The Definition of Insanity…

Albert Einstein is often credited for this famous saying:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

Today I figured I’d spill the beans on a personal finance blogger fail of mine.

I am super susceptible to Pinterest advertising.

Like, it’s a problem. On the plus side, I don’t spend all that much time on Pinterest, but if you show me 8 pins of perfectly color coordinated flats in a row… I’m probably not going to stop thinking about them for a long time.

Which some of you know! In 2016, I caved to the Pinterest siren song for a pair of black Tieks. Follow the saga back in real time here:

I read awesome review, after awesome review, after awesome review.

I mean, I still like how they look, at least?

Because, surprise, Tieks has a whole brilliant campaign where they sent a lot of lifestyle bloggers free Tieks.

At the price of free, heck yeah, Tieks are pretty awesome.

Well, back then I was doing some serious UserTesting side hustling (UserTesting is an awesomely easy little side hustle, check out the deets on how to get involved here) and decided I would just hustle my way to these ridiculously expensive ($175) flats.

You might not be the type to find $175 a lot to spend on a pair shoes, but I am. I own one other pair of expensive ($120) shoes that I stared down in a shop in Juneau for threesummercruise ship seasons before I bought them. They’re adorable. And wildly uncomfortable. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve worn them.

Much like this hat that now adorns the top of my desk lamp, at least that was only a $60 fail.

Now, here’s the thing about these Tieks that I didn’t like. They were expensive and I am stubborn.

So I wore the heck out of them for years.

Their final hurrah was the trip to Eastern Europe this March when we got bedbugs and they were really pretty beat up anyway, so rather than worrying about delousing them, I just tossed them.

So also since Christmas, I’ve been looking for a replacement pair of black flats I liked. I got a pair of Rothy’s for Christmas that I hated but was unable to send back and the same with a pair of Everlane flats that were in the wrong size.

I have hated them all.

So this is where we get back to the definition of insanity.

I have recently been on Pinterest more than usual.

I am still being targeted by Tieks advertisements.

I started to want another pair of Tieks.

I reasoned that even if I don’t really like them, I wore the everloving heck out of them because of how much they cost.

And thus, this month’s personal finance fail is that I bought another pair.

And they hurt in exactly the same way. Though I had forgotten about the foot farts. At least I know those will eventually break in and stop.

I do know that over time, they got way more broken in and I could wear them for really long stretches fairly comfortably, but the way they rub the top of my right foot never quite stopped.

Sigh. So. We all have insane moments with our credit cards. No matter where you are on your personal finance journey.

At least know I will never judge you for making the same crazy choice more than once.