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Over optimistic things you have purchased

167 replies

kimfox · 25/05/2022 13:17

I will start.

Just went rifling through the kitchen drawers looking for chopsticks and came across a tub of baking beans. I have had them for a few years and used them once. Definitely an over optimistic buying decision about both my baking abilities and inclination when I bought those!

Anyone else bought something full of optimism and good intentions only for it to languish, forgotten, in a dusty corner?!

OP posts:
rookiemere · 25/05/2022 22:16

Oh I forgot to mention my commuting scooter. Bought literally weeks before lockdown so I'd have time to get back to the car to pick up DS from after school sports. I knew i'd look an idiot but it seemed like a good solution at the time.
Never used it pre lockdown and now DS makes his own way home.

fishingpaintings · 25/05/2022 22:18

Well now.

A waffle iron (DP's purchase, not mine)

A huge pan, the sort of thing you'd haul into an open fire to boil up some soup for when the men returned from the fields. We have no men. Or fields. The pan is huge and taking up space in my Tupperware cupboard. DP.

4x Raspberry Pi (again, DP).

Oculus VR headset (DP.... bought when lockdown 1 happened despite not having a Windows PC).

Cushion cover embroidery set. In my head it's a beautiful heirloom piece that is charting my journey through life but in reality I'm a lazy fucker who's only done two lines in four years.

Migraine hat. It has a huge ice pack inside and you wrap it round your head when you have migraines. It's such a faff that it's at the back of a Very Large Cabinet.

A cargo bike. I live on a hill and my son weighs 27kg. It has been used 3 times, cost per use basically more than buying a peloton outright.

An electric folding bike. Despite the battery this is not an easy ride (see hill) and I'm scared of the cars.

Several expensive pairs of trousers and one expensive skirt that simply weren't made for an apple shape. Not even the hair bobble trick works.

A robot vacuum. That fucker is always just in the way.

A darning mushroom and assorted wools. I have not used this yet and actually forgot about my darning plan til I found it this morning and wondered 'wtf is this?'.

4 boxes of chamomile tea. I suspect DP. We drink chamomile tea approximately once every two years, so....

A gym membership.

A coworking space membership.

A Joe Wicks subscription. Cost per actual workout I did was v high.

Dumbbells. See Joe Wicks, above.

A den kit for our child. I do not want to build dens.

A book, endearingly entitled 'atomic habits'. Which I haven't read because I've got out of the habit of reading.

A coat which fits neither dog and makes one dog VERY touchy when he has to wear it. He nearly bit a neighbour who went to stroke him, as usually happens without incident.

A doggy toothbrush and paste set. Tripe flavour.

Tattoo pens. Basically sharpies. So naive.

A teeny tiny dustpan and brush for sweeping crumbs off of surfaces.

Several online courses, including a TEFL Course I gave up on when I didn't immediately pass the second assignment.

A PGCE. I did get a bit of use out of that.

A degree. Should have made better choices.

An IPL hair remover. I just don't have good habits engrained so will pull it out and charge it, use it once and then throw it back in the cupboard. Unsurprisingly my chin remains bristly.

A Dyson hair styling tool. I like it but 80% of the time I just let my hair dry naturally. Again, would have been cheaper to just go to the hairdresser every time I wanted to have my hair dried.

I'm now questioning my purchasing habits.

cornflakedreams · 25/05/2022 22:25

I'm now questioning my purchasing habits.

That is quite an impressive list.

spongedog · 25/05/2022 22:29

Kitchen Aid Mixer
Sewing Machine

Common theme: - I dont have time to read instruction manuals that are 3 inches thick and I don't have the spatial awareness to be able to set them up without. Now luckily (?) for me my DC are very good at the latter. So I am finally hoping that we might be able to use these wretched machines!

wildasthewind · 25/05/2022 22:29

Hand held dyson useless and expensive lasted few months

DueyCheatemAndHow · 25/05/2022 22:31

Bissel Crosswave. Total waste of a lot of money.

Strawberriesaregreat · 25/05/2022 22:45

A creme brulee sugar setting tool/heat stamper thingy. Used it a couple of times years ago. Sat in the drawer taking up room. Love creme brulee but hardly make desserts. Just collecting dust but for some reason can't bear to throw it.😊

kimfox · 25/05/2022 22:48

Well reading through these posts I've realised that the baking beans and the pasta machine are actually the tip of the optimistic iceberg for me too.. Blush

I can add a fair few weight loss / fitness things & online courses (three years ago I thought I was going to re-do maths GCSE hahaha - I paid for a course and attended approximately two sessions! (I got a C the first time around due to marmite sandwiches, a boy called Chris and our teacher having a breakdown. I bought the course on a whim having convinced myself I ought to prove I could get an A.. what level of madness was this?!?)

There's also a rather lovely Bell tent in my shed - it was actually put up last year for quite a while, (in the garden). Will it ever make it out if the shed again...? will it ever see a campsite...? I very much doubt it ...

OP posts:
Workyticket · 25/05/2022 22:57

Literally half of my worldly possessions.

My 'optimistic jeans' that I had to lie on the bed to fasten. Didnt dare go for a wee at work in case I couldn't get them fastened again

An exercise bike. Stubbed my toe on it more times than I've been on it

Kitchen aid food processor. Shite - tried to grate cheese in it..the cheese all gets stuck in the rim.

More pairs of shoes than I care to list. Buying the fuckers does not de-bambi me

Lucinda7 · 25/05/2022 23:02

Mine is a rug making kit (pure wool). Purchased 37 years ago and about a third completed. Haven't touched it for 35 years. DH joked at the time it will be finished for our retirement home. It probably won't.

Also a set of knitting looms purchased a couple of years ago which I cba to use.

Squiff70 · 25/05/2022 23:53

An insanely large cross-stitch picture of a group of rabbits (about a meter wide) bought from a craft fair as a genuinely interested teenager. I'm nearly 40 and think I did about 20 stitches when it was new before giving up. My grandma was SUPERB at cross-stitch until her arthritis got the better of her. She passed away probably ten years ago now and I wish I'd asked her if she'd do it for me. I know she would have done a beautiful job of it. My eyesight is far too shit now to even contemplate it and I absolutely do not have the patience.

Also, a hideously expensive white summer dress for my baby daughter. Bought two years ago from Baby Gap - a gorgeous white broderie anglais dress with matching frilly pants. I think it's 3-6 months but all summer it was cold and pissed it down. She never wore it even once. Its worth nothing now as the tag fell off.

aurynne · 26/05/2022 01:05

3 jars of wonderful marine collagen which would make my hair and nails strong and long in no time. it did fuck all. I'm giving the unopened 2 jars left to another friend with brittle hair and nails tomorrow.

AffIt · 26/05/2022 01:36

A potato ricer.

Bought during lockdown after my cousin, who is a chef, swore that it is THE only tool for making gnocchi.

Fuck making gnocchi: now I just go to a shop and buy it, like a normal person.

ShirleyJackson · 26/05/2022 05:51

This thread is hilarious Grin

That ‘Buy It Now’ button on Amazon has a lot to answer for.

ChristineCagney11 · 26/05/2022 06:01

@AffIt
Unfortunately the only effect of your post is that I'm now going to Amazon to look up "Potato ricer"

squashyhat · 26/05/2022 06:20

I'm marking this thread as we are planning a new kitchen on a strict budget and it will help to remind me not to get carried away with 'must have' gadgets 😁As it is there is a drawer of doom that wil need a severe culling.

squashyhat · 26/05/2022 06:21

Actually two drawers of doom. And a mandolin slicer which in a year has mangled one block of cheese and two thumbs.

TadLlama · 26/05/2022 06:23

One of these carpet scraper things that everyone one Facebook seems to have.

It does a great job but it would be even better if it did it on its own. I used it once then retired it to the kitchen junk drawer.

TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo · 26/05/2022 06:24

Food processor - used twice as it's really faffy and I don't know what bits to use. There's so many bits!!

Mini chopper - still in box

Salad spinner - still in box

Bread maker - used once

ChristineCagney11 · 26/05/2022 06:36

TadLlama · 26/05/2022 06:23

One of these carpet scraper things that everyone one Facebook seems to have.

It does a great job but it would be even better if it did it on its own. I used it once then retired it to the kitchen junk drawer.

😯
Umm just off to look up something on Amazon

Ferngreen · 26/05/2022 06:45

After a few wines one evening a couple of years ago I snapped up an 'Amazing skin treatment that Dragons Den dragons fought over' - it looked like an article in the Daily Mail or similar.
Complete scam - the bank gave me my money back so it must have been a regular con trick at the time.
Might have known it was too good to be true.

Ferngreen · 26/05/2022 06:49

An egg slicer. We used it all the time as kids, for egg in sandwiches (in the days before mayonnaise) or for salads.
I've kept it for nostalgic reasons but it's tucked away at the back of a drawer.

ImplementingTheDennisSystem · 26/05/2022 07:00

A sewing machine.
Used once.
I thought I'd be like my mum and just knock up a pair of new curtains in an afternoon...

Hippywannabe · 26/05/2022 07:07

Have literally this week sold my treadmill and exercise bike on Marketplace and promised DH that they will be the last exercise items I buy and never use.
(I have lost 5 1/2 stones without using them lol).

Ratonastick · 26/05/2022 07:08

A skipping rope. I loved skipping when I was little and decided that was the way to make exercise fun and shift my spare tonnage. I completely failed to take into account that I am now in my 50s and have 34G knockers.

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