There are constantly catalogue coming through my door tempting me to buy new and innovative items which are very expensive but are, according to the blurb, invaluable. They look great, so we order them. Pay for them, receive them, and put them in the drawer that is commonly referred to as the gadget graveyard.

For the kitchen we have the wonderful pasta drainer, guaranteed to remove all the water from your spaghetti et al, and only costing a tenner. Hmm, what happened to the good old sieve? Still, this is nice and bright and shiny so it MUST be good! Or that super spray which removes fake tan stains from collars, now I always thought that if you went to the bother of fake tan you would be wearing as little as possible to show it off, but maybe I’m wrong…

There are pages of stuff for the bathroom, all making you feel as if you can’t live without them. Yes, the magnetic toothbrush holder is very attractive, until you get it and realise your walls are all tiled, your cabinet is plastic and you haven’t got a single metallic surface in there! What about those little gizmos that let you extract the last bit of toothpaste from the tube, why? If you are that much of a scrooge that you object to throwing away 5p worth, then get on with it. One of the most useless must be the mouthwash dispenser. The blurb states that you get the right amount every time, this isn’t medication, you can’t overdose and as you don’t even swallow it what is the point!

Don’t be suckered in by this rubbish, you’ve managed perfectly well without them so far, so why start wasting your money now?

mouthwash · toothpaste