Purchase regrets, I wish i never did!

We all have splurge our money at one point and end up regretting them? If at one point you  have been in this situation well you are never alone. We are young and always wanted to reward our self and at times we reward our self the wrong way. 

In my 20's i have various purchase regrets that if i could only go back in time i should have done better, perhaps i should have spend watching financial advise more that doing idle. But as they say we learn best from experience, but i reckon let the experience of other teach us the best lesson so we don't have to make the same mistake.

In my case below are the purchase regrets i have that i really regret and learn my lesson and i hope you may find lessons too.

1. I rush buying car

One of the greatest regret i ever had is rushing to purchase a car without having enough knowledge and made research. Just because i have the money and i can pay cash in full i rush buying second hand Peugeot 203 car back in 2013 because i find it fancy. I buy it with a close eye and mind yet opening my wallet too wide. I didn't have it check by the expert, nor ask second opinion from other people who know car very well. 

I trust so much the person who recommend the car, because i treat her as my friend and am so damn to think that i could trust her without realizing that they hijack me at day time! The worst she is Kabayan. Of course she had her commission from that sales. After just 2 months of buying the car, engine problem started to arise, which give me so much problem, Almost every month i need to repair, because something is wrong. 

Lesson:
Do your research before purchasing a car or any other purchase that requires you to give a lot of money, if your a woman like me who know nothing about the car engine and all mechanical issue i highly suggest that you save 1st your money and purchase a showroom car because repairs is really a pain in the ass, it is costly PLUS the fact that you will exert so much effort, and if no one will be there for you to assist you then your done! You did not save at all, you lost!

If on the other hand you are confident enough that you are having a good deal buying a second hand car then make sure that you are buying from the people or company that you trust and double that by having the car check electronically or have warranty and dont just believe the heresay!

To my fellow OFW's, we meet our kababayan abroad, some are good while other's are those whom we need to distant ourself to be far away from trouble!. Carb mentality and the greed for money are their motivation to pull us down, so all i can say is BE CAUTION, guard your hard earn money!

2. Buying from swindler

Sales person are always good in letting us believe about products. I brought a 3,000 qar gold bangles at unknown shop in souq after receiving my cash bunos believing that i will save if is will go their, and only to find out that my bangle should cost less, i was trying to return the items and just get my money, but this shitty man is giving me hard time, i end up keeping that item, and every time i see it i remember how stupid that purchase was. Since then i only buy from trusted Jewelry shop and consider about exchange and maintenance upon purchase.

Lesson:
Never buy just anywhere, In Qatar there are a lot of trusted jewelry shop that would even give you good discount, exchange options and free repair. It is also best if you can make a window shopping before buying, in this way, you can have a good comparison and idea on how  and where to buy your gold jewelry.

3. Extended warranties

About 10 years ago, whenever i buy new electronic gadget such as cell phone, camera and appliances i always pay for extra warranty. Only few years back after getting hook in watching financial advice i knew that extended warranties are not so useful, and wallah it is true!

Lesson:
Way it up if warranty is what you really need or want. And if you have, it should be at your advantage or your just wasting your money. Most of the time you are just paying for nothing without realizing it. If your buying a cellphone and you know how to handle it with care you don't need additional year of warranty. This will depreciate and the new model will come the next year itself.

4. Tons home Decor

Woman love decors and i don't excuse myself into this. Sometimes i wanted to decorate my place with all copper color and i remove what is not, and on another time i want everything to be gold, and next is silver and so on, as they say depends on my mood. Thanks to minimalism that i finally let go of those and found them to be clutter. Sometimes decorations are good while at display store and bringing them home dosen't seems to spark as how we see it at store.

Lesson:
If you cannot really avoid buying home furniture, decor and ect because this is what you really want and what makes you happy then choose multi-purpose decor and classic colors. And never forget to use/get it when discount is really at your advantage.

5. One wear dress
We all attend special event of our friends and family. I was invited to attend various celebrations and i would really exert effort to find a so called "perfect dress" sometimes i would really put effort by putting a budget for it, because  i wanna be IN, as everyone wear a good dress and so i am. Exactly over a year ago, i found out that i have so many dress and so i end up selling some and giving most of them because they will no longer fit into my wardrobe even if i have huge area. Its too much!

Lesson:
Buy dress where you can imagine yourself wearing it many times, one time dress is a waste of money. On the other hand you can also sale your dress if you only want to wear it one time there's a lot of free selling facebook groups where you can post them. Or maybe you can try doing garage.

So what are your purchase regrets and how did you cope up from it?

Before you quit your job, Read this!

We all come into a point of our life wherein we wanna quite our job for various reason. Reasons can be valid or we just being swayed by our emotions, whatever is the situation/reason for quieting our job, it would be better if we can honestly and objectively evaluate our self by considering the following before we made up our mind.

1. Define your reason.

Sometimes because of the work stress we tend to be very emotional while we are at work, specially if our boss has been very mean  to us, or our fellow office mate are putting us in a very difficult situation. 

Using too much emotions or deciding when we are very emotional will never bring us anywhere. In fact sometimes we decide very shallow and we lost our logic. We should perhaps consider our decision after our emotions subside in that way we can decide properly. And ask your self Why are you resigning?, What are the difficulties that you are facing?, Does it affect our mental, emotional well being?

2. How big your reason.

Are the reason why we want to quite has permanent impact on yourself?. Or perhaps your one of those who are experiencing hormonal imbalance (specially for woman) that is why you are being sensitive lately. Think about it.

3. Try to make up

Try to be find various strategies on how to improve your work situations, read online journal, articles, blogs, tips on how to improve your work situations. Try it 100 times, and if after 101 times all strategies didn't work, then its time to re-assess again and finally decide specially if the situation is no longer good for your mental and emotional health or worst your relationship with your family.

                                                       

4. Ask for Advise

If you are planning to resign within the company you are in, i reckon that you would ask those person who are not part of the organization. Why? because somehow they will be subjective towards giving advise. It would be better if you can also ask those people who will objectively and genuinely give you advise. In that way they can help you decide and give you advise that will help you decide.

5. Financial Capabilities

Perhaps this will make or break your decision to resign. You need to  objectively and honest ask yourself several questions like. Can you afford to lost a job?, How long can you stay un-employed?,  Do you have money to support your self? 

Having a clearer picture of your financial capabilities is a must, because as an adult, you cannot go back to you parents and ask for money just because you screw up your job. Nor call you friend and ask for loan, because believe me he/she also needs a money to survive.

6. Know your options

Leaving our job will surely have financial implications. If we are resigning because we have better options, like better job opportunity with better benifits then this  is a no brain decision. We can simply submit our resignation letter and have a farewell party. 

But if we are resigning because you hate your job, you hate your boss, or your stress BUT you don't know where to get the money needed to pay our bills then we have to be CAUTION and carefully re-evaluate your decision. Impulsive resignation will worsen your situations.

7. Status qou/Future Plans

Perhaps you wanna pursue your fashion and make money from it, or you have enough savings and you wanna be full time in your own business. If you have concrete reason, and solid plan then you made resign. But if your plan is un-clear, then perhaps you need to differ your resignation until everything gets clearer.

When you finally leave...

If on the other hand you have already decided to leave and finally have given your notice period, please bear in mind the following

1. Leave beautifully

When you resign, resign professionally and never gossip about how bad your previous employer are specially to other people who never been there and do not know the exact situations inside your organization. On the other hand you may mentioned something to your fellow employee but keep it light, see to it that things wont backfire on you.

Leaving beautifully means you have resign because of professional reason and not just because you are too emotional over an incident.

2. Take all your benefits and certificates

Insuring that your contract has been followed and getting all your employment certificates is highly recommended. Your end of service benefits can be a large sum if you have work for a long time within your organization, plus if you have company bonus it may add too. 

Additionally your employment certificate may help you if your new employer will require so, getting all of them at once will save you time and energy.

3. Maintain Friendship

I work for my previous company for 7 years + and so i consider most of my office mate as family. I keep in touch with them, and for me having a good relationship with your previous college is good as they all become my friends and part of my life too.

4. Remember the good old days

No matter how bad your employer was, there would always be a good days right?, and so you need to only focus on what is good and not on what went wrong because it will take too much of your energy and you will develop hatred.

5. Take a break

In my own personal opinion after leaving your previous employer taking a short break would help you renew yourself and adjust well to the new environment specially if you are with them for many years. Bringing old stories to your new place will not help you and make things more complicated because you will always do the comparison.

6. Find Opportunity and move on

When you lost your job, or you resign from your job, used the time to find better opportunity that will improve you as a person and your financial capability. You may use the sum you got from your end of service benefits to travel, build your dream home, or find opportunity for investment.

Now that you have time, take time to follow your passion and do a more productive work that makes you happy and where you also earn money too. Enjoy your coffee without rushing, sleep a little bit late, and do those things that you haven't done before.