Unnecessary & Wasteful/Expensive Products

[LoreD]

I keep getting advertisements for fairly expensive products that I don't understand why they are popular:

The UnWipe.



A $30 bathroom product that you fill with water, press on the little screen, and it mildly dampens your toilet paper, so you don't disintegrate your toilet paper. If you will notice, it imprints a turd on the paper.

I had thought about getting a bidet, but left a squeeze (barbecue sauce) bottle next to the toilet; and it seemed to clean back there and wet my toilet paper just fine.

Is there an entire industry of expensive items, which have almost free options.

I saw another item in a local store.

Toilet Bombs

They were $1 apiece, and came in a cute little cloth bag with 10 bombs for $10. You throw them in your toilet, they fizz and bubble, and clean your toilet.

I watched a video of a professional cleaner, and she said these were denture cleaning tabs. They sell a pack of 40 for $4, and they are the same thing.

What expensive useless item have you seen lately?

 

[Col]

Quite a lot really; one very widespread one is the prevalence of animal skin steering wheels and seats in vehicles

 

[VegetableLiker]

That first one, to me, is so stupid! Like, HELLO, just buy wet wipes!? AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

 

[Lou]

I found baby wipes at the dollar store.. but the can't be flushed or re-used, or recycled.

 

[silva]

I've had a toilet seat bidet for a few years. I tried a spray one, just like a kitchen sink sprayer, but the seat is just sooooo much better. It connects to the same water line. When I was doing the colonoscopy prep I couldn't imagine not having one!

I was looking all over for something and came across so much I hadn't used in ages. My house is small, but lots of storage, esp cabinet in the basement. I don't know if I want to put on the free neighborhood site or donate

 

[LoreD]

For some reason I have been getting a lot of advertisements for various toothbrush protectors to prevent fecal matter contamination. There was one that was battery powered and had this clear top to keep the brushes clean. They kept talking about how every time we flush, all of the poopy flies around, and then lands on the toothbrush.

I have always been aware of the problem and had thought that just closing the lid when I flushed solved that problem. I didn't need a $30 appliance when a closed toilet lid worked just fine.

 

[LoreD]

These I truly don't understand. $18 for vegetable covers. I've found that when I don't use all of the tomato or onion; I just take a saucer, put the veggie upside down on the porcelain, and it seems to keep it pretty fresh. Works for cucumbers and onions, too. I had these stretchable bowl covers that I used for covering leftovers in the fridge, and I've used them on veggies. The pack has 5 different sizes, and fit all the way from a cucumber to half of a cabbage. I save my bottle tops so I can store leftovers in the repurposed bottles. I usually can find one that is a perfect fit for the smaller veggies and lemons. A jam jar top fits a cucumber or lemon. A wide mouth pickle jar top fits a tomato.

Most the time, we can find a solution in our junk drawer.

I remember when Alton Brown showed this special pan to make brownies with crust on each piece. He said that everybody already had one, and lifted up a muffin pan.

 

[shyvas]

I absolutely love these fruit and veg savers. They are airtight and you can see what you've stored unlike a in a bowl or a plate. Moreover, I only paid 2 and 3$ pour each saver at both Ross's and TJ Max.
I have an avocado one, a lemon one, a tomatoneone, an onion one and also a guac saver. I would highly recommend them.