Light Bulbs -grrr.

Yes I have the same problem - normal top, screw top, bayonet top, ceiling lights - I have a box in the garage full of bulbs of different shapes and sizes 😫

And it doesn't matter how big a stash of light bulbs you have, or how many different fittings, voltage or wattage is in your stash...... you won't have the bulb that you need right now. So you take the blown bulb out of the lamp, put it in your bag so that you can get the exact bulb that you need when next in town. But the store will have aisles and aisles of light bulbs, of every size, fitting, colour, wattage, dimmable/undimmable, clear, opaque, daylight, warm light....... BUT THEY WON'T HAVE THE BULB IN STOCK THAT YOU NEED NOW. Because it needs to be ordered.

Hollow laughter. There is a table in our living room covered with bulbs, no two the same. I am going to sort them all out and label them - or so I say.

I've recently had my garage converted to a workshop with loads of shelving, so I've been sorting through many boxes. As well as the usual random collection of bulbs I came across six six-packs of halogen spotlights. I have no idea when, or why, I bought them.
It also became obvious that I've saved every allen key that came with every piece of flat pack furniture I've ever bought, 84 so far!

I’ve got bulbs which must be for lights that are long gone, I could waste a day checking every light I still own and match up the bulbs I guess, but life is too short for that.

In the meantime, you were spot on Cardamon, the type I wanted was not in stock!

We are like this too, drives me bonkers!

It's probably because we have updated fittings and bought lamps as required (rather than starting from nothing and deliberately choosing the same fittings).

Mine are mostly the same 3 types of fitting now though.
Yes I still have lots of choice - which I quite like as I put a blue-ish light in some fittings and a warmer one elsewhere. One light I like a big fat round one in it.
I admit I order a pack when I get to the last couple of each sort though.

I can't expect an ordinary shop to cary everything so am happy to order.

I do like choice. Maybe I'm a bit odd.

I’ve yet to find a store I can physically walk into and buy the light bulb I need so I order from online electric light bulb stores.

I had a similar problem and had difficulty changing one without falling off the mini stepladder.

I decided to pay an electrician to do all the work for me, buying 10 year bulbs and fitting them. Being 82 I hope not to be here when they next need changing. For me, it was money well spent.

I do agree with this. Also I don't think some bulbs last very long either irrespective of where you buy them. I have to ask someone to change bulbs for me as ceilings are high. I have my bulbs under the stairs supposedly sorted out so I can produce the right one and I spent some time recently sorting out my.light bulb collection. ( how sad is that?) and I have ended up with a few bulbs that I doubt will fit anywhere!

Light bulbs and fittings.
The scourge of humanity.

Its a blooming mission trying to buy them online, as well.
Slim bayonet, E14, etc.
How am i supposed to know?!

Standard bayonet, slim bayonet, standard screw, slim screw, standard bulb, candle bulb, mushroom, golfball, mini-globe, dimmable or non-dimmable, frosted or clear or warm white.......candles please!

MissAdventure

Its a blooming mission trying to buy them online, as well.
Slim bayonet, E14, etc.
How am i supposed to know?!

You can stand in front of the bulb display in a Sainsbury forever trying to not lose the will to live.

I used to take my used bulb with me so i could compare, but there's so much choice, and such different prices, too. It used to be in the pound shop, and choose between bayonet or screw in. Done.

I bought a lovely little lamp a couple of years ago and, quite recently, the bulb blew. I took the old one with me to B&Q and scoured the shelves, looking for the right one; nothing matched. Tried a bigger B&Q in the next town, a Home Bargains, B&M, Sainsbury's, Ikea and Tesco: nothing at all similar. Just at the point of ditching the lamp when I spotted an electrical services outlet for trade only and went in on the off chance they could help. Turns out I needed an oven bulb! 😅 And, as it was a trade centre, I had to get the box of 6.

Yes!
I use lamps too,
They're the worst bulbs to find.

I stocked up on a selection of bulbs, some when Wilko stores were closing, several yellow-stickers because one of a multi pack was missing (presumably broken). My ceiling, wall and table lamps all have different fittings so I went around the house and wrote out a table of which lights had which fittings, and the wattage presently in use. I’ll put it all on a spreadsheet one day. All the boxes have the fitting written in marker pen, and as I changed some perfectly good bulbs for low-wattage versions I’ve kept the old ones as spares.

It’s amazing that when I moved here 35 years ago, every light had a 100w bulb, including four recessed 100w spotlights in the kitchen alone. Now there’s one 15w in the rarely-used back hallway and all the others are between 3 and 9 watts!

I miss Wilko's.

Me too Cardamon, it was always the place to go for the essential bits and pieces you can’t find anywhere else - B&Q possibly have whatever it is, but I lose the will to live when I enter their portals.

My friend asked me a while bsck where I'd got my table and chairs from, because because it fits so well in its place, and her flat is the same layout.
£69 from Wilco, about 30 years ago.

And what, when it is at home, is a flipping lumen? Aliens messing about with our measurements!!!

No idea dalrymple23 I long for the days when you had a choice: 100 watt for the lamps and 150 watt for the "big light". You knew where you were with watts!

dalrymple23

And what, when it is at home, is a flipping lumen? Aliens messing about with our measurements!!!

Yes!!!'
Suddenly lumens happened, without so much as a 'by your leave!'