Think Twice: 7 Home Items That Are Dangerous to Buy

Buying from hand is a good way to save on updating the interior. In addition, at flea markets you can find rare items, antiques, or, conversely, unused goods. But there are several categories of household items that are undesirable to buy with hands.

What used items should you buy with care? Listed in video

one Cushioned furniture

It is very difficult to clean upholstered furniture, especially inside, with high quality, and not everyone does it before selling. Some are limited to only surface cleaning. But with this approach, a product that is neat on the outside can turn out to be a breeding ground for harmful bacteria, microorganisms or bedbugs inside. If you are determined to buy a sofa or armchair from your hands, find out in which room the item was located, whether it is clean and there are no traces of insects. As a last resort, if there is no way to verify the conditions of keeping upholstered furniture, you should order dry cleaning — and only after that bring the purchased item to your home.

2 Pillow

The same is true with pillows: they are difficult to clean completely, so the inside may contain remnants of someone else’s saliva, sweat, dead skin cells, fungus, and even dust mites. Sleeping on such a variety is not very pleasant and simply unsafe. A product with a natural filler can also be a breeding ground for mold (organics do not take root in artificial fibers). Nevertheless, any kind of pillows must be dry-cleaned, which is why the benefit of buying from your hands disappears. Moreover, natural filling needs to be updated frequently, and pretty soon you will have to hand over the pillow for re-stuffing, which will also become an additional cost.

3 Carpet

If you do not know exactly in what conditions the carpet was stored, you should not buy it. Inside the pile there can be various insects and their larvae: bedbugs, cockroaches, ants or fleas. At the same time, the product will look quite neat, so you will not guess about an unexpected surprise. But after you bring the carpet into the house, the insects will multiply, and it will be difficult to eradicate them. The seller can mask stubborn odors by cleaning with shampoo or scented sprays, but later they will appear in your home. If the thing is really valuable, and you can only buy it with your hands, budget for a good dry cleaning.

four Stove or oven

You should not take a stove and any other equipment that is associated with heating and cooking at a flea market. The danger of exploiting such items increases over time, and in the case of gas, this can even lead to an emergency. Hard-to-remove plaque gradually forms in ovens, rust may appear. All this gets into food during cooking and is harmful to health. A good cleaning will take a lot of time and effort.

5 Mattress

A good mattress is not cheap, but it makes sense to spend money on it. Even the highest quality product bought from hand, most likely, has accumulated microorganisms and odors. Of course, you can take it to dry cleaning, but it’s also not cheap. And if the mattress is high, it may not be completely cleaned. In addition, over time, the used product will begin to squeeze through and deform — faster than it would happen with a new one.

6 A vacuum cleaner

Buying equipment from the hands is always a risk. In the case of a vacuum cleaner, you should be aware that it has been in contact with dirt and various types of dust. All this settles inside the device. If they have had mercury removed from a thermometer or other toxic waste, it may not be safe. In addition, such equipment over time begins to overheat and turn off a few minutes after the start of cleaning. Wireless models charge faster. When buying a vacuum cleaner, you will need to replace all filters and properly clean all the components from the inside.

7 Meat grinder or blender

Cutting equipment is also not recommended to buy in a used condition. Blender, meat grinder, food processor, slicer — over time, they lose their properties due to dull blades. These parts will have to be replaced or sharpened — again an additional (and sometimes quite impressive) waste. In addition, even with sharp knives, using such a technique can be dangerous due to possible failures.