You know what, as much as I've enjoyed college, I have not been happy with some of the money I've been forced to spend on textbooks. Thankfully, there are all sorts of PDFs available and you can often get away with ordering a different edition from the current textbook because it's unlikely there have been significant changes. However, this was not always helpful, particularly in courses that used specific books that you could not pass the class without (reportedly). Imagine my disgust after putting down $200 for a book that a professor decided a couple of weeks into the semester that we would not use.
People had plenty to share after Redditor PeevesPoltergeist asked the online community,
"What costs more than it's worth?"
"It's expensive to feed..."
"A horse. We say "the horse is the least expensive part of owning a horse." It's expensive to feed, house and keep healthy, not to mention happy. I lived on a farm a lot of my childhood and I still don't understand why we had to have horses. Don't get me wrong, I loved them as much as I did my dog, but it was a lot."
"School textbooks.Especially galling, considering the only difference between most editions of a book is some rewording and rearranging of chapters.
I saved hundreds by ordering the edition prior to the most recent one."
God bless all of the professors who gave me PDFs in college. Pro tip: It's also quite easy to find lots of your reading materials online!
"At a certain point..."
"Anger - at a certain point, 9 out of 10 times, you expend more energy being angry about it than fixing the problem or letting go."
"They control..."
"Diamonds. The De Beer company convinced the world that a diamond was a symbol of everlasting love and created the greatest marketing scam ever. They control the release of diamonds to the market and have made a worthless commodity a billion dollar company."
This is why diamond engagement rings are not worth it. All of that money––and for what?
"Why do I need..."
"Bras. Why do I need to pay $80 for a bra just to fit me in the right places?"
"Not worth it."
"A big wedding. Not worth it. Go to the courthouse and spend that money on things you truly need."
"You might see..."
"Old guitars. You might see an original 1952 Telecaster for £30,000+ which is arguably more inconsistently made and uncomfortable to play than a modern equivalent. Looks cool though!"
"Please also..."
"A degree that you will never use.
Please also take job opportunity into consideration when making a choice to go for a BA or MA."
"It was very delicious..."
"Fine dining. It was very delicious but the portions were so ridiculously small and I remained hungry."
Honestly, this appears to largely depend on where you go.
"Just researching..."
"Printers, specifically ink cartridges.
Just researching on how the whole business model is based around charging insane prices for ink that cost cents to produce makes me never want to own one."
Do any of these make you want to clutch your wallet in horror? Well, we can't blame you. Feel free to throw that money into savings.
Have some opinions of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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