What NOT to buy... save money by not buying useless stuff!

[KingRolo]

Inspired by the fantastic "great big list of products that are cheaper but just as fab versions of their expensive counterparts", here's another money saving thread.

What have you bought that turned out to be absolute bobbins? Come and tell all and help others avoid making the same mistake!

For me:

No7 Protect and Perfect serum - made no discernable difference to my skin.

New Look Hula jeans - just made my muffin top rise several inches.

Birds Eye Seaside Specials frozen fish - boak.

Quinny Zapp ( you only have to cough near the pram and it falls over)

lisianthus, I borrowed an Amby Nest from SIL and DD slept in it for the first six months, she loved it. Every time I tucked her in she looked so happy. And when she woke up in the morning I could stick my foot out of the end of the bed and rock the hammock .

Oh I have fallen prey to/been given some absolute classics:

• a hooded towelling dressing gown for 0-6months: perfect for those post-bath 10 minutes when your baby can put his/her feet up and read the newspapers before you wrestle them back out of the thing and into their sleepsuit for the evening feed. Completely. Ridiculous.

• a 'Eurochopper' - pointless plastic contraption with blunt blades and a kind of pump mechanism. It's said to enable you to chop onions without crying. I disagree, it could easily reduce a grown woman to tears.

• the majority of weaning products, I'm thinking in particular of those plates with divisions which apparently help to teach your young tot that not all food comes mashed (cos they'll never find out otherwise)

• folding chopping boards - they don't stay flat, which is quite a significant flaw in a chopping board

• a mini blow torch for crisping the top of creme brulée. You can imagine how many times that's been used.

Bumbos are great, if you want to save money buy one secondhand, they are pretty tough so can be used for more than one baby!!

I cannot believe people think that Clarks shoes, Moses baskets and car sun blinds are a waste of money LOL I would never put a small child in anything other than Clarks shoes, Moses baskets are perfect for the first 2 months and DS would not be happy if we took the sun blinds off!

I have to defend my food processor. Use it every day to chop up vegetables so small that the toddler won't find them hiding in his dinner.

Clarks shows overpriced crap imo, plus you can't actually choose the shoe, your child is sized and you have given the choice of whatever shoe is available in that size. If the one you want is unavailable, tough. And you have stood there in screaming child hell for 40 minutes waiting for a 16 year old to tell you this, and the take £40 of your hard earned cash. Sod that for a game of soldiers, Ladybird shoes (RIP) here we come.

GHD hair straighteners. No discernible difference between these and a £30 pair of Babyliss ceramic ones. Just £50 wuid or so difference in price.

Expensive false lash effect mascara. Only try these if you like the dead spider on eyes look. Save yourself a tenner and buy a Collection 2000 one (and look human as well into the bargain).

Also have to defend food processor.

Have found Ecco and Geox shoes much better than Clarks for DS (3).

Waste of money are nappy wrapper, juicer, shredder, video recorder, Wii.

Expensive coffee shop style coffee makers. DH insisted he needed one, so far we've had it a year, I reckon we're running at £30 a cup he's used it so often . I can't be bothered with all the fiddling and use the ancient cafetiere instead.

Thanks Bettymum - that gives me hope!

Wow - food processors are getting a lot of support here. I might have to drag mine out and explore its possibilities again.

Defend Bumbo - my DS used his from 5 months to about 18 months - we loved it all the way and now lend it to friends ... waste of money was the bouncy rocker thingy we had (and didn't use)

Defend top and tail bowl - the Dog loves having food one side and water the other

Useless those instant bar-b-qs from supermarkets - a sheet of highly flammable paper so you scorch your eyebrows and burn the meat on lighting it, then teeny bits of broken charcoal that never get hot - 3 hours later the charred meat is still uncooked and now very cold....

waste of money was the Blu-ray disc I bought - didn't realise you needed a special player to watch it

Oh but I heart my breadmaker - and my salad spinner! My Kenwood on the other hand is gathering dust.

IMHO the very expensive face creams are snake oil, but you know, each to her own.

PDR your list reads like something out of "Shopaholic and Baby!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - wet toilet tissue is the business. I am quite evangelical about it.

Agree with Clarks shoes, my DC have never had Clarks shoes and their feet are fine!!
Ladybird shoes have come back from the dead!!

www.woolworths.co.uk/rf/wlo/s.do/kids-nursery/footwear

Agree with the coffee maker DH bought one and its been used a couple of times in 18 months.

Baby bathes, mine has been used for carry laundry more that its been used as a bath, DS3 had a plastic bath support thingy so he could have a bath with his big sister before he could sit.

going to have to defend

"hooded towelling dressing gown for 0-6months:"
-- we use ours at the pool as a way to keep DD warmish while we rinse/towel/dress

amby hammock
-- we struggled with this for a long time, being the sort of people who couldn't justify over £100 for something that could only be used for 12 months tops. we ended up getting one of these made custom and bought a full-size garden hammock stand for it. I can sit in that hammock if I want . It's a rod for our backs though as DD is absolutely addicted to the swinging. It's a REALLY hard night if it takes more than five minutes to get her to sleep with it, but can take hours without. The upside was that it hung over the edge of our bed when she was tiny so we didn't even have to roll over to half-heartedly rock baby back to sleep . I would say it's our #1 best baby investment EVAH.

baby bath
-- we used ours constantly as the bathroom in our flat was fecking cold when our Christmas baby was born... a little plastic bath kept heat better and could be moved to a warmer room if it was really sub-zero. Now we use it to bathe the cats, and since they won't ever outgrow it it's £7 well spent.

Nappy bin - we got it cheap with Bounty Voucher and used it a few times. The cartridges were a real waste of money. We freecycled it.

We got a wee flimsy mothercare baby carrier and used it twice. We upgraded to a framed one that summer and again used it a few times. I'm pg with no 3 and will drag it out of the attic just to try and use it again as it was pricey but babies are heavy - i much prefer wheels!

We used our top n tail bowl with both babes and i think its handy for keeping cotton wool and creams and stuff now.
Baby bath was a pressie but we did use it with 1st baby and then to chuck clothes to be ironed into.

Gro bags are a great buy. I wouldn't be without one even from 0-6 mths.

I cant live without wipes, i'd love an alternative as they aren't v green but they are dead handy

Have to defend the tummytub - both my boys loved it and was brilliant at calming down my ridiculously colicky DS1.

Waste of money - any baby outfit with poppers at the back or which has buttons instead of poppers. Why, why, why?

Anything that you can only buy as a special gift pack at Christmas. My husband and I have birthdays close to Christmas so we get a double whammy of these from the ILs - he usually gets some sort of fancy beer glass and bottle of beer, one year I got a hot water bottle and bedsock set (am I 90?)

I do like the bumbo, but only at the Ebay price.

I agree with hooded towels - never found them big enough - and top and tail bowl.

I didn't buy a nappy wrapper - that's what old bread bags and vegetable bags are for.

I used to agree with dinkystinky about those French babyclothes that fasten up the back, but DS2 won't lie on his back for longer than 2 seconds, so they are actually quite good now.

I know babywalkers are the devil's work, but I have borrowed one because I can take (still crawling) DS2 into the bathroom and kitchen with me and find it really useful for that.

I will defend my Bumboit was great for 3-5 months and at the NCT new to you sale price of £5, hardly a hardship!
V-Tech toys are shite, not educational at all. Give me some wooden bricks and tupperware and we are away.
I love my Renault Scenic with its in built sun shades, but the shades you but from boots were crap.
My husband bought me a food processor for Christmas and it has not been used. I am going to sell it!
I think you get what you pay for with baby slings/carriers, and have tried and passed on a Mamas and Papas and a Mothercare carrier. Baby Bjorn and Moby Sling all the way for me!

Waste of money:

Baby bath -- went from washing up-bowl/ sink direct to big bath. Should have got a big round plastic tub instead, at least I'd reuse it for the garden / laundry. Odd shape for any other use and takes up too much of my limited storage space. Gift from my sister so made the effort to use it for 3 weeks.

Vegetable peeler + julienne thingy off TV shopping channel. Yes I got suckered into it via the demo. Peeler is so sharp I sliced my finger deeply on first use, took weeks to heal, and julienne thing jams up & doesn't work. Stick to my good old peeler I've had for ages (though the sharp one is good for butternut squash - with caution - and I intend to try it on pineapple as per the demo).

Buggy board - what a waste of £60
DS1 rode on it twice (just long enough to step off as we were crossing the road ) then refused any further rides; he did like to see it in place so I could bang my shins on it though
I do know some kids get on very well with buggy boards but mine definitely doesn't. Now taken the plunge for a P&T and we both love it.

Baby carrier rucksack -- are you kidding, I need a buggy with a humongous basket to carry changing bag + the shopping

Big thumbs up to:
Salad spinner: love it, very satisfying giving it a whirr and only way to avoid soggy lettuce. Bagged salad is such a rip-off.

Remoska from Lakeland: hesitated before buying it as I worried it would be a mistake and eat up counter space. We use it at least 2x week and barely turn on the oven anymore. Plus no worries about the kiddies touching the hot oven door. Energy saving too.

Ped-egg: bought it after reading the various MN threads, only thing that has made a difference to my horny feet - got a pink one too

my Phil and Ted's Sport double buggy What a waste of money- all fur coat and no knickers.

In only only used it for a short while as my children very quickly grew out of it. I didn't think the quality was good at all. After 3 months the canvas on the smaller seat threaded. As a three wheeler, it's a nightmare on curbs and even one step.

Bought for 400, sold for half that aster 3 months, with th canvas repaired as I musch preferred my rather battered side by side Maclaren. They are great, durable, practical and half the price. Ok, they don't look so trendy but they do the job.

agree with what is said about Clark's shoes. Although you might get a good fitting, the quality isn't all that good for the price. Yes and you have a choice of one/two shoes styles.
Sayingthat my DD's school shoes have lasted but for out of school wear, Mothercare, Next etc are fine.

My 2 year old adores her Peppa Pig trainers!

I agree - Next clothes are so bad I couldn't buy them even when I had vouchers to get them for free. Still have outstanding credit from when work gave me Next vouchers. What a waste of money

at rumer. Also the Rock Chick - bought one after reading rave reviews on here, for a bit of fun. 'Tis useless. Big disappointment.

Breadmaker - it's one of the earlier ones, so maybe that's why it's not up to much.

Slow cooker - like the idea, but rarely that organised.

Outfits for babies under six months - sleep suits so much more practical.

I'd second NEXT clothes, too - shapeless (or quickly lose shape) and don't wear well.

Potties - unergonomic. Mothercare potty chairs, on the other hand, were brilliant.

Fancy changing bags - they are so expensive, and you can kit out a simple rucksack with the essentials for a fraction of the price.

Dualit toaster - looks good, but doesn't toast that well.

Popcorn maker and juicer do get used, though.

Another fan of the bumbo - mine was a godsend for both of mine and has been used by various other family babies so a good investment.

My wastes:
The car I specifically bought because it had isofix for the carseat. Only for DS to hate the car so much that I ignored all horror stories and moved him forward facing as soon as he hit 9kg. I still mourn my old car.

Beaba babycook
Annabel Karmel food grinder - fiddly and messy.
Stool for gliding nursing chair - as if I was ever going to be able to put my feet up!