What household item did you ever purchase that turn out to be a waste of money.

That perfect pancake flipper thing! It would cook it perfectly on one side, but on the other it wasn’t rimmed or anything, so it was pretty much useless you liked half raw pancakes.

A battery powered electric string trimmer. What a waste of cash.

A microwave, think I used it twice in 5 years. I no longer own a microwave and probably never will again.

I bought one of those fancy air purifiers, too. Then read all kinds of stuff about how ineffective they are. UGH.

@SundayKittens Yeah, what they don’t tell you is how much our lungs are used to the regular air we breathe.

One of those Bark Stop devices that make an ultrasonic noise whenever a dog barks. Useless. It had no effect on the incessant yapping of my neighbor’s two Westies.
One day it got so bad I went up to the dogs and fired my .38 into the ground about 2 feet away. They did not skip a beat!
My neighbors are very nice but both are hard of hearing (not deaf, but close)and honestly did not know there was a problem. Now we just let the dogs into their house if they are outside barking.
The BarkStop is a boat anchor.

My husband brought home a NuWave oven. It’s a countertop roaster. You can put in frozen food and it will cook it in about the time it would take to cook in an oven something that was already defrosted. Gah! That sentence was awful! Sorry. It did a great job on a frozen roast, but not such a great job on some frozen chicken. My issue with it is that you end up with four parts that have to be washed. If I remember to defrost, I can throw the food in a roasting pan or baking sheet and have one thing to wash. Also, it takes up a lot of room on the counter. Luckily, he is taking it to hunting camp so it will be gone soon.

those plastic pasta cookers. We used it once as seen on TV. You have to use boiling water. if you are going to boil water just throw the spaghetti in the water, skip the plastic thingy.

@woodcutter Yeah, I’ve seen a few gadgets like that on tv.

A kitchen Oster set which included the mixer, blender, and food processor. It was much harder to clean up the darn thing than to simply cut the vegetables my self. The only part I used was the blender, and I got a smaller, easier to use blender after I gave away the Oster set.

A pasta maker. Just too much fuss.

an ice cream maker

I bought a pair of house slippers that had little thingies on the bottom that would clean your floor as you walked. Needless to say, they were completely inefficient. I bought them as kind of a joke anyway, and they were only $2. :)

A pair of stained plastic (uhm… cylindrical containers for large amounts of liquid? There’s a normal word, I just can’t think of it)... Anyway, they made everything taste like cancer. Or carcinogenic, either way. (and THAT word I know, jesus christ)

@Zyx Let us know when you think of it. (Thermos, water jug)
@noelleptc I always wondered about that egg extracter. Glad to know, now I won’t make another worthless purchase.

@Pandora I think jug might suffice to desribe it’s function but they had turnable tops to filter stuff inside, probably meant for sangria or junk.

I have come to the conclusion that just about any product that carries the label “As advertised on TV” is a waste of money.

@noelleptc is that the blanket with arms? My wife has been eyeing them up

I actually bought one that is designed kind of like a snuggy but it has zippers and the inside is as warm as a sleeping bag and the outside is smooth. I bought it at JC penny as a joke for my husband and I can’t tell you how many family members tried to leave with it. Its not a snuggy but the design is almost the same and its is thick with zippers and clips.
I’ve gone from Icy cold to warm in less than 5 minutes.

A friend of mine in college made herself and her sister Snuggies, and they were absolutely obsessed with them. Seems practical, actually—no more having to wriggle into the perfect spot so that your body stays blanket-covered but you can actually reach your book/remote/drink/anything.

I think I just convinced myself to invest in a Snuggie…

A dog scratching post