When Overpaying is Worth It

I'd like to share two experiences that involved money. Last week I took my daughter to an ice cream/yogurt place in town she wanted to go to. We used their smallest sized containers and served up some frozen yogurt with toppings. We were told to put our food on the scale to determine the price. I was shocked when it came to $12.99 for two small frozen yogurts. It was good, but not that good, and I had a hard time enjoying it knowing I had just been financially raped. I might expect to pay that much at a famous tourist attraction or at an airport, but not at a self serve place in my home town.

In contrast, about 20 years ago I toured Europe with my dad for nearly a month. After the group he was leading finished their vacation, my finance and brother joined us and we were able to continue travelling around Europe on our own for several more weeks. I had been wearing the same few sets of clothes over and over since we were traveling light. I had to wash them in sinks and air dry them since we were living like Gypsies and sleeping on trains for the second half of our trip. The necklines on my T-shirts had stretched so much that they looked like I was going for this over the shoulder look.

One day while we were in France, we had a rare break from a hectic schedule and I came across a laundromat. I think I paid the equivalent of $25 to do a load of laundry, but it was so worth it to dry my clothes in an electric dryer and have them clean and shrunk back to their original size.

Recalling these experiences made me think about other situations in life when people totally overpay for something, but still felt it was worth the hefty price. When have you knowingly paid more than you should have for something yet still been happy with your decision?

I'd love to hear if others have had any similar experiences concerning this topic in the comments.