What is something really stupid you purchased that turned out far better than expected?

RanchOnPancakes@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 1031 points –

I bought a piece of 1.5 inch stiff foam to try to fix a sag in a bed. It didn't work but having that thick piece of solid foam around has been a life saver.

Need something flat to put a laptop on? Throw it on the foam. Going to be doing something that requires you to be on your knees for a while? Get the foam!

It went from stupid purchase to something I'd gladly replace if it broke.

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A set of small neodymium magnets. Didn't have a plan, only they looked "super cool and strong wow".

Used for:

  • Locating needles in the carpet.
  • Fishing keychains out from behind sofas, gap between garden deck and house, and so many other places.
  • Makeshift fix for an old cabinet door that tended to glide open.
  • Holding nails and screws while fixin' stuff.
  • Attaching a soda bottle to the office lamp in a way that is easy to undo while still pissing off HR.
  • Slapping it on a screwdriver to make it magnetic.
  • Fidget toy.
  • Regular ol' fridge magnet.

Attaching a soda bottle to the office lamp in a way that is easy to undo while still pissing off HR.

Yeah, not really grokking this one.

Fidget toy.

How many times have you nearly pinched yourself with them using them this way? lol

Fortunately, I have very small ones. I bought bigger ones later, but knowing myself I keep them out of play range.

Slo mo guys made a video smashing magnets together, and they were way more nervous than in the explosions or firearms videos!

info not a ton of people know; most wall corners in your house/apartment whatever, have a metal bracket holding the sides of the drywall together. that means with a strong enough magnet to make it comfortably tight against the paint, you can hang stuff on almost every outside corner in your house.

I bought a sample pack of super strong neodymium dudes and there's kid stuff, schedules, notes, doodles etc hanging all over the place.

Ah yes! I've also used them to find drywall seams and studs like that.

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