It's Toast

It's hard to know when being thrifty/cheap outweighs practicality.

For example, five years ago we acquired a toaster oven. Within a few months the knobs broke off both the heat controller and the timer. We debated for a while if we should replace the whole toaster, but discovered that a screw driver was able to turn the timer/oven on and off. And not wanting to spend money, we settled and became content with the screw driver method (much to the horror of most any house guest that has stayed with us).

Fast forward five years and my sister finally confronts us on our sub-par screw driver method and suggested we try to put a dime or penny in the timer slot and just leave it there.

We attempted that, but the penny and dime were to big. However we discovered that a bread bag clip fit perfectly. It was amazing! No more fiddling with getting the screw driver into the right slot early in the morning before we've had our coffee. It was like a whole new world was open to us.

Unfortunately within two weeks the bread bag tie broke off and left a piece in the timer slot. After trying to remove the plastic remains with pliers, a file, and yes, a screw driver...we gave up and went out to Bed Bath and got a new toaster oven.

So five years of being cheap and trying to avoid throwing down $80 bucks was thwarted by a cheap bread bag tie.