One-Time Purchases that Permanently Fix an annoyance

[TomTX]

We bought a house that happened to come with an induction range and I gotta say, I actually hate it. Like, we seriously considered selling it  at a loss (the range, not the house) because it annoys me so much. Maybe it's because it's a Samsung and/or very poorly designed.

• It requires special fancy crazy expensive cookware that we had to purchase new after not being able to find working cookware at a thrift store for months

That's strange. The $44 induction hotplate from IKEA works fine on the cheap, thin stainless pot my mom gave me decades ago, works fine with cast iron, works fine on the mini-sized stainless pot set from the kid's section in IKEA.

I can see being super frustrated with the bizarre electronics issues you detailed.

[mrs sideways]

Roomba mega-reply:

Gotta say, i'm surprised at all the rec's for the Roomba. For me it seems like one of those things that seems like a good idea, but is more hassle than its worth. But given that everyone is raving about these things, i may have to look into it.

It's not as good as an upright vacuum, especially on rugs, and you do have to clean it out on a regular basis, and you WILL have problems with it, but what turns a Roomba into a god-tier appliance is having a combination of hardwood floors and kids (Cheerios under the crib? That's the Roomba's problem!), pets (Hair? That's the Roomba's problem), and occasions like JUST YESTERDAY when they combine forces. (My kid spread catnip all over the floor "to be nice to the kitties" and then the cats spread it around even further? That's the Roomba's problem!) Before, I had to sweep and then dust mop the house, and the cat hair would still fly everywhere and settle back on the floor. The Roomba saves me several hours every week.

How are they if you have kids who leave a mess of toys and other random items on the floor? do you have to pick up after your kids before the roomba can do its thing?

You do have to clean the floor first before it can clean the floor. I mean, anything big it'll just bump into and move on, but it WILL try to eat smaller things.

Can anyone tell me if there is a Roomba or other type robot vacuum that deals well with tassels on rugs? I want one so badly, but our large living room rug has tassels on it and it's a deal breaker if a robot can't vacuum that room because of it.

All the ones I've had would have definitely tried to eat carpet tassels. Wait that sounds dirty...

I was skeptical about the Roomba, but we received one as a gift.  It's really noisy, as in I can't stand to be in the same room.  However, it does a good job in our dining room so it's overall a positive in our life. I would be happy to get a different, quieter model of robotic vacuum, when this breaks.

Our Anker Eufy is *so much* quieter than our old Roomba, and it cleans just as well. Which is to say not as well as our upright, but still worth it.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Thanks to this thread, I've ordered Thinx & the qtip washable alternative. I'm excited to try them both out - saving money & reducing my environmental footprint. Fingers crossed!

I also ordered some of those little washable makeup remover pads. I'm really pleased with them so far. I use them with micellar water and then collect the used ones in the little mesh bag. I toss them in the washing machine with other laundry every week (I remove them from the bag before washing, which is too small to allow effective agitation). I've had them for 4 months and they're holding up well, with no staining.

@OtherJen - thanks for the recommendation! I ordered these & have been using them for a few days. LOVE them so far.

[shelivesthedream]

We had an assorted jumble of Tupperware and were forever irritatingly having to match up lids or storing them with their lids on and trying to jam them into the cupboard all Terri's-like.

Spent £££ completely replacing them with a set of Lock&Lock Tupperwares in various sizes that all take the same lid. They vary only in depth. Life = transformed. We broke one really stupidly the other day but kept the lid because it'll fit all the others so it's a spare in case a lid ever breaks. That felt great!

[Wintergreen78]

We had an assorted jumble of Tupperware and were forever irritatingly having to match up lids or storing them with their lids on and trying to jam them into the cupboard all Terri's-like.

Spent £££ completely replacing them with a set of Lock&Lock Tupperwares in various sizes that all take the same lid. They vary only in depth. Life = transformed. We broke one really stupidly the other day but kept the lid because it'll fit all the others so it's a spare in case a lid ever breaks. That felt great!

I agree that keeping containers/lids in control is nice! I got a set of the Pyrex containers. Also, they stock the replacement lids. I was washing my lids in the dishwasher and after a bunch of years they started to break down. I was able to get new lids and now that I’m washing them in the sink they should last much longer.

[OtherJen]

We had an assorted jumble of Tupperware and were forever irritatingly having to match up lids or storing them with their lids on and trying to jam them into the cupboard all Terri's-like.

Spent £££ completely replacing them with a set of Lock&Lock Tupperwares in various sizes that all take the same lid. They vary only in depth. Life = transformed. We broke one really stupidly the other day but kept the lid because it'll fit all the others so it's a spare in case a lid ever breaks. That felt great!

I agree that keeping containers/lids in control is nice! I got a set of the Pyrex containers. Also, they stock the replacement lids. I was washing my lids in the dishwasher and after a bunch of years they started to break down. I was able to get new lids and now that I’m washing them in the sink they should last much longer.

Even with hand washing, the lids only last for a few years. However, the Pyrex containers themselves last for ages (some of ours are more than 10 years old), so it's not a big deal to replace lids every few years.

[ysette9]

Roomba mega-reply:

Gotta say, i'm surprised at all the rec's for the Roomba. For me it seems like one of those things that seems like a good idea, but is more hassle than its worth. But given that everyone is raving about these things, i may have to look into it.

It's not as good as an upright vacuum, especially on rugs, and you do have to clean it out on a regular basis, and you WILL have problems with it, but what turns a Roomba into a god-tier appliance is having a combination of hardwood floors and kids (Cheerios under the crib? That's the Roomba's problem!), pets (Hair? That's the Roomba's problem), and occasions like JUST YESTERDAY when they combine forces. (My kid spread catnip all over the floor "to be nice to the kitties" and then the cats spread it around even further? That's the Roomba's problem!) Before, I had to sweep and then dust mop the house, and the cat hair would still fly everywhere and settle back on the floor. The Roomba saves me several hours every week.

How are they if you have kids who leave a mess of toys and other random items on the floor? do you have to pick up after your kids before the roomba can do its thing?

You do have to clean the floor first before it can clean the floor. I mean, anything big it'll just bump into and move on, but it WILL try to eat smaller things.

Can anyone tell me if there is a Roomba or other type robot vacuum that deals well with tassels on rugs? I want one so badly, but our large living room rug has tassels on it and it's a deal breaker if a robot can't vacuum that room because of it.

All the ones I've had would have definitely tried to eat carpet tassels. Wait that sounds dirty...

I was skeptical about the Roomba, but we received one as a gift.  It's really noisy, as in I can't stand to be in the same room.  However, it does a good job in our dining room so it's overall a positive in our life. I would be happy to get a different, quieter model of robotic vacuum, when this breaks.

Our Anker Eufy is *so much* quieter than our old Roomba, and it cleans just as well. Which is to say not as well as our upright, but still worth it.

Amen.

I got Halsie (our Roomba) after sweeping the floor twice a day (while pregnant) and still having the floor be dirty enough that we were tracking crumbs into our bed sheets just by walking on the floors. I was done with that shit.

Now meal times with little kids are much less stressful because it isn’t a big deal if they drop crumbs on the ground. Halsie will take care of that for me while I load the dishwasher.

[I'm a red panda]

I'm a vote against the roomba.  It's SO loud on the wood floors that I can't run it when I'm home.   I have a senior dog, so it's not always "safe" to run it when I'm not home, because she sometimes has accidents.

On the carpet it requires SO much babysitting to make sure the chamber isn't full, and to clean out the brush, that I spend as much time with it as I do the vacuum.  I got a "pet hair" model, but it just isn't.

It's easier for me to just vacuum.  I'm a huge vote against it.  I need to just get rid of it, but I feel guilty for spending the money, so I keep it.

[elaine amj]

Another thing we have that fixed bad "habits" overnight was getting a clothes ladder for clothes storage. I have never been able to successfully use shelves or drawers to keep my clothes, everything eventually ended up on the floor. I always considered myself a messy, disorganized person because of it. However, that isn't true -- its because those storage methods didn't work well with my brain. I am a visual and lazy person, so I didn't like my clothes hidden in drawers or closets because I couldn't see everything I had at a glance, and folding is a tedious chore that I hate with a passion. I came across a picture on pinterest of a blanket ladder, and suddenly I had an idea: what if I could just drape all my clothes on a big, wide ladder? Then I never have to fold anything ever again, and I can visually see my entire wardrobe in one glance. So my DH built one, and overnight, I haven't put any article of clothing on the floor since. It is visually organized so putting together an outfit is a breeze (all my shirts are together, my pants are together, turtlenecks, sweaters, shorts, dresses, etc), and putting away clean laundry takes 2 mins from dryer to storage. My wardrobe has also been refined to just the pieces that I wear often and don't wrinkle, and knowing I only have so much space on my rungs means anytime I buy something new I have to remove an older thing. It's amazing how such a relatively minor functional design change turns me from a "can't see the floor because there are so many clothes piles" clutterbug to a consistently organized and neat person.

I am intrigued. We hang all our clothes. But my DS17 has his stuff piled up all over his room. Wonder if this will help him?


Sent from my VCE-AL00 using Tapatalk

[mrs sideways]

And here I thought my husband was the odd one out for not being able to stand the Roomba noise, but apparently it's common.

He'd always ask "Doesn't the sound drive you nuts?" and I'd reply "You mean the sound of me NOT spending an hour cleaning the floor? Nope!"

[ysette9]

And here I thought my husband was the odd one out for not being able to stand the Roomba noise, but apparently it's common.

He'd always ask "Doesn't the sound drive you nuts?" and I'd reply "You mean the sound of me NOT spending an hour cleaning the floor? Nope!"

Hahah, this! I generally don’t like noise and my husband is more tolerant of it but he is the one complaining about Roomba noise more than me.

[I'm a red panda]

And here I thought my husband was the odd one out for not being able to stand the Roomba noise, but apparently it's common.

He'd always ask "Doesn't the sound drive you nuts?" and I'd reply "You mean the sound of me NOT spending an hour cleaning the floor? Nope!"

I think noises bother me a lot.
My husband got an upgraded stand mixer, and it is all metal parts. The whirring noise it makes is one of the worst sounds in the world to me. He says he can't even hear it.

[slappy]

lol I came here specifically to rave about our knockoff roomba. It has forced us to pick up the clutter/random stuff off the floor everyday because we know that the vacuum will run overnight, every night. I have always been a bit of a clutterbug, but since I was the one vacuuming/sweeping I could just tell myself, "meh I don't really feel like cleaning today" and leave the clutter/bits of sand for another day. But now that the cleaning schedule is disconnected from my cleaning motivation levels, it is MUCH easier to keep my clothes off the floor or shoes in the closet or wipe off the tables (and be ok with dropping a few crumbs on the floor in the process). There has never been this much clear floor visible in my house EVER. Picking up a single day's worth of life detrius and kitchen mess is trivial now, and that change only happened when this little vacuum came along and forced a shakeup of the cleaning schedule, and also took on most of the actual cleaning tasks. Now it's just a matter of 10 minutes before bed, DH and I wipe down the day's mess, load the dishwasher, and put the day's clutter back in its' homes, then overnight the roomba takes care of the rest.

Another thing we have that fixed bad "habits" overnight was getting a clothes ladder for clothes storage. I have never been able to successfully use shelves or drawers to keep my clothes, everything eventually ended up on the floor. I always considered myself a messy, disorganized person because of it. However, that isn't true -- its because those storage methods didn't work well with my brain. I am a visual and lazy person, so I didn't like my clothes hidden in drawers or closets because I couldn't see everything I had at a glance, and folding is a tedious chore that I hate with a passion. I came across a picture on pinterest of a blanket ladder, and suddenly I had an idea: what if I could just drape all my clothes on a big, wide ladder? Then I never have to fold anything ever again, and I can visually see my entire wardrobe in one glance. So my DH built one, and overnight, I haven't put any article of clothing on the floor since. It is visually organized so putting together an outfit is a breeze (all my shirts are together, my pants are together, turtlenecks, sweaters, shorts, dresses, etc), and putting away clean laundry takes 2 mins from dryer to storage. My wardrobe has also been refined to just the pieces that I wear often and don't wrinkle, and knowing I only have so much space on my rungs means anytime I buy something new I have to remove an older thing. It's amazing how such a relatively minor functional design change turns me from a "can't see the floor because there are so many clothes piles" clutterbug to a consistently organized and neat person.

One last thing, our Purple mattress. Both DH and I get much more restful and deep sleep, and we no longer wake up stiff. We basically purchased better sleep, which has made our entire lives better. I am a much more cheerful person when I get proper sleep!

The clothes ladder is very interesting to me. Isn't it kind of the same as a closet in terms of visibility? I too have issues with figuring out how to store my clothes and I also feel like I'm just a messy, disorganized person.

[index]

Screening in our porch. It was a DIY and cost about 1. We now use the porch whenever the weather is nice including working for a good portion of the pandemic. Keeps the pets in and the bugs out.

[MoneyTree]

Just thought of another one. A motion sensing automatic soap dispenser.

We have one that dispenses dish soap at our kitchen sink. I didn’t really think of having to pick up the dish soap bottle and squeeze out soap onto the sponge as an annoyance before, but now that we just hold the sponge under the dispenser and get the right amount of soap while leaving the other hand free, we are never going back.

[geekette]

We have an automatic foam hand soap dispenser at the kitchen sink, but for dish soap, we have a pump connected to a hose into a giant bottle underneath the sink.  We have to refill maybe once a year?

The door from our garage into the laundry room opens the "wrong" way (due to the appliances), so the light switch is behind the door.  We swapped out the switch for a motion detector.  The cats also know that they can get our attention by jumping on the washer and triggering the light.  Win some/lose some.

[Cranky]

I think of myself as easily annoyed, but clearly I am not.

Also, I spend more time vacuuming furniture than floors.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

High quality knives. They make cooking so much more enjoyable

[crocheted_stache]

A soft-close toilet seat. No more slam when someone is trying to sleep in the next room. I may have to find soft-close hardware for cabinets and drawers next.

A quieter dishwasher to replace the ca. 1990 one that was loud enough to compete with kitchen conversations. The old one also did a crummy job, because it held the bowls so close together there was no water getting to parts. It was probably less efficient, too. The loudest major appliance in my kitchen is now the oven fan.

[ysette9]

A soft-close toilet seat. No more slam when someone is trying to sleep in the next room. I may have to find soft-close hardware for cabinets and drawers next.

A quieter dishwasher to replace the ca. 1990 one that was loud enough to compete with kitchen conversations. The old one also did a crummy job, because it held the bowls so close together there was no water getting to parts. It was probably less efficient, too. The loudest major appliance in my kitchen is now the oven fan.

Yes and yes! We had soft-close lids at our old house and this current one doesn’t have them for some odd reason. We are constantly slamming them.

In our old house we replaced the old dishwasher that made a ton of noise. It also didn’t wash well but the real issue was that the noise it did make sounded exactly like the baby crying in the other room. My husband was actually completely convinced once that it was the baby and i had to make him peek in on the sleeping baby to prove that it was the dishwasher. As a sleep-deprived mother programmed to wake instantly with a frantically beating heart every time I heard my baby cry, having the dishwasher make the same noise was a level of torture I didn’t want to live with.

[Rusted Rose]

Haha, y'all are so my people.

There are many things I could add to this list and can +1 quite a few that have been shared already, but I'll restrain myself.

I don't have the house, the ex, or the fridge anymore, but finding the ONE side-by-side that had no icemaker was fabulous. So much more freezer space. We did try to survive with the decades-old top-freezer style that came with the house but it really was too small and badly designed.

Anyway, like I said, I don't have that life anymore.

But what I really love is my microwave. Why?

NO BEEPING. You can turn it off! <3 <3 <3! I had not even known that was a thing!

[ysette9]

Haha, y'all are so my people.

There are many things I could add to this list and can +1 quite a few that have been shared already, but I'll restrain myself.

I don't have the house, the ex, or the fridge anymore, but finding the ONE side-by-side that had no icemaker was fabulous. So much more freezer space. We did try to survive with the decades-old top-freezer style that came with the house but it really was too small and badly designed.

Anyway, like I said, I don't have that life anymore.

But what I really love is my microwave. Why?

NO BEEPING. You can turn it off! <3 <3 <3! I had not even known that was a thing!

Oh god, so important. When my old microwave died my parents went to about six stores on my behalf finding one that would fit in the space and could be muted.
I passionately hate the beeps microwaves make.

[lutorm]

An induction range.

We bought a house that happened to come with an induction range and I gotta say, I actually hate it. Like, we seriously considered selling it  at a loss (the range, not the house) because it annoys me so much. Maybe it's because it's a Samsung and/or very poorly designed.

• It requires special fancy crazy expensive cookware that we had to purchase new after not being able to find working cookware at a thrift store for months
• It is SUPER sensitive to anything hot or wet near the buttons at the front, so if steam drips down or I put a hot tray from the stove on top it errors out like nuts
• It gets stuck sometimes in this error mode and we have to shut off the breaker to the circuit to reboot it, since that is easier than unplugging it in our kitchen layout
• One of the burners is *just* too large for the largest of the pots that we purchased at a steep cost and will APPEAR to heat it for about 5 minutes, just long enough for you to walk away but then later find out that it errored out and shut down for safety purposes
• Cookware's so GD pricey(worth mentioning again)
• After you finish cooking on our range, there is some sort of internal fan that kicks on (I think to cool the top rapidly??) that does NOT have an off button (I don't want to waste energy to cool a hot stovetop). Coincidentally there is also one in the oven. The fan will literally go for HOURS after you cook/bake on the damn thing, and you can hear it from our living room. I have NO idea who thought that was a good idea at Samsung. I don't often vocally support firing people but that engineer may deserve it.
• Did I mention that if you have an induction range you gotta buy the crazy expensive cookware?!?!?

I will certainly give it this- pots get hot FAST. The science behind induction is pretty dang cool. Less energy is spent to heat (unsure whether energy is still saved based on the stupid fans mentioned above). Water will boil in a couple of minutes for tea/coffee, maybe less. But I'd prefer having an instant hot water heater at our sink (they are the bomb) for that and don't feel like I need the rest of my cooking to happen quite as fast/efficiently. The tradeoff for me is definitely not worth it. SO... if anyone knows my secret identity on this forum, knows where I live, and has a gas range they want to trade for our POS induction range... Come by at 12 noon with a truck or trailer.

I love induction as a concept. But every one I've seen in practice has been LOUD (I remember particularly noticing it about the demonstration one they had at a local home improvement show-- think 300 people walking around in a gym, talking and hawking, and it was louder than that) and very high-pitched. And that's not counting whatever fan/cooling assembly might be cooling the internals. I am extremely hesitant to have one in my kitchen for this reason alone. I want my kitchen to be a pleasant space, not an unnecessarily loud and obnoxious one that gives me headaches.

Wrt a cooling fan using energy-- fans are generally incredibly low energy usage, especially compared to any kind of resistance heating. The energy savings/wastage is likely negligible. The fact that you can hear it from the living room would bother me to no end, though; our wall oven has an internal fan that kicks on, and just that is pretty annoying.

Wrt expensive cookware-- cast iron is supposed to work really well with induction. Generally, if a magnet will stick to it, it'll work with induction.

I find these comments surprising. My parents did a big remodel when they bought a smaller place and they chose induction.
It makes no noise that I have ever heard and heard quickly. I’ve never experienced an error while cooking at their place and they have never mentioned one to me. Maybe newer models have solved these problems?

Theirs doesn’t have a fan, or if it does it is silent.

I'm surprised, too. Ours is an Electrolux ($$$) so I folded the cost of the cookware into the cost of the range (it was still 1/8 as much for a super nice set that should last longer than the range, and the old cast iron skillets and dutch ovens work fine. I was hesitant about the touch controls before we got it, but I've been converted. The quick, precise temperature control is awesome, the super high max power is awesome, the super low temperature is awesome, and the not dumping hot exhaust into the kitchen like a gas range does is awesome. I heat the water before adding yeast, in the metal dough container, to exactly the right temperature just by putting it on the range. And we have had exactly one glitch, that made it unresponsive until we cycled the breaker, in the 7 years we've had it.

Yes, it has a fan, I assume it's to cool the electronics when the oven is hot. You can only hear while in the kitchen and if there's nothing else going on. Yes, if you spill something, or put a spatula handle, over the touch control it'll beep at you. But wipe off/remove that and it's back to normal.

Plus we can power it off our PV, zero emission style. (Yeah that also applies to a resistive electric range but those are so terrible that I'm never going back to one. Even if we preferred a gas range, which we don't, there is no gas here and I'm not putting in a propane tank just to cook. Plus burning fossil fuel has to go eventually, might as well get rid of it.)

I have little experience with other brands or older versions so I can't say whether we were uniquely lucky or you are uniquely UNlucky, but I'm sorry your experience was bad. There are better models out there.

[lutorm]

I thought of another one: a quiet, powerful range hood, properly exhausting to the outside.

The USA is full of incredibly loud hood fans that pull air through some filter and then spit it back inside, or kitchens that don't even have them. The amount of disgusting grease deposits in the kitchen that you never have to deal with by having a proper vent hood, that is also quiet so that you don't mind running it all the time, is a significant quality of life improvement to me.

[lutorm]

This is decidedly non-mustachian but our new PHEV minivan has a remote start feature, both on the key fob but also on the phone app if you're out of range. This means you can pre-cool the car, and the ventilated seats, before getting to it if you've been parked outside, and this is absolutely awesome here in Hawaii. And since it's an PHEV, it doesn't even need to start the engine unless you're out of battery. The amount of difference this makes to mine and even more so to the kid's, whose car seat now isn't 120F when he gets strapped into it, comfort is staggering.

[maisymouser]

An induction range.

We bought a house that happened to come with an induction range and I gotta say, I actually hate it. Like, we seriously considered selling it  at a loss (the range, not the house) because it annoys me so much. Maybe it's because it's a Samsung and/or very poorly designed.

• It requires special fancy crazy expensive cookware that we had to purchase new after not being able to find working cookware at a thrift store for months
• It is SUPER sensitive to anything hot or wet near the buttons at the front, so if steam drips down or I put a hot tray from the stove on top it errors out like nuts
• It gets stuck sometimes in this error mode and we have to shut off the breaker to the circuit to reboot it, since that is easier than unplugging it in our kitchen layout
• One of the burners is *just* too large for the largest of the pots that we purchased at a steep cost and will APPEAR to heat it for about 5 minutes, just long enough for you to walk away but then later find out that it errored out and shut down for safety purposes
• Cookware's so GD pricey(worth mentioning again)
• After you finish cooking on our range, there is some sort of internal fan that kicks on (I think to cool the top rapidly??) that does NOT have an off button (I don't want to waste energy to cool a hot stovetop). Coincidentally there is also one in the oven. The fan will literally go for HOURS after you cook/bake on the damn thing, and you can hear it from our living room. I have NO idea who thought that was a good idea at Samsung. I don't often vocally support firing people but that engineer may deserve it.
• Did I mention that if you have an induction range you gotta buy the crazy expensive cookware?!?!?

I will certainly give it this- pots get hot FAST. The science behind induction is pretty dang cool. Less energy is spent to heat (unsure whether energy is still saved based on the stupid fans mentioned above). Water will boil in a couple of minutes for tea/coffee, maybe less. But I'd prefer having an instant hot water heater at our sink (they are the bomb) for that and don't feel like I need the rest of my cooking to happen quite as fast/efficiently. The tradeoff for me is definitely not worth it. SO... if anyone knows my secret identity on this forum, knows where I live, and has a gas range they want to trade for our POS induction range... Come by at 12 noon with a truck or trailer.

I love induction as a concept. But every one I've seen in practice has been LOUD (I remember particularly noticing it about the demonstration one they had at a local home improvement show-- think 300 people walking around in a gym, talking and hawking, and it was louder than that) and very high-pitched. And that's not counting whatever fan/cooling assembly might be cooling the internals. I am extremely hesitant to have one in my kitchen for this reason alone. I want my kitchen to be a pleasant space, not an unnecessarily loud and obnoxious one that gives me headaches.

Wrt a cooling fan using energy-- fans are generally incredibly low energy usage, especially compared to any kind of resistance heating. The energy savings/wastage is likely negligible. The fact that you can hear it from the living room would bother me to no end, though; our wall oven has an internal fan that kicks on, and just that is pretty annoying.

Wrt expensive cookware-- cast iron is supposed to work really well with induction. Generally, if a magnet will stick to it, it'll work with induction.

I find these comments surprising. My parents did a big remodel when they bought a smaller place and they chose induction.
It makes no noise that I have ever heard and heard quickly. I’ve never experienced an error while cooking at their place and they have never mentioned one to me. Maybe newer models have solved these problems?

Theirs doesn’t have a fan, or if it does it is silent.

I'm surprised, too. Ours is an Electrolux ($$$) so I folded the cost of the cookware into the cost of the range (it was still 1/8 as much for a super nice set that should last longer than the range, and the old cast iron skillets and dutch ovens work fine. I was hesitant about the touch controls before we got it, but I've been converted. The quick, precise temperature control is awesome, the super high max power is awesome, the super low temperature is awesome, and the not dumping hot exhaust into the kitchen like a gas range does is awesome. I heat the water before adding yeast, in the metal dough container, to exactly the right temperature just by putting it on the range. And we have had exactly one glitch, that made it unresponsive until we cycled the breaker, in the 7 years we've had it.

Yes, it has a fan, I assume it's to cool the electronics when the oven is hot. You can only hear while in the kitchen and if there's nothing else going on. Yes, if you spill something, or put a spatula handle, over the touch control it'll beep at you. But wipe off/remove that and it's back to normal.

Plus we can power it off our PV, zero emission style. (Yeah that also applies to a resistive electric range but those are so terrible that I'm never going back to one. Even if we preferred a gas range, which we don't, there is no gas here and I'm not putting in a propane tank just to cook. Plus burning fossil fuel has to go eventually, might as well get rid of it.)

I have little experience with other brands or older versions so I can't say whether we were uniquely lucky or you are uniquely UNlucky, but I'm sorry your experience was bad. There are better models out there.

Yep, I'm thinking my particular model is a lemon in the induction range market. I doubt I'll ever voluntarily try one again though- I really like the simplicity of propane. Plus if the power is out we can still cook with a propane range/oven- and can also heat up water for warm baths in prolonged storms where we don't have electricity for days. We have a small generator but it doesn't have enough juice to power much more than a refrigerator and some lights. Someday I'll get my propane range back...!

[crocheted_stache]

Yes and yes! We had soft-close lids at our old house and this current one doesn’t have them for some odd reason. We are constantly slamming them.

In our old house we replaced the old dishwasher that made a ton of noise. It also didn’t wash well but the real issue was that the noise it did make sounded exactly like the baby crying in the other room. My husband was actually completely convinced once that it was the baby and i had to make him peek in on the sleeping baby to prove that it was the dishwasher. As a sleep-deprived mother programmed to wake instantly with a frantically beating heart every time I heard my baby cry, having the dishwasher make the same noise was a level of torture I didn’t want to live with.

Most toilet seats are under $20 and under 20 minutes worth of work. Put 'em on the hardware store list and enjoy some quiet.

My parents' old dishwasher made a whining noise. It didn't sound like anything else, but we sometimes joked that it whined about doing the dishes.

But what I really love is my microwave. Why?

NO BEEPING. You can turn it off! <3 <3 <3! I had not even known that was a thing!

I just got a new microwave after the old one gave up, so before filing the manual away, I decided to consult it. Thank you for the tip! I never realized how much I disliked the beeping, and I had no idea that it was a setting. DH is equally relieved.

For the record, the current Panasonic NN-SN9* and NN-SN7* series microwaves (at least one of which Costco currently offers) can be de-beeped. It involves unplugging and re-plugging, and then immediately pressing some code buttons. I doubt they change much from one model year to the next, so if you have an older model, check the manual.

Maybe if we all start mentioning "it's so quiet!" or "if only the fan weren't so darned noisy" in our product reviews, more manufacturers will get the hint that quiet is a selling point, and anybody else who's in the market will be aware of what they're getting.

Is it time to start a "silence is golden" recommendations thread?

[shelivesthedream]

We have one soft close loo seat and one normal one and YES they are amazing.

[crocheted_stache]

Started this thread:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/reader-recommendations/silence-is-golden-a-thread-to-recommend-and-request-quieter-products/

I could call it The STFU Thread for short.

[exterous]

Surprised no one said luggage. We spent a lot of money about 10 years ago buying luggage with lifetime warranty and repair. So far the bags have held up extremely well with multiple international trips a year. We just bought a $400 carry-on for DD and we expect she will use that bag for 50+ years.

I've never had expensive luggage, so I wouldn't know, but I've read up on expensive luggage and every review I've read seems to say that budget luggage is a good buy, so I'm kind of surprised to see a $400 carry-on bag in this list.

Feel free to educate me though.

I think it somewhat depends on how you are using your luggage. If someone is going from overhead bin to taxi to hotel it probably doesn't matter that much. We go from overhead bin to public transportation to cobblestone sidewalks and I got tired of dealing with field repairs or stuck\broken wheels\handles that we would run into with our budget luggage (still from Samsonite\TravelPro). It could also be bad luck but when I needed to replace a third carry on bag in 5 years I went for something between cheap bags and the really expensive B&R, Tumi or Rimowa bags. I had a very busy spring and summer of travel planned and my new bag arrived in February. So yeah I didn't actually get to try it out yet. I will say the craftsmanship appears much better though. Thicker stitching used, sometimes in double rows where others only use a single row. Bigger, thicker grommets. Wheels move smoother. Handle is much sturdier with finer tolerances. And it's lighter for those flights where they are sticklers for their low carry weight on allowances. As for price - Amazon warehouse seems to frequently have some great deals on luggage where the manufacturer box is damaged but its never been opened otherwise.

[ysette9]

@crocheted_stash I know that soft close seats aren’t expensive but I couldn’t talk my husband into spending the extra $15 for a seat as we are in a rental. Sigh. Sometimes our definitions of “frugal” and “cheap” don’t totally align.

[ysette9]

Started this thread:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/reader-recommendations/silence-is-golden-a-thread-to-recommend-and-request-quieter-products/

I could call it The STFU Thread for short.

You deserve a gold star

[NaN]

Purchased the SureFeed MicroChip feeder. Have one male cat that eats anything and everything in the dishes. One female cat that is picky and is a slow eater. This has resulted in several times a day going to the  cat food cabinet to pull out her dish while she meows nearby. The male would always be nearby, too, hoping for a bonus. It became a very annoying aspect of our lives.

I was so skeptical of the $150 cat feeder. Surely, my male cat would destroy it. Or would the female be afraid of it. And $150 for a cat feeder, that is so dumb and ridicilous!

I broke down. Purchased it recently and it has fixed the annoyance. Just as I am writing this she went back to the feeder for round two of her breakfast without me having get up off the couch while writing this! I think the female cat is super happy she can control her own feeding schedule without having to meow at us when she is hungry. The male is not happy about this but so far he hasn't destroyed the feeder. He did squeeze himself into the feeder with the other cat inside just once. Otherwise, it closes up before he can get into the dish when she walks away. It seems to be a success.

Has my annoyance been permanently fixed? As long as the feeder lasts (which I have no reason to expect it not to), I would say yes. It is so weird not having to pull her dish out of the cabinet 3-4 extra times a day.

(Maybe @Malcat will see this post - I remember this user posting about the feeder a while back, and auto litter scooper).

[Metalcat]

Purchased the SureFeed MicroChip feeder. Have one male cat that eats anything and everything in the dishes. One female cat that is picky and is a slow eater. This has resulted in several times a day going to the  cat food cabinet to pull out her dish while she meows nearby. The male would always be nearby, too, hoping for a bonus. It became a very annoying aspect of our lives.

I was so skeptical of the $150 cat feeder. Surely, my male cat would destroy it. Or would the female be afraid of it. And $150 for a cat feeder, that is so dumb and ridicilous!

I broke down. Purchased it recently and it has fixed the annoyance. Just as I am writing this she went back to the feeder for round two of her breakfast without me having get up off the couch while writing this! I think the female cat is super happy she can control her own feeding schedule without having to meow at us when she is hungry. The male is not happy about this but so far he hasn't destroyed the feeder. He did squeeze himself into the feeder with the other cat inside just once. Otherwise, it closes up before he can get into the dish when she walks away. It seems to be a success.

Has my annoyance been permanently fixed? As long as the feeder lasts (which I have no reason to expect it not to), I would say yes. It is so weird not having to pull her dish out of the cabinet 3-4 extra times a day.

(Maybe @Malcat will see this post - I remember this user posting about the feeder a while back, and auto litter scooper).

Yep. Brilliant bit of simple and well engineered tech.

I have three of them and am also considering putting in a sureflap door so that the cats can get in and out of certain doors but the dog can't. He's smaller than they are, so it's really hard to barrier just him.

I've spent $600 on far less satisfying things than these bowls (they're $200 up here), so I have no regrets.

[nobody]

Buying a house.  I found being a renter very annoying.  Plus it has appreciated a lot.

Selling a house. I found (all of the tasks that come with) being a homeowner very annoying :-)

+1 on selling a house. No lawn to mow, no roof to replace, no stagnant real estate market. Even with my current low income (no commission during a pandemic, so only base pay), my entire rental housing expenses are less than 33% monthly take home pay. I'm able to take the money I was spending on bug spray, weed trimmer gas, property taxes, and the myriad other crap and put that all into my investments. I'm not handy and I don't enjoy home maintenance.

I'm late to this topic, but sometimes I wonder if a condo would be the happy medium, as I'm considering one that doesn't have unnecessary frills like a pool, workout room, etc, keeping the HOA low (current one I'm lusting over has an HOA of $145/mo which includes water, sewer, trash).  A condo should rid of the lawn mowing, and exterior maintenance, yet would still participate in the housing market, albeit at a diminished rate, usually.

Anyway, as far as a one-time purchase to take care of an annoyance for me, an electric pressure cooker.  Good for making things like beans, stocks, or anything else that needs to be boiled.  I no longer need to keep an eye on water levels, stir, making sure things don't boil over, and no more cleaning boil over messes.

[slackmax]

Have not read the thread.

I am HOPING that paying a handyman $250 to replace rotted trim around and in a french door will stop an annoying occasional water leak into the house.

I have spent countless hours on my own working on it already, with some success, bit not complete success.

$250 would be, for me, 'money well spent' if it stops the leak totally, but I question whether it will fix the problem.

No guarantees from the handyman. Actually 2 of them, no guarantees, they say they are 90% sure what they do will stop the leak.  But no refund if it still leaks.

Risk!  Trusting another human !  No !!!

Seems like I have no other option.

     

   

[MayDay]

Have not read the thread.

I am HOPING that paying a handyman $250 to replace rotted trim around and in a french door will stop an annoying occasional water leak into the house.

I have spent countless hours on my own working on it already, with some success, bit not complete success.

$250 would be, for me, 'money well spent' if it stops the leak totally, but I question whether it will fix the problem.

No guarantees from the handyman. Actually 2 of them, no guarantees, they say they are 90% sure what they do will stop the leak.  But no refund if it still leaks.

Risk!  Trusting another human !  No !!!

Seems like I have no other option.

     

 

You could spend a whooooooole bunch more and get a guarantee with a whole door replacement if that makes you feel better. Probably like 10k. Trying the 250$ solution first seems smart :)

[slackmax]

Have not read the thread.

I am HOPING that paying a handyman $250 to replace rotted trim around and in a french door will stop an annoying occasional water leak into the house.

I have spent countless hours on my own working on it already, with some success, bit not complete success.

$250 would be, for me, 'money well spent' if it stops the leak totally, but I question whether it will fix the problem.

No guarantees from the handyman. Actually 2 of them, no guarantees, they say they are 90% sure what they do will stop the leak.  But no refund if it still leaks.

Risk!  Trusting another human !  No !!!

Seems like I have no other option.

     

 

You could spend a whooooooole bunch more and get a guarantee with a whole door replacement if that makes you feel better. Probably like 10k. Trying the 250$ solution first seems smart :)

Yes, $250 is a lot less than $10k.    My challenge is finding a handyman I think will  actually know how to fix it, and get it right the first time. I have one guy in mind already. He seems knowledgeable and says he has done this type of  repair to french doors before. He even has good online reviews for exterior door repair. I still don't want the risk of letting 'anyone' besides myself do the work, lol. There is some fairly fancy woodworking involved, shaping a new piece of wood with a groove in it for a 'kerf' seal, and so on, which I don't want to learn. 

I get stressed out talking to contractors and mechanics about this stuff. I bet lots of people do.  But the $250 seems nice and low, so that price is  not a stressor.

I ought to have one more handyman look at it, then decide which one to use, and just have it done. 

Thanks for listening.         

[simonsez]

But what I really love is my microwave. Why?

NO BEEPING. You can turn it off! <3 <3 <3! I had not even known that was a thing!

It is nice, I read a hack a long time ago for microwaves where it wasn't obvious this was an option.  You had to hold the 2 button for like 5 seconds, you would hear a three-signal chirp, and then it was silent.  It worked like a toggle so you can hold the 2 button again if you wanted sound.  Can't remember which brands it worked for (and maybe it's not a thing on newer models, no idea) but it was pretty satisfying after I tried it and it worked!

[Rusted Rose]

But what I really love is my microwave. Why?

NO BEEPING. You can turn it off! <3 <3 <3! I had not even known that was a thing!

It is nice, I read a hack a long time ago for microwaves where it wasn't obvious this was an option.  You had to hold the 2 button for like 5 seconds, you would hear a three-signal chirp, and then it was silent.  It worked like a toggle so you can hold the 2 button again if you wanted sound.  Can't remember which brands it worked for (and maybe it's not a thing on newer models, no idea) but it was pretty satisfying after I tried it and it worked!

I didn't know it was a thing on older models. Mine's a newer model and it's the 8 button, complete with sound icon. But I knew of the feature because it was mentioned in the listing online. I would think it's more common today than in the past? IDK.

[tawyer]

But what I really love is my microwave. Why?

NO BEEPING. You can turn it off! <3 <3 <3! I had not even known that was a thing!

It is nice, I read a hack a long time ago for microwaves where it wasn't obvious this was an option.  You had to hold the 2 button for like 5 seconds, you would hear a three-signal chirp, and then it was silent.  It worked like a toggle so you can hold the 2 button again if you wanted sound.  Can't remember which brands it worked for (and maybe it's not a thing on newer models, no idea) but it was pretty satisfying after I tried it and it worked!

I didn't know it was a thing on older models. Mine's a newer model and it's the 8 button, complete with sound icon. But I knew of the feature because it was mentioned in the listing online. I would think it's more common today than in the past? IDK.

Whatever the equivalent here is of Reddit Gold, @simonsez and @Rusted Rose, it is yours. I bought my microwave precisely because of the sound on/off but hadn't been able to get the sound off (no mention in the manual). Thank you thank you!

[Rusted Rose]

But what I really love is my microwave. Why?

NO BEEPING. You can turn it off! <3 <3 <3! I had not even known that was a thing!

It is nice, I read a hack a long time ago for microwaves where it wasn't obvious this was an option.  You had to hold the 2 button for like 5 seconds, you would hear a three-signal chirp, and then it was silent.  It worked like a toggle so you can hold the 2 button again if you wanted sound.  Can't remember which brands it worked for (and maybe it's not a thing on newer models, no idea) but it was pretty satisfying after I tried it and it worked!

I didn't know it was a thing on older models. Mine's a newer model and it's the 8 button, complete with sound icon. But I knew of the feature because it was mentioned in the listing online. I would think it's more common today than in the past? IDK.

Whatever the equivalent here is of Reddit Gold, @simonsez and @Rusted Rose, it is yours. I bought my microwave precisely because of the sound on/off but hadn't been able to get the sound off (no mention in the manual). Thank you thank you!

Haha, cheers @tawyer. Blissful quiet is blissful!