Debt Kid is running an interesting contest over at his blog where you can win his Nintendo DS Lite, and all you have to do is write about your dumbest purchase ever. Since it instantly came to me, I figured I’d share mine with all of you.

When I was 21 and in college I bought my first car. It was a silver 2002 Hyundai Elantra, nothing too extravagant really. I still have this car and am planning on keeping it until it finally gives out on me; it’s also not my dumbest purchase ever. That would be what I bought for the car after a couple of months of owning the car.

I had just been approved for a credit card from Sears, which is where I worked at the time. The new card gave me zero percent interest for six months, I believe, and I figured that I could pay off my new purchase way before then. So, I went down to the Sears Auto Center and picked out some new wheels for the car. They were 17″ Motegi rims which also necessitated the purchase of four new low profile performance tires. I won’t say that the new wheels didn’t look great, but I definitely regretted the purchase afterwards. Total Cost: $1200

I remember getting a couple of flat tires that I couldn’t repair because the tires shredded themselves (low profiles don’t have much room until you’ve hit rim). Each time, a new tire cost me at least $120, and that’s just for one. So the cost of this purchase didn’t end with the initial purchase. I kept paying for it over and over.

I finally had enough of the rims since they were costing me more money than they were worth, and I sold them to someone else. Obviously, I didn’t recoup nearly what I payed for them, but just having them gone was enough for me. I’ve definitely learned my lesson and hopefully won’t make another dumb decision like that one. So what’s your dumbest purchase ever…?

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