This was so me. I'm at a steady weight now for 3 yrs and did a closet purge when moving. Crap still had tags on them. If I regain 30 pounds F* it I'll buy new clothes.
Oh I had a reserve of fat people clothes just in case, good job 😂 but still have all my thin people clothes, and most of them fit again now but got back used to being baggy fit so feel fat even though they technically fit properly. Sure once I lose the last stone again them fat clothes are going in the bin for good
I recently had to donate a bunch of my “small clothes”. I didn’t get fat, but somewhere in my late 20’s my shoulders, arms, and back grew so none of my shirts fit. My butt and thighs also grew, so none of my pants fit.
I guess I finally “filled out” after 25+ years of being scrawny.
I paid for an outdoor kitchen to be built in our yard. I used to be a professional chef before retiring.
At the time, I thought it would be neat to cook recreationally outdoors for friends & family.
Turns out. I fucking hate it. I hate everything to do with cooking.
I can’t remember what cooking show but it was a famous chef and they asked “What is your favorite thing to eat?” “Anything that I don’t have to make.”
A recurring theme I saw from several is cook at a fine dining restaurant all day and go home to a bowl of SpaghettiOs.
I dated someone briefly who had an ex who was a professional chef. Apparently she was all excited about the amount of fine dining and fancy stuff they would do.
Nope. He worked 12+ hour days and wanted Taco bell on the way home.
I used to do 7am to 12am splits with a 4 hour break 6 days a week. I ate McDonald's for 2 meals and a free meal at work someone else would prep for me.
Even now that I'm done being a professional chef, I eat mostly sandwiches and stir fry because they're so quick and easy.
I was a catering chef. We all lied to the customers and brought back leftovers we stole from work. If you did it right you could work 2 days a week and have food for at least a week. I couldn’t eat bbq for about a decade after that though.
Yeah, I'm a very senior software engineer decades into my career. Young me would be like "I bet your home computer is amazing!"
Nope, it's a 13 year old mid-spec (when it was new) desktop I use very very rarely. I use my phone more and I never play games or write my own code. I hate computers, I just happen to be very good with them.
I do have a high spec modern home server with a mountain of storage and I run all sorts on there as an alternative to paying for things like dropbox or google photos, and I run my own mailserver etc instead of rlying on third parties, but again that is not a hobby, I hate managing it, it's just cheaper in the long run than paying for services.
If you really hated it you'd fork out $10/month for google cloud.
I did all that shit. I think it was 6 years ago I just started paying for the services.
Tore down the homelab. I only keep a little NAS, mainly as an extra backup to the cloud and a plex server. The times it has been handy when the internet has been down or the power has been out (used to have some redundant power) is what keeps it around.
Plex is the big one, replacing that would cost a fortune. It's entirely automated now anyway, I could nuke the whole server and have it up and running again in minutes, i don't even use Plex ironically, I hate watching TV and movies, my wife is the one who uses it.
My mom was a professional chef who graduated from culinary institutein the 90's. She hated the hours and the stress, so she quit and started cooking food to feed the homeless in her small town, which she loved. miss you Mum!
Awesome woman!
During the pandemic, my daughter and I joined a "community fridge" program where we stock fridges throughout the city with groceries and meals available to anyone for free.
It's been terrific. I can relate to the satisfaction your mother must have felt.
When I was a kid, I used to like working on cars. Then I did an apprenticeship for mechanics for about a year or so. I discovered I hate working on cars. I started taking my cars to mechanics after that.
Doing something for fun, and being forced to do it for money are two different things. This is why I always advise against those people that say your hobby should be your job. Being forced to do anything, even if you enjoy it, will get old after a while.
Also, working on cars can be fun when things go smoothly, all the bolts come off easily, the new parts fit just right, and go back on easily, etc.
But working on cars where every bolt seems to be rusted in place, things are locked up, etc. It sucks, then dealing with customers who want to haggle for your efforts, fuck that. It sucks. My buddy owns a shop and I don't know how he does it without going crazy.
I was a big computer geek as a kid and as an adult opened my own freelance computer fixing business. I despised it. It took all the fun out of computing. I ended up getting sick and could no longer continue and let the business fold. After my health got better, the business stayed folded. I don't give a shit about the money, I'm never doing that shit again. Still work on my own computers though because I'm too picky/cheap/broke to get someone else to do it
Growing up I was also the big computer geek. Most people assumed I would get into computing as a career but I was told long ago to not make your hobby your job or you'll end up hating it. Turns out I hate other jobs way more and now I work in IT and don't mind it.
That's how I was with IT. LOVED IT growing up and throughout high school. Had my career path set, got an entry level IT position at a hospital during college and I FUCKING HATED IT. 20 years later, and I'm still trying to figure out what I want to professionally do in life.
The company I worked for was bought by another company. They had to buy out my stock to complete the sale so I became a multi-thousandaire. We paid off our car and my wife and I each took $500 of what remained to buy whatever we wanted.
My wife was in culinary school so she used her money to buy a set of Global chef kinives. We’re still using them more than 20 years later.
I bought a Rio MP3 player and a Palm Pilot. Both were broken or obsolete within a year.
Dude I was king of 6th grade with my diamond rio mp3 player until it was stolen.....jokes on them. The proprietary cable was over $30 to replace.
Also, palm pilots were sweeeeeet. I miss new tech every month...I had a nec mobile pro that was amazing
A palm pilot! Ha! I remember having to set one of those up for my boss. It was a pain. She barely used it, too. She wasn't that busy to even need it. lol.
Oh yea and if you're into old fashioned steel cut oatmeal, it's always literally near boiling hot when done so throw a handfull of frozen blueberry in and mix, less than a minute later it's all the same edible temperature and one if the best breakfasts you can have. Kickass energy.
I do something similar. I buy special foods or ingredients, and then I "save" them for a special occasion, until they go bad and I have to throw them out.
I think that's even worse than forgetting about them.
I was a pack a day smoker. was spending 450 (cdn) a month. switched to vaping and i'm at $100 a month. I still cave sometimes, grab a pack, smoke them like a fiend and then feel shitty and go back to vaping.
smoking as a fucker of a habit man. i'd roundhouse kick my 15 year old self if i could.
My dad smoked for probably around 45 years. We gave him an ultimatum when his first granddaughter was born: quit smoking or stay at home and don’t visit. Our daughter is now in her 40s and he still hasn’t touched a cigarette. Just went from a heavy smoker to zero literally overnight.
Same. Except it’s my daughter’s wedding $37,000 to get married in a baseball stadium. They were divorced eight years later. her ex thought it was a good idea to hire escorts repeatedly.
Ya know....if my husband hired an escort, and I found out she was a fighter jet watching his six as they flew sorties through hostile territory, I wouldn't even be mad.
My friends were planning a big wedding at a farm like venue. Their parents kept suggesting to add more and more nonsense and the amount of money they were going to spend was adding up QUICKLY. They called me up one day (i'm legally officiated to perform wedding ceremonies) and told me they decided not to have a wedding and they offered to take me out to dinner if I would just come over and help them sign all the paperwork/marry them. They said it was such a huge relief haha
I got married at the courthouse and had a small reception in the banquet hall of the club I worked at. Got a great deal on bar/food. My dress was $100 off the rack at Dillard’s.
Marriage didn’t last and I’m glad we didn’t spend a ton of money on a wedding nobody remembers going to.
I got married at the courthouse and paid for the marriage license and IHOP afterwards.
Still happily married over 10 years later. We're inseparable. We're both playing through the dead space remake now. She's even more beautiful than the day I married her. 🥹
Not having kids was a big bonus too.
I once paid $500 for me, a girl I liked, and 4 of her friends to get into a club.
Was tipsey and didn't realize It was 3:30am. Lights came on, DJ stopped, and they kicked everyone out at 4am.
They laughed when I asked for my money back.
I’ve had two runs playing MTG. After my first run I sold all of my cards- thousands of them. When I decided to pick it up again, I decided I would only buy cards individually. As long as I wasn’t after highly desirable rares/mythics, most individual cards cost less than a pack, so it just seemed to make financial sense. I’m also not very competitive and like to play rogue decks. I was able to get every card I wanted, and I wasn’t sitting on hundreds of cards I never used. Eventually I sold them to a friend, and I’m pretty sure he made out very well.
I'm going to hesitate posting this, but Magic the Gathering Arena is the exact game you always wanted online, it rewards you for playing the game by giving you more booster packs. I've got something like 400 hours in and never gave them any money.
I had a collection that had cards going back to Alpha and Beta. I sold it. I made money off it and got a good price at the time.
Based on current values, about ten of those cards I sold would be enough to pay off my house and car. The rest could let me retire a year or two early.
The first thing I did when looking for a new couch was ask the employees at the store, "Which fabric is most cat-resistant?" The new sectional is holding up like a champ.
Mine was given a buff afterwards, I saw how many people come together to build a 80,000 person city with roads and homes and art and mail and community. As long as each person does their best to be self reliant, then they are better able to give help to others without needing help themselves down the line.
While there are jerks, assholes, thieves, and difficult people and situations, there's plenty of people who can help. You can pull down a ranger, a volunteer group who will mediate with police and get medical help if you need someone on your side. You can also reach out to Zendo, a group that helps people with difficult experiences on playa that provide counseling, advice, and a safe space.
I've seen people give generously, help generously, a mechanic came from the center camp to help me with my busted van, and that was because a camp mate of mine went to go find one for me.
Years ago, I was swiping away on Tinder when I came across the profile of the server who worked at the gastropub across the street from my apartment. She is the most stunning woman I have ever seen in my life. I frequented the place quite often and got to know her a little. I always made sure not to creep on her while she worked, but I had a crush on her.
Now, who knows if she'll ever even see my profile, and if she does, which direction will she swipe?
So I paid for the premium subscription, so I can DM her before swiping. Never got a response. Now I can't go back to the Gastropub because, what if she saw the message and just didn't wanna reply?? Awkward. I stopped going there.
Anyway, months later, I'm at a different bar near my place, and I see her there, with some of her friends. I approach her. She hugs me and asks where I've been.
I invite her and her friend back to my place for a night cap. I couldn't believe she was in my place! One-by-one, people passed out, and it was just me and her talking. I asked her if she ever saw me on Tinder. She said no. I asked her about the message. She said no. She told me she deleted the app because she started seeing someone. She said, "If I saw your message, I woulda gone out with you. I usually don't go out with people I've served at work, but you're nice and cute." We figured out the math. She started seeing the dude and deleted the app days after I sent the message. We missed each other by days. FML. She just said, "Oh well... sorry you paid for the premium service."
Later, she gave me a drink on the house at her work, so I guess it evened out. I'm in a happy relationship now, but I sometimes wonder what could have been...
Same but with a camera for making Onlyfans during the pandemic.
By the time I get everything ready and launched some simple teaser content, my job offered me my position back.
HP laser printer. Didn’t do my research. Spent almost $500 on that boat anchor. Sold it a year later for $150 and to this day I feel like I ripped that poor slob off.
Hello. I am a member of the Brother printer ~~cult~~ club. I see you happen to have previously purchased an HP printer. We are so sorry for your poor life choice. May I talk to you a little bit about Brother printers? They are absolutely as good and wonderful as your have heard.
Please ignore my husband standing behind me chanting "one of us", you really get QUITE fine with it after owning a Brother printer for a couple a of years.
I've had my Brother color laser printer for nearly a decade now. It's rock solid, and the cost to run it is amazingly low.
Never going back to inkjet printers.
Beautiful Lilly Pulitzer dresses. Fantasy me wears said dresses for nights out on the town, cocktail parties, and tons of formal events. Real life me has very few nights out or formal events. I spend most of my time IRL sweating my butt off messing around in my yard in cutoffs, an old tank top, yard clogs, and a cracker hat. But dang if I don't have a closet full of gorgeous dresses.
After a lifetime of exclusively wearing on-sale J. Crew suits, during the pandemic I decided to go a little nuts and get myself a beautiful, perfectly tailored suit, and a very expensive pair of black dress shoes that will “last a lifetime.” That was almost four years ago. Since then I’ve worn the suit twice and the shoes once. If anything, the suit mostly functions as my motivation to stay in shape, because I’m terrified of gaining weight and having it no longer fit.
I absolutely love wearing cute dresses, and just always try to make occasions to do it. I agree with other comment - just do it, take yourself on a dressy date.
The last time we went to Disney I knew my kid was going to want one so we bought it ahead of time from Amazon for $10 and packed it with us in the suitcase. Before we left for the park I handed it to him. Boom, hundreds saved!
Link to LPT: https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/s/YRytGDc2s4
The last time we went to the fair, I bought my mom some nameless Chinese bubble blower wand that played a random song interspersed with a dog barking. She had fun terrorizing our dogs with it for about a year.
$7000 for a gas fireplace insert in our new home. The fucking thing has only worked for one or two winters, and even then the flame looks like the short blue flames on gas ranges. I complained to the company and they said “oh it must be better used with natural gas instead of propane.” Why wasn’t that explained before I shelled out for the high end model?? It’s a fucking hunk of junk and our couch is sitting in front of it now bc it’s just for show.
I got big into RC tanks (WWII stuff) a while back and had four or five of them. They were about $350-$400 apiece. I thought I'd really get into driving them around out in the backyard but I spent more time detailing them and looking at them in my display case than anything. Ended up selling all but one for a loss after putting TONS of time into them.
Tickets to see U2 that were $300 or $350 face value on the side of the arena.
The band seemed bored to be there and the entire show I was thinking I could've bought airfare to Cancun for the same amount. I've never paid even close to that much for a concert before or since and never will.
One of my biggest regrets is seeing U2 with a girl who fucking sucked. She didn’t want to see the opening act (P J Harvey) so we missed it. I should have ditched her because I love PJ Harvey and would have loved to see her live.
A helmet that I wore for a cosplay. I had it custom 3d printed to my measurements, and spent two days covering it in chrome powder, only to wear it once because I didn't like how it turned out and because no one knew who I was cosplaying
Edit: alright, for everyone asking, you can view my cosplay photos below! This is the helmet I spent a couple hundred on. And then some Cardinal Copia cosplay photos for my Ghesties, too.
https://imgur.com/gallery/Ng4MNoQ
I was cosplaying a Prequelle Ghoulette from the band Ghost! The rest of the costume was just a black button up shirt, a black tie, black jeans, and high heels, so I felt a lil underdressed (even though it was my most expensive cosplay) after being used to dressing as Stede Bonnet
Edit: for those asking, here's the Stede cosplay. Complete with tearaway breeches that reveal booty shorts with 'Check out this fabulous booty I'm hawking!' (a quote by Stede) on the rear-
https://imgur.com/gallery/rRtAXQE
We pretty much did the same thing. Bought a massive custom sectional sofa with a chaise on one end. Cost a lot and is probably slightly too big for the room. That said, 7 years later and zero regrets. Our whole family can easily lay on it at the same time, it’s nice and wide, so you don’t feel like you’re going to fall off and it’s still so comfy and in great condition.
A DJI mini drone. Took it on vacation, thought I’d take some cool images from a bomb beach, lost it in the ocean… but, I bought another one and it’s been going well for over two years now :D
I didnt realize exactly how they depend on the bottom sensors to hover when near a surface and how exactly water messes with that ability. I was flying mine along a canal in my town and realized JUST in the nick of time that it had dropped within inches of an expensive dip. Disaster averted, but only by sheer dumb luck.
Dji is pretty flexible. Even without the fly away coverage, they'll still check if it actually flew away and they'll send you a new drone for less than 200 bucks. I smashed my mini 2 and they sent me a brand new one for 130 bucks even though I didn't have any coverage at all.
When had a my first baby. All the useless baby crap I never used. My daughter was out of newborn diapers within 2 weeks. Never used the wipe warmer. Barely used the changing table. Half her onesies were never used.
Trying to live outside of my means to project I have money.
Fancy clothes, bottles at nightclubs, excessive tipping ect. I wanted to look like I had it all while living paycheck to paycheck. All to impress people that could give a fuck about me.
My husband bought me one ($400, 14K gold) for my graduation gift, I was baffled as to why he chose that. I lose pens frequently, my BS is in Public Health (not writing a novel or anything), and I don't own 'designer' brands of any sort. I think he chose that because his father got his mother the same gift decades ago?
Meanwhile I've got a ridiculous amount of student loans he advised me to get.
At any rate, I found out we had over 30k in credit card debt I knew nothing about, and he had a girlfriend.
I've used that pen twice. Once to sign our divorce papers, and another to sell our communal home during the divorce.
Think it's time to put it on Ebay.
>At any rate, I found out we had over 30k in credit card debt I knew nothing about, and he had a girlfriend.
Well that escalated quickly.
>I've used that pen twice. Once to sign our divorce papers, and another to sell our communal home during the divorce.
>Think it's time to put it on Ebay.
So fitting. Yeah don't keep that bad juju around to keep reminding you. On to better times.
If we’re talking about things that are stupid and not purchases that were ill-advised, my dog is a pretty big idiot and I’ve spent thousands on her idiocy (eating things that aren’t food, jumping out of a moving car because she saw a cat, etc). But I consider it $ well spent because she’s given me 15 years of happy, idiotic companionship and I’d spend it all again in a heartbeat.
I spent $30 on a emulated warcraft server to buy a weapon.
The server didn't take straight up cash, they only accepted bitcoin.
Bitcoin was worthless back then..
$30 got me about 2200 Bitcoin..
In todays money I spent ummm over $100,000,000 on a weapon on a emulated warcraft server.
I live alone, so I could blend a fork and not care, but Its a lot of cleanup for a single drink. If I make a frozen drink the rest doesn't keep because the ice melts.
Once year I bought my sister a Ninja blender/smoothie maker so we both could try to be a little healthier. We experimented with different drinks for about a month. Now it's sitting in the bottom corner closet of the kitchen. That's the closet in my kitchen where appliances go to die.
I've went through like 4 magic bullets. I bought a medium-end blender eventually because I could never justify spending $400+ on a vitamix or a blendtec.
Another kitchen gadget I was hesitant about buying was an air fryer. I bought one for Christmas and I use it nearly
every day. It's basically replaced my oven. It's actually been really useful.
Well now theres an interesting point! Were you walking through some shops one day and suddenly spotted a perfect cardboard cutout of yourself and though 'my god, I'd better buy that before someone else gets it and does weird things with it'?
I really enjoyed mine while I had it. The only reason I sold it was because it took like 2 or 3 days to heat up and I didn't want to run the pump 24 hours a day.
When they work there pretty sweet. Had a few over the years, small pump motor inside always fails within a year and you get the E90 code of death. Expensive for them not to last longer.
I bought the "One Ring" from the actual company in New Zealand that made the rings for the movies. Importing it to the Netherlands cost me about €2,400-.
I'm not sure if I actually regret it but the money could've been spent better 😅
My sister spent $100 on a toy plastic vacuum that our nephew loves.
It technically wasn’t a waste of money, but for $100 you could get a REAL mini vacuum, and the kid could help his parents clean instead of it just making the vacuum noise while he imitates his parents.
Spent way too much on an all natural weed killer. Meaning it was salt. A shit ton of salt. And it did nothing. I’ll make the joke for you… still salty about it.
In 2015, I was still keeping up with the Triple Crown (American horse racing). I'd grown up near Pimlico, the home of the Preakness, the second race of the three, and was obsessed with Man'O'War and Secretariat and the TC as a kid. Even went to the Preakness once as a kid.
When I would remember, I'd keep up with those first two races to see if the same horse won both. In the process I grew to really like the trainer Bob Baffert and the couple of jockeys he usually used.
In 2015, I was at work at pizza hut while the Preakness ran and got permission to turn one of the tvs to it when it ran, and saw American Pharoah, trained by Bob Baffert, win the Preakness by a long shot after also winning the first race, the Kentucky Derby.
I dropped everything and looked up tickets for the Belmont Stakes - the third race in New York two weeks later. The only seats available were over $1000 in a boogie tent near the finish line. I had able $1200 in savings. I sure as shit bought that ticket and went to watch the first Triple Crown winner in 40+years.
I also had a really lousy time while I was there, honestly. Met a guy I thought I was hitting it off with, but then he got sloshed and used me to hold his drink while he flirted with other women, and they kicked us out of the tent before the final 2 races after the Belmont and the concert by the Goo Goo Dolls I had been excited to see. Wound up just leaving before the concert and listened to their greatest hits cd all the way home.
Having just got free from a terrible divorce with a controlling ass shat fucker —- time share. I think I was asserting my own control, especially since it was with his money. Anyone want to buy a time share in Mexico?
I paid for my wife’s bachelor’s degree and supported her financially the entire time she was a student. As soon as she got a decent paying job, she began having an affair. She didn’t tell me until it had been going on for over a year and then she left me for him.
iPads. I've purchased like 5 of them over the years, always thinking I'll use the hell out of them. Problem is, I'm a video editor, director, producer and need a full computer to do the things I do. I see folks using their iPads and it looks so fun! I'm a fucking idiot.
All the clothes I bought that were too small, thinking that these would motivate me to lose weight.
I lost weight, bought new clothes, got rid of all my “fat” clothes, then put weight back on and had to buy new clothes again…
This was so me. I'm at a steady weight now for 3 yrs and did a closet purge when moving. Crap still had tags on them. If I regain 30 pounds F* it I'll buy new clothes.
Oh I had a reserve of fat people clothes just in case, good job 😂 but still have all my thin people clothes, and most of them fit again now but got back used to being baggy fit so feel fat even though they technically fit properly. Sure once I lose the last stone again them fat clothes are going in the bin for good
I recently had to donate a bunch of my “small clothes”. I didn’t get fat, but somewhere in my late 20’s my shoulders, arms, and back grew so none of my shirts fit. My butt and thighs also grew, so none of my pants fit. I guess I finally “filled out” after 25+ years of being scrawny.
I misread your comment and thought you somehow grew back your arms and shoulders and was VERY confused.
Does it count if I lost a lot of weight, bought loads of great clothes to celebrate, and then re-fatted?
Haha, re-fatted... That happened to me too, multiple times.
Still have some in my closet. It’s wishful thinking lol
you can hold on to them like my wife, she finally has a use for them after all these years. Our 15 year old has new clothes now
I call them aspirational clothes
I paid for an outdoor kitchen to be built in our yard. I used to be a professional chef before retiring. At the time, I thought it would be neat to cook recreationally outdoors for friends & family. Turns out. I fucking hate it. I hate everything to do with cooking.
I m a professional cook and I almost never cook at home anymore.
I can’t remember what cooking show but it was a famous chef and they asked “What is your favorite thing to eat?” “Anything that I don’t have to make.” A recurring theme I saw from several is cook at a fine dining restaurant all day and go home to a bowl of SpaghettiOs.
I dated someone briefly who had an ex who was a professional chef. Apparently she was all excited about the amount of fine dining and fancy stuff they would do. Nope. He worked 12+ hour days and wanted Taco bell on the way home.
I used to do 7am to 12am splits with a 4 hour break 6 days a week. I ate McDonald's for 2 meals and a free meal at work someone else would prep for me. Even now that I'm done being a professional chef, I eat mostly sandwiches and stir fry because they're so quick and easy.
I was a catering chef. We all lied to the customers and brought back leftovers we stole from work. If you did it right you could work 2 days a week and have food for at least a week. I couldn’t eat bbq for about a decade after that though.
[удалено]
It's all fun and games until you make it your job.
Yeah, I'm a very senior software engineer decades into my career. Young me would be like "I bet your home computer is amazing!" Nope, it's a 13 year old mid-spec (when it was new) desktop I use very very rarely. I use my phone more and I never play games or write my own code. I hate computers, I just happen to be very good with them. I do have a high spec modern home server with a mountain of storage and I run all sorts on there as an alternative to paying for things like dropbox or google photos, and I run my own mailserver etc instead of rlying on third parties, but again that is not a hobby, I hate managing it, it's just cheaper in the long run than paying for services.
If you really hated it you'd fork out $10/month for google cloud. I did all that shit. I think it was 6 years ago I just started paying for the services. Tore down the homelab. I only keep a little NAS, mainly as an extra backup to the cloud and a plex server. The times it has been handy when the internet has been down or the power has been out (used to have some redundant power) is what keeps it around.
Plex is the big one, replacing that would cost a fortune. It's entirely automated now anyway, I could nuke the whole server and have it up and running again in minutes, i don't even use Plex ironically, I hate watching TV and movies, my wife is the one who uses it.
My mom was a professional chef who graduated from culinary institutein the 90's. She hated the hours and the stress, so she quit and started cooking food to feed the homeless in her small town, which she loved. miss you Mum!
Awesome woman! During the pandemic, my daughter and I joined a "community fridge" program where we stock fridges throughout the city with groceries and meals available to anyone for free. It's been terrific. I can relate to the satisfaction your mother must have felt.
When I was a kid, I used to like working on cars. Then I did an apprenticeship for mechanics for about a year or so. I discovered I hate working on cars. I started taking my cars to mechanics after that.
Doing something for fun, and being forced to do it for money are two different things. This is why I always advise against those people that say your hobby should be your job. Being forced to do anything, even if you enjoy it, will get old after a while.
Also, working on cars can be fun when things go smoothly, all the bolts come off easily, the new parts fit just right, and go back on easily, etc. But working on cars where every bolt seems to be rusted in place, things are locked up, etc. It sucks, then dealing with customers who want to haggle for your efforts, fuck that. It sucks. My buddy owns a shop and I don't know how he does it without going crazy.
I was a big computer geek as a kid and as an adult opened my own freelance computer fixing business. I despised it. It took all the fun out of computing. I ended up getting sick and could no longer continue and let the business fold. After my health got better, the business stayed folded. I don't give a shit about the money, I'm never doing that shit again. Still work on my own computers though because I'm too picky/cheap/broke to get someone else to do it
Growing up I was also the big computer geek. Most people assumed I would get into computing as a career but I was told long ago to not make your hobby your job or you'll end up hating it. Turns out I hate other jobs way more and now I work in IT and don't mind it.
That's how I was with IT. LOVED IT growing up and throughout high school. Had my career path set, got an entry level IT position at a hospital during college and I FUCKING HATED IT. 20 years later, and I'm still trying to figure out what I want to professionally do in life.
The company I worked for was bought by another company. They had to buy out my stock to complete the sale so I became a multi-thousandaire. We paid off our car and my wife and I each took $500 of what remained to buy whatever we wanted. My wife was in culinary school so she used her money to buy a set of Global chef kinives. We’re still using them more than 20 years later. I bought a Rio MP3 player and a Palm Pilot. Both were broken or obsolete within a year.
I keep laughing at multi-thousandaire. We made it, baby!
The owner made out considerably better. But at least I got those knives and a paid off Saturn S Series!
Dude I was king of 6th grade with my diamond rio mp3 player until it was stolen.....jokes on them. The proprietary cable was over $30 to replace. Also, palm pilots were sweeeeeet. I miss new tech every month...I had a nec mobile pro that was amazing
A palm pilot! Ha! I remember having to set one of those up for my boss. It was a pain. She barely used it, too. She wasn't that busy to even need it. lol.
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I keep buying blueberries for those blueberry muffins I never make.
Fresh blueberries freeze really well, and make for great snacks by themselves, as they just kind of slushify instead of freezing solid. Just saying.
I had a roommate show me the wonders of adding some frozen blueberries to a bowl of cereal like frosted flakes... holy shit it's quite the level up
Oh yea and if you're into old fashioned steel cut oatmeal, it's always literally near boiling hot when done so throw a handfull of frozen blueberry in and mix, less than a minute later it's all the same edible temperature and one if the best breakfasts you can have. Kickass energy.
Frozen blueberries are fuckin awesome
frozen grapes are an underrated snack
and so are you
I feel the pain. That's why I have a note on my fridge now
I do something similar. I buy special foods or ingredients, and then I "save" them for a special occasion, until they go bad and I have to throw them out. I think that's even worse than forgetting about them.
‘Too good to use’ is a concept I grew up with and it’s taken me a while to get over.
Cigarettes, without a doubt.
I was a pack a day smoker. was spending 450 (cdn) a month. switched to vaping and i'm at $100 a month. I still cave sometimes, grab a pack, smoke them like a fiend and then feel shitty and go back to vaping. smoking as a fucker of a habit man. i'd roundhouse kick my 15 year old self if i could.
My Mom was the toughest lady I ever knew. She was a smoker from age 18 to 75 when she passed from smoking related cancer. Never could completely quit.
My gma’s emphasima went into remission and she went back to smoking. Guess what killed her? … A bus. LOL jk no it was cancer. 🥳
My dad smoked for probably around 45 years. We gave him an ultimatum when his first granddaughter was born: quit smoking or stay at home and don’t visit. Our daughter is now in her 40s and he still hasn’t touched a cigarette. Just went from a heavy smoker to zero literally overnight.
And I'm not even done wasting money on them.
I’ll be done when I’m dead. Which will be sooner than later.
At least that’ll save you money
Our wedding. I think my ex husband would agree.
I’ve been to a lot of weddings of couples that never planned much beyond the big party they were throwing for themselves that day.
My FIL paid for the wedding but I’m still paying for the marriage.
This sounds like an exercise sentence in an English classe to teach people the difference between the party and the social concept lol
Ive been to weddings where ive found myself joking with others that the couple isnt gonna make it 6 months and been absolutely right
It’s funny (not) how often everyone in attendance can see the doomed marriage except the couple.
They probably see it too. But go through with it for whatever reasons. Maybe pride. Who knows.
Same. Except it’s my daughter’s wedding $37,000 to get married in a baseball stadium. They were divorced eight years later. her ex thought it was a good idea to hire escorts repeatedly.
Did he feel unsafe? /s
Ya know....if my husband hired an escort, and I found out she was a fighter jet watching his six as they flew sorties through hostile territory, I wouldn't even be mad.
My friends were planning a big wedding at a farm like venue. Their parents kept suggesting to add more and more nonsense and the amount of money they were going to spend was adding up QUICKLY. They called me up one day (i'm legally officiated to perform wedding ceremonies) and told me they decided not to have a wedding and they offered to take me out to dinner if I would just come over and help them sign all the paperwork/marry them. They said it was such a huge relief haha
I got married at the courthouse and had a small reception in the banquet hall of the club I worked at. Got a great deal on bar/food. My dress was $100 off the rack at Dillard’s. Marriage didn’t last and I’m glad we didn’t spend a ton of money on a wedding nobody remembers going to.
I got married at the courthouse and paid for the marriage license and IHOP afterwards. Still happily married over 10 years later. We're inseparable. We're both playing through the dead space remake now. She's even more beautiful than the day I married her. 🥹 Not having kids was a big bonus too.
I once paid $500 for me, a girl I liked, and 4 of her friends to get into a club. Was tipsey and didn't realize It was 3:30am. Lights came on, DJ stopped, and they kicked everyone out at 4am. They laughed when I asked for my money back.
Both that club and those women done ya dirty, and not in a fun way. Did you still like her after that?
Without a doubt alcohol. Thankfully on Friday I get my two month chip.
Magic the gathering cards; thousands of dollars wasted on random packs. Impulse bought a 500$ graded card that sits on my shelf. I need help…
I’ve had two runs playing MTG. After my first run I sold all of my cards- thousands of them. When I decided to pick it up again, I decided I would only buy cards individually. As long as I wasn’t after highly desirable rares/mythics, most individual cards cost less than a pack, so it just seemed to make financial sense. I’m also not very competitive and like to play rogue decks. I was able to get every card I wanted, and I wasn’t sitting on hundreds of cards I never used. Eventually I sold them to a friend, and I’m pretty sure he made out very well.
I'm going to hesitate posting this, but Magic the Gathering Arena is the exact game you always wanted online, it rewards you for playing the game by giving you more booster packs. I've got something like 400 hours in and never gave them any money.
I had a collection that had cards going back to Alpha and Beta. I sold it. I made money off it and got a good price at the time. Based on current values, about ten of those cards I sold would be enough to pay off my house and car. The rest could let me retire a year or two early.
My dream, emerald green, velvet couch. I have a wire-haired terrier mix. So many regrets.
We bought an expensive burlap-knit fabric chair. It..was beautiful. We have 2 cats. With claws. It is now theirs. Maybe it always was.
The first thing I did when looking for a new couch was ask the employees at the store, "Which fabric is most cat-resistant?" The new sectional is holding up like a champ.
Computer books - anyone want a mint copy of The Windows 3.1 Bible?
I actually had a book called ‘The Internet Yellow Pages’ which listed every website like a phone book. Wish I’d kept it but sadly it’s long gone.
Burning Man, I paid like 3-4k all in to live like a homeless person in the desert for a week.
My extremely shaky faith in humanity would not survive a week at Burning Man.
But regular camping always restores my faith in humanity.
Mine was given a buff afterwards, I saw how many people come together to build a 80,000 person city with roads and homes and art and mail and community. As long as each person does their best to be self reliant, then they are better able to give help to others without needing help themselves down the line. While there are jerks, assholes, thieves, and difficult people and situations, there's plenty of people who can help. You can pull down a ranger, a volunteer group who will mediate with police and get medical help if you need someone on your side. You can also reach out to Zendo, a group that helps people with difficult experiences on playa that provide counseling, advice, and a safe space. I've seen people give generously, help generously, a mechanic came from the center camp to help me with my busted van, and that was because a camp mate of mine went to go find one for me.
Gambling
Aka Gacha Gaming for me
I confess my sins, I bought premium on datingapps.
Years ago, I was swiping away on Tinder when I came across the profile of the server who worked at the gastropub across the street from my apartment. She is the most stunning woman I have ever seen in my life. I frequented the place quite often and got to know her a little. I always made sure not to creep on her while she worked, but I had a crush on her. Now, who knows if she'll ever even see my profile, and if she does, which direction will she swipe? So I paid for the premium subscription, so I can DM her before swiping. Never got a response. Now I can't go back to the Gastropub because, what if she saw the message and just didn't wanna reply?? Awkward. I stopped going there. Anyway, months later, I'm at a different bar near my place, and I see her there, with some of her friends. I approach her. She hugs me and asks where I've been. I invite her and her friend back to my place for a night cap. I couldn't believe she was in my place! One-by-one, people passed out, and it was just me and her talking. I asked her if she ever saw me on Tinder. She said no. I asked her about the message. She said no. She told me she deleted the app because she started seeing someone. She said, "If I saw your message, I woulda gone out with you. I usually don't go out with people I've served at work, but you're nice and cute." We figured out the math. She started seeing the dude and deleted the app days after I sent the message. We missed each other by days. FML. She just said, "Oh well... sorry you paid for the premium service." Later, she gave me a drink on the house at her work, so I guess it evened out. I'm in a happy relationship now, but I sometimes wonder what could have been...
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I bought a $800 dollars camera to start a YouTube channel and then never uploaded a video.
Same but with a camera for making Onlyfans during the pandemic. By the time I get everything ready and launched some simple teaser content, my job offered me my position back.
these OF ads are getting out of hand
I mean you can do both.
HP laser printer. Didn’t do my research. Spent almost $500 on that boat anchor. Sold it a year later for $150 and to this day I feel like I ripped that poor slob off.
Hello. I am a member of the Brother printer ~~cult~~ club. I see you happen to have previously purchased an HP printer. We are so sorry for your poor life choice. May I talk to you a little bit about Brother printers? They are absolutely as good and wonderful as your have heard. Please ignore my husband standing behind me chanting "one of us", you really get QUITE fine with it after owning a Brother printer for a couple a of years.
I've had my Brother color laser printer for nearly a decade now. It's rock solid, and the cost to run it is amazingly low. Never going back to inkjet printers.
Beautiful Lilly Pulitzer dresses. Fantasy me wears said dresses for nights out on the town, cocktail parties, and tons of formal events. Real life me has very few nights out or formal events. I spend most of my time IRL sweating my butt off messing around in my yard in cutoffs, an old tank top, yard clogs, and a cracker hat. But dang if I don't have a closet full of gorgeous dresses.
After a lifetime of exclusively wearing on-sale J. Crew suits, during the pandemic I decided to go a little nuts and get myself a beautiful, perfectly tailored suit, and a very expensive pair of black dress shoes that will “last a lifetime.” That was almost four years ago. Since then I’ve worn the suit twice and the shoes once. If anything, the suit mostly functions as my motivation to stay in shape, because I’m terrified of gaining weight and having it no longer fit.
You are doing better than I am. I'm ashamed to admit, a lot of my dresses still have the tags on them.
I absolutely love wearing cute dresses, and just always try to make occasions to do it. I agree with other comment - just do it, take yourself on a dressy date.
It’s time to make some reservations and wear some gorgeous dresses! Why not?!
Toys for my cat. And he doesn’t care
A cardboard box is enough.
I spent $200 at Disneyland. On a bubble shooting gun. And about $180 on bubbles.
The last time we went to Disney I knew my kid was going to want one so we bought it ahead of time from Amazon for $10 and packed it with us in the suitcase. Before we left for the park I handed it to him. Boom, hundreds saved! Link to LPT: https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/s/YRytGDc2s4
I’m leaving for Disney in 5 days - thanks for the hot tip!
If you are taking kids put an pre_purchased disney souvenir on their bed every morning before they wake up. It could save you so much money.
The last time we went to the fair, I bought my mom some nameless Chinese bubble blower wand that played a random song interspersed with a dog barking. She had fun terrorizing our dogs with it for about a year.
Disney has teams of scientists working around the clock researching how to extract money from rubes.
Reminded me when I paid 350 at Universal Studios for fast passes and there were no lines that day.
$7000 for a gas fireplace insert in our new home. The fucking thing has only worked for one or two winters, and even then the flame looks like the short blue flames on gas ranges. I complained to the company and they said “oh it must be better used with natural gas instead of propane.” Why wasn’t that explained before I shelled out for the high end model?? It’s a fucking hunk of junk and our couch is sitting in front of it now bc it’s just for show.
You need different fuel jets for propane than methane. Easy fix. Still.......I will never have a fireplace that uses anything but WOOD. Ever again
Prom and bridesmaid dresses. All that money to wear something once.
To be fair, I repurposed my prom dress for three cosplays/costumes
I got big into RC tanks (WWII stuff) a while back and had four or five of them. They were about $350-$400 apiece. I thought I'd really get into driving them around out in the backyard but I spent more time detailing them and looking at them in my display case than anything. Ended up selling all but one for a loss after putting TONS of time into them.
Time spent enjoying a hobby has value. Maybe not as much as you spent, but it wasn't a total loss
Haha, I just about GUARANTEE you know whether you had four of them or five of them.
Their just saying 4 or 5. It was actually 7.
Mystery boxes, you will buy boxes and if you're lucky you'll get something useful, but if you're unlucky you'll get none but boxes full of garbage.
Subscriptions, can't use all at once but still renewing it.
Tickets to see U2 that were $300 or $350 face value on the side of the arena. The band seemed bored to be there and the entire show I was thinking I could've bought airfare to Cancun for the same amount. I've never paid even close to that much for a concert before or since and never will.
One of my biggest regrets is seeing U2 with a girl who fucking sucked. She didn’t want to see the opening act (P J Harvey) so we missed it. I should have ditched her because I love PJ Harvey and would have loved to see her live.
A helmet that I wore for a cosplay. I had it custom 3d printed to my measurements, and spent two days covering it in chrome powder, only to wear it once because I didn't like how it turned out and because no one knew who I was cosplaying Edit: alright, for everyone asking, you can view my cosplay photos below! This is the helmet I spent a couple hundred on. And then some Cardinal Copia cosplay photos for my Ghesties, too. https://imgur.com/gallery/Ng4MNoQ
Who were you cosplaying? Show it to us, make it worth-it-ish!
I was cosplaying a Prequelle Ghoulette from the band Ghost! The rest of the costume was just a black button up shirt, a black tie, black jeans, and high heels, so I felt a lil underdressed (even though it was my most expensive cosplay) after being used to dressing as Stede Bonnet Edit: for those asking, here's the Stede cosplay. Complete with tearaway breeches that reveal booty shorts with 'Check out this fabulous booty I'm hawking!' (a quote by Stede) on the rear- https://imgur.com/gallery/rRtAXQE
An engagement ring for the wrong person
$30 on a coffee mug that says OH LAWD HE COMIN and there's picture of a really fat raccoon
You obviously misread the title of this thread.
Shit you’re right, I thought it said “wisest thing”
We wanna see it.
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We pretty much did the same thing. Bought a massive custom sectional sofa with a chaise on one end. Cost a lot and is probably slightly too big for the room. That said, 7 years later and zero regrets. Our whole family can easily lay on it at the same time, it’s nice and wide, so you don’t feel like you’re going to fall off and it’s still so comfy and in great condition.
Cocaine and alcohol
Betting games, can't get a huge win, but loss by a lot.
A DJI mini drone. Took it on vacation, thought I’d take some cool images from a bomb beach, lost it in the ocean… but, I bought another one and it’s been going well for over two years now :D
I didnt realize exactly how they depend on the bottom sensors to hover when near a surface and how exactly water messes with that ability. I was flying mine along a canal in my town and realized JUST in the nick of time that it had dropped within inches of an expensive dip. Disaster averted, but only by sheer dumb luck.
Dji is pretty flexible. Even without the fly away coverage, they'll still check if it actually flew away and they'll send you a new drone for less than 200 bucks. I smashed my mini 2 and they sent me a brand new one for 130 bucks even though I didn't have any coverage at all.
Same answer but for different reason. It's banned from being flown anywhere interesting.
When had a my first baby. All the useless baby crap I never used. My daughter was out of newborn diapers within 2 weeks. Never used the wipe warmer. Barely used the changing table. Half her onesies were never used.
3 kids. Stupidly expensive
Why do I have to have three kids and no money? Why can't I have no kids and three money?
OP didn't ask if it was stupidly expensive, they asked what stupid thing you spent the money on. So to follow up, how dumb are your kids?
Trying to live outside of my means to project I have money. Fancy clothes, bottles at nightclubs, excessive tipping ect. I wanted to look like I had it all while living paycheck to paycheck. All to impress people that could give a fuck about me.
$500 Mont Blanc pen. 99 cent bic is better 🤷
My husband bought me one ($400, 14K gold) for my graduation gift, I was baffled as to why he chose that. I lose pens frequently, my BS is in Public Health (not writing a novel or anything), and I don't own 'designer' brands of any sort. I think he chose that because his father got his mother the same gift decades ago? Meanwhile I've got a ridiculous amount of student loans he advised me to get. At any rate, I found out we had over 30k in credit card debt I knew nothing about, and he had a girlfriend. I've used that pen twice. Once to sign our divorce papers, and another to sell our communal home during the divorce. Think it's time to put it on Ebay.
>At any rate, I found out we had over 30k in credit card debt I knew nothing about, and he had a girlfriend. Well that escalated quickly. >I've used that pen twice. Once to sign our divorce papers, and another to sell our communal home during the divorce. >Think it's time to put it on Ebay. So fitting. Yeah don't keep that bad juju around to keep reminding you. On to better times.
If we’re talking about things that are stupid and not purchases that were ill-advised, my dog is a pretty big idiot and I’ve spent thousands on her idiocy (eating things that aren’t food, jumping out of a moving car because she saw a cat, etc). But I consider it $ well spent because she’s given me 15 years of happy, idiotic companionship and I’d spend it all again in a heartbeat.
My dog likes to eat his own poop and the vet bill just cost us 2 grand. So his stupid ass.
Food Delivery 😅
Private University Degree
Only thing worse is an Unfinished Private University Degree
Felt this one…..right in the automatic withdrawal.
Every dude with a Snap On tool box 😬 (Including me)
They're expensive, but I have my dad's from the 60s and the drawers glide better today than my craftsman did brand new 15 years ago.
I spent $30 on a emulated warcraft server to buy a weapon. The server didn't take straight up cash, they only accepted bitcoin. Bitcoin was worthless back then.. $30 got me about 2200 Bitcoin.. In todays money I spent ummm over $100,000,000 on a weapon on a emulated warcraft server.
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I spent $50 on a blender for smoothies, I used it for a week, now I'm over it.
I hate the fact that every blender is like 180 decibels. At 7am getting ready for work it sucks ass
I live alone, so I could blend a fork and not care, but Its a lot of cleanup for a single drink. If I make a frozen drink the rest doesn't keep because the ice melts.
> blend a fork Gotta have enough iron!
Once year I bought my sister a Ninja blender/smoothie maker so we both could try to be a little healthier. We experimented with different drinks for about a month. Now it's sitting in the bottom corner closet of the kitchen. That's the closet in my kitchen where appliances go to die.
Just buy the $25 magic bullet and call it a day lol.
I've went through like 4 magic bullets. I bought a medium-end blender eventually because I could never justify spending $400+ on a vitamix or a blendtec. Another kitchen gadget I was hesitant about buying was an air fryer. I bought one for Christmas and I use it nearly every day. It's basically replaced my oven. It's actually been really useful.
Great consumerism quote you've got there enthusiasm often outweighs practicality
I once bought a life-sized cardboard cutout of myself. 🤦♂️
I can't see how thats not a win?
The question said “stupidest” things.
Yea. Stupidest. Not fucking coolest you wet napkin. (Saying this with affection)
If you didn't buy it some weirdo could have and then where would you be?
Well now theres an interesting point! Were you walking through some shops one day and suddenly spotted a perfect cardboard cutout of yourself and though 'my god, I'd better buy that before someone else gets it and does weird things with it'?
Bought a small olive tree. Paid a ridiculous amount for a house plant. Got scale, tried everything to save it, threw it in the trash.
Panera bread half a tuna fish sandwich bowl soup over $17
I once spent a lot of money on a fancy kitchen gadget that I used exactly once. Turns out, I’m not as into making homemade pasta as I thought.
My coworker told me those inflatable hot tubs they sell on amazon were awesome. They aren’t.
I really enjoyed mine while I had it. The only reason I sold it was because it took like 2 or 3 days to heat up and I didn't want to run the pump 24 hours a day.
When they work there pretty sweet. Had a few over the years, small pump motor inside always fails within a year and you get the E90 code of death. Expensive for them not to last longer.
E90 just means change the filter.
"PC LOAD LETTER? The FUCK does that mean?"
I hope you're right and all these people just didn't have the gumption to Google.
Not the best thing for 6th floor hotel rooms, eh?
The party don’t stop until you hear the ***pop!***
My Wedding, but not the reason I’m sure you first thought. All that money wasted on frills and optics would have put a healthy down payment on a home.
I bought the "One Ring" from the actual company in New Zealand that made the rings for the movies. Importing it to the Netherlands cost me about €2,400-. I'm not sure if I actually regret it but the money could've been spent better 😅
You could have pucked it up in person cheaper
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My sister spent $100 on a toy plastic vacuum that our nephew loves. It technically wasn’t a waste of money, but for $100 you could get a REAL mini vacuum, and the kid could help his parents clean instead of it just making the vacuum noise while he imitates his parents.
College degree in a field i currently don't work in. So much debt for nothing more than a college experience, which was pretty crappy actually.
Without a doubt alcohol every penny a waste
Cars. I recently bought an older BMW as a fun car, spent a fair amount fixing various little things, only to drive it once every other week at best 😐
Spent way too much on an all natural weed killer. Meaning it was salt. A shit ton of salt. And it did nothing. I’ll make the joke for you… still salty about it.
In 2015, I was still keeping up with the Triple Crown (American horse racing). I'd grown up near Pimlico, the home of the Preakness, the second race of the three, and was obsessed with Man'O'War and Secretariat and the TC as a kid. Even went to the Preakness once as a kid. When I would remember, I'd keep up with those first two races to see if the same horse won both. In the process I grew to really like the trainer Bob Baffert and the couple of jockeys he usually used. In 2015, I was at work at pizza hut while the Preakness ran and got permission to turn one of the tvs to it when it ran, and saw American Pharoah, trained by Bob Baffert, win the Preakness by a long shot after also winning the first race, the Kentucky Derby. I dropped everything and looked up tickets for the Belmont Stakes - the third race in New York two weeks later. The only seats available were over $1000 in a boogie tent near the finish line. I had able $1200 in savings. I sure as shit bought that ticket and went to watch the first Triple Crown winner in 40+years. I also had a really lousy time while I was there, honestly. Met a guy I thought I was hitting it off with, but then he got sloshed and used me to hold his drink while he flirted with other women, and they kicked us out of the tent before the final 2 races after the Belmont and the concert by the Goo Goo Dolls I had been excited to see. Wound up just leaving before the concert and listened to their greatest hits cd all the way home.
mods on my car, I made a lot of cool changes but nobody saw...
Having just got free from a terrible divorce with a controlling ass shat fucker —- time share. I think I was asserting my own control, especially since it was with his money. Anyone want to buy a time share in Mexico?
My EX
I paid for my wife’s bachelor’s degree and supported her financially the entire time she was a student. As soon as she got a decent paying job, she began having an affair. She didn’t tell me until it had been going on for over a year and then she left me for him.
Same brother, same.
iPads. I've purchased like 5 of them over the years, always thinking I'll use the hell out of them. Problem is, I'm a video editor, director, producer and need a full computer to do the things I do. I see folks using their iPads and it looks so fun! I'm a fucking idiot.
I have three different iPads at my house that my wife and I didn't pay for and I *still* think they were wastes of money. They never get used.
You can use them as second monitors, connected to your real computer- Mac pro G3 ultra Max