To ask what cheap item you keep putting off buying?

[polkadotpjs]

Let me explain. I need a new measuring jug. The measures have been washed off my glass ones and my plastic one is not easy to read. They're cheap yet I have been struggling for about 2 years and never really sure I've measured correctly meaning some failed bread and the odd annoyance most days. Why haven't o bought one? I fear it's symptomatic of other flaws
Tell me yours and make me feel less of a weirdo

Weirdly enough, I can't think of anything. I was pretty much housebound for the first year and a few months of the pandemic as I am CEV and was waiting for surgery most of 2020. I did a lot of baking and cooking. Every time I realized something was old and getting useless, I spent hours picking out the best new one on Amazon.

My neighbours started commenting on my excessive deliveries. But I have a brand new pastry brush and the grotty old one was binned.

Emulsion hand blender

I am always putting off getting some new mascara, when there is no point to my old one, but keep gouging away at the tube to see if its still got any mascara left in it.. But one thing that works, maybe for another two or three days, is to stand the mascara tube in a mug or drinking glass etc, filled with hot water., and let it stand for a while, and the hot water will kind of heat up the mascara tube, then you can get a few more goes for your lashes.

@SheSaidHummingbird

baffledcoconut Since when does Waitrose sell knickers?

Presumably they've now been deemed Essential. Like houmous.

A toaster. The old one died months ago so we've been using the grill. I should just choose one and buy it, but colour? 4 slice or 2 slice? Cheap or expensive? So we just keep on using the grill - lucky we don't eat toast every day.

Exactly the same as in your first post OP.

I need a new glass measuring jug with legible numbers on it. I keep seeing the pyrex ones for about £8 and thinking that's a bit steep, but when I saw the exact same thing in a charity shop for a quid I still didn't buy it 🤦‍♀️. Still, I'm off to IKEA at the end of the week.

Razor heads. Not exactly cheap but I'll use them til blunt as hell through laziness and the fact it's plain wrong how much the Venus ones cost!

Makes me sad to read all these. Please just buy it.

Oven gloves. Struggled on for years with those square ones that are all one strip of fabric with a pocket at each end. They were never properly heat resistant and very inflexible. Finally bought individual silicon mitts - they are a gazillion times better!

@Oblomov21

Makes me sad to read all these. Please just buy it.

There are lots of ordinary foibles people have, don't over worry! We dithered over cooker knobs because we kept hoping to get specific ones, and the generic are the wrong colour. It isn't deep trauma.

Yes some people are self-denting, but the volume of posts here show there's just a lot of dithering and delay, not profound mental torture.

I am sure you have been suboptimal once in your life too?

Self-denting = self-denying

@SheSaidHummingbird

baffledcoconut Since when does Waitrose sell knickers?

They stock some things like that in some stores, socks, tights too.

Dustpan and brush. I’m still using the ones that belonged to my parents- so definitely over 40 years old, don’t match and are really quite manky. They’re selling a set in B&Q for £1.49 but I can’t quite bring myself to buy it.

I'm guilty of this a lot. My list includes a new tin opener - mine doesn't cut the metal properly any more so I end up risking sliced fingers as I grapple with the half cut tops.

Also new fixings for the collapsible rack in the dishwasher. They're only about £8 but I struggle on manually reclipping the bugger back in the right position despite the fact that the plastic has become friable and half snapped off...

Decent sharp kitchen knifes. They're not that expensive and would probably save me so much hassle. I just can't bring myself to spend that on something as boring as knifes. Same with pots and pans. Anything for the kitchen really, yet I spend a fortune on other shite for the house!

We really need a new mop. Half of the fabric string bits have come out. Still don’t buy one.

@Shirleyphallus

I had one clothes drying rack for about 10 years and would absolutely squeeze every item on, a bit bunched up and with the leftover stuff draped over doors and on random places like draped half over a dining table. The result being slightly damp and very creased clothes.

Then I saw the light and bought THREE MORE and fuck me it’s truly a life changer

Light bulb moment. My weekends are about to get a lot easier. I thank you madam

Toaster. Kept tripping the electrics in 3 different houses I brought it with on hous3 moves. Bought a new one for about £25.

A new bottle brush for cleaning flasks. Mine is shedding its plastic bristles everywhere.

I didn't know foot scrubbing mats existed - now I want one with a passion! I have looked on Amazon but there is so much choice. Any recommendations please?

I need a baking tray with 2inch high sides to make things like Manchester tart. I have been looking for ages and saw the perfect one - two for £6 in Lidl this week. I didn't buy them because I only want one. I will probably never see the perfect tray again.

I did however shell out £7 for the grater they were selling because I really want to make my own coleslaw and didn't want to pay £12 for one from Amazon.

I think the reason I don't buy these things is that I see what I want on Amazon, then I start to read the reviews. There could be 1000 good reviews, but if one is negative then I start to panic and don't go through with the sale.

It's also why I overbuy when I do one of my rare trips to IKEA. I know their scissors, bag clips, toilet brushes, bath mats, little plastic bowls and cups etc are all really good and so I buy them . Every. Single, Time.

Socks. Spend every morning poking about in the drawer trying to find activity/weather suitable socks. They’ve all got holes in.

My siblings, mum and I decided to put a £20 limit on Christmas presents to each other about 12 years ago, so I always ask for dull, cheap but necessary things for Christmas - I get the stuff replaced, I don't have to spend the money, it's easier for them when buying presents and I don't end up with cheap tat I don't need. Win win!

This year will be a set of measuring spoons (among other things) as the handle of my tablespoon one has snapped and the markings have rubbed off the others so I have to guess whether I'm looking at the half or third of a teaspoon (the hoop that holds them together broke ages ago so they're all loose in the drawer and I can never find them all to compare).

For those of you with baking tray issues, baking tray liners exist, I have these and they're really handy
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076HS5ZNM/ref=cmswwrcppapiglttfabcMNZ47CVTZWTHY7MQ7PJP

Toothpaste.

When we moved into our new house, the master bedroom had an en-suite. Previous house just a family bathroom.

I claimed the en-suite and my husband used the family bathroom, but we only had one tube of toothpaste when we moved. So despite having two bathrooms, we used to basically queue up to do our teeth every morning and evening. All I had to do was buy a extra tube of toothpaste, but it took me about 8 months to get round to it...

@Spanielsarepainless

A new bottle brush for cleaning flasks. Mine is shedding its plastic bristles everywhere.

I got a really good silicone one with long handle so fits the chilly type bottles. Goes in DW on v hot wash too.