Genius inventions we no longer use

[Grumpypants78]

Inspired by a chat with a friend after struggling back from the corner shop yet again with the mountains of stuff my family can't survive without. My gran in the 70s used to have a little shopping trolley on wheels she'd take with her. You never see them anymore but what a brilliant idea. They sell them in Amazon, I'm going to buy one and be like my gran only without the curlers and housecoat 🤣
What else do you remember your DPs/DGPs use I can be inspired to invest in?

My late parents had one of these for a wedding gift in 1955. Still works great!

My mum had a plastic inflatable hood thingy that you attached to the hairdryer. Great for setting your hair on rollers. And those rubber shower hoses that attached to the bath taps for people who didn't have a shower but wanted to wash their hair. I guess we all have shower attachments these days. Do they still make those foam face guards for stopping the soap going into kids' eyes when washing their hair?

We'd call them nuisance trolleys as they would catch peoples ankles. 👍

K-tel combs for cutting the family's hair. Buttoneers (K-tel?) for attaching buttons instantly.
Remington Fuzzaway for lint removal. Probably still available somewhere.
I have a couple of vintage waspies left over from my goth phase.

have a shopping trolley - it's not always great as can't leave it at front of local supermarkets (we don't drive and it's a bit of a walk to them) so have to manage it and a trolley so I tend to use it most at minute when I have someone else with me - but I'm mid 40s and can still manage heavy backpacks and bags.

I know some supermarket trolleys have a bit on the back you can rest our own trolly in. Lidl does. They are really popular in London where a lot of people don’t drive.

Buy him a tile. I have one on my keys and one on my purse.

My mum still uses her electric carving knife. Pretty sure that thing is older than me and its still going strong! (her vacuum is also very old, probably not quite as old as me but near enough and still going strong - they made things to last in those days!)

In spain everyone uses the shopping trolleys, on market day they are everywhere. The supermarket has a little station where you can chain them up and collect them on the way out.

What a great thread!

Peas in pods - peas are just about to come into season so get down to your local market instead of supermarket and speak to fruit and veg stall. My hubby sells fruit and veg and when he brings home treats like this it makes my day!

Carpet sweepers - I bought one earlier this year for about £20 from argos. Best gadget I have bought for ages. No good for corners and edges, but for a quick sweep through it's surprising effective, and easy to empty.

Feather duster for high ceilings - I bought a wool version from Lakeland. It's great. Was my best cleaning gadget until I bought my carpet sweeper 😄

Sound system/hifi - we treated ourselves last year as I was sick of asking flaming Alexa to turn it on/turn it off/play ####/turn it up/turn it down. Now I can listen to the radio, Bluetooth from my phone or even play a CD or a RECORD, and I dont have to say one word to Alexa! Absolutely great purchase - so many more options for listening and the sound soooo much better.

Used for bladder conditions in uk

We have a milkman - one of the last of the customer taken on just as first lock down declared - we stuck with it but not daily twice a week - as milk while slightly more expensive cuts down trips to Tesco met and actually saves us money as we don't then see other things to get.

It's not a float though - it just a standard white van these days - though they do most of the additional items.

For those who've asked about the pastry blender: it's for the "rub the butter into the flour" stage of making pastry. Weigh out your butter (ideally not rock hard from fridge, so take out for a little while first) and flour (flour:butter at 2:1 ratio). Roughly cut butter into large chunks. Take blender and push down repeatedly till cubes of butter magically become as fine as breadcrumbs. Add iced water spoonful at a time (or water mixed with an egg yolk), mixing with fork till rough ball of pastry formed. Wrap in cling film to chill at least half an hour.

Blender is best cleaned after soaking awhile in water with a tough vegetable brush (another useful gadget).

Those vegetable brushes with stiff bristles, my mum always shops for them when she visits me because they sell them here, she can't seem to find decent ones in Britain.

It's been quite a while since I needed to lay siege to a castle, but mine's still in the shed.

This is where the 'toilet brush' has a perfect secondary use in our house.

Vegetable brush: 100s of types available, not just on the dreaded A----n

Loving this thread.
I too own a shopping trolley👋

The one thing that really does need to come back is Ice Magic

Corkscrews! Oh and you can still get Cardinal Red for quarry tiles and another version by Tableau…

They seem to sell them in a lot of places near me. Ask her to look in Waitrose.

I'm not sure she's posh enough

Not posh enough to buy a vegetable brush? How strange.

Has she tried the Oxo one?

www.amazon.co.uk/OXO-Grips-Vegetable-Brush-Green/dp/B00004OCL2?th=1

OMG where i live loads have shopping trolleys best invention ever 🤣

Yeah you can buy de-bobblers I have one and it works super well!

@Useyourfork also loving the thread, even if most gadgets still exist, but come on! Ice magic tasted of chocolate wax and was pretty awful gunk.