Beijing Parents Confess Their Guilty Purchases

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It’s true what they say, that money can’t buy you happiness. It sure as heck can buy you guilt and frustration though. Whether it’s a slight Taobao addiction that keeps unnecessary items arriving at your doorstep or a surge of inspiration that results in exercise equipment and health food appliances crowding your house, we’ve all doled out cash to buy things that end up collecting dust.

We asked five Beijingers to share some of their guiltiest purchases over the years.  

Lisa Sankar-Zhu

Author, Harvey Hippo & Fantastic Stories Series

I bought an inversion table on a whim thinking my family would be willing to hang upside down and benefit from all its touted advantages. They tried it a few times but did not like it. I used it myself trying to no avail to coax them into changing their minds. Eventually, I gave up because I realized hanging upside down was not for me either. Later I thought what a waste of money and effort assembling and dismantling. I also felt guilty because it seemed like I had contributed to an unnecessary waste of material.

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Dominic Johnson-Hill

Founder, Plastered 8

I’m not a big buyer of stuff, rather I love to create stuff as it’s my job. Sometimes you have an out there idea that you feel might blow up and you spend far too much money on it. I had this idea to turn a toilet lock into a ring for women. Quite simply a ring that could be engaged, or vacant, thus empowering the person to show off their status. We had to make 300 minimum order, solid brass, created a website and a fun video and I sold four in one year. I lost a lot of money, but I can truly say I’m very proud of the idea that came to life.

Erica Livy

Early Childhood Curriculum Coordinator, Beijing International Bilingual Academy (BIBA)

I bought a nice big macramé wall hanging which got many compliments. It was beautiful and really lifted the space I was decorating. Filled with a false sense of Taobao confidence, I ordered another one, but the next came a bit more DIY than I had wanted with just two spools of rope and a stick. It’s still sitting in the corner of my office five months later and no one knows what to do with it.

Angela Kalberg

Freelance Writer

A bit over a year ago, in a moment of inspiration for a healthier lifestyle, I decided to buy a juicer. Since then I’ve used it exactly one time and it’s been sitting in my kitchen collecting dust since. It’s far too mafan.

Harmony Liau Mueller

Head of Marketing and Communications, Dulwich College Beijing

There’s something about being in a music shop that tickles my heart. And I can’t walk past the sheet music section without picking up the booklets and flipping through them, whiffing the smell of paper from the 1960s in the process and admiring the beauty of the notes dancing across the pages as choreographed by Mozart, Beethoven, and the like. Oh, how I want to play that on my violin, at home… only to realize that at home, the notes don’t seem as attractive and are actually beyond my league. So there is a stack of sheet music that moves with me, from country to country, house to house.

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Photos: unsplash, giphy, Dominic Johnson-Hill

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