What is the biggest waste of money in your life so far?

Originally posted on Quora.

A glass vase of  €0.50.

I bought it, had to carry it with me the whole day while shopping, then – when I got home I quickly filled it with water and put in the flowers, to leave for the weekend. When I got home, I found out it was leaking as the whole floor was soaked, and the wooden floor was bended cause of the water.

I then put it outside on the terrace, but later, it was blown over by the wind so the whole terrace was covered in glass shards. Cleaned it, but still found bits ‘n pieces of glass many weeks later.

Seriously, that vase was a bad buy.

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