To ask what household items were a complete waste of money?

[Ladymayormaynot]

Have just read expensive items worth every penny thread & interested to see what others have regretted buying. I'll start off with steam mops, I've had 3 all useless & binned. Garden strimmers again I've had 3 makes and none of them any good. The last was a Gtech which promised so much including free blades for life. Hidden in the small print was the £2.99 delivery cost per packet of 20. By the 2nd use I had used 10 blades as the kept splitting. It was returned for a refund.

ItsJustNotRight Tue 13-Sep-16 20:59:27

Any techy person know how to set up a one day kitchen swap shop online? It could be a potential earner or fund raiser for someone with the know how & it could save all this stuff from landfill.

Think this is a good idea, but I'm not sure I could sort it. Unless we have a section somewhere where people can post items, etc.

I have managed to avoid gadgets, much as I'd like them. Most of them are just a way of manufacturers pocketing cash for doing something people already do perfectly well using simpler means.

I have a bread maker, which has been great, but I just need to work out why my bread has lately not been so great and then I'll be using it all the time again. I do have a food processor, a blender and a stick blender, but all are cheap items that came well recommended to me and have proved their worth.

My sandwich press is 20+ years old and still going strong, sandwich toaster is a cheap Sainsbury one that is more than adequate. I even use it in place of a waffle maker, works pretty well with decent "pancakes" and no mess, and I'm trying out the recipes on the sandwich maker thread in Chat some time ago - I saved a copy of the thread.

Janey 50 - and those who want a sandwich toaster with removable plates. You can get them from Sainsburys (probably other places too). £30 and you take the plates out and bung in the washing up bowl, fantastic.

Waste of time buys for me - steamer mop

Definitely steam mops!
Hand held car vacuum
Electric veg chopper/grater/spiral thing

I'll think of more.....

Stdtratters I have that Bissell steam mop. It's rubbish. It stinks of dog wee all the time. (The steam part, I don't use vac) No idea why as I've not used it to suck up dog wee! I bought brand new pads and still stinks. I hate it. We have to open all doors and windows if I use it! It seems to make dirty stripes too. So that was a waste of money.
I also bought a window vac. It's ok. But hard to get rid of streaks.
My OH bought me a sewing machine for my birthday 14 years ago. I didn't ask for one. It's been in the loft ever since. I've no idea how to use it.
To the lady with all the apple iPads. My children would like to come and live at your house as we don't own any iPads. And they dream of an apple pc. Or MacBook. They can carry on dreaming. (They do have iPhones)

Agree, Plastic that that is a useless recipe.

But I felt so good when for the first time I was able to produce choux pastry. The macaroni cheese recipe in my Lakeland recipe book is very quick and easy and really does only have the jug and blades to wash up and seems foolproof. We make it at least once a fortnight.

Nobody has complained about the ice cream makers that freeze it as well (not prefreeze ).so I still want one

I love my smoothie maker and spiralizer!

Never use my steam cleaner though. It works well, but it takes about 10 minutes to heat up, lasts about 2 minutes and then needs refilling and reheating again. Cannot be faffed with that.

Laptop. Bought it about 18 months ago for work and use it approximately once a month, and have to wait 20 minutes for everything to update before it'll do what I want it to do. It lives under the sofa. I just use my phone whenever I can.

Dyson hand held vacuum. Piece of rubbish!

Am I the only one around that actually loves our soda stream?!

Thanks WhyASpoon. I had been eyeing those up!

I don't regret getting mine. But I'm clearly in a minority!

soda stream........utter shite

had such fond memories as a kid.....but I think I know why it suddenly disappeared one day.....

vive la difference! It doesn't sound the same as when I was a kid though.

I have a pie maker - used twice! You have to cook the bloody filling first and it only cooks the pasty. Waste of time and too much faffing I make my pies in the oven now!
Love my soda stream though and steam mop
I threw my bread maker away and regretted it ever since I love the smell of fresh bread!

I've a cupcake stand, which has been in my kitchen cupboard for about 4 years,
I also have a juicer, used 3 times!
I also have a tassimo machine, we will use it loads, we will completely ditch Costa with this.... it'll save us sooo much money. Well it's Sat unused. And each day I say, coffee?! And we head to Costa.
VAX machine is out, but we're a bit like, let's just pay the carpet guy to come out, he does a much nicer job! And it dries quicker.
Same with every lamp in our house! And the bedroom TVs, what's the point? We intend to use them, but they never really fit into the schedule.
Whilst we're at it, I've no idea how I allowed the exercise bike I bought to become disused after only 5 days of use (last Nov!) And the layz spa. And my bike, it's a lovely black one with a basket. I moaned and moaned until it was bought for me... it's been sat propped up by the non running car we have parked outside since July.
God I'm wasteful.

Zippyneedsfeeding which steam mop do you have?

Robot window cleaner.
It's good, but you need to be within earshot of it. It makes the most pathetic beep known to man when it's finished which you can hardly hear over the noise of the suction holding it on the glass.
The karcher window vacuum is more effort but done in half the time. No, quarter the time.

George Foreman grill with removable, dishwasher safe plates is one of the best £30 I ever spent. Use it at least once every week and it makes healthy food with NO MESS! What with that and pyrex, I have a remarkably clean oven!!

Great idea about using it for an indoor BBQ!

Dyson vacuum cleaner. It was a precious snowflake - filters that needed washing, bagless so had to empty directly into bin and get a cloud of dust in face, etc. etc. It wasn't terrible - it just never lived up to the hype. We had a lot of work done in the house and I noticed the workmen always used Henrys, so I bought one and never looked back. It's like a tank and it just goes and goes. Dirt goes into a bag, so it's easy to dispose of, and I've never looked back.

Spirilizer. Not used it as all supermarkets now sell it already done!
Breadmaker. Used weekly until I had kids, now don't have time.

My parents had a Dyson vacuum, it sucked, but not in a good way. They hated it being bagless. Guess what it still needs emptying!! When I had my pfb they visited and did some vacuuming for me. The couldn't believe how good my Miele was in comparison. You can use it on thick dust and pet hair and it's easy to empty. They got home and immediately bought one and haven't looked back.

I second Bosch for strimmer, also hedgetrimmer and lawnmower.

Dyson allergy vacuum which was £300, it didn't last AT ALL. Miele however have amazing vacuums, as do Sebo. And a whole lot less for far superior German quality.

My karcher window vacuum was also an expensive awful waste of money

I love my Karcher window vac, use it for sucking up condensation, it's perfect for that. Don't think I've ever cleaned the Windows though so can't comment on its efficacy for that.

User I was about to mention a george foreman with removable plates. I love mine. DD is gf so I insisted on the removable plates. So much easier to clean.
Also love my slow cooker. But only for pulled pork. Stunning.
Steam mop is great.
Love my waffle maker. Use it at least twice a month.
Ice cream maker is for the charity shop.
Loved my bread maker but never managed to get gf bread going properly so it's a bit of a waste of space.
Adore my baby blender. Big blender needs to go to charity.
I love a gadget.

Oh god love my window vac. I have a wall of floor to ceiling Windows 15 ft wide. They come up lovely in ten minutes.