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
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask what's the worst thing you've ever bought?

156 replies

y0rkier0se · 06/04/2017 19:02

I'm moving house next week, and i'm in the process of -procrastinating- packing. I found some ceramic zebras that I bought at an auction a couple of years back. They're two cream zebras, with grey and blue paint covering them, with crystals around the base. It's truly horrendous, the only possible justification for buying them was that from where I was sat in the large room you couldn't see quite how bad they were. And I really really wanted to use the paddle [grin and they're so bad that no-one else bidded. DP constantly jokes that they're going to get damaged in transit but as terrible as they are, I don't want to get rid as I laugh every time I see them. Anyone else got any 'seemed a good idea at the time' buys?

OP posts:
GooodMythicalMorning · 07/04/2017 00:07

A house. Beyond fixable.

HarrietSchulenberg · 07/04/2017 00:40

I have a large, rectangular, clear glass vase with what can only be described as a large, pink, blown glass penis inside.
My mother thought it would make a nice present for me from a holiday in Poland.

VanellopeVonSchweetz99 · 07/04/2017 00:48

Drunk Van bought some pretty expensive yet shitty contouring product online (think small brown eyeshadow in a compact).
Sober Van had to pay about £20 customs fee on top, since Drunk Van had ordered the fucking thing from the US.

bialystockandbloom · 07/04/2017 00:53

Nanoblur. What a fucking mug I was.

Hahaha at the Tutenkamen cross stitch Grin

MumBod · 07/04/2017 06:49

Ragz - they're quite pretty to look at, I guess...but I can't say I've noticed any other effects. The science behind them is pretty flawed, shall we say. A fact my inomniac alter-ego chose to overlook Smile

MumBod · 07/04/2017 06:49

*insomniac, fgs.

MrsPringles · 07/04/2017 08:16

Popcorn maker and ice cream maker.
Both used once. Both relegated to the kitchen cupboard of doom.

Rubbish.

WindwardCircle · 07/04/2017 08:32

A No No hair removal thingy. I actually bought it off eBay for £10 so not too bad, but my God was it a piece of crap. In the original eBay listing the vendor had said they were selling it because it was rubbish, so I really should have been warned.

What is never really explained in the TV advert is that No Nos are meant to burn your hair off, but they don't. What really happens is you trundle the device up and down your leg until your skin gets sore and your house stinks of burning hair, but somehow you don't look noticeably less hairy. The TV ad also has a woman deliriously extolling the virtues of the No No for removing facial hair, but mine said not suitable for facial hair Confused.

It went to the dump when we cleared out pre house moving.

YouOKHun · 07/04/2017 08:53

windward's No No hair removal thingy story reminds me that I once bought an epilator at great expense. I've given birth four times and that was a walk in the park compared with using that thing. I managed a small patch on one leg then had to stop. Never went near it again...

Filofanny · 07/04/2017 09:27

Mines a clock - a picture cd of George Clooney, with a clock mechanism. I believe the cd has an interview with him on, but I'm not sure. I'm not a fan of George Clooney, I have no idea why I bought this, but it's still in the juffy bag it arrived in, hidden in a drawer in the study.

Roomba · 07/04/2017 09:30

A huge square midnight blue sofa, from a certain Scandinavian furniture outlet. Not the shop's fault, it was a well designed, very solid comfy sofa. But I bought it after spending about 6 hours looking at furniture with my asshole ex and my parents. Ex and I disagreed on everything, he was, well, an asshole and my parents were getting more and more exhausted and stressed. I was paying, so in the end I sat down on the nearest sofa and said right I'm having this one.

Nothing in my living room was blue, blue was very out of fashion for interior decor then so I could find nothing to match or harmonise with it. It was enormous - supposedly a 3 seater but could fit 5 easily. It fit in the room but not through the hallway, so we literally had to chop the end off and reattach it to get it in! The fabric attracted lint and dust like mad... I hated it. It had a 25 year guarantee and my heart sank thinking I had to put up with it forever.

Fortunately (sort of) an unrelated domestic disaster mean the insurance paid for a nice new leather sofa about 3 years later, phew!

Emmageddon · 07/04/2017 09:34

@HarrietSchulenberg please post a photo of your penis vase! It sounds awful awesome!

londonrach · 07/04/2017 09:35

Yes on the hand held hover. Returned it to the shop as not for purpose (didnt hover). They didnt want to take it back as it made noises when they turned it on. Explained had it 3 days everything still in warpping but one bit i wanted a hover not an ornament that makes hover noises. They said they dont normally but returned my money.

Zaphodsotherhead · 07/04/2017 09:42

Laughing at the thought of Sabine and cat going into steam cleaner cupboard, looking at one another and then slowly backing out...

Withershins · 07/04/2017 10:03

Stellar I am thinking of taking up pottery, I want a kiln and a potters wheel, why didn't you use yours? Am I going to regret buying them? Sad

RedDogsBeg · 07/04/2017 10:21

The inflatable sauna - can't stop laughing - just brilliant Pettywoman.Grin

Nanasueathome · 07/04/2017 10:24

Oooh
I went mad for an epilator just after they first came out
My husband bought me one as a surprise Christmas present
OMG
I cannot even describe the pain
On a lighter note, a friend lives hers and even uses it under her arms

Nanasueathome · 07/04/2017 10:25

Should say...loves hers

Original poster
y0rkier0se · 07/04/2017 10:34

Harriet we NEED pictures of the blown glass penis Grin

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 07/04/2017 11:33

These are brilliant
asthmatic mouse
ornament that make hoover noises
inflatable sauna
steam cleaner that scares humans and cats
I love it :o

Stormtreader · 07/04/2017 11:48

An IPL hair removal thing, Was about £300, used it once to no great results, put it away, have read online recently that if you dont charge and use them every month the battery gives up. I guess thats going in the bin then.

VeryButchyRestingFace · 07/04/2017 11:51

A budgie. A gift to myself on buying my first home.

I say it was the worst thing ever, because it was only the start of a slippery slope and I am now parrot-ed oot ma napper.

🐦 🐦 🐦

raspberrysuicide · 07/04/2017 14:16

A horse...need I say more!

Original poster
y0rkier0se · 07/04/2017 16:42

Raspberry you have reminded me of the time we bought a pony (again, it was at auction!) It's one of those events my brain has blocked out it was that bad. He was a small (12hh ish) Welsh section B which we thought we would use for trap driving (that hobby lasted all of a year). Beautiful pony and we got him for £100 at auction but he absolutely wasn't built for trap driving and ended up being a companion for an older horse.

OP posts:
Mrsknackered · 07/04/2017 16:44

Curling tongs. I burnt myself first time using them, never picked them up again.
My grandma bought me a huge Venetian glass octopus when I was 15. I often look at it and think, why?