Every now and then, I get a strong desire to buy something that I know will be of little use to me.  Like that time I bought Bose Quiet Comfort noise cancelling headphones.   I craved those things for literally years, until I finally gave in and bought them.  And since then, I have hardly used them at all.  My wife likes the same music I like, so she wants me to put it on the speakers, and we haven't been able to travel because of the pandemic, so I couldn't use them on a plane.   So... useless.  

Now, I have a craving to buy a set of Airpods Pro earbuds.  And I'm racking my brain to figure out how I would use them.  Taking long walks?  The wife likes to walk with me.  And I don't want to be anti-social to her.   And, no use in the house because, as I said before, she likes the same music and wants me to put it on the speakers.  But I still want them.  

Do you ever have a craving to buy something that you know will be fairly useless?  Is this the male version of women buying shoes?

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Every now and then, I get a strong desire to buy something that I know will be of little use to me.  Like that time I bought Bose Quiet Comfort noise cancelling headphones.   I craved those things for literally years, until I finally gave in and bought them.  And since then, I have hardly used them at all.  My wife likes the same music I like, so she wants me to put it on the speakers, and we haven't been able to travel because of the pandemic, so I couldn't use them on a plane.   So... useless.  

Now, I have a craving to buy a set of Airpods Pro earbuds.  And I'm racking my brain to figure out how I would use them.  Taking long walks?  The wife likes to walk with me.  And I don't want to be anti-social to her.   And, no use in the house because, as I said before, she likes the same music and wants me to put it on the speakers.  But I still want them.  

Do you ever have a craving to buy something that you know will be fairly useless?  Is this the male version of women buying shoes?

I resisted for years to buy a set of Bose Quiet Comforts even though I travelled frequently. Finally, I broke down and bought a pair and cursed myself for not getting them sooner. I was able to use them a few times before the pandemic, amongst other things, put the kibosh on my travel. Now they sit unused.

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I love my airpod pros, they're great for traveling and also for work. Wife and I both work from home and are on video conferences/calls a lot of the time so I use those to take my calls. They're also great for working out.

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I can go down the rabbit hole easily researching stuff I want to buy that I don't have time to use enough for it to be cost effective.

There's a long list. Including, but not limited to:

A 4x4 2 ton diesel pick up truck (probably only have actual need for it about 5 times a year and I can just borrow one)

An RV - Definitely have no time to enjoy this

golf clubs - mine are fine - but I've got a new dream set of clubs in mind all the time

Recording studio gear - relevant to my work, but I have access to three recording studios that contain tons of great gear on the cheap - don't need my own really - still look for it occasionally

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The ex wife.. Very expensive and got old quick..

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I love my airpod pros, they're great for traveling and also for work.  Wife and I both work from home and are on video conferences/calls a lot of the time so I use those to take my calls.  They're also great for working out.

Do they fall out of your ears?   That's one thing I worry about with those.

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I love my airpod pros, they're great for traveling and also for work.  Wife and I both work from home and are on video conferences/calls a lot of the time so I use those to take my calls.  They're also great for working out.

Do they fall out of your ears?   That's one thing I worry about with those.

They do not.  I have had some people say they don't fit great in their ears, I guess it just depend son the shape of your ears, but they have various tips you can put that should, in theory, solve that problem.  But for me it hasn't been a problem.

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The ex wife.. Very expensive and got old quick..

You’re the man.

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I think that comes with being a man. I’ve got countless things I’ve purchased that fit this description. There’s a part of me that thinks I bought it because I can. Another part says I can and want to use it. Whether I will or not. As a man, I’ve bought so much stuff because it’s cool. There’s a website call “the art of manliness”. I want to do almost everything on the site. So I buy stuff thinking or hoping I’ve got time to learn or practice it. I’m sure women do the same. But there are also those purchase I do solely because I can or think I want it at the time. I’d give examples and will if you like. The list is long and many good ones have already been posted. Many things listed have already been bought. I think it’s normal.

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It’s not like you can take it with you

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The ex wife.. Very expensive and got old quick..

The old adage - divorces are so expensive because they are WORTH IT

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The ex wife.. Very expensive and got old quick..

The old adage - divorces are so expensive because they are WORTH IT

...which is why I'm still working at 65.

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Ive got a garage full of that stuff. Sometimes i will just go looking thru it and go wth did i buy that for?!?!

Its the 8 dollar things that get me. Ahh man its only 8 bucks its kinda cool i will prly use it. Nah.

Oh yea and i should just put a ban on myself on the amazon and ebay accts for anything bought after 11 pm.

Garage taker up spacer thing.

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The ex wife.. Very expensive and got old quick..

You’re the man.

I second  that.

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The ex wife.. Very expensive and got old quick..

The old adage - divorces are so expensive because they are WORTH IT

You don't pay the hooker for the service, you pay her to go away afterward.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

Well, incidentally, in case anyone's curious, I bit the bullet and bought them. And I'm quite happy with them.

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The closest I come to buying useless items are tools I may only use once or once in a great while. That’s where Harbor Freight comes to the rescue. Tools can be had for so cheap that it doesn’t bother me if they sit unused.

I bought a chain breaker for $8. Anywhere else you have to buy a kit which comes with a plethora of useless fittings for $75. I’ve used it once in 6 years and may need to use it one more time. For $8, I’m fine with that.

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@ OP, yes I have this same problem. I nerd’ed out in a bicycle that I knew was super rare from my childhood. I finally found out where to buy them, and bought 4 of them.

I’ve rode the bike about 4 or 5 times. It just sits in my garage. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought useless stuff on eBay after 10pm

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I think the most useless thing I have bought recently was a $350 turntable.   I had a bunch of vinyl records, and I figured I would play them if I had a turntable.   So I bought this turntable, and not only were the vinyl records all full of scratches, but within 2 weeks I had discovered a great streaming service that had all the same music times a thousand, at much better sound quality than I could get from those old vinyl records.   So there sits that turntable, unused.  

Another useless thing I bought was an electronic keyboard.   It didn't cost much, maybe $200.  But I figured I would learn to play the piano.  I got some piano lesson books, and I started in, and got a little ways, but as soon as things got difficult, I quit, and now, there sits that electronic keyboard, in one of my rooms, gathering dust, a permanent symbol of my failure.  I can't go anywhere in the house without passing that thing.  Obviously, I need to donate it to Goodwill or something.  

Then there are things I bought on a whim that turned out to be really useful.   I bought a little Bose bluetooth speaker.  It's about the size of a book.   We put it in the kitchen, and we have music every time we eat dinner.  Right now, as I type this, my wife is doing the dishes listening to music.   Bought it on a whim, and it's a great thing.

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I have a 10" Dobsonian telescope that I rarely use anymore. It's made for deep dark sky viewing which requires finding a location and viewing until the early hours, but it's also useful for backyard astronomy. However, it's big, heavy and awkward to handle. I still enjoy it on occasion but wish I had a more easily usable refractor scope, but they are considerably more expensive by aperture size than reflectors (what I have now). I'm considering having my son list it on Facebook Marketplace and finding a decent used refractor or catadioptric. I would like to get into astrophotography but that can become a very expensive rabbit hole.

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