^ Funny...Sad but funny ^

A long, long, time ago, my best purchase was a Windows 95 book from Amazon for the large sum of one dollar. I loved that book, it taught me so much about my first computer, which I knew nothing about only how to turn it on and off. The book was a good two inches and possibly three.

I don't remember the worst one! :)

No doubt about it, it’s our house first and our dog Ellie second. The worst was the Samsung stove we bought a couple of years ago...junk, total junk.

We have a cast iron gas burning stove in our family room. It actually could heat the whole house but we turn it off at night and while away. Have had it for twenty years . We often say it was the best thing we ever bought. It has saved us several times during long power outages. The worse thing? To many to remember but one is the chair my husband is sitting in right now. It's in perfect shape but so uncomfortable. We're going to get rid of it one way or another.

I can't remember regrettable purchases - only the good ones, and the best were the quartz countertops and central A/C, even though it doesn't get that hot here.

A carport after we bought our mobile home, remote car starter, and electric tea kettle. I’m so thankful for each one.

Worst is easy: a "high efficiency" top load no-agitator washing machine. Luckily for me, enough other people had their machines explode on them, that the company recalled them and I got almost all my money refunded. Darn machines are now in landfills all over the place -- what a waste of our planet's resources.

Best purchase would be impossible to name, but I'm looking at two pictures on my wall that give me joy every day. Local artists; meaningful for me.

I guess worst would be our house that flooded repeatedly. Although I really liked the house.

Best well I really really loved my Hummer H3 that was lost in the flood.

I didn't buy Mia but I did buy my great Dane and that was a priceless experience.

Best: Current home. Best floor plan and location. While it still needs lots of work, it still was a good buy.

Worst: 1998 Volvo. They saw me coming.

Can't think of a worst, but I've had 4 dogs and they all top the list of best purchase When you think about the many years of joy they've all brought, it's priceless.

The worst: Flowered curtains...too girly (I almost listed my 1969 Volvo, we think the speedometer was disconnected for about 300k miles)

Best purchased(DH's pick): A house that already had a remodeled kitchen

Hands-down our favourite purchase is the Cuisinart counter-top oven. It's perfect, it holds a 10" cast iron skillet and bakes 2 loaves of bread. There's little need to have the stove oven on much at all. We also love our little bar frig. It got more use when hubby was alive as we went through more milk, he liked soft drinks, and extra storage for leftovers.

The double feature at the dollar theater, that included Xanadu. Can't remember the other movie, not bad enough to remember.

Two best: Our current home. And going retro to my early teens, a $15 donkey. The donkey and I had many years of adventures together.

Worst: multiple pairs of the same $100+ Inov 8 trail running shoes. They provided good traction on the trails, and were great even after sloshing through streams. But one area on my left foot always developed painful blisters. I tried all of the usual preventatives, and some unusual ones, to no avail. Yet I bought the same shoes for years, because it is so difficult for me to find shoes that fit, and I doubted a different brand would prevent the blisters since I never could figure out what was causing them.

Finally, last month I forced myself to try a different brand of shoes. I went to REI, so I could return them if they didn't work out. The Merrells cost over $120, and they don't have the grip, support and padding of the Inov 8s, but no more blisters.

Best major purchase: Our home

Best for me: Riding lessons

Worst experience purchase: The battle sail on the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain tall ships. There was no battle, there was little that could be called sailing and the crew was an utter bore. People were falling asleep from boredom. Every so often they would yell fire and set off some black powder from the hull. They motored out into the bay and circled into position from one another and just bobbed about out there for 3 long, boring uneventful,non sailing hours. False advertising. Cost DD and I 90.00 each.

Best appliance: A 36" all gas DCS open burner range I bought sight unseen online when I heard DSC was being bought by Fisher/Paykel who was in the process of redesigning and in my opinion ruining a good basic product.

Worst appliance: A dishwasher with a plastic tub.

We got married January, 1966 and in Novemer that year, we bought our first piece of property, 16 acres of what had been a dairy farm. Later we bought an adjoining 10 acres. It was a wonderful place and we lived there 30 years, then sold it to buy this one. 20 some years later, we have now sold this one.

That was the best...the worst was probably a '77 Buick that I bought that was a horrible car, but I bought it because it looked so similar to my most favorite car ever...which had been a 76 Olds cutlass salon...which I bought new, and years later, bought the 77 Buick, which was worn out.

Worst - bought new late 70s rag top jeep. Had to be junked after 5 years. Had the floor replaced 3 times due to rusting and when out of tune it didn't run rough, it just stop running.

Best - our past 2 homes. Sold for twice what we paid for them.

The 'sight unseen' reminds me of our good luck buying on Maui. We'd rented condos in Hawaii for years with zero interest in buying there. In February 2000 we really liked our rental. Later that year a rental here sold. Should we invest the proceeds in a local rental or... 'something completely different'? We found a by-owner at the Maui complex who was willing to completely refurbish at our direction. In February 2001 we flew out and moved in, closing on the condo a few days later. We've enjoyed having a 'known entity' to use ourselves. It's been about 'break-even' as a vacation rental. It's appreciated.

The list of 'worsts' is too sad to contemplate.

Best is my tablet, on my second one. Worst is a stackable front load washer and dryer, what a waste of money. Hated that thing.

I should add, our home is the biggest greatest thing we bought. Been here 33 years.

The best was by all means our first home - lived there for 35 years and only moved because the area got so bad with crime. The worst is probably a very long time ago when a co-worker, single mother of several kids, all ages. She was always broke, we both worked in a factory, very low wages. She was desperate for some money to fix her ratted-out car and offered me her used but working portable dish-washer. So I offered her the money without the dishwasher but she refused because she said she wasn't a charity case and didn't know if she could ever pay me back. So I took it home (didn't have a dishwasher). Within just a few days I realized I had dragged home a used appliance that was infested with German cockroaches. I was just devastated - not so much because I had to trash the dishwasher, but German cockroaches are the worst kind to get rid of. Lesson learned.

Jasdip, would you mind sharing what model your Cuisinart oven is? I've hemmed and hawed forever over deciding and truly value your opinion.

Carol

Hi Carol!!

I highly, highly recommend my oven. We had the Wolfgang Puck Pressure oven and it died just after a year, when the warranty ran out.

This one has a 3-year warranty and is working like a champ. I was looking for a picture to post and I just realized that we've already had it for 2 years.

The model is Cuisinart TOB-260C. It comes with a pizza stone, and a 9x13 casserole fits in it. What surprised me is that I can bake 2 loaves of bread in it. It's convection.

The newest model have a Steam feature. We saw that one as well, and it's quite a bit more money and I'm not sure that we'd use that. Very happy with this one.

The only complaint is when I make bread. The loaves are so close to the top element that the tops tend to burn slightly. So it's no big deal to either not let it bother me, or to use the big oven, which I seldom do, since getting this appliance.

It also has a dual-cook feature, where I can program it to bake at 400 for 10 minutes then 350 for 35 and it does it automatically.

Best thing was my husband's 2002 Saturn SC2 bought brand new...worst thing was after someone ran a red light and totaled it out, my husband was so attached to that car that he HAD TO HAVE the exact same car type...that was the worst purchase. He bought it used from a used car lot and it was a total money pit. Whoever owned it, really ran it ragged and come to find out later, it had been wrecked. We finally got rid of it before we had to spend even more money on it. It looked beautiful on the outside...but it was worn out after only 125,000 miles! It may have been an OK car for someone that can work on their own car...my husband is not a handyman by any stretch of the imagination.

Another best car purchase are my two trucks, I have a Tahoe 1996 and a Chevy truck 1992...these vehicles haven't hardly given me any problems throughout the years. I still have both of them...they only ever need regular routine type repairs. Biggest issue was the 4 wheel drive had to be repaired on the Tahoe...the actuators went out. I better knock on wood, never fails to brag about something only to have it go out the next day! HAHA!

Another best purchase is our house. It's built in the 50s back when they built things to last! It's a well built home in a decent neighborhood full of elderly and young families just starting out. Seems the people buying are young families. The houses aren't very large. It's a great house for us two and our dog. We have a great area to walk daily...no riff raff.

I can't think of any other bad purchases other than that car.

I had to laugh about the 2002 Saturn. I too had one that I loved. When someone stalled in front of me in 6 inches of water her car blocked the drain and the area filled with water. I too purchased the same model which turned out to be a lemon. I wish they were still being made or would be made again. While there were a few owners who disliked them most that I knew were very satisfied.

My worst purchase was vents for the top of the house. I convinced myself after reading lots of articles that all houses needed them although both ends of this house have vents. While it does not happen with every rain some storms like one two nights ago they allow water to come in. One is above an old attic fan and the water will drip from that. Will be replacing roof later this summer and they will be gone. I do not know if they were installed incorrectly but I think probably most attic vents will do this even the ones that spin.

That IS funny maifleur! He loved that Saturn so much...it was his baby! He babied it to death and was in pristine condition before it was totaled. I wish that they made a car like that still too. It was a very sharp looking sporty thing and got around like nobody's business in this terrible Ohio winter weather.

The worst was the front loader Whirlpool washer we bought sometime in the 2005-2008 or so timeframe. We thought they were such good washers, based on reviews, but what a stinky, crappy washer that thing was. I finally got rid of it and now have a huge capacity top loader and matching dryer I like much better.