My mom ordered one of those little battery-operated gadgets with spindly legs with balls on the bottom that spins around in your sauce to stir it automatically. She said it was a piece of junk and fell apart before she actually got to use it. She sent it back.

I hardly ever buy/try new things. I'm just to much of a cheapskate to take a chance!

1. Cookbooks. Especially disappointing are America's Test Kitchen and Williams Sonoma. Who approves these recipes?!

2. Comcast's AnyRoom box. They boast how great it is, that you can start watching a recorded show in one room and finish it in the next. What they don't tell you is that it's a dummy box that can't do anything else...not record, can't delete a show, doesn't work in reverse (i.e. start watching a show on the AnyRoom box and pick up where you left off in another room on the DVR). Rewind and FF are very choppy. For what you get you give up a lot. I'd rather have a 2nd DVR than this idiot AnyRoom box.

3. The last 4 Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

4. Our Coocoo clock. Dang thing has never kept time.

My first new pair of running shoes. I got suck(er)ed into buying something because it sounded good on the internet...my fault entirely of course. I bought a pair of New Balance 'barefoot runners' called Minimus. Well, they are minimus cuz there is NO cushioning. I guess good,experienced runners would have been okay but as a mediocre, inexperienced runner trotting around basically pounding my feet and legs without any support was not a good idea. In fairness I then got a pair of Nike Free Runs that are a dream so I'm sneaking a product I love into the mix :). And, I will use the NB shoes to walk-am trying to start walking to/from work which gives me a mile of easy exercise.

My vegetarian daughter brought us some tofu jerky once which was TERRIBLE.

We had Tyson seasoned chicken breast recently which tasted weird and had a very unappealing texture!

I was excited to tye Benefit's Erase Paste concealer and tried to convince myself it was doing it's job. It was the correct shade but the "brightener" actually just highlights the circles under my eyes. Hahah, glowing raccoon.

Febreeze. When it first came out I liked it, but now it's just way too perfumey and doesn't eliminate smells so much as cover them up. And badly at that!

Well, I ended up in the ER with a horrid purchase.

I bought a cheapie Mandoline made of plastic. The part that hooks on the veggie (onion in my case) wouldn't go in because it was made of plastic. So I didn't use it as it sliced perfectly.

My middle finger which is our longest finger, well, let's just say blood was everywhere and my finger went through about 20 paper towels (Viva towels, the THICK one's!) before we were finally convinced it needed stitching. I try to keep Viva on hand now. :)

To make matters worse, I was home alone at the time and stupid me just HAD to inspect the gadget to see where part of my finger was and I sliced two more fingers doing it! LOL!!!

Now I can't look at a Mandoline without cringing and feeling that throbbing pain!

Do you know how much stitches hurt on the underside of our fingers? Owwwiiieee!

Oakley, today? I've heard lots of finger stories with mandolines. It's so easy, because the process moves so fast. I have a Kuhn Rikon with a guard, but it's easier to use without when you first start slicing. You have to be extra aware when using those things.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kuhn Rikon mandoline

All the Burt's Bees products I've tried.
The latest, a hand salve in an adorable tin, melted in the storage compartment of the car and made a huge mess. I never did use it anyway as it smelled like Ben Gay and was so greasy.

One of many BB products I have bought only to dislike the smell or the way it felt. But the packaging! Fab.

anything/everything made in china. What can you buy these days that isn't? Perhaps I am more critical because I am so angry that american business pulls out of u.s to make more profits at the expense of both americans and chinese. But it all seems like cra@ to me. I heard this week that if everyone stopped shopping at walmart, the u.s trade deficit would be eliminated.

Natal, it was a couple of years ago. First time I used it. I looked at the link, and it just sent chills down my spine, that's how much they scare me now!

Can't stand BB's either, the smell of it makes me gag.

How about the sample tastes you get at Costco. I can't count how many times we've had a sample, thought great idea, bought the item only to never have that same wonderful flavor again.

I have a convection oven too, so why don't they ever taste the same? The other day they had these simple snack or party favors. A slice of sandwich styled cooked ham rolled up with a slice of Halivary (spelling) White Cheese. It was so simple, so good, the cheese was mild with a little pop of flavor. I thought it would be great idea for the 4th, no carbs, perfect with veggies. Bought both the cheese & ham in packages so large, it's like a years supply (but freezable). Made one for DH to taste and there's no pop of flavor. It tastes terrible to me, so what's the secret I wonder.

We also get the NatureMade Vitamin B12 in the huge bottles at Costco. This time I accidentally bought Complex B by mistake, same size pill size with a slightly different texture and I cannot for the life of me swallow the darn things. I've never had a problem taking pills of any size, but it's impossible with this pill. I don't get it. Oh Gads, I hope their not made in China!

I agree, Burt's Bees is terrible. I love the packaging so I've been lured a couple of times but everything I have used smelled terrible and was just too greasy.

Local grass-fed, non-homogenized, low-pasteurized skim milk. I wanted to like it so bad and I'm a pretty adventurous eater but it just tasted too weird for me.

Online clothing company called Wraplondon. The clothing is great but the customer service and shipping is horrible. The company is based out of (where else?) London and the shipments have to come through customs. I've ordered a few times from them and it takes a month for me to get anything from them (the website says 10 days) and then they end up tacking on extra shipping charges as a separate charge. They don't return emails or phone calls either. So I'm done with them although I do love the clothes.

I agree with the Febreeze. Don't care for it.

And I'm dissapointed with the Swiffer Sweeper mop. I love their handheld dusters, but the mop doesn't do the trick for me.

I can't believe the negative comments on the burt's bees. We love their baby products!

Pfaltzgraff dishes, those that are white anyway. I have the Grapevine pattern. Forks, spoons, knifes, etch them something terrible. I have bought the special stuff they sell to erase them and it works easily, but has to be ordered and is an extra expense. Not to mention, it's a nuisance to have to use almost every time I use a dish. I've tried Bar Keeper's Friend and ceramic stove cleaner. It doesn't clean as easily, and doesn't always do that great a job. Unfortunately, I have way too many pieces to replace.

I second your disappointment with the Pfaltzgraff dishes. No matter how careful we are they keep chipping. My first set etched but didn't chip, I have the Napoli design now and they don't etch but they chip, plus the plates are so huge they don't fit well in cabinets or dishwasher. Never again.

I agree with lukesmom and lukki about the Pfaltzgraff dishes. I have the filigree pattern in white. They haven't chipped yet but are very etched and are only a year old. So disappointing. I had Mikasa before, for years, and I wish I hadn't gotten rid of them.

I like Burt's Bees shampoo & conditioner, especially the new one "Super Shiny" because it tames my dry hair.

However, there was a BB's product I tried years ago that was so awful it actually caused me pain. I'm referring to the Theraputic Bath Crystals. When I put it in the bath water my skin felt like it was been burnt alive. I couldn't jump out of the water fast enough. I've read reviews where others have had the same reaction but most people don't seem to experience a problem so I guess it depends on how sensitive your skin it.

Mikasa...years ago I bought a couple of their white soup bowls open stock and loved how durable they were. So was I surprised a few years later to see how much the quality had changed when I bought an extra one. Utensils left ugly marks on the bowl that didn't wash out, even a spoon was removing the finish. I thought surely this is a fluke so I got another one and the same thing happened. Don't know what Mikasa changed but that product has gone downhill since I first bought it.

Pfaltzgraph has closed a lot of their stores if not all of them and I seem to remember reading something about Mikasa or some other dish manufacturers closing shop to go over seas. I think that the problem with the change in quality is it's all now "MADE IN CHINA".

I love Method cleaners--all of them!--except for a disinfectant I tried. We had just closed on our new house, and I wanted to disinfect it with something natural.

The Method cleaner was supposed to be lemon verbena scented.

Insteasd, it smelled like wet Band-Aids. Horrible, horrible, horrible! And I used it all over the house, because we had nothing else to use, and were on a tight schedule.

I've since used other cleaners, but the pantry still smells like musty plastic. Yuck!

I won't buy a scented cleaning product without smelling it first ... Method, Mrs. Meyer's, Caldrea, Wm-Sonoma, etc. Some of them just stink.

And I hate when they change the formulation. Loved the Wm-Sonoma Meyer Lemon & Parsley line (made by Caldrea). A couple years ago they replaced it with plain Meyer Lemon (no idea who makes it now) and it smells like any other lemon cleaning product.

Oakly, my DH calls the mandolin the guillotine!! I won't touch the thing.

Here's one from outside: the Felco pruners made for smaller hands that rotate on one handle. I got them when I thought I'd lost my original pruners -- they get great reviews...I thought "can't really get the point of it yet, but maybe it's an innovation that I'll understand when I actually use them."

All I've found is that the handle comes off after you've used it a fair amount, and you always have to be checking whether it will come off before you've finished your next cut. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but I still don't really get what's so brilliant about them, and I've got carpal tunnel too, so you'd think I'd be the perfect target audience. For me, the regular old pruners (which I later found, so now I have two pairs to compare next to each other) are just as comfortable as, in fact more comfortable than, the rotating handle ones.