Useless function......?

Shinamae ???

My cooker clock wore out a couple of years ago. My SIL said it would cost £100 to replace. Its not a new cooker so I decided against it. I use a simple timer that cost £2.99 to buy on eBay.

My ex-husband......?‍♀️?....

I've never used the oven timer for switching oven on but do use the timer for reminders. Recently I programme it to ping every 20 minutes telling me to get up and move about. I have to get up to stop it pinging but then I'll go and do a small job.

There’s another thing drives me crazy.
My car lets me know if a tyre needs some pressure putting in and says you are still safe to drive until you do.
That’s fine! I can put the air in but then you have to reset something so the warning goes off the screen.
I can not do it.... Aaarrrggghhh!
I have to wait till I get one of the Grandchildren in the car and they fix it in 2 seconds.

Love technology and knowing how to control everything we have. Given up knowing how MrM works .

Most functions I use are for the oven and recorder. Work outside a lot so set oven to come on for when we're in to eat.
Least functions I use are on the washing machine.

Quite often have to google the action because I've forgotten how to do it.

Wanted an e accent grave the other day (é) As you do! Had to google it and then got side tracked into finding other symbols etc on my Mac keyboard.

My DH is always seduced by the salespeople's enthusiasm as to what a gadget can do. Then he never does anything more than switch it on or of. For example, we have a TV that records on its own hard drive, so you can record programmes or just save the rest of the programme to watch later if you get interrupted. He never bothered to learn how to do that and if I call him for dinner in the middle of a programme, he just doesn't watch the rest.

We may as well have just got a simple telly with no bells and whistles, although I doubt if such a thing is available these days.
I am the opposite. I use most of the functions on the washing machine and dishwasher. Not so much the tumble dryer but then I only use that for towels anyway.

New sky box this week. No manual but a series of videos on the tv, such a pain. Had to go to their web site to work out which button turned it on!

Buffybee - central heating digital controls. Few years back I had a new replacement combi boiler installed. In the summer - so not thinking about CH. My older one had a clock on it that showed the whole 24 hours divided by 15 minutes and tiny buttons that pushed up or down on those to time it. Simle to use.

Day after boiler was installed I phoned the installers in a panic, as no timer was on the new one. I was told they were putting in a completely separate one and the installer would be with me in a couple of days. So, he came, put this little gadget in my front hallway, set the clock on it and then 'explained' to me how to work it. Also had a small instruction booklet. Now I am and always have been reasonably techi. Tried to read this, gave up but did manage to get an A4 sized one from the company.

All was well, until the Autumn. Switched boiler to have heating on as well and heard and felt it kick in. Half an hour later it had turned itself off!!! Phoned the company in a panic - and discovered that this was because that little gadget had been set to 18 degrees - and I was told how to set this higher.

Then, I wanted to work out how to carry out simple and quick alterations if I was going out somewhere and wished heating timings to be changed on a temporary basis. Read that book they sent me several times, made no sense, - then spent a month emailing the company and got replies which were just in the same gobbledegook as in the instruction booklet.
Did not know what to do - felt so stupid and helpless
Then, I put in a request on an internet social network site I used for older people. Gave the make of the timer and my problem - and within less than an hour received a reply (in English!) telling me exactly what to do, and it was so very simple.

If only manufacturers of all these gadgets would have some way of consulting with us - the normal folk - so that the instructions are not in computerwrite - but in language we can understand and use.

took me about a fortnight to be able to use my digital radio in the way i wanted.
my previous sturdy radio, from tandy radio shack, about 35 years ago worked fine. i could lean out of bed and press one button by feel and it would turn itself off after an interval i had chosen previously.
now the new improved machine requires me to haul the radio up so i can see it, press at least three buttons several times in a strange sequence, and each time have to select option of 45 mins, and then do the reverse sequence of pressings.
all this in the middle of the night, no light, no glasses.
i got it for radio 4 extra; many plays and esp comedies were so much better then. i even enjoy life with the lyons, so silly.

I studied the manual to learn how to use the timer as, pre-COVID, I could set it to come on to roast meat whilst I was out. The bleep sound has gone very faint now though.
I hate complicated gadgets. I don’t understand half the buttons on the microwave or the central heating controls.
DH will do the resetting of clocks this weekend, one of the few jobs he does these days.

I have had my built in oven for 25 years and I still have to get the manual out to set the timer (usually only for the Christmas turkey!!)

I’ve never mastered my oven timer. A slow cooker is the way to go. It cooks with the same energy as a light bulb, and I’ve never had anything spoiled from being on too long. I used to brown everything before I put it in, but don’t bother now, just chuck everything in. As long as the liquid is hot it’s fine.

I use my oven timer and the automatic function nearly every day and would be lost without it. For example I can put chips in the oven an hour or so before dinner, set the timer and then I don't have to leap up in the middle of a tv programme to switch the oven on.

I always used to cook the Christmas dinner for my daughter in law and family but one year my husband and I decided to spend Christmas in Spain. Telephoned her in the afternoon Christmas Day. She said that she prepared everything as I had instructed in the morning but forgot to set the timer so they were still waiting for their dinner.

I use mine on the cooker all the time, love it. Also love all my 8 programmes on the washing machine , much better for your clothes to separate them and use the correct setting. Once you learn what is what it makes life easier. For timing reminder when I am at home I use either phone or iPad.

I find the clock on the oven useful as an indicator that we've had (another) powercut. I did take pleasure in adjusting 2 x DS dishwashers so they don't buzz when the cycle is finished.

Ro60 I know what you mean about clocks. I have two clocks in the bedroom and two in the kitchen, each set an hour apart, so for six months of the year one of the set is right, then they swap.

Severnsider I think we must have a very similar drier. I've had it for 20 years and (touch wood) it's still working. When I go to stay with DS2's family, I am completely bamboozled by the multiplicity of settings and timings, but DiL says she mostly uses only one setting.

I have a very old timer - up to one hour for baking and cooking from frozen. You just turn the pointer to the correct time and it beeps obligingly. Simples. NO digital faffing. My new washing machine washes much cleaner than the old one (14 years old).but the 12 progammes on the actual machine differ greatly from the instruction leaflet. It also seems to be washing for a very long time. There is a 30 minute wash, but not it's always clean enough. What happenned to egg timers with sand glasses? Do they still exist?

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I will use an alarm clock for timing rather than read the endless pages of instructions given in a brochure that came with my new electric cooker. So far so good.

I looked and looked at the instructions but it’s all so complicated and it never works right for me

I could have written this. I hate the little pictures to illustrate how to do something, they make no sense to me.

When I have struggled with anything for ages, then asked DS, who has sorted it in seconds!, he just says ‘Well it must be you Mum!’

I am desperately trying to avoid adding to the IoT (Internet of things) in this house, but it is becoming more and more difficult. My tumble dryer has packed up, and I can only get a new one in the right size if I get one that will connect to my mobile phone. I don't need to switch the dryer on or off from the sofa, it would be much better for me to get up and move around. Great for those with disabilities no doubt, but just more complicated. Why would I want a IoT device to switch lights or music on, or open and close the curtains, I need every encouragement to take exercise!

I have a wonderful tumble drier with only 3 settings - time, high speed or low speed.

My washing machine has about 12 settings and I only ever use 3 of them. One setting is for Jeans !! ? Honestly!!