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Original poster

Shit items that you never replace.

316 replies

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 06/12/2022 22:01

We have 2.

A washing up bowl bought 7 years ago for 3 quid. Part of it’s melted. It’s bleached and cleaned properly every week. The other day Dh suggested we buy a new one. We were both staggered by it😲

A shit mirror we took from Dmil house when she died. We painted the mahogany frame white. But it looks shit. You can see the mahogany. It’s just shit. And l like my interiors. But this peiceof shit hangs there. I suggested we buy a new one tonight. Again we were shocked that we hadn’t thought of it before.

A plastic seive that’s melted and broken . Yet we continue to use it🤷🏼‍♀️

OP posts:
Saracen · 07/12/2022 01:52

The chest freezer we inherited from DMIL 14 years ago, which she had had for some 20 years already. It can't be very efficient - part of the outside of it feels cold! It's probably costing us a lot of money in wasted electricity. The seal isn't in great shape and is no longer available to buy.

BUT IT WORKS. Can we bring ourselves to dispose of it while it still works??? The debate continues.

blueshoes · 07/12/2022 01:58

The hand towel in the cloak room toilet which the previous owner left behind. The towel is rough and brown. It was a probate sale. Its previous owner is dead. It is now mine, all mine, for the last 9 years.

My comfy soft bra from John Lewis I used to wear it at home before I had the dcs. Once I finished bf-ing (for longer than I care to admit), I went back to using my soft bra. The bra is faded and the inside lining is threadbare. I have darned up many holes and splits so it can live to see other days. I am working from home in it. I go to bed in it.

JennyJenny8675309 · 07/12/2022 02:17

Limer · 06/12/2022 22:41

Can you swap it for the least-used drawer? Then you don't need to actually replace anything.

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Rather than bother to just get something like this properly repaired, I devise ridiculous solutions to fix broken items. My idea for this is to thread a piece of twine through the hole and knot it on the inside so you can pull the twine to open it. 🤣

mathanxiety · 07/12/2022 03:30

Bathroom door that doesn't quite shut. What it needs is to have the top sanded in one little section. Do I plan to sand the top? Hell no.

Lightningfast · 07/12/2022 03:44

userxx · 06/12/2022 22:54

To kill any germs, I thought everyone does it 🤷‍♂️

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People on here are using bits of minor kitchen kit which have been broken (in some cases pretty badly) for decades rather than being arsed buying replacements likely to cost a couple of quid. You honestly think they are likely to be bleaching anything once a week? 😂😂😂

Underroad · 07/12/2022 04:55

16 years ago my boyfriend moved in with me.a really crappy plastic fish slice spatula came with him (amongst many other things - he didn’t just turn up on my doorstep clutching his crappy fish slice and nothing else). It had some slightly melted bits and just looked old and shit. I made a mental note to buy a decent one. We didn’t. We continued to use the shit one, even failing to procure a good one on our wedding list. We separated 5 years ago. I took the crappy fish slice. It is still the only one I own and I scowl at it every single time I use it (which is most days). But for some reason I feel like buying a nice new one would be ‘giving up’ now.

garlictwist · 07/12/2022 05:25

Our oven door doesn't stay closed so when it's in use we have to lean a chair against it. Our kitchen is tiny so this means that you can't fit in the kitchen at the same time as the oven is on. We should probably replace it...

RulaCabula · 07/12/2022 06:16

The timer knob broke on the tumble dryer, replacement ones are about £15 but CBA spending that so I use pliers to turn the metal thing inside to get it to work.

humancalculator · 07/12/2022 06:28

The hinges of one of the doors under the kitchen sink pulled out of the cupboard wall about five years ago. I did the whole fill the hole with matchsticks and white glue and remount thing, and the door fell off again a week later. It leant against the kitchen wall until halfway through the pandemic, when I finally put it in the cellar.

(Heavy) sliding bathroom door that half fell off its track around the same time and has to be laboriously, gratingly dragged back and forth ever since. When we bother at all.

I grabbed a towel with a frayed edge the other day to dry a jumper and my husband said, oh, I love that towel, but what poor quality, it really hasn’t lasted well. I made him do the calculation and he realized he’d bought it 40 years ago, long before I came into his life.

I wonder if this thread will make us all come to our senses and there’ll be a sudden, apparently inexplicable, pre-Christmas uptick in spatula, sieve and bread knife sales.

DidoDino · 07/12/2022 06:31

Towels that have my brother's name tag in from boarding school. He's 65.

KangarooKenny · 07/12/2022 06:35

I just put my washing up bowl in the dishwasher with the loo brushes every week 😉

KangarooKenny · 07/12/2022 06:38

I also have a colander with a snapped off handle, and a jug that has Sharpie pen marks to show where 100 ml/200 ml/300ml etc is.
I can’t stand to throw things away when they can still be used.

user7639865 · 07/12/2022 06:40

primeoflife · 06/12/2022 22:20

Oh and a tumble dryer you have to hold the door shut! We don't tumble much so we just crack on with it

You can replace the catch if it is that, we bought one for about a tenner off eBay last year and mended ours

user7639865 · 07/12/2022 06:45

Our cast iron bath, I can't be bothered with the hassle, DH replaced the toilet and sink but the bath is very heavy as cast iron so it is still there

Ylvamoon · 07/12/2022 06:47

Air fryer- just another kitchen gadget that will end up in the back of the cupboard.
It's ok for snacks but does not provide a full meal for my family of 2 adults & 2 teens!

(Disclaimer: MIL bought it!)

FaintlyMacabre · 07/12/2022 07:20

I think this is the best thread I have ever read on Mumsnet. I have wept with laughter and recognition.
Our house (and my parents’ and in-law’s) is full of things like this. Just think of all the stuff that isn’t being sent to landfill, and the carbon footprint saving of not buying new ones. Well done all of us- saving the planet one broken toaster and melted jug at a time!

primeoflife · 07/12/2022 07:22

@user7639865 ooh good to know! Thanks

SpeckledlyHen · 07/12/2022 07:27

karmalama · 06/12/2022 22:59

Aga toaster thing, it's about 28 years old and so bent that nothing toasts evenly, vague muttering about getting a new one the other day, but no real progress on that front 🤣

@karmalama this is going to sound odd but I actually have a spare one. Moved into new house with aga and I bought one then found a brand new one previous occupants left. If you dm me your address I would happily post one to you.

BarrelOfOtters · 07/12/2022 07:27

DidoDino · 07/12/2022 06:31

Towels that have my brother's name tag in from boarding school. He's 65.

If you are my sister I think I have the rest of his towels…..

FluffyWinterKittens · 07/12/2022 07:28

Slightly horrified by the number of people on this thread using dodgy toasters (holding down the button etc) and other half-broken electrical devices - they're a fire risk. A relative of mine almost died in a house fire caused by a toaster with a malfunctioning timer that she'd been reluctant to throw away. Please be careful!

Dibbydoos · 07/12/2022 07:31

primeoflife · 06/12/2022 22:20

Oh and a tumble dryer you have to hold the door shut! We don't tumble much so we just crack on with it

Don't buy a new one. If you are replacing it, get a dehumidifier, much cheaper to run to dry clothes.

Secnarf · 07/12/2022 07:44

When we moved into our house, we discovered the door to the shower cubicle was broken. It doesn’t slide and has to be physically lifted and manhandled into place. Couldn’t be fixed.

We don’t like the bathroom, so rather than getting a new cubicle, we decided that the first job was to redo the bathroom.

unfortunately we then had a string of bereavements for a few years.

Then a new baby.

We moved into this house 11 years ago and that baby is now 7.

We have developed The Knack of using the shower, and are still talking about “when we get the bathroom done”.

Secnarf · 07/12/2022 07:47

@humancalculator - snap!

Seymour5 · 07/12/2022 07:49

My parents got married in the 1930s and got a bread knife as a wedding present. By thd time I got it, the handle was melted in parts, and the serration on the blade had all but disappeared. We finally replaced it when the handle was just a metal stump, in 2020. 80+ years on. The new one isn’t the same. 😕

C1N1C · 07/12/2022 07:49

My wife would say 'the husband'...

In reality, anything the cats have shredded, e.g. the computer chairs.