Let’s see… I don’t have a microwave or a dishwasher…didn’t have a toaster, but I bought one a few months ago and I’ve actually used it to toast sandwich buns a few times…cool. Electric can opener? No, I’m still using the manual Swing-Away I bought 35 years ago. No ipod, pda, portable music player of any kind, cell phone or game console (well, actually I do have a game console, but it’s a Colecovision and hasn’t been used for over 20 years, except once about 12 years ago, to confirm it still worked). No satellite or cable TV. I don’t have a stereo, but I want one; I guess I just don’t want one badly enough to actually go buy one. I didn’t have a digital camera, but I bought one (my very firstest!) over the intarwebs last week - it came yesterday and I’m figuring out how to use it.
Wow, Colophon and GuanoLad don’t have cars - yikes! I know I could do without, but it would be tougher, as my grocery store is about six miles up the road on a 2-lane state highway. And I love cars. I only drive about 3K miles annually, but I’ve got three cars and a truck and I live alone.
A Tivo. As long as I have to pay for a service to use it I’ll never buy one.
I don’t need all the bullshit AI built in; things like finding shows I might like, or recording every single instance of a show I like.
Unlike the apparent majority, I knew how to program a VCR.
Now all I ask for is the digital equivalent, a DVR where I call all the recording time shots, and do not have to be connected to the web.
We don’t have a DVD player - we still record stuff on videotape and we don’t rent movies. We don’t have an iPOD or any gizmo like that. The only reason I have a cellphone is because work makes me.
One thing we DO have that I could totally live without is the damn microwave.
I would say that’s a must-not-have. Why would you want to eat something that requires an electrical appliance to be carved?
Right now I don’t have:
a car (or a driver’s license, but i’m in the process of getting that)
a tv
a dvd/cd player or vcr
microwave
toaster
one of those machines that allow you to drink draught beer while at home.
ETA: no toaster or dish washer either. Or a dryer.
a car
an MP3 player
a computer
a DVD player
a dishwasher
a washing machine*
a dryer*
a microwave
an oven
a toaster
Basically, virtually everything that’s been mentioned in this thread.
I do have a TV and a cell phone and a digital camera. I have one space heater, but in the winter I usually heat my house (and sometimes cook on) the woodburning stove in my bedroom.
I read a lot.
*And note that the concept of the “laundromat” has yet to arrive in Bulgaria.
Cable. I have a TV that I can watch a few channels on.
A mp3 player. I’ve considered getting one but I’m usually in front of a computer and can play my online station.
I almost never use my toaster, but I have one. I rarely have sliced bread in the house.
Odd, I was just saying at lunch that I so rarely use my microwave I would not replace it if it broke.
I have a pay-as-you-go phone for the car in case I break down, but have no use for cel phones. Maybe this is why I’m alone in the world, but I just don’t have anyone in my life who I feel *must *have the ability to get in touch with me 24/7.
It saves time and elbow grease if you have a large chunk of food to be sliced. That’s kind of like a “power” anything. Hubby recently got a power grease gun. That would have been silly of him if he didn’t have a lot of equipment to use it on.
Folks who don’t use a microwave oven - do you not heat leftovers? Or just use the conventional oven/cooktop when you do?
Dishwasher (I have children; they do a good job)
Stereo~ why? The computer has great speakers and I can listen to whatever I want without all those CD’s taking up space.
Home phone is about to go bye bye. I can’t justify an expense for something we never use.
It probably doesn’t count, but I’m pretty sure I can do without a Roomba.
Sure, they’re cool, but I think the cats will perceive it as The Enemy and begin plotting its downfall through a well-planned series of guerrilla attacks… which I suspect would mostly involve shedding massive quantities of fur in order to choke the poor Roomba to death.
Instead, I have the alternative must-have gadget… a Dyson Animal upright.
Again, not sure it’s a must-have, but definitely many people with a house have it: a grill. We don’t have a grill because we rarely think to cook on it unless we make burgers which is once in a blue moon. It drives my mom nuts because she loves grilling but visits about four times a year. Every single time she visits, she insists we need one and has even offered to buy one. I’ve dug in my heels out of sheer stubbornness by now.
I don’t have a toaster oven. I grew up without one, and have never seen the need, but when my apartment-mates and I were setting up our first apartment in college, they looked at me like I’d fallen from the moon when I asked why one might need it.
I don’t have a TV, either. I don’t want one enough to justify paying for the cable I’d need to get reception here.
I really couldn’t care about not having a dishwasher. The only time I really wish I had one is when we host Thanksgiving (or the like). We’ve taken to saying “screw that!” and get the nicer super super heavyweight paper plates for those.
Air conditioning.
Meh. I’ll agree that it’s more comfortable with air conditioning, but it’s not awful without it where I am. Part of that is because I get used to the super humidity, but I prefer to keep myself physically prepared in case of disaster, right? No a/c then, and where will you air conditioned people BE? All over sweating up a storm, that’s where!
I think I’ve used my dishwasher all of three times since I moved here eighteen months ago. And I don’t think I’ve ever used the disposal. The house I’m buying also has both, and I’ve been giving serious consideration to seeing if I can have the disposal removed. What is the point of a disposal, anyway?
