Bloody useless trendy things in houses

[Jerry_Atrick]

I have never been married - got engaged once, but she must have thought we were married because the day after, she tried to put the brakes on me flying so we could save for a house.. That engagement didn't last too long.

 

My current partner and I have been together 25 years and counting... Under Aussie law, we are in a defacto marriage, and she has a spousal visa. Under UK law, it means diddly squat.. whoever's name the assets are in is who they belong to. All major assets are in both names.

 

 

[red750]

I am still being regularly abused about wasting money flying when I should have spent it on the family. I last flew in 1986.

[old man emu]

Geez! I meant this thread to be about objects or design features of houses that were once trendy, but now are useless. I didn't consider that you blokes would include "the other half" as one of those things.

[onetrack]

OME, didn't you know? - a wife is an attachment you screw on the bed, to clean the house?

[nomadpete]

One T,

I've yet to meet a female who agrees with that.

 

By that analogy, would a husband be an attachment that my (ex) wife screwed on the bed to pay for a house?

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by nomadpete

[nomadpete]

OME, I apologise. We all knew what you meant when you started this thread.

 

Probably like most of us senior guys, my life has seen the whole spectrum of trendy household items.

 

I started out with an empty house, devoid of gadgetry.

Unless you consider an inside toilet, hot shower, stove and fridge to be trendy gadgets.

 

Then, over the evolution of perceived household necessities, have at least tried most of the things that are now considered necessary.

 

To me the most bloody useless trendy thing was a swimming pool. It was a constant maintenance problem (for me of course). Eventually I have it to my parents (it was an above ground pool). They filled it with overflow from their tank, and stored water for fire fighting.

 

[old man emu]

I'd run a million miles away from a property with a swimming pool. I had one once and the cost of the electricity alone to keep the water filtered nearly broke me. Besides, they are only useful for three or four at the most months of the year. The rest of the time they are a Public Liability monster and a waste of yard space. If I bought a place that had one, provided it had a flat floor, I'd drain it and build a roof over it to make a Grubenhaus (grub hut or pit hut). The ultimate man-cave.

 

[Fliteright]

Fly  over the more "effluent" burbs of major cities & back yard pools are everywhere! I think it's a status thingy, they think their shit doesn't stink:-)😁

[facthunter]

THERE ARE GOOD BUSINESSES BASED ON FILLING THEM IN.  Nev. yeah the Caps key stuck. 

[nomadpete]

Well you just gotta keep up with the Joneses!

[Jerry_Atrick]

4 hours ago, nomadpete said:

To me the most bloody useless trendy thing was a swimming pool. It was a constant maintenance problem (for me of course). Eventually I have it to my parents (it was an above ground pool). They filled it with overflow from their tank, and stored water for fire fighting.

No way.. depends on the swimming pool setup, I guess. A house I lived in had an inground pool with a salt "chlorination" system and a decent cover. The maintenance over 3 years was a bit of hydrochloric acid in it every couple of weeks, cleaning out the electrode abut the same frequency; weekly backwashing the filter and brushing the leaves off the cover. The enjoyment we got out of that pool was far greater than the maintenance.

[nomadpete]

If you don't keep it under cover, and live in a place surrounded by trees, it's impossible to keep it clean.

Besides, we lived two big blocks from the beach. Can't see a good reason to have a pool when real water is available for my kids to play in!

[Jerry_Atrick]

Maybe not for Aus, but certainly for the UK - useless trendy thing to have - electric chainsaw. I was going to cut down a couple of apple and walnut trees this weekend... it's raining! No worries with an ICE chainsaw... But the safety warnings of using the electric one in the rain are sort of self-explanatory.

[nomadpete]

Better not get myself one, then. It's a long wait in Tasmania before you get a rain free day.

[Marty_d]

We've got a pool - above ground but excavated and built the deck up to it.

Yes maintenance is a pain, but the enjoyment the kids get out of it over the summer months is worth it.

Not just the kids to be honest - on hot summer evenings there's nothing better than to float around in the pool with a cold beer and a book.

[Old Koreelah]

If a pool adds to your quality of life and enhances your health, why not? 

I’ve had enough back problems to convince me of the value of exercise in warm water, but the hour drive home from our nearest hydrotherapy pool undoes any benefit, so I have my own.

It’s far from finished, but for the last three years years I’ve been swimming (with a tether) and it’s sure helped my crappy lungs and back. Maintenance is easy and inexpensive.

 

Much of the benefit has been from the project itself. Designing it gave my brain a workout and digging a huge hole by hand was good exercise. Putting up the building frame solo was also fun, and my wife has helped mix and pour concrete.

 

By the time it’s finished, I’ll be old and worn out and will plurry-well need it!

[onetrack]

The bloke across the road from me has money coming out of every one of his orifices, and he doesn't know what to spend it on next. He goes through new Audi's and Mercs like I change my shirts.

His latest Merc E350 cabriolet is about $165,000 worth. He works for one of the big mining companies, he's right up top in management. He bought this 3 yr old house in 2010 after the couple before him split, and sold the place.

The house fills most of the block, apart from a couple of metres each side, and about five metres at the back. This bloke hates trees and greenery, he's got plastic grass everywhere, and not a shrub or plant in sight.

 

So last year, we see all these tradies roll up and start ripping things out, and rolling stuff in. Next thing, a huge pool arrives, and is craned in - to fill the only space left on the block - the bit between the back of the house, and the back fence!

Next thing, he sends us an invite to come and visit for nibbles and drinks, and to inspect the new pool. We go over there, and he tells us, this pool has just cost him a cool $55,000 to install!  

 

There's not a skerrick of room left between the paving at the back, and the back fence! Where it's greenery in the 2010 sale photo (at the back) below, it's now just all pool!

I think if I had a spare $55,000 burning a hole in my pocket, a pool that takes up any remaining back yard space I had, would be last on my list! Just goes to show, we're all different, in our outlooks!

 

 

 

[pmccarthy]

We have a saltwater pool, maintenance is not to bad, and the grandkids love it. They used to come around a lot in summer when it was legal to do so.

 

our most useless household object is a butchers block in the kitchen. It came out of a butchery, I restored it, and it has never been used. The kitchen was designed around it.

[old man emu]

Those butcher's blocks were very trendy at one time.

 

We've got a heap of espresso coffee machines filling cupboards in the kitchen. They are there, taking up space, because the missus doesn't like coffee, and I don't like espresso. I use a simple plunge filter coffee pot when I want a cup or three.

[Dax]

I've got 3 pools, no maintenance whatsoever, flow through cleaning and no need for chemicals, plus stocked with trout.😁

[nomadpete]

You can swim in a dam anytime. And Dams aren't required to have pool fences.

 

Not sure whether urban swimming pools are allowed to be stocked with trout though.

 

Not sure how the authorities can tell the difference between a cement pond and a swimming pool (or a dam) though.

[nomadpete]

I agree that capsule coffee machines are high on the list of useless gadgets.

[red750]

33 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

a cement pond

 Arrrh, the Beverly Hillbillies, eh, Jethro?

[Jerry_Atrick]

8 hours ago, nomadpete said:

I agree that capsule coffee machines are high on the list of useless gadgets.

Yes, they are to us, except when visitors come around who drink coffee. My partner wanted to have a fitted coffee machine, which at the time was £1,500 (just for the unit - so fitting extra). The little capsule coffee machine was £100. Saved me £1,400 and after about 7 years, we still have it and some of the original capsules we purchase.

 

As they saved me so much money, I love them

[Marty_d]

7 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Yes, they are to us, except when visitors come around who drink coffee. My partner wanted to have a fitted coffee machine, which at the time was £1,500 (just for the unit - so fitting extra). The little capsule coffee machine was £100. Saved me £1,400 and after about 7 years, we still have it and some of the original capsules we purchase.

 

As they saved me so much money, I love them

 

I'm an addict, but still using a second hand grinder and a second hand $50 espresso machine that groans and farts but just manages to produce a coffee.  (Much like me, really).