Cheap things you bought but DO like

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Magnetic chess set bought for £1.25 in 1974, when I was 12. It's just perfect, it's plastic with metal underneath, folds out to the ideal size, and the pieces are heavy resin, really nicely made and have a great feel. Over the years so many people have said "this is a lovely set, where did you get it?".

[Pothole]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Magnetic chess set bought for £1.25 in 1974, when I was 12. It's just perfect, it's plastic with metal underneath, folds out to the ideal size, and the pieces are heavy resin, really nicely made and have a great feel. Over the years so many people have said "this is a lovely set, where did you get it?".

So where did you get it? Don't leave us in suspenders!

[P-Jay]

a non-branded £15 egg cooker from Amazon. We get through loads of boiled eggs in my house. It cooks them (mostly) consistently and it's easy to clean.

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

I bought a £40 down jacket from Decathlon last year to wear under my waterproof jacket, but I actually prefer it to my ‘best’ Rab version which is worth 4x as much. It’s the closer fit which makes me like it more rather than it being better in any way because, well, it’s not.

[chris4652009]

W201_190e said:

A Peugeot 107. Two of them. Wonderful little things.

snap

[cobra kid]

chris4652009 said:

snap

That'll be the rust problem.

[chris4652009]

cobra kid said:

chris4652009 said:

snap

That'll be the rust problem.

That's what killed the first one

[languagetimothy]

pablo said:

zb said:

cherryowen said:

It's an Ibanez SA360.

Ibanez were founded in Japan in 1908, and the SA360 is a Fender Strat "type" shape but has an "arch-top" body as opposed to a flat top body of a Strat. It also has different pickups to a Fender, in a different combination. To play, it is a very lovely thing.

Cheers. I realised many years ago I don't possess the hand stretch for normal guitar playing, however, I've a long-standing predilection for a bass guitar, and there appears to be some very affordable bundles with this brand, which I was unaware of, until now.

I have an Ibanez SR300 bass which was around £250 from Dawson’s, it is a great instrument, made by Soundgear under license, quite versatile and lots of fun. Websites like www.songsterr.com make learning new songs easy

I bought a Harley Benton PJ bass from Thoman. Very well made and sounds good EUR 166 !
You mention finger stretching, this has the thinner jazz bass neck to make that easier, but I'm a guitarist anyway. Great value.

[anonymous-user]

TorqueDirty said:

Interesting thing to make in to a garden. Is it laid mainly to lawn or do you grow vegetables on it too?

Would say about 60% lawn the rest is veggie beds and flower/shrub beds. Most recent job was to dig out a mature shrub with limited access.
I even bought my MIL two of them as a xmas present, which she also loves to use.

It's not often I will rave about a product but the Roughneck mattocks are simply brilliant for the money.

[anonymous-user]

A £900 brand new Chinese moped. I love it, traffic is no longer a thing, alleyways are my friend (pushing the bike 20m through an alley can avoid about a mile driving round the roads), park it anywhere, 3 quid to fill up, less than £60 to tax and insure for a year. For getting from one side of town to the other, it's brilliant. No CBT required. And I can take a pillion (slowly). Best bit of bargainomics ever, AFAIAC.

[98elise]

W201_190e said:

A Peugeot 107. Two of them. Wonderful little things.

Aygo (same platform). Should be hateful because the engine is noisy, gearbox is slack, no sound deadening, everything other than the basics is missing (3 cylinders, 1 wiper etc).

Somehow it all just works as a package and is a hoot to drive.

[Jamescrs]

OpulentBob said:

A £900 brand new Chinese moped. I love it, traffic is no longer a thing, alleyways are my friend (pushing the bike 20m through an alley can avoid about a mile driving round the roads), park it anywhere, 3 quid to fill up, less than £60 to tax and insure for a year. For getting from one side of town to the other, it's brilliant. No CBT required. And I can take a pillion (slowly). Best bit of bargainomics ever, AFAIAC.

Why is no CBT required?


Best cheap thing I bought was my R53 Mini Cooper S, found it on Autotrader looking for a cheap car to track, paid £900 and it's just passed an MOT I put it in for with no advisories, got me through the snow with no issues when I couldn't move the BMW 6 feet off the drive. The aircon doesn't work but otherwise it's great

Edited by Jamescrs on Friday 5th March 11:33

[P-Jay]

Jamescrs said:

OpulentBob said:

A £900 brand new Chinese moped. I love it, traffic is no longer a thing, alleyways are my friend (pushing the bike 20m through an alley can avoid about a mile driving round the roads), park it anywhere, 3 quid to fill up, less than £60 to tax and insure for a year. For getting from one side of town to the other, it's brilliant. No CBT required. And I can take a pillion (slowly). Best bit of bargainomics ever, AFAIAC.

Why is no CBT required?

Yeah I'm thinking the same, especially the part with the pillion, because unless the poster has an A classification on their license, or they're not in the UK (if so, why mention the CBT in the first place) then, they might end up with the a nasty shock if the BIB pull them over.

I'm glad to hear the £900 Mopeds are unreliable death traps though, I'm dying to find a way to make the commute more fun once my Daughter is old enough to take herself to school.

[jimmytheone]

vikingaero said:

TorqueDirty said:

Vandenberg said:

A roughneck mini mattock from Wickes for £10, it has become my go to garden.

Interesting thing to make in to a garden. Is it laid mainly to lawn or do you grow vegetables on it too?

The RoughNeck range of mini mattocks, mini shovels are our tools of choice when we do digging in caves and mines. When you're in a tight passage, full sized tools are rubbish. And they are tough. I don't think anyone in our group has broken one.

Fed up with cheap plastic beach spades, I invested in a roughneck mini spade, carbon steel blade and fibreglass handle that’ll cope with Hebridean & Cornish beach digging. Serious digging, think multiple dams and channels stretching 100s of metres.

So impressed I went back for 3 more for the kids to use.
Off to buy a grub axe version this afternoon

[Condi]

P-Jay said:

Jamescrs said:

OpulentBob said:

A £900 brand new Chinese moped. I love it, traffic is no longer a thing, alleyways are my friend (pushing the bike 20m through an alley can avoid about a mile driving round the roads), park it anywhere, 3 quid to fill up, less than £60 to tax and insure for a year. For getting from one side of town to the other, it's brilliant. No CBT required. And I can take a pillion (slowly). Best bit of bargainomics ever, AFAIAC.

Why is no CBT required?

Yeah I'm thinking the same, especially the part with the pillion, because unless the poster has an A classification on their license, or they're not in the UK (if so, why mention the CBT in the first place) then, they might end up with the a nasty shock if the BIB pull them over.

I'm glad to hear the £900 Mopeds are unreliable death traps though, I'm dying to find a way to make the commute more fun once my Daughter is old enough to take herself to school.

Profile checks out....

Occupation Former Economic Migrant and Full Time Knob
Region Essex. Innit fam.



But seriously, why not CBT? And how can you take passengers unless as pointed out you have a Cat A/A1 license, in which case the CBT is irrelevant anyway.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Pothole said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Magnetic chess set bought for £1.25 in 1974, when I was 12. It's just perfect, it's plastic with metal underneath, folds out to the ideal size, and the pieces are heavy resin, really nicely made and have a great feel. Over the years so many people have said "this is a lovely set, where did you get it?".

So where did you get it? Don't leave us in suspenders!

From a shop in Cleethorpes! Had some exotic holiday destinations when I was a kid!

[coppernorks]

Nose hair trimmer £2.99 from Johnnie's Bargains.

Hairy nostrils are a problem one can do without when you reach 45.

[anonymous-user]

P-Jay said:

Jamescrs said:

OpulentBob said:

A £900 brand new Chinese moped. I love it, traffic is no longer a thing, alleyways are my friend (pushing the bike 20m through an alley can avoid about a mile driving round the roads), park it anywhere, 3 quid to fill up, less than £60 to tax and insure for a year. For getting from one side of town to the other, it's brilliant. No CBT required. And I can take a pillion (slowly). Best bit of bargainomics ever, AFAIAC.

Why is no CBT required?

Yeah I'm thinking the same, especially the part with the pillion, because unless the poster has an A classification on their license, or they're not in the UK (if so, why mention the CBT in the first place) then, they might end up with the a nasty shock if the BIB pull them over.

I'm glad to hear the £900 Mopeds are unreliable death traps though, I'm dying to find a way to make the commute more fun once my Daughter is old enough to take herself to school.

Age. I passed my test before they changed it all (96? 97?), and with a full license don't need a CBT,or L plates.

Not sure where the unreliable death trap but came from, it's been great. Lives outside, starts first time, cheaper than a pushbike and when it gets 3 years old I can bin it if I don't want to MOT it.

Edit: https://www.gov.uk/motorcycle-cbt/car-driving-lice...
(passed before 2001)

[Bill]

vikingaero said:

The RoughNeck range of mini mattocks, mini shovels are our tools of choice when we do digging in caves and mines. When you're in a tight passage, full sized tools are rubbish. And they are tough. I don't think anyone in our group has broken one.

I got hacked off with flimsy beach spades (either plastic or metal) bought a pair of roughneck mini shovels and they're brilliant. Sandcastles take moments now!

[Bill]

jimmytheone said:

Fed up with cheap plastic beach spades, I invested in a roughneck mini spade, carbon steel blade and fibreglass handle that’ll cope with Hebridean & Cornish beach digging. Serious digging, think multiple dams and channels stretching 100s of metres.

So impressed I went back for 3 more for the kids to use.
Off to buy a grub axe version this afternoon

Aha, snap!