didn’t have much money growing up, and that would continue into my 20s. Because of that, I learned to be really frugal, to look for deals, and to identify quality (especially on used goods) so I could get the best value for my money. However, I’ve still had my share of regrets about buying some things, and I’ll list 20 of them today.

In case you missed it, Preston, Kyle, and our scriptwriters have lists of regrettable purchases as well, which are also great to check out. You’ll discover some tips about men’s style of money management, as well.

What Are The Things I Wish I Hadn’t Bought?

1. Gillette Mach 3

The first item I regret buying is a cartridge razor system. It’s what my dad used, what he taught me how to shave with, and so I just continued using it. Once during an internship in Hungary in 2006, I bought a package of razors that turned out to be fake Mach 3s; they were quite expensive, and my face looked like a mess after I shaved with them.

Over the years, I probably spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on Gillette products. I got a mediocre shave–until I discovered the double edge razor and what a positive difference it could make.

2. Car Bike Rack

I really regret buying a bike rack for our car, as we probably used it three times and never thereafter (because we just bike locally). I sold it at a garage sale, at a big loss.

3. Hawaiian Jacket

I bought a Polo jacket that had a light background and flowery big paisleys in 2006 at Macy’s. Since retail practices in Germany were different than those in the US, I wasn’t accustomed to retailers having stuff 80 or 90% off, so I was tempted by big sales. I think the jacket was marked down 90 or 95%, and I just bought it for $40 or so–but I wore it a whopping zero times.

In other words, the cost-per-wear was indefinitely high. Eventually, my wife made me throw it away, and I just cut off the mother-of-pearl buttons, which I still have to this day.

4. Bosch Microwave

In 2012, my wife and I bought a condo. We had the kitchen remodeled, we got a nice Bosch oven, and then got a matching Bosch microwave. Whether or not they were actually the manufacturer (as opposed to the label being licensed), we paid $800 for that thing, and it broke down and was complete garbage two days after the warranty expired. From that day on, I swore never to buy a Bosch microwave ever again.

5. White Suit with Mao Collar

In 2002, for my high school graduation, I wanted to be different, so I found a cool suit on eBay. It was all white, and had four or five front closing buttons and a Mao collar. I bought it for around $100, and I wore it in combination with a black belt, black shoes, and a white shirt with a wing collar. Check out the picture here, it looked horrible! The pants were puddling, too. But hey, that’s how I got interested in menswear and it just got better thereafter. Looking back, it was a pretty pathetic look, but I stood out from the crowd!

6. Cashmere Socks

The first time I touched a pair of cashmere socks, I thought “Wow. This is amazing.” They were super soft, and cost over $100. Eventually, I realized because they were so smooth, they were also more prone to slip down my calves, and so they would always hang around my ankles. When I wore them with boots, they would go all the way into the boot, and so it was just a pain. Moreover, they got holes very easily, and so I just had to throw them away after around 6 months.

Don’t get me wrong! I like cashmere for sweaters, for scarves, and so on. For socks, though, I have never found a combination with blends that has the same characteristics of cotton or wool. Also, I found cashmere was just not as absorbent. When it was worn, it was just a weird sock.

7. One-Size-Fits-All Socks

Before I could afford cashmere socks, I had these one-size-fits-all socks from Polo Ralph Lauren because I liked their patterns, but they had nylon and polyester and Spandex, and were sometimes quite tight around my calves. So at the end of the day, I would take them off and I would have strong marks on my skin; it sometimes hurt because it just didn’t fit my foot right. I really regret buying them, but without them, I may not have come to appreciate over-the-calf socks as quickly as I did. Perhaps because of this, we only sell over-the-calf socks in our Fort Belvedere shop today.

8. Steadicam Equipment

When you film outside, for example, it’s very easy to end up with shaky video footage, and no one likes that. So back in the day, you could buy what was called a “Steadicam,” which had weights that helped you balance so you had a smoother picture. It took a bit of practice to use and was quite heavy. I think I bought three different Steadicams, and we used exactly zero of them for any video shoot. So, it was all a complete waste of money! Fortunately, the market advanced, and now you can find gimbals that are three-way or four-way stabilized with engines, and it’s a lot easier to film.

9. Green Duffle Coat

I thought it might be kind of cool to have a different color of duffel coat that was bolder. I didn’t have a duffle coat with a hood, so I thought “Yeah! Why not get one?” But so far, I’ve worn it zero times. Maybe this winter, who knows? Well, I doubt it!

10. My College Education

I went to law school in Germany and the US. Overall, it cost a lot of money, and I never worked in law for a single day in my life–because in my opinion, it sucks and I hate it. That being said, I met my wife during a law school exchange program in 2006, so without having gone to a law school, I would not have met her! So I’m glad I went there but without that, law school was a big fail for me.

11. Rimowa Suitcases

Rimowa is a luxury suitcase brand that’s particularly popular in the US and in China. I traveled between Germany and the US quite often between 2006 and 2009, so I thought I’d give the brand a try. Sure enough, after the first trip, the suitcase I bought was broken. It was a polycarbonate suitcase because I wanted it to be lightweight so I could bring a lot back and forth.

I returned it to Rimowa, who said that they were having some issues in production. They gave me a new case, but the same thing happened again, this time after the second trip. From that point on, I said to myself, “Rimowa no more!” So what did I do? I gave Samsonite a try and sure enough, they’ve been good companions ever since. (This post isn’t sponsored; this was honestly just my experience.)

12. Crew-Neck Sweaters

Especially in high school, crew-neck sweaters were pretty much all I knew in terms of knitwear. The problem with them is that they’re usually so tight that if you wear a shirt or tie under them, it just covers up everything and it’s completely pointless. For that reason, I much prefer v-neck sweaters.

13. Short-Sleeved Dress Shirts

When I was a teenager, I thought it was cool to have dress shirts with short sleeves, but ultimately they’re a bad investment. You can’t wear them with a tie, and they have the more formal button-front placket, so you’ll be better off with a polo shirt or a long-sleeve dress shirt where you can roll up your sleeves in case it gets hot.

14. All-Inclusive China Trip

In 2015, my wife, Teresa, joined the Gentleman’s Gazette full time; to celebrate we decided to take a round-the-world trip in 105 days. When we were in Europe, I thought it would be cool to go to China, so we booked a two-week all-inclusive trip. We had two options: one was the regular one, and one was the deluxe one. Of course, the deluxe cost twice as much, so we thought it wasn’t really necessary.

Now, when we took the China trip, it was memorable in many ways–including the fact that a granny tried to climb over me in the airplane. Apart from that, the hotels the travel company chose were really bad; they were outside of the city center, oftentimes, they were ‘No Smoking’ hotels but you could find burn spots all over the place…but hey, they had jeans flavored condoms in their hotel room, isn’t that great? (Not!)

During the trip we took an overnight train, and they put us in compartments with a bunch of different people that we didn’t know, which was interesting, but even better were the toilets. Oftentimes in China, they just have a traditional hole in the ground or floor, and so on the train when things move left and right, people’s aim is not the best. So where does it end up? Well, all over the floor–it was just a terrible experience! Looking back, I wish I’d shelled out the money for the deluxe tour. Of course, I don’t know if it would have actually been better, but I’m a firm believer that the grass is always greener on the other side.

15. Bold Accessories

I remember once buying a pocket square with a vivid blue-and-orange hand-rolled edge. At the time I thought it was cool, because I was in New York and I had bought a New York Knicks jacket which was orange and blue. Even so, I ended up never wearing the pocket square again, so it was just a waste of money. Anything that’s really strong and bold is something I just haven’t ended up wearing very much down the line. Why? Well, it’s not really versatile and it just makes you stand out from the crowd in a weird way.

16. Online Courses

I once spent money on an online course about Adwords and to this day, neither I nor any of my employees have actually taken it. It was just a complete waste of money. If I talk to other people who either buy online courses or who sell them, they tell me a surprisingly small number of people actually take the course in full–and maybe just even a quarter of the people even start the course.

Often, when you buy an online course, you are excited, but then real life kicks in and you just don’t finish. Why is that? I think it has to do with the lack of coaching. No, I’m not going to sell you any coaching here, but if you look at pro athletes, they all have coaches. It’s not because they wouldn’t know what to do themselves, but because everyone benefits from someone who will hold you accountable. I’m in my 30s, and I’m just now realizing the true value of mentorship and coaching.

17. Ill-Fitting Gloves

I remember my very first pair of peccary gloves was from a German brand called Roeckl. The gloves were really soft and nice; I tried them on and thought they were good. The problem was, they were way too wide in my hand and the fingers were way too short. So yes, I had this beautiful leather but ultimately, the gloves didn’t really fit me; they were flopping around my hand and looked really bad.

Fortunately, the leather held up, but the best ingredients are not worth it if the fit isn’t right. From that experience, I created the full range of Fort Belvedere gloves that fit me beautifully and are made of high-quality materials.

18. Room & Board Furniture

Room & Board is a furniture brand that is local to me in Minnesota, and they have an outlet store here that’s rather popular with Millennials. Their style is very mid-century modern, and I remember going there once and seeing a couch. We almost had to battle with other people, but we ended up buying it. Once we brought it home, we sat on it and the cushions always moved to the sides, leaving us to sink in the middle.

So we put it on Craigslist, and luckily we were able to sell it very quickly. Following this, we would still go to the Room & Board outlet and buy a few things, but eventually we’d always sell them. Today, my wife and I always joke when we are in the area, “Hey, let’s go to the Room & Board outlet!” because whatever we’d buy there, we would never keep. We’re not even going anymore, it’s just this running gag between the two of us!

19. Burberry Cashmere Scarf

The winter right after the year when I wore my white suit (Item #5), I wanted a nice scarf. I decided to get a Burberry cashmere scarf, because it had a “nova check” pattern–but after buying it, I realized, “This scarf is actually rather short, and the cashmere wasn’t as soft as I had hoped for.”

It inspired me to develop our own scarves for Fort Belvedere. Without that experience, I probably would never have thought as much about scarves, but this one was a huge waste of money, because I couldn’t really tie it. The only way to wear it was throwing it around my neck, but that wasn’t quite warm, and it blew off when the wind came!

20. Dining at Cosme in New York

A few months ago, Teresa and I went on a trip (just the two of us without our daughter) to New York, because we wanted to enjoy ourselves, go to shows, go to museums, explore the city, and of course, go to nice restaurants. I searched a list of the “50 Best Restaurants in the World,” and at #23 was Cosme in New York. So we went there and had dinner. Now, we had some dishes that were okay, but one dish (listed as a main course) was a mole sauce. I like mole sauce, but this “main course” was a small plate of sauce with some corn tortillas and a few sprouts. I thought, “Are you kidding me? You’re selling me a main course that consists of a bit of sauce?”

Overall, we spent several hundred dollars at this dinner, but left the place very disappointed. Now, I’m not a food snob; I like very simple pea soup, or a great deli sandwich. I’ll also spend money on food that is more experimental and creative, but at the same time, I feel like I’m often disappointed when I go into these Michelin-star restaurants. My expectations are so high that they’re just never met. Cosme though, for being rated #23 in the world, was just a huge letdown.

Outfit Rundown

Today’s outfit was all built around the duffle coat I regret having bought then I decided, “Why not make an all green outfit because I can?” So, I chose a crewneck sweater because I really don’t like crewneck sweaters but I have them. I’m wearing a chartreuse cashmere sweater and a green checked shirt. I have a green stripe shantung silk tie that you can hardly see, from Fort Belvedere. It’s really nice otherwise, just not in this outfit.

My pants are olive green corduroy which I don’t regret buying my shoes are very forest greeny suede shoes Oxfords fromScarosso and I also like them because especially during the summer. They can add a bit of color to something and they’re not too bold, in my mind. These socks I’m wearing are a mix of turquoise and purple they’re also from Fort Belvedere and I just wore them because I could.

What are the things that you regret buying, and why? Share them in the comments below!