what have you bought that you wouldn't be without?

[Bubbles]

If you want to keep warm without turning up your central heating you could get one of these

http://www.johnlewis.com/dreamland-relaxwell-heated-lap-blanket-chocolate/p1727185#tabinfo-ratings

Or a electric heated throw.

If you shop around you can find one that costs less than 1p for 7 hrs.

I've just given mine to my dad, who's elderly and doesn't have central heating. I'm looking for another.

It's brilliant because you don't have to heat up the whole house at great expense.


I know you can put on an extra jumper, but IMO this is better because if you are older you may need a heat source.

I thought it would be good to use this thread to share things that could be useful to others, and maybe either help them in some way or save them some money.

What have you bought that you really wouldn't be without?

[Rhiannon]

Gin.

[Outrider]

This: http://tinyurl.com/jm3a7kk

O.

[Rhiannon]

Seriously, living in the sticks one of my best investments had been a woodburner. We have oil heating and get power cuts too - the heat thrown out by the burner means I don't switch the heating on as much and I can heat water and soup on the top of the stove. And it looks amazing. Not necessarily a money-saver, but a practical item that's also a pleasure to use.

[Rhiannon]

This: http://tinyurl.com/jm3a7kk

O.

Link not working for me, O.

[Nearly Sane]

Link not working for me, O.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maypole-6965-Deluxe-Scraper-Insulated/dp/B005OVQSXI

[Rhiannon]

Ah, thanks, NS.

[ippy]

A good Hi Fi system I love my music to sound as though I'm listening to it live.

ippy

[Shaker]

Everything - if I've bought it that obviously means I don't want to be without it 

To be specifical, I could lose most things but my books and music I couldn't do without.

[floo]

I LOVE my Kindle.

[Outrider]

I LOVE my Kindle.

I love the Kindle app on my iPad (And the other reader apps I have - Kobo, the apple one)

O.

[floo]

I also have an iPad but find them very hard to use for some reason!

[BeRational]

My bike, and my very cheap Hudl which replaced my useless Ipad

[floo]

A good Hi Fi system I love my music to sound as though I'm listening to it live.

ippy

My husband is very particular about his flipping Hi Fi systems, which are top of the range, and cost a fortune! He has three of the things, and they have to be positioned at just the right angle for his listening comfort. They all sound the same to me, just a horrible noise, as I dislike music.

[ippy]

I also have an iPad but find them very hard to use for some reason!

The more you use it the better it gets, "Which" magazine are distributing a couple of free booklets at the moment, just write to them they will send them to you, I've just done this for my wife, took about two weeks before they arrived.

My wife is inclined to put thing she has difficulty wit to one side and I remind her other than taking a hammer or throwing it, it won't break if you keep touching the screen, if you get into a muddle press the big button in the middle and it resets then start again, if she doesn't fiddle with the tablet there's no way she will learn anything.

I hope you were impressed by all of the technical terms I was using, it comes so naturally to me.

ippy   

[BeRational]

The more you use it the better it gets, "Which" magazine are distributing a couple of free booklets at the moment, just write to them they will send them to you, I've just done this for my wife, took about two weeks before they arrived.

My wife is inclined to put thing she has difficulty wit to one side and I remind her other than taking a hammer or throwing it, it won't break if you keep touching the screen, if you get into a muddle press the big button in the middle and it resets then start again, if she doesn't fiddle with the tablet there's no way she will learn anything.

I hope you were impressed by all of the technical terms I was using, it comes so naturally to me.

ippy   

I had an early Ipad, but they become obsolete and cannot be upgraded.

I got my Hudl for £9 and it does all that I used my Ipad for

[floo]

The more you use it the better it gets, "Which" magazine are distributing a couple of free booklets at the moment, just write to them they will send them to you, I've just done this for my wife, took about two weeks before they arrived.

My wife is inclined to put thing she has difficulty wit to one side and I remind her other than taking a hammer or throwing it, it won't break if you keep touching the screen, if you get into a muddle press the big button in the middle and it resets then start again, if she doesn't fiddle with the tablet there's no way she will learn anything.

I hope you were impressed by all of the technical terms I was using, it comes so naturally to me.

ippy   

We probably have the leaflet as we are WHICH subscribers. I have tried and tried with the iPad, the grandchildren have assisted me, but I just don't like them!

[ippy]

My husband is very particular about his flipping Hi Fi systems, which are top of the range, and cost a fortune! He has three of the things, and they have to be positioned at just the right angle for his listening comfort. They all sound the same to me, just a horrible noise, as I dislike music.

Now, some people do deserve to be brainwashed, in the full sense of the word, sacrilege I don't know, how you can manage to live with yourself Floo.

I'll bet you're one of those people that go to a concert and sit outside the hall, probably in a washroom, where the music is being played because otherwise the music is too loud, it makes me think why bother with the Hi Fi.

Does he shudder if anyone says, "corr you've got a really good stereo there", it makes me cringe.

ippy   

[ippy]

I had an early Ipad, but they become obsolete and cannot be upgraded.

I got my Hudl for £9 and it does all that I used my Ipad for

"Computer Which" gives the Hudl a very good write up, it's a best buy but like a lot of things that are truly good value for money they're not being marketed any more, no doubt somebody has thought: good value for money, change the shape or colour of it, perhaps call it something else, don't alter anything inside, then sell it on at twice the price.

My tablet is a Samsung 3 the screen is streets ahead of the iPad, but the battery life not good.   

ippy

[Rhiannon]

My most important things are my phone and my ipod. So long as everything living was ok they'd be the things I'd rescue in an emergency.

[ippy]

We probably have the leaflet as we are WHICH subscribers. I have tried and tried with the iPad, the grandchildren have assisted me, but I just don't like them!

Tied to a chair, headphones, continuous loud white sound, brainwashing, including electric shocks, retraining course, better, hopefully cured.

Any good Hi Fi system would deliver the white sound with ease.

ippy   

[ippy]

We probably have the leaflet as we are WHICH subscribers. I have tried and tried with the iPad, the grandchildren have assisted me, but I just don't like them!

They come via "Computer Which", a separate publication.

ippy

[floo]

Now, some people do deserve to be brainwashed, in the full sense of the word, sacrilege I don't know, how you can manage to live with yourself Floo.

I'll bet you're one of those people that go to a concert and sit outside the hall, probably in a washroom, where the music is being played because otherwise the music is too loud, it makes me think why bother with the Hi Fi.

Does he shudder if anyone says, "corr you've got a really good stereo there", it makes me cringe.

ippy

I NEVER go to concerts, that would be my idea of HELL! I have never enjoyed music, but will tolerate classical in our home as long as it isn't loud. I HATE canned music in supermarkets etc; it does my head in completely.

[ippy]

I NEVER go to concerts, that would be my idea of HELL! I have never enjoyed music, but will tolerate classical in our home as long as it isn't loud. I HATE canned music in supermarkets etc; it does my head in completely.

All that money, all the care taken with the placement of the speakers, expensive speaker cables like suspension bridge cables and you want the equivalent of going to a concert and sitting outside in the bog?

I have the same trouble here at home and my wife loves going to a concert and knows the approximate volume of sound given out by a full orchestra, try to reproduce it at home and it's too loud?

ippy   

[jeremyp]

"Computer Which" gives the Hudl a very good write up, it's a best buy but like a lot of things that are truly good value for money they're not being marketed any more, no doubt somebody has thought: good value for money, change the shape or colour of it, perhaps call it something else, don't alter anything inside, then sell it on at twice the price.

My tablet is a Samsung 3 the screen is streets ahead of the iPad, but the battery life not good.   

ippy

If BeRat got his Hudl for £9, I can tell you exactly why you can't get them anymore. There is no way to make a tablet for £9.

I see from the Tesco web site that you can buy a Hudl 2 for £99 but I am sceptical that there is any margin even at that price. I read an article a year ago which said that Apple makes more profit on tablets and phones than all the other manufacturers combined and if you add Samsung and Apple together, between them they make more than 100% of all the profit. i.e. the other tablet makers are making a loss on average.