Buyer's Remorse is a serious illness that I periodically get. Such a small thing as purchasing something 'new' in the grocery store can trigger a relapse. But long-lasting bouts with this dreaded disease can lead to serious consequences.
How many of us have cut the price tags off of clothing and, after a good look in a three-way mirror, have decided that we look more like a pudgy Queen Victoria than a chic super model? How many of us have had something shortened and then discovered that the article of clothing should be longer? Alas, alack. Stores just don't want those things returned.
But the really big-ticket items are the crushers. I fell in love with a couch in a furniture store and knew it was perfect. When it was delivered the next day, I saw how wrong I had been! Of course, I had told the delivery men to take the old couch to the dump.
Two hours later I called the furniture store and in the midst of a crying, sobbing, hiccupping nervous breakdown I pleaded with the owner to have that ugly couch picked up and my old one returned. "Let me check to see if it's still on the truck," was the response.
Reprieve! My lovely couch was not at the dump yet! The delivery men were perplexed when they made the second trip to my house in one afternoon but they were gentlemen and said not a word. And a total refund check was in the mail the next day. A good cry works wonders!
I once decided that I could learn to be comfortable in a car with the gear shift between the front seats. Wrong! I kept that darn car for seven months and could stand it no longer. Besides, I always felt as though I was sitting on the floor, even though I could see over the dashboard.
I knew I was taking a terrible hit in the wallet when I traded for another new car, but I was prepared to take my medicine. I was not prepared for the calls from prospective buyers who wanted to know what was wrong with a car that I'd had only seven months. Could I explain feminine buyer's remorse to them? Nope! I simply told them I wanted a car with more metal around me since I was a bad driver. (The eventual purchaser had the nerve to call and ask where the floor mats were. I told him I'd left them at a car wash and they had disappeared. I always save floor mats!)
Don't be afraid of buyer's remorse. It's not catching. A foolproof way to avoid this plague is to go shopping with a friend and encourage your friend to spend his/her money! You have the fun; your friend has the goods, and you have escaped until that dreaded disease pops up again!