Maybe I’m Missing Something…

Today I saw this product called [ME] and Goji on one of the blogs I read regularly by HEAB. I was intrigued—the package was pretty and the concept is unique!  It turns out, this is a design-your-own cereal product.  You go on the site, choose from a bunch of things to put into your cereal, pick a name…and then they send it to you.  Cool!  Right?!

I was totally skeptical, but went to check it out….formulated my own cereal, and gave it a name (Coulda Made This Myself).

Then, I was given the total price….

$17.60 + $4.99 shipping

I laughed out loud. $22.59 for a canister of 21 oz. of CEREAL?!?!?!?!

Yes, I did have gojis and almonds, and lots of yummy things in it. And if you know me, you know that I am a sucker for (1) Pretty Packaging, (2) Fancy New Things, and (3) Any Upgrade.

I’m confused. I don’t know who would spend this much money on cereal (HEAB was given a sample—I would have done that too). Even the few people I know who have a financial status commensurate with a $22-canister of cereal would not buy it just on principle.

It reminded me of an interview clip I heard with Jerry Springer once.  He was asked, “Where do you go when people are fighting on your stage and throwing chairs at each other?”

His response, “To the bank.”

Cheers to that—if you have an idea that doesn’t cost other people an arm and a leg and it sends you depositing excessively, then congratulations to you!

But where do we draw the line between that and being totally excessive and playing on peoples’ weaknesses?

(p.s. I don’t really support Jerry Springer’s exploitation of trashy drama either)

It makes me wonder what subtle things I’m falling for that I could choose more moderate and reasonable options in place of.

Here’s a list of just a few of my dumb purchases/upgrades:

Upgrading the Iron Man chin-up bar from $39 to $79….for nothing (as far as I can tell)

A full year subscription to Little House on the Prairie videos with my very first credit card, for a monthly charge of $30, which was a lot at the time — and I eventually sold the whole unopened set at a yard sale to someone who worked for the ARC (Time Life—tell me you’ve never fallen for one of their subscription scams?!)

$2000 paid toward a nutrition training that I didn’t go to

25lbs of raw coconut (not technically a waste—it was all consumed eventually, but I pawned a lot of it off on people)

Lots and lots (and lots) of overpriced jeans (this is past tense–I swear I don’t do this anymore!)

…But you’ll never catch me spending $22 on a can of cereal!

What about you?  What have you fallen for or splurged on that was a mistake? I’m going to try and cut back in 2010 on impulse buys and splurging for the sake of splurging (although I still believe there is a valid side to Retail Therapy!).