What purchase of yours was a waste of money?

[2025isavibe]

I'm ill in bed and bored. Mines a slow cooker. I don't like stew or casserole, I know you can cook lots of things in it but I never use it. What's yours?

Bissell carpet washer. Bought in lockdown, used once. It taunts me each time I go in the garage.

Henry vacuum cleaner. Heaven knows why people rave about them. Big bulky heavy thing that has poor suction. I had a Miele beforehand and after trying the Henry for a few months, I gave up and bought a new Miele! The Henry now lives in the garage for OH to use when cleaning the car or doing diy!

Yep - Miele or the old Kirby are fantastic (but heavy - they are very cheap on eBay now so you can buy one for each floor) - the plastic Dysons etc are crap. The only recent one that was good was the Shark Animal with 5yr warranty but you can't find anyone to fix it and they wouldn't come out to our area,

@Badbadbunny snap with the Henry!! Worst hoover I’ve ever used. My nearly 10 year old Dyson cordless does a better job 😂

I really like my slow cooker now that I’ve mastered how much liquid (loads less than you think) and seasoning (loads more than you think) it needs.
Also really like the air fryer.
Also really like my Henry! He’s a strong old boy.

I’m too poor to shell out much money on things, so I think really hard before I spend anything. But I did use some B&Q vouchers on a leaf blower/hoover that I’ve used once and not since because it’s ear-splitting loud. I’m too embarrassed to get it out again.

My kitchen table. It’s completely the wrong size and shape for the room so we’ve had to push it to one side and now we never use it. It is covered in piles of toys etc. I need to change it but can’t ever seem to find the time or willpower.

My madly expensive top of the range integrated down draft extractor for the hob. It's noisy and ineffective. Wanted one so badly since they first came on the market and made myself wait until they were a mature product but it still doesn't work efficiently. Now stuck with it for the next 15 yrs.

A Vax steam mop when they first came out.. utter crap.
Can't beat a mop and bucket.

Soft top Mazda MX5 it just a sits in the garage looking pretty.

Eeek that's an expensive mistake!!

My marriage licence.

One of those weights that you swing around your waist to tone up. I actually put my back out after using it once, and had to have a week off work.

Is it because they turned yellow? Turmeric turns everything yellow, I don’t think J&J can help that.

All the people who hate your slow cookers, you need to adjust any liquid added to avoid things coming out too watery. A slow cooker has minimal evaporation because things don’t fully boil or even simmer and it stays sealed. So if something calls for two cups of stock or water, I’d only add a quarter of a cup at most. Obviously with stock, you then need to adjust the seasoning to compensate.

Mine is a DSLR camera. It cost a lot but I never mastered it (I really should do a course) and I found it a heavy faff to carry around.

Hot tub. Such a faff to stay on top of chemicals and have shower before and after.

I have a recipe book for slow cookers, it's American and has some lovely recipes and crucially how much water to add and how long to cook and what heat.

If you chuck random stuff in with loads of water for 8 hours it will be horrible and watery mush

I do daal , curries, gammon, casseroles,pulled pork, spare ribs, cheaper cuts of beef slow cooked and they come out perfectly.

Pretty much most scented candles that don’t smell and the mulberry Roxanne bag back in the day . Totally impractical getting in and out of it and just stopped using it .

Sewing machine. I thought I would run up a pair of curtains in about fifteen minutes but I can barely thread it. It's a complete mystery to me. I should go on a course but Im too embarrassed by my own incompetence.

My delux dual fuel oven/stove (it has two ovens & a grill, and four hobs). Cost me nearly 4k, and this was 20 years ago. Designedd as a modern coal range it looks stunning in my kitchen but given I am no foodie, nor dinner party hostess it was a waste of money. Dh and I got too caught up in asethetics.

I recently bought a new sewing machine, and quite frankly my sewing machine from the 80s still meets my needs...

Bread maker. Had two of them because I thought maybe the first one was rubbish so we replaced it. Nope. I could have broken windows or killed birds with every single loaf I ever made.

I gave them away on freecycle to people who were delighted to have them - I wonder if they had more success than me.

I think this thread could turn into a swap or for sale thread. Glad I’m not the only one to buy things I don’t use, and it appears I have adhd!

The multiple coffee machines DH has bought. He uses instant latte sachets instead. Yoghurt making set from middle of Lidl has been used more and that’s saying something lol.

@cafenoirbiscuit the bread could've killed birds made me laugh 😂.

So many kitchen gadgets - bread maker (like a PP said, it makes bricks), a stand mixer (I used to bake when I was a SAHM but not now), an Instant Pot (I prefer the stuff that I make in a cast iron pan). I never bloody learn!