Be Careful What You Wish For . . .

[KungFuPanda]

I've hit a pathological level of stalling with holiday stuff.  It only makes sense that I'd start a new thread instead of pulling out my tree!

What did you wish for, then get, and it turned out you didn't like it/want it after all?  I'll go first:

1. Soda Stream - I'm a girl who uses ALL of the appliances and loves them.  We never use the soda stream.  It turns out 3/4 of us prefer non-fizzy drinks. We all sort of abandoned even recreational sodas at the same time. Dh likes cola, but that flavor is the hardest to create with the soda stream so it wasn't worth experimenting with recipes.  Also, he cut way back AND switched to the cheap stuff because it's lower octane than Coke.  

2. Gas stove -  I thought I REALLY wanted one.  It's so much easier to control the temperature of the range.  However, when we had one for five months DD and I didn't like it.  Cooking with it was fine, but both of us HATED that whiff of gas you get right before it lights.  Dh and Ds thought we were crazy and never once noticed it.  We have gas heat, but I'm so rarely in the basement at the exact moment it kicks on so it's not an issue.  

3. Open Concept living space - It's so pretty and airy and nice looking!  The reality of living in it was not something we enjoyed.  We used the functionality of dedicated rooms a LOT more than we entertained anyone.  We were also accustomed to a level of quiet that you can't get when your kitchen is part of your living room.  I didn't realize how often two people would be having a private conversation, one person would be doing school work, and another would be cooking at the same time and we found it really annoying and distracting to have all of those things happening in the same room.

4. A new sofa - I just made a bad choice.  However, I'm they type to use a sofa for twenty years until it literally falls apart.  I wish I'd chosen a different one.  It really should be more comfortable for what we paid for it.  I could probably fix it by adding a layer of denser foam under the bottom cushions, but I'm much better at dreaming up projects than I am at completing them.  

5. Two Story House - ugh . . . If I had a time machine. The light, the ease of cleaning, the accessibility.  Our house works for us, but if I had it to do over again I'd go the rancher route.

Edited December 11, 2019 by KungFuPanda

[Caraway]

Our first house was an open floor plan.  When we bought the current house my requirements were "Doors!  Doors that close!"  The real estate agent thought I was nuts.  

[wintermom]

I do enjoy our open concept renos. I LOVE the light the main floor now gets. The noise (with 3 teen boys) is pretty crazy, but I can live with it. I'd never go back, though a 4-season sunroom could persuade me. 😉

I thought I would love wood kitchen counters, and I do love the look. The tough part is keeping them dry, preventing black rings and water stains. 😕

I thought I would not like texting - and I was right ... until I got a smart phone. Before that I was try to use a flip phone. Texting is nice now. 

I think I want to live in the country. I've done it as a young adult, but never with dh and dc. I'm not sure we'd love it.

Edited December 11, 2019 by wintermom

[KungFuPanda]

9 minutes ago, wintermom said:

I do enjoy our open concept renos. I LOVE the light the main floor now gets. The noise (with 3 teen boys) is pretty crazy, but I can live with it. I'd never go back, though a 4-season sunroom could persuade me. 😉

I thought I would love wood kitchen counters, and I do love the look. The tough part is keeping them dry, preventing black rings and water stains. 😕

I thought I would not like texting - and I was right ... until I got a smart phone. Before that I was try to use a flip phone. Texting is nice now. 

I think I want to live in the country. I've done it as a young adult, but never with dh and dc. I'm not sure we'd love it.

How do you feel about physical labor as a weekend hobby?  I grew up in the country.  Taking care of land is so time consuming.  I have more yard chores than I care to complete on my tiny suburban lot.  I can't go back.  I also can't go back to committing an entire hour to getting more milk in the house.  

[Corraleno]

I moved from a big house with acreage in a rural-ish area to a suburban neighborhood in another state, and I thought I wanted a good size house with the biggest yard I could find (in an area that generally has very small lots). The only house I could find in the exact neighborhood I wanted with a big yard was a tri-level with a very broken-up layout. I hate the layout much more than I thought I would, and the yard is a PITA to keep up with. I really wish I'd bought a house with a much more open plan and a much smaller yard. 

Over the years I've bought a grain mill, bread machine, and juicer, each of which I used for a few months and then stuck in the pantry. I love my Vitamix though, and I use the InstantPot and Soda Stream (just for sparkling water, not flavored sodas) quite a bit. 

I bought a Pottery Barn sofa once that was really uncomfortable, and ended up giving it to a relative.

And I've certainly bought a lot of curriculum I've regretted! 🤦‍♀️

 

[Tanaqui]

Snow. All winter I want snow, and then when we get it I'm all "Ugh, I have to shovel?" and "WHY DO MY NEIGHBORS NEVER SHOVEL!?" and it's slushy and gross.

I suppose that's not something I really "buy", but I make the same mistake every year.

[wintermom]

1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Oh if we are counting curricula, then the list is a lot longer, LOL! 

I wish she had not mentioned THAT topic. 😰 I don't even want to think about it.

[KungFuPanda]

Can't we call the curriculum blunders due diligence or market research or something that makes us sound like we were just being thorough?  You know, kinda like the "choosy mothers choose Jiff" commercials.  Those moms HAD to try the other peanut butters to make a sound choice.  Right?

[Laura Corin]

I have sofa regret too.  When we move, we might get new covers for our old sofa and either donate the newer one or use it less (depending on how much space we have). 

I thought I wanted a big garden/yard.  And I enjoyed it for a long time, but it was also stressful keeping up with it and it gets in the way of doing other things.  New house will have more manageable outside space.

I don't regret the breadmaker, and I still use it for special occasions, but I regret the kilos I put on when I used it all the time and had to lose later.

I use my Soda Stream every day, but just to make fizzy water, not flavoured.

[Guest]

@KungFuPanda, your #3 “open concept” is a big one for me, except we didn’t really jump on that train entirely and I’m SOOOO glad we didn’t. Our main rooms are fairly designated, though they have open doorways. It is true that when there’s forty people eating here, it’s a little harder to get around, fill your plate, go back to where you’re sitting to eat, etc. But for our every-day living, I know myself; I need “nooks” away from noise and commotion and dh’s incessant guitar-playing (sorry, babe!). Right this minutes, I am actually sitting in the basement, watching my fish, because of guitar. 

Actually, that brings up one regret: I have a built-in fish tank down here. I love it and it’s beautiful, but it’s in the basement and I’m usually not. So, most days, I look at my fish for three minutes (if that) while I feed them and turn the light on or off. I wouldn’t do a tank again unless it could be built-in on the main floor

#4, “two-story house” - yeah, ditto. This house is really big, but there’s no good place for aging parents to be because there’s no full bathroom available for people who can’t navigate stairs. If I ever build another two-story house, it has to have an elevator in the plans from the start. But I also regret the size of this house in general. 

[Slache]

The lower-quality version of what I really wanted. Then I have the thing and I can't justify getting what I really want when I can afford it. I have adjustable weights instead of free weights that I don't use, a cheap guitar, a small couch. Last night we bought a $40 tree that we don't love.

[RootAnn]

19 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

A new sofa - I just made a bad choice.  However, I'm they type to use a sofa for twenty years until it literally falls apart.  I wish I'd chosen a different one.  It really should be more comfortable for what we paid for it.

This.

At least our old, saggy couch was comfy. Ugh. Sofa regret. Only have 17 more years of this uncomfortable one...

I have a special vacuum that scrubs/washes linoleum & tile floors. I thought I would love it. I hate it. It lives in the closet. It is unwieldy, loud, and a pain to get ready to go. I'm too guilty about buying it to donate it. So it sits in the closet making me feel bad that I don't haul it out to scrub the kitchen floor more often.

[fairfarmhand]

We have learned the hard way there are seldom bargains when you buy livestock.

if a cow is cheap, there’s usually a VERY good reason. 

 

[Garga]

Moving here. 

—Once we moved here, my parents (who are odd ducks) took that as a sign that we didn’t like them anymore (they’re very odd ducks), and so they packed up and move 2500 miles away.  They regret it now and it took me about 12 years to finally come to terms with it. 

—We used to live about 6 minutes from a community college and within walking distance of a state university my kids could have gone to.  Now, we’re 20 mins from the nearest CC and an hour from the nearest state U, and my kids don’t want to board at a college, but they’ll have to now that we live here.

—Shopping. I’m 30 minutes from groupings of stores—like there is an occasional dollar store or grocery store, but if I want a Target/Walmart/HomeDepot/Kohls set up, it’s 30 minutes away.  It used to be no more than 8.

—Jobs.  Lived in an area with sooo many businesses to pick from.  Here, the population is less, so there just aren’t the jobs.  I worry that the kids will move far away from me.  (And I have issues about relatives leaving me...see odd duck parents above.)

—For homeschooling, there just aren’t the opportunities here.  Harder to find museums and places to go and co-ops and plays, etc.  All that enrichment stuff is an hour’s drive away.

 

I do like it that the house is 1 level, except for a little bedroom upstairs.  I do like that the pace of life is slower here.  I like that a lot, but I feel it was a mistake overall to move here.

 

[Familia]

Two items that are small, yet annoy me frequently:

Earrings: DH gave me a gift to pick out a new pair (I'm a one pair gal), so I purchased lovely pastel crystal blue/pink ones, passing by the (same design)  classic black/crystal ones.  Pastels just do not show up on me, so they are a flop.  I look at them once in a while, but rarely wear them.  As soon as I purchased the no-return policy earrings them, I knew I had made a mistake.  I detest spending money on anything I will not use everyday/frequently.

New kitchen faucet: Pro - pretty to look and doesn't leak.  Cons - reaches too far out so gets you wet with splashes if turned on too high & difficult to adjust flow rate.

[Familia]

3 hours ago, Quill said:

 

Actually, that brings up one regret: I have a built-in fish tank down here. I love it and it’s beautiful, but it’s in the basement and I’m usually not. So, most days, I look at my fish for three minutes (if that) while I feed them and turn the light on or off. I wouldn’t do a tank again unless it could be built-in on the main floor

DH built in fish tank in our basement in another home...huge tank...the next owners kept the platform as a bar.

When we had chemo going on, we moved our birds to our basement, where they now reside.  I am glad they have one another, but the cockatiel could use more conversation than my once a day visit affords him.  I am certainly glad to no longer have the random feathers spewing out of the cage up in our main living space, though.  When it was up here, I vacuumed it once/day, now only twice/week.

[Lori D.]

3 hours ago, Garga said:

Moving here. 

—Once we moved here, my parents (who are odd ducks) took that as a sign that we didn’t like them anymore (they’re very odd ducks), and so they packed up and move 2500 miles away.  They regret it now and it took me about 12 years to finally come to terms with it. 

—We used to live about 6 minutes from a community college and within walking distance of a state university my kids could have gone to.  Now, we’re 20 mins from the nearest CC and an hour from the nearest state U, and my kids don’t want to board at a college, but they’ll have to now that we live here.

—Shopping. I’m 30 minutes from groupings of stores—like there is an occasional dollar store or grocery store, but if I want a Target/Walmart/HomeDepot/Kohls set up, it’s 30 minutes away.  It used to be no more than 8.

—Jobs.  Lived in an area with sooo many businesses to pick from.  Here, the population is less, so there just aren’t the jobs.  I worry that the kids will move far away from me.  (And I have issues about relatives leaving me...see odd duck parents above.)

—For homeschooling, there just aren’t the opportunities here.  Harder to find museums and places to go and co-ops and plays, etc.  All that enrichment stuff is an hour’s drive away.

 

I do like it that the house is 1 level, except for a little bedroom upstairs.  I do like that the pace of life is slower here.  I like that a lot, but I feel it was a mistake overall to move here.

 

Ouch, Garga! Those are some very big hurdles in exchange for the slower pace of life. Sounds like this would be a good time to move back (even if it's just for the years DSs are finishing up homeschooling and going to college). Think of all the gas and car wear/tear you'll save in driving to stores. Think of DS#2 being close to do dual enrollment and homeschool opportunities. Think about the $10,000-12,000/year you'll save on room and board if your DSs can be commuter students...

Edited December 12, 2019 by Lori D.

[Slache]

2 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

You abandoned Buy Once, Cry Once?!

No. It was a $40 tree or no tree. I think BOCO is the best philosophy.

[Lori D.]

Ug. Another fish tank regretter here. First -- they die constantly, and after a few months, no one was looking at them other than scooping out dead ones or replacing with new ones. But the main problem is that we built in a full wall unit to house the TV and DVDs, and included a big, deep space for a fish tank -- UNDER the TV, just a few inches off of floor level -- which made being able to get a suction going for siphoning off water for cleaning horribly difficult. And it was in a room with carpet, and no matter HOW careful you were, ALWAYS some stinky fish water would slosh over the side of the 5-gallon bucket and soak into the carpet... 😫

And speaking of carpet -- we had a berber in our first house that we loved. No pattern, just an overall light grey with flecks of many other colors in it, so everything matched it. When we moved into this house, we replaced with what I *thought* was the same berber -- color-wise yes. It wasn't until they were installing it I noticed it also had a very regular raised pattern of diamonds between interwoven lines. Gah! I was sick and literally did not sleep for 2 nights I was so upset with myself, and knew I was stuck with it. Sigh.

As others have noted, though: you do learn to live with things (carpet) -- or find someone to whom you can donate your mistake (fish tank). And actually, if those are the worst things that I have to live with at my house, then I'm actually very grateful for the gift of a very blessed life.  🙋‍♀️

Edited December 12, 2019 by Lori D.

[caedmyn]

This house.  Sort of.  I think I’m happier overall than I was with our last house.  I like living in town.  I like having trees around and feeling the wind a lot less than when we lived in a mostly treeless area out in the country.  We really needed more space, and now we have it.  But I hate the basement layout, and strongly dislike the tile floors that are throughout the main level, and the easily-climbable brick fence.  I feel overwhelmed by the amount of projects that this house needs (or I want to make it more functional).  I’m frustrated because it takes DH sooo long to get around to doing bigger projects, so either I’ll have to find a way to do them myself, or convince him to hire someone, or just wait.  I’m frustrated because we don't agree on much which is a big hassle when it comes to choosing projects (and life in general).  If I had to do it over again, I would either not agree to buy this house and just keep looking, or insist on certain projects being done as a condition of buying it, and before moving in for some.

Little boys.  I wanted boys, but they are so incredibly difficult.