Buy cheap buy twice

[Susie]

This autumn everything in our house has stopped working and I am having to replace £$%£$%£$% everything (slight exaggeration perhaps) from the hot water bottle upwards. I am always reluctant to spend money on anything (probably why they keep breaking!) so I thought I would start a thread where we could say what things we have found to be good value (or not), and then if I know someone has had a good experience with something I can look out for it when I am next ebaying/ scouring the sales.

Good value:
Panasonic breadmaker - I bought my breadmaker about 3 years ago and have used it (as a bare minimum) 2 times every week since then, and it has been fantastic. I am confident that the breadmaker will keep going for years (I am touching wood as I type this).
Dualit toaster - we got this as a present when we moved into our house about 7 years ago, I was a bit embarrassed because it was so expensive and I thought you were just paying for the brand, but no! I love our Dualit toaster and I think it will outlive me.
(You will kick me off Ish for this next one) - Ugg boots. My mum insisted on buying me Ugg boots as a present last year, ditto concerns above, but I wore them every single day last winter and every day this winter too, they are wonderful, indestructible, and don't slip in the snow. I wear them through mud, rain, everything and they still look fine and my feet are always warm. Go on, tell me off .

Bad value:
Anything electrical from T***o, you may as well feed your money to a passing dog (don't though, it wouldn't be good for the dog).
Argos bookcases: apparently not for people who actually put books on them, because they can't stand the weight.

What are yours?

[spider8]

My good buys are............Hotter shoes and boots. They are sooo comfortable and well made and I've never had to 'break them in', just put them on and off you go. They may seem expensive but I've still got pairs of shoes I bougth 8 years ago and they're still going strong.
Agree with the Panasonic breadmaker - wonderful thing.
Ikea book shelves, you can actually put heavy books on these 'Billy' bookcases and we've had ours for 20 years.
Moulinex Multi-Chef food processor. It was given to us as a wedding present over 26 years ago and I've used it to death......er, well no, it's still going!
Colour coded chopping boards from Lakeland. They come in four colours and they are non-slip on surfaces and again, although they seem expensive at £34-ish for the set, they have out lived all my others.

Bad buys are.........yup, T***o's electricals i.e. toasters, irons - don't bother.

[boboff]

Good Value
Things from Lidl
Garden Shredder
Mincer

From T&esco Direct
Bedroom Furniture
Black out Thermal Blinds

From Trago Mills
Carpet
Paint
Filler, Silicone etc etc

From T&esco
Hand Blender
Hand Mixer

ok they won't last forever, but for a 1/5 of the price......

Bad Value
Toys from the £1 shop! ( yes I know)
Seeds from Wilkinson
Vodaphone made phones.
Tub Chairs

[pelmetman]

Good buys
Our lounge suite which we bought from Laura Ashley back in 1986, admittedly we have had new covers but the actual frame work is like new.
Le Cruest Saucepans, casseroles and kettle which we've had again from the 80's.
Berghuas Jackets and Fleeces.
Barber Jackets will just go on and on.
Miele Hoover

Rubbish buys
Dyson Hoover which was forever breaking down, basically just a heap of plastic

Sue

[prison break fan]

Totally agree with the Dyson - rubbish, Miele - brilliant. Mostly I think you get what you pay for, but I am still a sucker for the pound shop! pbf.

[Millymollymandy]

Another Dyson is rubbish vote from me too!

[Keaniebean]

Bad Value
Toys from the £1 shop! ( yes I know)
Seeds from Wilkinson

Totally agree Boboff.
Bad value has also been a hand held whisk from Lakeland. Used twice and then bang!

Good value.... well I've never bought anything worth loads so I'll have to say the husband instead. he didn't cost me anything and he's worth his weight in gold ( sometimes)

[oldjerry]

Another Dyson is rubbish vote from me too!

Couldn't agree more.A triumph of marketing over engineering.

[Susie]

Interesting on the Dysons! I've got one and it doesn't pick up loose threads although somehow it cleans the carpet under them . (And you can imagine how many loose threads we get because I do a lot of sewing).

Keaniebean I think your husband is probably excellent value (what else can we say about the man in the sheepy sleep suit? ), but also, I bought a cutting board and rotary cutter for quilts because you said yours was good. And you were right! Best thing I ever bought. Doubled my production of 3.5 inch squares. I am using it now.

[Jerseymum]

Good value:
Magimix - after making babyfood and cakes for 6 years we have still only had to replace the blade in the last 6 weeks.
DM boots - bought most of mine at the start of the 90s and I'm still wearing them
Miele washing machine - now almost 10 years and it is fantastic - even when part of the plastic casing cracked during a move to the UK, no problems at all
Thermos lunchboxes for the kids - no novelty pictures, we just put different keyrings on according to what they are into any given year, almost 3 years on, now.
T3$(0 bucket of tennis balls - £10 well spent on 3 kids!

Bad value:
Oh, so know what you mean abou T3$(0 electrical stuff - hubby bought some stuff when he was living away from us and it all had to be replaced within weeks

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Agree 100% on Dyson - complete pile of rubbish. Had a bad experience with Miele too; dishwasher expired "terminally" about 36 hours after the warrenty expired and their after sales care was just crap. Never again.

But on the list of brands I will always save pennies to buy:

Bosch appliances;
Le Crusset;
Metabo power tools;
Kitchenaid;
Barbour jackets.
.
I try really, really hard to avoid Chinese made plastic tat. I don't always manage it, but I at least feel guilty when I fail.

[Susie]

DM boots - bought most of mine at the start of the 90s and I'm still wearing them

I so wish I'd kept mine!

You're all selling me on Le Creuset and Barbour jackets. I'm going to start combing sales.

They'll have to be quite good sales, but I'll have a go anyway.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

DM boots - bought most of mine at the start of the 90s and I'm still wearing them

You're all selling me on Le Creuset and Barbour jackets. I'm going to start combing sales.

You know, given that I live in France and speak French at least half the time, I might actually be able to expect my fingers to type "Le Creuset" without messing it up. Sadly not

[Millymollymandy]

DM boots - bought most of mine at the start of the 90s and I'm still wearing them

You're all selling me on Le Creuset and Barbour jackets. I'm going to start combing sales.

You know, given that I live in France and speak French at least half the time, I might actually be able to expect my fingers to type "Le Creuset" without messing it up. Sadly not

Depends whether you have a French or English keyboard! On the very rare occasions I try to type in French it is wierd, my mind is saying the words in French whilst my fingers type them in English!!

I haven't yet had any white goods break down since I have started owning them up to 13 years ago so I can't report on good or bad brands and I have both well known expensive and cheap never heard of 'em brands. We still have a black enormous not flat screen Sony telly which is going strong after about 12 years so I tend to lean towards Sony as a reliable make for electronic goods (as other people have reported they have been happy with Sony goods too). The most annoying thing is new technology which means that things like computers don't last - not because they break down but they become outdated within a few years. Cameras too!

The only thing which was crap was the smallest mincer attachment on the hand mincer which was impossible to clean the minced meat out of so had to be chucked, and the other ones rust at the drop of a hat.

[Millymollymandy]

I had a faux Barbour for many many years but it went mouldy in this house - rarely use central heating so humidity levels are higher - much nicer atmosphere I must say but 60 - 70% humidity as opposed to 50% with the CH on makes the difference!!! (though I think it is the hall coat cupboard which is half to blame, and we do have a dehumidifier plastic thingy in there which collects quite a lot of water!)