Boy, can I relate to this thread! I've been trying to get along with hearing aids since the age of 16 ... and I have just turned 52. They are frustrating, delicate, and very expensive little beasties. And they physically hurt my ears, so I tend to wear them occasionally and sparingly.
Yes, it takes a long time to explain to non-hearing-aid wearers that they are NOT as easy to fit and easy to wear as a pair of glasses. And my friends and family know that they CAN sometimes help when I wear them -- and that I sometimes do better withOUT them in. Depends on all kinds of circumstances.
I'm a huge fan of assistive-listening devices such as the Loop in auditoriums, the PocketTalker mentioned above, CART live transcriptions ... and things such as CART and open captions benefit many people such as me, so it's easy to present an option such as that to people, to counterbalance the fact that I'm being a "bad girl" for not wearing those hearing aids!
Also, since nobody else has pointed it out, NOT every person with hearing loss is a viable candidate for a cochlear implant. It would be massively inappropriate for me, for example, because although my hearing is minimal in some frequency ranges, I have a lot of almost-normal hearing in others.
More power to you, Evie, and hang in there! Yes, do take care of those pricey machines which your parents ponied up for, but remember, that it's up to each Deafie (any disabled person as a matter of fact) to decide for themself which devices, tactics, etc are the most useful to them ... and which ones are not. And make friends with your audiologist, and try getting those machines adjusted from time to time. You never know when something might come down the pike that just might work better (if not perfect) than what you've got.