What is the meaning of the word gadget? I checked the dictionary and am now totally confused.
- Ingenious device – a small device that performs or aids a simple task.
- Trivial device – a small device that appears useful but is often unnecessary or superfluous.
So perhaps I don’t mean gadget at all. Perhaps ‘labour saving device’ would be more accurate. How do you get on with those? I’m not sure that I do, on the whole, although I wouldn’t be without the washing machine or dishwasher especially if someone else does the loading and unloading. I could live without a microwave oven though – it seems to justify its position only by heating milk for the odd hot chocolate or reheating spaghetti sauce.
I’m sure that some of the objects we’ve had as a household over the years, either bought or gifted, have been designed with the best intentions of making life easier for the user, to save time doing mundane tasks. But do they? How much thought has really gone into these items by their design teams and testers? Who are these testers, I wonder, and do they test them in real life situations as well as in their lab/design studio?
The first item I have issue with is my bag-less vacuum cleaner. I was sucked into having one of these on the back of a brilliant advertising campaign which preyed on my domestic anxiety by suggesting that up until the point at which I used one, my house was filled with microscopic dust particles that my old vacuum just wasn’t picking up. My house, therefore, was filthy.
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It’s an upright Dyson. No doubt at all about its aesthetic qualities – but did Mr Dyson, during one of the alleged 5127 attempts at getting his design perfect, ever lug it up two flights of stairs? It weighs a ton and is awkward to carry. The see-through cylinder has its drawbacks, too. We might be fooled into thinking that just because we can see the multicoloured striations of accumulated house dust it must be picking up more detritus than its with-a-bag predecessor – but how do we really know? Then there’s the micro-filter to deal with. You’re supposed to remove it periodically and wash it. Just don’t forget to put it back because it makes a hell of a mess if you don’t.
Emptying the cylinder is fraught with difficulty, too. Where is one supposed to do this task? Outside is like the random scattering of a loved one’s ashes with the wind in the wrong direction. Indoors and there is every likelihood that millions of micro particles will escape and burrow themselves ever deeper into your carpets while an ash cloud billows up into your face. Having shelled out a not inconsiderable sum for this monstrosity I’m loathe to ditch it just yet, but I’m not happy.
A gadget that I’ve definitely not missed since it found its way to the charity shop is the slow cooker. Given to us as a wedding present by a well meaning aunt, I persevered with it for a while, following recipes from the accompanying cook book. However, it was certainly not labour saving, as meat and onions had to be browned before it was transferred to said pot, requiring reluctant culinary skills before 7.00am plus I’d arrive at work smelling like I’d been selling burgers from a van outside Wembley Stadium. Neither did it produce a very nice meal to come home to after a long day at work and a disrupted commute. Most of the recipes suggested six hours to cook anything and at that time we were probably out of the house for almost double that, so would arrived home starving to a pot full of slushy over cooked mush.
Toasters: we’ve had several different types over the years ranging from two to four slice capacity, cheap to expensive models and none of them produce consistently toasted bread so while not fulfilling their purpose, they are taking up valuable space on the work top. We end up toasting under the grill.
Cappuccino/espresso maker: Been there, done that. Regular readers will know that I’ve divested myself of any coffee making related gadgetry – you can’t beat an old fashioned Cafetière. Too much cleaning involved with the other variety which fails to deliver a decent cup at the correct strength or temperature.
So I come to the latest addition to my labour saving arsenal. A few weeks ago, on the recommendation of a good friend, I purchased a steam cleaner. It comes with a myriad of attachments, can be used upright to clean floors in a jiffy or hand held it tackles those difficult to clean places like your hob, your upholstery, around taps and your shower tray. The combined enthusiasm of my friend (Mrs N. – you know who you are), and the cleaner’s accompanying literature convinced me that this would cut my cleaning time in half. Well, frankly, the jury’s still out. Having wrestled to get the thing put together in the first place I realised almost immediately that, for me at least, there is a major design flaw. Being tall, the handle height appeared to be at a comfortable level until I discovered that the lever which must be continually pressed down for steam to be released is situated at the base of the hand held area, shortening the upright by around four inches. Now this might not sound much but I can assure you it increases the angle of lean considerably thereby increasing the level of back ache.
A steam cleaner is also supposed to obviate the need for detergents which sounds very environmentally friendly I know, but cleaning just doesn’t feel the same without a bottle of Flash or Cillit Bang to hand. And all that steam! Surely it goes somewhere to create mould related cleaning problems for which I’m betting there’ll be another gadget. However, I shall persevere for a while: if all else fails I can always get aforementioned friend to come round and give me a demo.
Wait a minute: that’s just given me a thought. The best labour saving device ever must be to employ a cleaner; a treasure who’ll come round regularly and do all those tedious jobs for you. Worth their weight in gold, I reckon. Is that a bit bourgeois? I’d be doing my bit to decrease unemployment. It’s a win win situation. Hmm … I bet they’d get to grips with a steam cleaner. Perhaps I could stipulate a height requirement in my advert …
Far be it from me to ever disagree but …..
I would normally assume a gadget to be small, regardless of whether it is useful or not, so eg a GPS. A Swiss Army Knife. Definitely not a vacuum cleaner, a steam cleaner, a coffee machine could possibly be borderline.
So yes, or no, whichever you choose, I don’t think you are talking about gadgets but consumer electrical goods. Can’t even call them white goods because they aren’t.
I have never bought/used a microwave, inherited one from the flat which we sold for a tenner and one from my mother which I still haven’t got round to selling.
We have a Dyson but a cylinder version. A bit like microwaves, I loathe upright vacuum cleaners and have never bought one yet. I don’t dislike it, and don’t mind emptying it, or even occasionally remembering to wash the filter. Also, saves buying those irritating bags.
I’ll agree on the slow cooker. I bought one when we were waiting for our new cooker to be delivered and the old one had already gone. We got sick of take-aways after two meals, and this also involved over the weekend. If you think meat meals are bad in a slow cooker, imagine vegetable-based ones. Vile. Never used since. A car boot sale or Friday Ads calls.
I’ve only ever bought one toaster, normally using the grill, but because the grill (and the oven) didn’t work when we bought the flat (hence needing a new cooker finally after a few years) and it was/is a Dualit. Highly recommended.
We’ve gpt an espresso maker at the finca (a flash expensive model) and a filter here in Gib. I prefer them both to a cafetière, which also involves more washing up. Anyway, we’re drinking tea at the moment which is even less washing up.
Steam cleaner for all those areas you mention? Er. No. Just me.
We had a cleaner once. Partner fell into the same trap as my mother and used to go round the day before, cleaning, so the house was clean and tidy for when the cleaner came …
Okay, so not gadgets then – definitely labour saving devices. I hadn’t meant them to be solely small electricals – I could have mentioned my trusty old plastic salad spinner – excellent for drying lettuce efficiently but an absolute sod to clean.
I’ve never used a cylinder vacuum – I know people who swear by them, I just thought they would encourage more bending.
And heck it, I’ll do a bit of disagreeing too: washing up a cafetiere is much quicker than cleaning the caked on milk residue from the nozzle of the cappuccino maker or scrubbing out the coffee grounds from the dispenser.
You’re right about clearing up before the cleaner arrives – I know people who do that. I wouldn’t – I’d want my money’s worth 🙂
My wife is with you on the Dyson, she hates lugging it up the stairs (which is why I do most of the vacuuming). My memory of slow-cookers is even worse. When I was 13/14, my stepmother would always cook us our midweek meals in a slow cooker. She worked, so it made sense – from her perspective. However, I now have a hatred of liver casserole, beouf bourginogne (sp?) and any other form of hotpot due to these meals being murdered in a slow cooker.
That’s a real shame – casseroles can be delicious if tackled properly and definitely not in a slow cooker – just a low oven will do.
Glad to have support from Suffolk on the Dyson front – although I think his hand driers are marvellous 🙂
Oh, I`m a bit of a sucker for gadgets too. Almost capitulated to a coffee maker until I realised the very hard water in these parts would significantly shorten its life.
And the Dyson is hailed everywhere-well, especially in the Dyson literature-as being the thing to have. I can see the difficulties with it as you describe.
But I almost fell for the steam cleaner notion this year. It must be useful for cleaning curtains, suites and the like, isn`t it?
I’m not sure, I’m still in the trial and error stage. More error, to be honest but I did try it out on some upholstery which actually did work quite well – haven’t gone as far as curtains yet. What a discussion for a Sunday evening 🙂
My cappuccino maker ended up with the problem that *no amount of* cleaning would remove the dried up milk 😦 I do like my Porsche filter coffee maker, though.
Am rubbish at toast under the grill as I always forget about things. Wish I had the skill as yes, a toaster does take up space on the worktop.
Slow cooker – I think an oven gives a perfectly tasty result (especially my lovely new one!). Any resulting food can be reheated.
You probably remember my hoover broke a while back and I have still not found the need to replace it. A high class dustpan an brush is just as good – since it is lighter I use it more often, which gives hopefully almost as good an effect.
I’m imagining you lovingly creating something in your new oven while the toast is burning under the grill! And yes, nowadays if we want a stew/casserole, it goes in the oven, set very low and I’m around to check its progress. We are a slushy mush free zone. 🙂
Ah yes, electrical goods, what would we do without them?
I had a bagless vacuum cleaner once (not a Dyson) but loathed emptying it so when it broke I went back to bags. I like a toaster – unless you have an eye-level grill you can’t see what’s going on, and I did splash out on a steam / microwave oven only to find it takes about 20 minutes to steam asparagus, so now like you I use it to heat milk and leftover sauces. Big beast too!
Also like you I’m back to using a cafetière after my sexy coffee machine broke down after only 6 months, leaving me with capsules I no longer have use for.
Never had a slow cooker as such, but I did use hay boxes back in the ’70s that worked really well, though they are not of course electrical.
Not convinced by steam cleaners, though they look impressive, and as for cleaners, well in my experience (and I was a cleaner once upon a time) most of them don’t clean as well as I do (from other family members’ use of, not mine).
And think of all the electricity we use with these ‘gadgets’ what’s wrong with a dustpan and brush, a good stiff brush for the carpet, a scrubbing brush and a fine film of dust everywhere 🙂 We’d probably all be a lot fitter!
Great post Jenny!
Thanks Jude – and some great responses – seems like housework chores have struck a chord! I’m with you on the return to the dustpan and brush – most definitely the best way to tackle the stairs. A carpet fitter once showed me the best way to get stains off a carpet which involved cold water and an old bath towel – no scrubbing and it works every time with a bit of patience – even red wine.
I’m curious about hay boxes – what are they? Seemed to have passed me by completely.
I steam asparagus in my fish kettle with pretty good results – again, the kettle was an impulse buy when we ate a lot of fish – not used quite so much recently but I wouldn’t part with it as its odd shape can come in handy for other things.
And I think you’re right – what harm does a little bit of dust do? Seems folks are more allergy prone now without a bit of exposure to a few random particles.
The hay box was something I used when I lived in South Africa. Basically an airtight wooden box, lined with hay with an insulated lid which is well sealed. (An old-fashioned Crockpot) into which you put your heated casserole dish. Leave it several hours to cook. Not sure why my M-I-L thought it necessary, as I was at home with the children anyway!!
Ah, thanks Jude – that’s really interesting. Sounds so much better than something you plug in on the work top.
Very funny rant. We have a bag-type vacuum (uprights) but got tired of lugging it up the stairs to the loft (North American type not the English under the roof dumping ground).
So we bought a very light-weight upright (bag less) that is really a glorified dust-buster, but does a dandy job on the stair carpets. And we whip it out for a quickie clean much more often than the old luggable.
Toasters are the bane of my existence, the only one that ever gave consistent and good results was so old the fabric lead wore out and it wasn’t possible to repair.
Coffee is best in a cafetiere which we call a French Press – sounds more interesting, almost naughty. And is easy to clean. But we do enjoy the odd espresso – meaning once in a while, not strange tasting. So we have a small espresso maker. As long as you clean it out right away it’s easy – but then the coffee is cool, I guess that’s why I’m the one who ‘makes the best coffee, (“so you do it”).
Don’t think either of us would be safe around a steam-cleaner. We did buy a carpet cleaner once – clogged up after the first use and had to go to the er cleaners – and did the same the next time – gone with the wind now.
We do make use of a bread-maker (not on your list I note), but only to make dough – mainly pizza dough, which it does very well indeed, though the blades do tend to stop turning after four years. New bin with blades costs more than new bread machine – they know how to make dough all right.
That’s an awfully long time to make a pizza – we just get take-aways … 🙂
I haven’t got a bread maker but I have a friend who does and she sometimes passes on a loaf or two which have always been very tasty.
Replacements are always expensive. A colleague at work needed new ink for his printer and ended up buying a new printer with ink already installed as this was the cheaper option – how mad is that?
I love your name for Cafetiere – I’m going to adopt that – it’ll make me think of cafes by the Seine, reading Le Monde with a decent cup of coffee and a croissant. 🙂
We use a French Press, too. Now, thanks to you, Rod, I will feel just a little bit naughty every morning.
We were just discussing at dinner, the whole notion of labor-saving devices. And what, exactly, does that mean. Because seriously, they do not really ever save us the effort. The don’t call them time-saving, because they’re not.
And recently, while I was scrubbing the tub and the toilet and my back was aching, I thought back to the time when I was bourgeois enough to hire a cleaning lady to do all that (well, yes, my house was large then, and we have downsized and felt it was no longer necessary to put out the cash for a cleaner every week). Thinking back to that time, I decided that I was right. Some things are better left to the experts.
And slow-cookers. They are most definitely not labor saving. They’re only good if you do NOT let them run for longer than 6 hours. We use ours to conserve energy (they use much less fuel than a range/cooker) and, in summer, to keep the kitchen cooler. Also, to store foods at a warm temperature for a buffet.
I definitely agree that some things are better left to the experts. Someone who will remain nameless has taken two weekends recently to fix a minor plumbing problem rather than call in an expert – who probably would have done the job in a couple of hours …
Ah – I missed that trick of using the slow cooker as a means for hot food entertaining – I can see the advantages of that.
Of all the chores I do, strangely I don’t mind cleaning the bathroom – at least it always looks like I’ve done something in there. No-one ever notices when you vacuum 🙂
You’ve reminded me that cleaning the bathroom is strangely satisfying, and I’ve always felt a sense of accomplishment. My problem is, I cleaned this time while still not quite over the shingles. I felt like I had run a marathon.
Doing my own cleaning is one of the ways I stay in shape. I just have to remember to pace myself better. (I think it’s quite absurd to hire someone to do all the physical chores around the house and lawn, drive the car to the neighborhood shops, and then pay a fitness membership for the privilege of trudging on a boring treadmill.)
I couldn’t agree more, Tracy. I just don’t see the point of expensive gym equipment which you use indoors. Surely exercise and fresh air go hand in hand.
Confession time…unfortunately our house has an abundance of cabinet space which is filled with gadgetry. However, just because we have gadgetry doesn’t mean it’s not covered in dust from lack of use.
1. The George Foreman Grill – it was great at first for a quick chicken breast or turkey burger…but the clean up…Oye!
2. The Hot Air Pop Corn Popper – I loved it at first, but after a few days of cleaning up kernels that shot across the kitchen floor into the family room, it got pushed further back into the cabinet.
3. The 100 pound bag-less vacuum…hate it! The first time I had to clean out the cylinder that captured every crumb, hair and whatever else takes up residency on your floor…I was completely grossed out. From the moment I detached the cylinder, particles went flying in the air resulting in me having to clean again! Thankfully, I held on to the Hoover that requires a bag and I’m never giving it up.
4. Crock Pot – I can understand your complaints, Jenny, not everything can be cooked in a crock pot like the makers want us to believe. For me, there are a few meals that I love to cook in the crock pot, but it’s always done on the weekend. On Friday or Saturday night, I’ll do the chopping, sautéing, etc. and get it all ready so first thing Saturday or Sunday morning, I just plug it in and leave it. I stick with chili, soup and stews. This is one piece of gadgetry that does get used.
Great post, Jenny!
Seems like we’re all in agreement over the bag-less vacuum, Jill. I can’t wait for mine to go wrong so I’m justified in going back to a Hoover.
I’m sure if I was able to use the slow cooker as it was intended I wouldn’t have been so damning about it but it was bought with the intention of making our working life easier – and it didn’t! I can see that Chili would work well though.
I don’t know anyone here with a George Foreman Grill although it was heavily advertised at one point on the TV. If it’s anything like the sandwich toaster we had as kids I can imagine how awful it is to clean. Our sandwich toaster smelled permanently of burned butter, as you had to spread fat on the outside of the slices so they wouldn’t stick to the machine. Revolting 🙂
Jill and I agree on the worst gadgets: the Foreman grill (because of the cleanup), and the Hot Air Pop corn popper (for more reasons that I can mention). Which brings me to the microwave, which makes great popcorn, and then even melts little containers of fresh butter to dribble over the popcorn, adding all those lovely extra calories.
Add to that the juicer–our whole family loves fresh squeezed carrot juice–but since cleaning up the juicer is even more work than cleaning up the Foreman Grill, we make occasional huge batches (5lb. bags of carrots!). We love the fresh taste and drink it down and feel oh-so-healthy–and then our skin takes on a distinct orangish hue for awhile.
It’s always something!
I have a vivid vision of you with glowing orange skin standing at your kitchen sink frantically scrubbing away at your juicer 🙂
I have an electric citrus press – I forgot to mention that in my post. I actually love it – we get fresh orange or grapefruit juice (sometimes mixed, which is lovely) and it’s not too bad on the cleaning front. So there we are – a useful gadget. I suppose it’s not really labour-saving as opening a carton of juice is so much quicker – just not quite the same.
Oh Jenny, I did enjoy this post and also the great run of conversation you had here, reading everyone’s take on all our wonderful ‘time-saving’ gadgets, great stuff!
I’m with you on everything here, especially the Dyson. I laughed out loud reading your description of trying to clean our the ‘ashes’ ha! When I moved back here I had to buy all my electronic gadgets to replace the ones I’d left behind in the States (which means that they are all breaking down at the same time, great) and I got a bag-less Dyson, the one designed for pets to keep allergens out of the air. But what is the point when they float right back up into the air when trying to clean out the canister? I usually end up spilling mine into the cats’ water bowl…don’t ask…
My Dyson broke down before Christmas and I got a cheaper model – a Vax. It is a lot lighter but I hate it in every other way. Yes, it has good suction but I have not one but two compartments to clear out and if the one at the top gets too full (which I can’t see) the vacuum makes the most horrendous, shrill noise. So much so that I dread hoovering now, so I hardly ever do it, lol 🙂
As for a steam cleaner, I borrow my mum’s but I’m not sure they really work as my carpet looks wonderful for about a day after and then returns to normal (as in not wonderful) a few days later.
I agree with you, getting someone in to do the chores seems like the perfect solution…
Great post to read on this dull (after yesterday’s glorious sunshiney) day, thanks Jenny 🙂
Glad I made you laugh – you can probably picture me fighting with getting the canister to fit inside a Tesco bag without leakage.
So I won’t look at a Vax, then. I think a bit of research is required – I’ll have to go to John Lewis and get some unbiased advice.
I wish I’d borrowed a steamer before I bought one – that would have been much more sensible. Still – I shall crack on with it – I might just find that actually, it’s the best thing since … (I hate sliced bread 🙂 )
Great post Jenny, you gave me a real laugh this morning! We have cupboards full of gadgets and I hate to think of all the money we’ve wasted over the years. We have the dyson and we have a mini dyson – but as most of our floors are wood or tile we don’t have to use them that often! And the slow cooker which is stuck on top of a cupboard. And there was the steamer that never got used. The George Foreman that went the same way. But I have to disagree on the toaster issue – much easier than using the grill! 🙂 And we wouldn’t be without our coffee maker – combined filter and espresso maker – I don’t think it’s that hard to clean – though maybe a few more components than a cafetiere! I love the thought of a cleaner – or particularly someone to do the ironing!
Oooh, I’ve never heard of a mini Dyson – perhaps that’s better (I’ll Google it in a bit). Also, you are the first person in the UK that I’ve met who had a George Foreman Grill 🙂
Yes – ironing – what a chore that is, especially if you let it pile up. I must say I try not to which means doing some virtually every other day. Still, I read on someone’s blog that standing is very healthy for us, so I now think of that every time I’m pressing shirts for England 🙂
Simile of the year to date there Jenny, the burger seller. I’m still waiting for those cleaner-robots that were promised about 50 years ago.
I hope it gave you a clear idea of the aroma I used to take with me into the office!
Funnily enough, there was an article on BBC news this morning about cleaner robots and how they are now making the robots look more like insects. It wasn’t very conclusive – I think you might be waiting a bit longer 🙂
I must have a newer generation Dyson. It’s very streamlined and lightweight, and I love it. I have the kids lug it up the stairs all the time on room cleaning day. I also love my slow cooker. I have one now that doubles as a rice/risotto cooker so I use it all the time. I would never want to be without a dishwasher again. That “labor saving device” is likely my favorite.
I remember feeling intimidated when my husband got me a smartphone. It felt like too much phone for me — why did I need all this stuff? People told me “It’ll change your life,” and they were right. Now I’m woefully dependent on it. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t.
I loved this post!
Oh yes, dishwasher wins hands down, most definitely agree there! Your Dyson sounds much more manageable – no way could I describe mine as streamlined. The only thing I like about it is the colour (grey and yellow).
I have an android phone which I use for infrequent messaging, calls and occasionally picking up e mails if I’m out and about. I wouldn’t know what else it is capable of. I find it a bit of a nuisance to be honest – I don’t like always being available to everyone. 🙂
Ooooo, Jenny, you hit the nail on the head (what a straightforward tool.. a hammer and a nail, I mean…makes sense to me) so many so called labour saving devices, which in the end, seems to my disillusioned eyes, cause as many problems as they supposedly save time. I have so many items stocked away in a cupboard or under the stairs. Sigh!! I wonder how much money I paid, just to find out my time was better spent with other simpler things… Great post… made me laugh and shake my head at the success some advertisers have scored. Bulls eyes in fact. xPenx
Simple things do seem to be the winners, don’t they. I suppose that’s life – we discover this after trying to over complicate things, thinking that because things are sophisticated and expensive they must naturally be better. Think I’ll stick with my J Cloth and bottle of Flash. What’s a bit of dust between friends? 🙂
You are so funny, Jenny! So funny. I don’t know if you have fallen prey to The George Forman grill or not. To me,using one was going to be indispensable, making paninis for our daughter before ballet all those years! (We opted for the fast food drive through line instead.) The GF is in our basement, still holding promise.
And your cleaning products over there!
How fun those names are. Over here, we have
Fabuloso! Do you? I think it is rather racist. Since a lot of cleaners are Hispanic, the name…… And it is too sticky sweet smelling.
About the mush. I like it. And while I agree with you about the amount of work prior to
GOING to work with the browning and sautéing of food in order to put it in a slow cooker, I still like the fact that the mess (high intensity work that it is) is over with, even if I go to work smelling like a worker at a hamburger stand.
Fabuloso – how brilliant is that! We definitely don’t have that here – I wish we did, I’d buy it in bulk. Does it match up to its name? I laughed out loud at you thinking it sounds racist. Flash is my favourite – it has a nice lemony smell.
The George Forman Grill is not something we fell prey to – in fact Andrea (above) is the only UK based person I know who has owned up to having one. It used to be advertised all the time on the TV.
I was thinking that if I did employ a cleaner, she’d have to be called Marian – then, just like you, I’d have my own Maid Marian. Which would be like being a little kid again because I often pretended I was Robin Hood. 🙂
You are hysterical. No Fabuloso is not so. 🙂 You made me laugh for the first time in a while!
It’s the best medicine, laughter …
We pretty much agree across the board, especially about the slow cooker. Mine only produces mush too and, as such, is never used. The one thing I would disagree on is the toaster. I’d never be without one! I’ve always bought a reasonably good one that handles 4 slices at a time and which has a decent “bagel” (toast only one side) setting as that’s also good for HB buns and the many times I want my toast done on one side. I’ll go as far as to say it’s the ONE small appliance I’d replace immediately if and when it breaks. But that’s just me–I consider toast (and chocolate) to be absolute necessities in life.
On a slightly different take on gadgets I recently saw a digitized copy of an electronics sales flyer from the early nineties. All of the electronic gadgets in it did things that modern smartphones do in one package (computer, phone, intercom, TV, radio, alarm, clock, tape player and recorder, etc.). I saw another from the 1970s and realized in contained only useless items–that I dearly craved but couldn’t afford at the time 🙂
Oooh yes, I totally agree that toast and chocolate are two of life’s priorities. I think they would both make my top ten list of the small things that make life better. Toast with chocolate spread? Not sure that would work actually.
I think I’m going to have to investigate the possibility of a Dualit toaster, as recommended by Roughseas. They are very ‘designery’ hence a large price tag, but then, if they deliver the goods it might be worth it.
This week is a half term holiday so on Friday I’ll be sitting in front of the TV with coffee and toast, watching Britain versus Canada in the Olympics Curling Final. I’m imagining you’ll be doing the same? 🙂
Ha ha Brad Gushue, skip of the 2005 gold medal team lives in my town. You can guess the answer. As for the toaster my black and Decker four slice model was on sale at Costco for $70 when I got it. It does a nice job but the dualit would be better I figure..
We’ve all been glued to the Curling here – it’s a bit of a novelty because normally it gets very little coverage, if any. This of course, will raise its profile.
I am proud to say that I am a gadget-phobic person. I have always considered most of them to be rip-offs and I think that your post proves that! I do have a toaster, however … 🙂
I think I’m probably gadget phobic too but it doesn’t stop me buying something on impulse – probably a good job my credit card is impounded this week. On a more positive gadget note, I persevered with the steamer this week and had some very good results after cleaning my rugs. 🙂