False economies

[3 Colours Red]

I'm so guilty of this - thinking an 8-pack of superglue for a quid is a good deal and ending up with eight unusable dried-out tubes and all my fingers stuck together.

USB chargers so feeble my phone will actually use more power in standby than is being fed to it.

Pens, batteries, earphones... why don't I learn?

[Fussbudget]

False economies

I'm hoping sw2boro will be along shortly. He has never met a three-for-the-price-of-two 'bargain' that he didn't fall for.

[Janik]

False economies

Trois Fois Un Rouge wrote: I'm so guilty of this - thinking an 8-pack of superglue for a quid is a good deal and ending up with eight unusable dried-out tubes and all my fingers stuck together.

Apropos of not at lot, a mate claims that superglue was invented for US Army use explicitly for sticking flesh together. Which is why it is so damn good at doing that. I've no idea whether this is true or not, and can't be bothered with the quick google check that would tell me as I assume someone on here will know whether this is an urban myth.

[Ginger Yellow]

False economies

USB chargers so feeble my phone will actually use more power in standby than is being fed to it.

On this specific point, get yourself an Anker battery pack. You can choose the the amperage out of the output and they store a shit-ton of charge for a given size.

[Guy Profumo]

False economies

Janik wrote:

I'm so guilty of this - thinking an 8-pack of superglue for a quid is a good deal and ending up with eight unusable dried-out tubes and all my fingers stuck together.

Apropos of not at lot, a mate claims that superglue was invented for US Army use explicitly for sticking flesh together. Which is why it is so damn good at doing that. I've no idea whether this is true or not, and can't be bothered with the quick google check that would tell me as I assume someone on here will know whether this is an urban myth.

Isn't that one of these "partially true" things?

The stuff had already been invented, someone noticed how it stuck skin together, and then had the brainwave to use it to treat battlefield wounds prior to evacuation into hospitals?

[anton pulisov]

False economies

Sharing your apartment with a slob to save on rent.

[Stumpy Pepys]

False economies

Trois Fois Un Rouge wrote: USB chargers so feeble my phone will actually use more power in standby than is being fed to it.

Very cheap USB chargers have been known to melt or catch fire. Probably an instance where you should buy a brand you've heard of.

[Levin]

False economies

This article convinced me to always stick to official chargers. And that's before you get to the demos and white papers on inserting malware through a compromised charger.

[Stumpy Pepys]

False economies

I don't necessarily use official chargers, but I do stick to well-known brands like Belkin or Hama.

[3 Colours Red]

False economies

Stumpy Pepys wrote:

USB chargers so feeble my phone will actually use more power in standby than is being fed to it.

Very cheap USB chargers have been known to melt or catch fire. Probably an instance where you should buy a brand you've heard of.

I know this - problem is I don't want to spend money on something I know will get "borrowed" and not given back.

[caja-dglh]

False economies

China.

[treibeis]

False economies

Washing-up sponges. The multi-coloured ones in great big cheap packs are rubbish.

The yellow sponges with the green scourer on top are the only ones that get the job done properly.

[WOM]

False economies

Sponges, eh? I prefer the 99˘ IKEA plastic brushes. The ten-pack green scourers from the dollar store are excellent for the hard stuff.

Oh, and on that note, dollar-store AA batteries. Cheaper than Duracells, but nowhere near the mileage.

[linus]

False economies

I guess rechargeables are the way to go, though I've yet to buy any.

[Ginger Yellow]

False economies

Speaking of China and false economies:

Several local officials in China’s Northeast region sought to explain dramatic economic drops in their areas by admitting they had faked economic data in the past few years to show highgrowth when the real numbers were much lower, Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

“If the past data had not been inflated, the current growth figures would not show such a precipitous fall,” one official was quoted as saying.