There are many household items that are advertised to help you ‘cut better’ or ‘cook faster,’ but they aren’t anything more than gimmicks. If you’re looking to save yourself some extra money, here are 18 household items you really shouldn’t be spending money on.
Specialized Egg Cookers
Egg Cookers do nothing more than boil eggs for you. And this means that, more often than not, unless you cook eggs every day, they sit idle in the kitchen, taking up important space. What’s more, alternatives like standard pots and pans allow you to cook more eggs simultaneously, saving you time too!
Banana Hangers
Ask what benefits banana hangers bring, and you’ll hear that they help prevent cuts on your bananas and slow down the ripening process. But what you’ll end up dealing with are bananas that ripen unevenly and an appliance that wastes your kitchen counter space. We also learn from The Mirror that hangers with fruit bowls are even worse.
Avocado Slicers
With avocado slicers, you have more kitchen appliances to clean and store, without any special benefits from them as you still manually cut up the avocado yourself. Avocados are also irregular fruits, which means the slicer never works perfectly with them anyway. Normal knives and spoons will serve you better.
Over-the-Door Organizers
Over-the-door organizers don’t stop at increasing the risk of your door or its frame damaging over time. It also causes unnecessary clutter in your home, as it encourages hanging clothes that aren’t used as frequently – in plain sight. And most are flimsily designed as well, causing you to spend more money replacing them.
CD and DVD Collections
You don’t want to be buying CDs or DVDs when digital media is much more accessible these days. These disks take up physical space and are even less durable than the digital alternatives you have. And it gets worse when you consider that, according to the Economic Times, players for them have become obsolete already, so even if you have some, you can’t play them!
Decorative Teapots
Unless you’re buying them specifically for ornamental purposes, decorative teapots only make you spend more than your regular teapots, without any functional advantage. You’ll also have to use them less often, as many are designed to be fragile and break easily.
Ice Cream Makers
The ice cream maker almost always becomes an appliance everyone abandons eventually and there are two main reasons for this. One is that you spend more time making ice cream than you would going to the store, and the other is that pre-made ice creams come in a lot more flavors. As an extra, these appliances are typically bulky and difficult to clean.
Fabric Softeners
Why get a fabric softener when detergents also come with fabric-softening qualities? A Researchgate paper reveals that they damage your clothes’ fire resistance qualities and could also irritate your skin. Remember that these products only make your clothes feel softer on your skin and don’t make your clothes come out any cleaner.
Bread Makers
The bread maker is just like your ice cream maker in the sense that its usage declines once your initial interest in it fades off. So, you end up with a bulky device that sits in your kitchen, wasting valuable space that could be used for something else. And bread is inexpensive and easy to find too, making bread makers more of a nuisance than a help!
Popcorn Makers
Again, we have something with an excellent alternative that you already have at home. Rather than using popcorn makers, which cause you to have less kitchen space, you can settle for your quicker and easier-to-clean microwaves or ovens. Popcorn makers don’t offer any taste advantage over them, either.
Cloth Steamers
Your regular irons do the same job as clothes steamers, and you can use them for more things too. Clothes steamers take up space in your closet and are only effective for a limited selection of clothes – they won’t help you with creases on your hard collars or pants.
Manual Juice Presses
If you’re going to buy one, we suggest you get the more expensive electronic option. Manual juice presses require significant physical effort to use, and this means your strength basically determines the quality of the juice. The electronic versions are faster, provide better, more consistent results, and are even easier to clean.
Pasta Makers
The pasta you buy from stores is inexpensive and takes little to no effort to make at home. But what really makes pasta makers not worth the money is that many aren’t reliable, and you have to spend extra to get yourself the great options – which use more electricity too!
Electric Blankets
With electric blankets, not only do you spend more money upfront and then some extra on your energy bills; but OxfordAcademic says they increase your risk of cancer, especially if the blankets are old, improperly used, or damaged. Wool duvets or weighted blankets are great alternatives for you.
Wine Preservation Systems
You have to know that many preservation systems on the market are ineffective, especially over longer preservation periods. And you only get results from the more sophisticated ones, which are pretty expensive. Firmly recorking your wine bottle and placing it upright in the refrigerator will suffice.
Cookie Presses
Although they’re faster and easier to use than their manual counterparts, electric cookie presses have very limited use, even in baking activities. They also increase your energy bill unnecessarily. Rather than giving you better cuts, using a cookie press could make your cuts actually come out worse, as dough often gets stuck in the die-cut disk.
Salad Spinners
Unless you’re an enthusiast for salad (eating it every day), a salad spinner will just be another bulky appliance that takes up valuable space in your kitchen. They aren’t essential for preparing a salad either; you can do a great job drying your lettuce and other greens with paper or fabric towels instead.
Electric Can Openers
It’s pretty straightforward with the electric can opener. Manual openers are simply cheaper, more reliable, and easier to store than the electric option. These electric openers could develop faults, causing you to spend money repairing or replacing them. And we haven’t even mentioned the extra electricity bill that comes with them.
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