Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Useless household articles

84 replies

TheHauntedPencilCase · 08/01/2023 15:12

I admit I'm having a bad day, partly provoked by not being able to find the 4 packs of discounted Christmas cards I bought in Monday having had to pay a fortune last minute this Christmas.
Anyway I also acquired a melon baller and sat down to enjoy my healthy fruit based lunch but rather than creating delightfully delicate bubbles of melon I ended up with wet strips of melon. It may well have been my technique but I'm blaming the bastarding melon baller. Tell me what arsehole household articles you have had to grapple with recently. Also if you know what I did with the cards please share.....

OP posts:
YorkieTheRabbit · 08/01/2023 15:27

Reminds me of taking fruit salad to work and one of the young members of staff asked me what the round balls were. I said melon, he looked amazed and told me he didn’t know you could get melons that small 🤣

Original poster
TheHauntedPencilCase · 08/01/2023 15:31

😆😆😆that's hilarious @YorkieTheRabbit although sadly that means my own melon balling skills were clearly lacking. I felt so virtuous as I was purchasing said melon.

OP posts:
LlynTegid · 08/01/2023 15:33

I admire the restraint shown on this thread.

No one has mentioned their DH or DP, or older child!!

PuttingDownRoots · 08/01/2023 15:36

I was attacked by my hoover earlier and now have a bruise on my forehead

thenewaveragebear1983 · 08/01/2023 15:36

I just bought a new potato/veg peeler. I used it last night and something to do with the shape of it, plus the weight, it’s impossible to peel a potato without running the peeler off the veg and into the heel of my hand. If it had been sharp I would have skinned myself, however I have just ended up with a really tender hand. Ridiculous!

octaviaaur · 08/01/2023 15:40

The olive spoon thing. Who has the patience to remove them from the jar one olive at a time? And it's not easy to fish them out, and doesn't drain the juice adequately.

VeronicaBeccabunga · 08/01/2023 15:52

We have a drawer compartment full of those rubbery stoppers you're supposed to use with a pump-the-air-out thing to seal unfinished wine bottles.
Far simpler to put the screw cap back on and drink it tomorrow.

happyinherts · 08/01/2023 15:54

Many tin openers which just won't do the job. Had to revert to ring pull tin of beans

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 08/01/2023 15:55

VeronicaBeccabunga · 08/01/2023 15:52

We have a drawer compartment full of those rubbery stoppers you're supposed to use with a pump-the-air-out thing to seal unfinished wine bottles.
Far simpler to put the screw cap back on and drink it tomorrow.

Very handy for cork-sealed bottles though.

RanhaThePiranha · 08/01/2023 15:56

LlynTegid · 08/01/2023 15:33

I admire the restraint shown on this thread.

No one has mentioned their DH or DP, or older child!!

The way I'm feeling today, it's most definitely my 'D'H

HadEnoughOfBears · 08/01/2023 15:58

VeronicaBeccabunga · 08/01/2023 15:52

We have a drawer compartment full of those rubbery stoppers you're supposed to use with a pump-the-air-out thing to seal unfinished wine bottles.
Far simpler to put the screw cap back on and drink it tomorrow.

Far simpler just to finish the bottle that night 😂😂

Mentalpiece · 08/01/2023 16:09

Silicone egg poachers.
The idea is that you crack the egg into it and then drop it into the boiling water.
Except when you ' turn it inside out ' to remove the egg, it either flips out and lands on the other side of the kitchen, or it breaks up and goes everywhere.
Egg poacher 0 - kitchen bin 1.

LadyGAgain · 08/01/2023 16:13

octaviaaur · 08/01/2023 15:40

The olive spoon thing. Who has the patience to remove them from the jar one olive at a time? And it's not easy to fish them out, and doesn't drain the juice adequately.

Agreed. Literally grab bowl and sieve, drain whole thing. Take what olives you want and pour back into jar. That takes less time that trying to spear a single olive Grin

AnImaginaryCat · 08/01/2023 16:17

I've got a pair of grape scissors. Scissors specifically for cutting a small selection of grape off a bunch.

Got them as a present many years ago.

Unusual alright, and fairly pointless!

AnImaginaryCat · 08/01/2023 16:20

(They look lovely though! Very ornate.)

Mossstitch · 08/01/2023 16:40

I've got a very fancy corkscrew bought for me as a present, think its Allessi make, looks like a lady in a skirt🤷saw it in John Lewis once for a ridiculous price. Everytime you use it the cork gets stuck up the skirt and I have to grapple with pliers for half an hour to get it out again. Obviously I never do this as I've taken said cork out of bottle and poured🍾🍷then forget about it until next time........... Half an hour of frustration follows before I can get at my wine😳

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 08/01/2023 16:41

Mossstitch · 08/01/2023 16:40

I've got a very fancy corkscrew bought for me as a present, think its Allessi make, looks like a lady in a skirt🤷saw it in John Lewis once for a ridiculous price. Everytime you use it the cork gets stuck up the skirt and I have to grapple with pliers for half an hour to get it out again. Obviously I never do this as I've taken said cork out of bottle and poured🍾🍷then forget about it until next time........... Half an hour of frustration follows before I can get at my wine😳

I've always wanted one of those - disappointing to hear it doesn't work very well.

Beancounter1 · 08/01/2023 19:53

happyinherts · 08/01/2023 15:54

Many tin openers which just won't do the job. Had to revert to ring pull tin of beans

I can so relate to this. Been through so many crap tin openers. DH just binned the latest one and bought yet another.

Duckingella · 08/01/2023 20:17

These days my potato masher;I've decided I'm too lazy to stand there peeling and chopping spuds,boiling them then mashing them.

Nukable frozen mash is far easier.

MammaWeasel · 08/01/2023 21:30

Pizza cutter. Wibbly wobbly, blunt af. I just use big clean scissors now.

Original poster
TheHauntedPencilCase · 09/01/2023 14:08

PuttingDownRoots · 08/01/2023 15:36

I was attacked by my hoover earlier and now have a bruise on my forehead

Oh no! I once hit myself on the head with a TV controller. That was a fun one. Hope you're ok

OP posts:
octaviaaur · 09/01/2023 14:12

Yes, bowl and sieve for the olives is what I do! @LadyGAgain

Original poster
TheHauntedPencilCase · 09/01/2023 14:15

MammaWeasel · 08/01/2023 21:30

Pizza cutter. Wibbly wobbly, blunt af. I just use big clean scissors now.

I must admit I got a pizza cutter for my birthday last year and I properly love it! Mind you now I'm thinking I must try scissors and I also want an olive spoon thing. I currently own and should dispose of an asparagus peeler. Its a fancy one I got as a gift so I've held onto it for years but never used! Basically a flimsy peeler, useless!

OP posts:
WishIWasACavewoman · 09/01/2023 14:22

Honey drizzler thing - like a deeply grooved spinning top on a stick meant to be dipped into a vat of honey and trailed over food... .ornamental but not so useful with a Rowse squeeze bottle

Similarly, pasta stirrer - just a blunt stick, I mean, WTF?

DelurkingAJ · 09/01/2023 14:30

@Mossstitch I have one and adore it. The trick to get the cork out is to hold her arms down and keep turning…the cork then twists right off the corkscrew.