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Original poster

What cheap item have you bought that has stood the test of time?

120 replies

Hawdyerwheesht · 02/08/2022 15:15

I'll start. I was making muffins this morning and realised that my cheap poundland muffin tins from 10 years ago are still serving their purpose.

OP posts:
exLtEveDallas · 02/02/2023 19:46

My 3, 2, 1 IKEA Ektorp sofas cost about €800 from
Germany 19 years ago (when £1 was €1.50). They were more expensive in UK (about twice the price IIRC). Still absolutely fine now and going very strong. I may change the covers, but the actual structure/seats/Cushions etc are great.

Yarnosaura · 02/02/2023 19:49

3 Poli Dri tea towels I bought in a little cheap kitchen stuff shop in Northampton c1989, still going strong.

Yarnosaura · 02/02/2023 19:50

Skiphopbump · 02/02/2023 19:19

My mum still uses a 25+ years pink wide tooth comb from Just 17 magazine

I've got a compact mirror from 19 magazine of similar vintage!

Motnight · 02/02/2023 19:55

newtb · 02/02/2023 17:04

A wooden 2-handled corkscrew bought from Habitat 48 years ago, just before going to uni. Still works.

I have a red plastic corkscrew bought from Habitat 39 years ago that still works!

WombatChocolate · 02/02/2023 19:57

Pyrex dishes from the 1970s - have 70s flower prints in blue or orange on them. I use them to microwave rice at least twice a week.

Free glasses that came when you bought petrol in the garage - still going strong 40 years later.

Plastic pencil sharper that cost 5p when I was at school - still use it to sharpen eyeliner or eyebrow pencils. It has a picture of a dog on it.

Plastic cups that came free with Happy Meals - some from 1980s, some from 10 years ago - still our best picnic cups.

WombatChocolate · 02/02/2023 19:59

Oh and a small trolley/table on castors bought in 1987 from MFI for £9.99. I bought it for the portable TV I bought for my bedroom.
It has housed my living room TV for the past 30 years.

Violinist64 · 02/02/2023 20:10

TokyoSushi · 02/02/2023 15:24

A comb. Bought in Butlins in Pwllhelli in 1993 for about 20p, still use every day!

Just before I was six, it was my dad’s birthday. His present from me was a comb costing, l think, 6d (2 1/2p) - decimalisation was just around the corner. It had a ten year guarantee - my mother helped me read the word. When the birthday arrived, l burst out excitedly: “it’s got a ten year guarantee!” My dad was much amused by this and often told me in years to come that he was still using the comb long after the guarantee had expired.

Violinist64 · 02/02/2023 20:18

Many of our belongings, including furniture, are second hand from charity shops or eBay. They last and last and are often of far better quality than newer things. I have always said that people setting up home on a small budget could get far more value by buying their furniture and many other household goods secondhand. When our daughter went to university, many of the utensils and crockery she needed came from charity shops and car boot sales. I have been reusing and recycling since long before it became fashionable.

ShittyPeasantsFromHampshire · 02/02/2023 20:19

Skiphopbump · 02/02/2023 19:19

My mum still uses a 25+ years pink wide tooth comb from Just 17 magazine

So do I.

And Christ, I suddenly feel ancient that someone on Mumsnet is talking about their mother having one. The 90s was 12 years ago. Max!

Tabitha1960 · 02/02/2023 20:28

In 1982 I bought a pink handled plastic bath brush (for reaching one's back, etc) from the Bodyshop for about a fiver. It's still in everyday use!

Unescorted · 02/02/2023 20:29

2 wooden spatulas.. 10p each from Chinatown. They are coming up to 35 years old. They are used every day, get bunged in the dishwasher. I hope I haven't jinxed them now. In a house fire I would go back into a burning building to save them.

pennylanestrawberries · 02/02/2023 20:31

I have a laundry basket which I bought when I first moved to London aged 19 in 2007! It’s really sturdy and I have no reason to think it won’t last another 15 years.

purpledalmation · 02/02/2023 20:32

A tiny alarm clock which works with the atomic clock and alters automatically when the clocks got back/forward. Always exact time. Has the day and the date too.

It is 45 years old and my mum gave it to me to get up for school with. She bought it in Germany for a few DMs. It's only ever had battery changes.

Amazingly the little light still works!

purplecorkheart · 02/02/2023 20:34

A New Look black jacket from the clearance rank when I managed to spill something on my self and need something to hide the stain on my top. Jacket cost less that £8 or probably less given euro/pound exchange rate at the time. The jacket has been worn 100s of times now. It washes well, drys fast and can be crumbled into a bag without creasing and looks well on. Bargain buy

GlassBunion · 02/02/2023 20:40

My dad had a shop in late 60s/70s.
A rep came and gave my dad a set of knives.
I still have a few.

My husband got a veg peeler , second hand, in the 80s. It's so dated and some of the handle has broken off but it's now my favourite peeler despite my numerous attempts to modernise and replace... nothing compares.

Many years ago, my mum came to visit ( im pushing 60) and brought a few things that needed cushioning in transit and she used an old kitchen towel. I laughed at her for still having it.
She left it for me as she didn't want it because it was so old fashioned.
It's all brown, orange , red and yellow swirly 60s floral patterned.

I now love it so much and I'll never use it again.

TC176 · 02/02/2023 21:33

A big metal draining/serving spoon I bought in an Army surplus store in Haverfordwest in 1973. It was 25p and still going strong, despite the spoon bit and handle being soldered together. I can remember the thrill of getting a bargain as I was buying bits and pieces for my “bottom drawer”.

TC176 · 02/02/2023 21:34

Sorry, meant to say it was soldered when I bought it.

maslinpan · 02/02/2023 21:46

When I had a job in a wholefood shop 30 years ago I found a big wooden spoon with a really long handle loungi g around next to the lentils. Had it ever since and it's one of my favourite implements.

moolady1977 · 02/02/2023 21:48

@Shunkleisshiny there is still a boots in Worksop but it's not so good anymore

DrHousecuredme · 02/02/2023 21:57

I have a potato peeler that I acquired in a house share over 25 years ago. It's still going strong and no other potato peeler I've tried is even half as good as it.

moolady1977 · 02/02/2023 21:58

A one direction hair dryer , my daughter got for her tenth birthday
(she is 21 in just over a week) I got one too as mine had blown up and I use it at least once a week not bad to say it was a tenner

23Elfie · 02/02/2023 21:59

Small 2 person slow cooker which was a wedding present to my parents in 1981! They gave me it when they got a new one and it's still going strong! (I was born 6 years later 😂)

moolady1977 · 02/02/2023 22:00

Oh and bedroom furniture I got when we moved house when I was 8 (now nearly 46)

JellyfishandShells · 02/02/2023 22:01

A Sainsbury’s own brand cheapest range electric hand mixer bought for about £5 15 - 20 years ago. Sturdy and just the right gradations of speed and has survived my husband’s baking experiments.

A casserole dish bought from the bric a brac stall at a local school fair for 20p 25 years ago. Slightly chipped lid, superficial damage, it somehow has magic powers to improve anything cooked in it.

redspottedmug · 02/02/2023 22:01

We have a potato masher whose origins are lost in the mists of time. DH has had it for at least 40 years and it was probably someone's cast off even then.

I have a pair of Levi's from a sale in a disused cinema in South London in around 1980!