Note from Bob: This is what took place while I was sleeping the other day, so I have my lovely wife to thank for this Money Mistake…
This past Saturday I woke up before Bob. He wasn’t feeling great, so I knew he’d be sleeping for a while, so I started watching TV. There were so many infomercials. I’m rather proud to say that I’ve never bought anything off an infomercial because my parents trained me that anything you buy off TV is probably a rip off.
Lately, though, there have been some intriguing things for sale on TV that I’ve kind of wanted. I’ve also wanted the experience of buying something off TV. There were actually a few things I saw yesterday that I even wanted. But I of course refused to buy them.
Then, I saw it. The Magic Bullet
I watched what they had so say, mostly remembering that it’s probably a bad idea to buy it, but then they totally got me! “Order now and get a second set free! And that’s not all! Order within the next 12 minutes and receive a Blender and Juicer too!”
I wrote down the number and website deciding that I’d talk to Bob about it when he woke up. Then quickly turned it off deciding not to give in. But I kept hearing words “Order in the next 12 minutes and . . .”
So, I grabbed Bob’s debit card and decided to get myself in a little trouble while he was asleep. I thought he’d laugh about it when he woke up. And he did. Until I told him how much it was. 
He then asked if I was joking. “No” I said. I guess I should add that Bob tends to research the living daylights out of every single purchase. It took him 3 months to pick out our car when we actually really needed one. He reads every label on the food items in the grocery store, ok? Needless to say he knew exactly how much it sold for at Target and quickly looked it up on Amazon and found it for about a third of the price I paid.
What We Learned
Well, after we talked about the price, we both realized there should be a limit on the amount of money we spend on one particular item (not from our individual spending money accounts). We came up with an amount we both agreed upon and both promised not to cross it.
In the end, I realized that even though I loved the thrill of this experience, it wasn’t the wisest thing to do. I won’t be making this mistake again. But like I always say: You can’t put a price on the joys of impulse shopping. And I can count my blessings that I got to learn this lesson the hard way—cause it was kinda fun. ;)
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I laughed when I saw this because I was up late one night a couple weeks ago and saw the same magic bullet infomercial. By the time they made the homemade nacho salsa and Alfredo sauce I really wanted to get my hands on one too!
I managed to restrain myself…this time!
They do a great job of making you feel like it is the greatest thing and you can never live without it!
I hope you’ll share your report of the Magic Bullet! Who knows…maybe you’ll end it using it everyday and it will soften the blow of the impulse buy
Hmm… I haven’t seen the Magic Bullet, but I keep seeing some Ultimate Healing book. I’m not one to go for adds and tend to be more the “research the heck out of it until I don’t even need it anymore” kind of guy.
I wonder if there’s a problem with the opposite side (my side). I know I can sometimes waste a lot of time that I would otherwise have saved just paying the extra $.05 for the three tubs of ice cream. Still, it doesn’t seem as drastic a lose. Maybe that’s why it could be worse, though… it eats away at the money without anyone noticing it.
Just some (off topic) thoughts. Thanks for posting this. I love the honest story.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Haha! Such a wonderful article Linda!
Great article Linda! We have had similar issues, so I can totally relate. I love the idea of setting a limit for items ahead of time.
At least you had fun
In our pre-marriage classes one of our exercises was for each of us to write down the amount of money that we were comfortable spending without consulting the other first. When we were told to compare with our partner, I had written down $100, and Brian had written down $500! It was really interesting to see the differences. It looks like you guys learned that lesson – but you got 2 magic bullets, a blender, and a juicer out of it!
I think everyone has as least one “why did I ever buy that on TV” story! Mine was a hose attachment that supposedly made it so easy to clean your exterior windows. Ha! what a joke! it was a worthless plastic nozzle but I paid $24.95 plus shipping. They always get you with the shipping – which is why I never buy on TV. Go to Walgreens or Bed Bath and Beyond and look in their “As seen on TV section” – no shipping and you can really look at the product. Sometimes they even go on clearance (yea, ok, so I bought the Sonic Knife that way and I still dont use it)
I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one with this weakness. I love hearing these stories. Keep them coming!
Although sad for your “money mistake”, I am comforted to know that even Christian PF’s wife makes them.
lol
I have only recently been intrigued by infomercials. I think that is partly due to the fact that my two oldest children now watch them and tell me about all of the wonderful toys that they could own, if only I would call in the next 15 minutes.
now with the bullet you did do the wisest thing because the company is having alot of problems with people buying from stores and online and there more the less scams there not the legit bullet and the companies had problems with them and so have people so although u may have paid more u got the better end of the deal.