What cheap tool/gadget do you use that greatly improves your daily life?

And great for doing dishes and washing vegetables!

Plz no.. 😝

In a lot of places, a bidet refers to the whole integrated rig, the $30 under the seat things are washlets and the hand sprayer is advertised as a cloth diaper sprayer.

rice cooker. i have one that i use like a fancy crockpot so i can leave the house and come home to hot food. mandolin or a food processor is a close second, makes chopping veggies a breeze

My issue with food processors is they take more time to clean than they save.

Which one do you use?

Rinse after use, then its a matter of wiping down in hot soapy water.

Never let the debris dry in the food processor or you're gonna have a bad time. Same with blenders.

If you can't reach the crevices you can also run it with warm (not hot) soapy water to clean the crevices.

A bottle brush is great for those crevices, too 🤌🏼

Those little brushes they make for cleaning straws have so many other uses, I swear.

Edit: just realized you said "bottle" and not "little," sorry about that lol

Yeah, and if you're really old-school, you simply use a pipe cleaner... 🤪

Ooh smart idea, I forgot those existed for a bit there lol

That's exactly what the "straw cleaner" people wanted you to do, ya know...

They've fooled me again! When will I ever learn? .⁠·⁠´⁠¯⁠⁠(⁠>⁠▂⁠<⁠)⁠´⁠¯⁠⁠·⁠.

They're insidiously clever. It's not your fault. Better humans than yourself have gone their whole lives assuming those fuzzy bendy things were just for preschool craft projects. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Yeah, if you can't soak it, get that food off before it dries. This is why I prefer kitchen tools that you can take apart. I replaced my Foreman grill with a griddle with removable plates and love it, even though the Foreman had a bit more cooking area. Plus I got waffle plates and also got rid of the waffle maker that I rarely used because it was such a pain to clean if you ever overestimated how much batter it needed.

i use a mini kitchenaid i got for $50 a few years ago. its easier to store n clean bc its tiny. it isnt good for big batches but is perfect for a few carrots and onion, or a handful of spinach. then i usually just swish it all with warm water and im good to go. i clean while i cook so its basically all done by the time im eating.

I guess I just don't find it hard to chop things with a knife, which is very easy to clean. I have a food processor, but getting it out of the cupboard takes almost as much time as dicing an onion with a knife.

i think for me is im a disaster and usually will end up with veggie particles all over the counter and floor and then have to spend time cleaning that up else the cat gets his far face all over it. on top of that i have a super tiny food processor which makes getting it in and out super easy. if i only had my larger one i could not see myself bothering with it.

A decent reusable steel water bottle. Doesn't need to cost a lot, and really cuts down on dishes at home

How does it reduce dishes? Water bottles are one of the more annoying things to wash, in my experience, because my hands aren't small enough to fit anymore.

Edit: Yes, I have a bottle brush. It's just that it's a bit of a hassle to soap it from dry and then have to dry it somewhere before storing it again. I wash everything else with a rough sponge normally.

Get a metal one and put it in the dishwasher. Or get a bottle brush.

Also, occasionally filling it with white vinegar and letting it sit overnight can help clean deposits.

ETA: In general putting plastic in the dishwasher is not advised.

I see you've never had a partner with ADHD! Going around collecting all the half-drank water glasses in our household used to be a full-time job.

I have not! In fact, I'm usually the one carrying around water glasses because they're less hassle to drink from and far easier to (visibly) clean than any other vessel is. I try to limit myself to two or three in the house though...

Unfortunately we're both the problem, so there would just be glasses EVERYWHERE. Carrying one bottle around just made more sense

Use a bottle brush. 🤦🏼‍♂️

It's a pain to take a tool out (and wait for it to dry) just for one or two bottles.

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i use almost nothing but stainless steel drinking cups now

For cups (for cool liquids), I use aluminum since it cools my drink down quickly with just a small amount of ice.

I've been using my for about 8 years now, still holds up.

Hit up the Goodwill or similar, you can find stainless bottles for dollars.

Local DI (deseret industries-a Mormon goodwill equivalent) has them for $1.50. Pick your lid, thermo flask, size, straw or naw. Get 6 for $9. Or buy 1-2 a bunch of times. My only transportation is cycling (other than busses/trains). Hydration is essential for proper functioning on all of these.

Water is life homie.

Man I hate these. They make water warm up instantly (unless vacuum insulated) and I could just one a single glass the whole day, or multiple days.

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Chopsticks. Use chopsticks to turn over bacon.

Not to mention they are the superior salad utensil.

Agreed. Chopsticks make it so much easier to fold up my salad greens and minimize the amount of salad dressing I get in my beard and mustache.

Use less dressing? I mean, if your salad is dripping, you might wanna look at your ratios there. 😅

Never said it was dripping. It just rubs against facial hair while eating. Ice cream, sandwiches, beverages, lots of foods have an interaction with facial hair. It's something I live with because it's not that big of a deal and using chopsticks makes it even less so.

Also the best way to eat Cheetos and keep your fingers clean

Daiso sells large kitchen ones. They're great.

Magnetic soap holder.

You shove a little metal bit into your soap bar, and the bar dangles from a magnet on a stand that holds it over the sink.

Soap dries quickly, no scum in the soap dish, any drippage falls right into the sink.

Only downside is the magnet falls out when the bar gets smaller, so you have to mash the old bar into the bottom of the new one to keep from wasting it.

I've never heard of this witchcraft. This is exactly what I need.

Edit: heard not beard

Yes beard, not not beard.

Speaking as an American - an electric kettle. Just a thing that plugs into the wall and boils water.

I use it for tea, of course, but I also use it any time I need boiling water for something, because it's faster than a kettle sitting on the stove and it doesn't use gas.

As a Brit, it's always weird as fuck to see people in American movies boiling an old tin kettle on the stove like they're stuck in the 1950s.

Even if you're living in London's smallest flat, and all you've got is a microwave, a mini fridge, a bed and a cupboard with a toilet in it, you've still got an electric kettle.

It's mostly because people in the US don't drink much hot tea. Coffee is more popular here, and dedicated coffee makers are very common.

Also remember that American homes are quite literally wired different, and kettles aren't as ~~efficient~~ fast as they are on the UK's electric grid. They're still far better than the stovetop, but the combined one-two punch of less need and stoves being "good enough" for most people most of the time just kills the idea in its tracks.

I thought its the lower voltage you use in the US, so electric kettles take double or more the time to heat up the water than in europe

As far as I know, many Americans don't even own a stove top kettle. If they need to boil water, they do so in a saucepan.

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As a Canadian I now have 2 Electric kettles. Replaced my traditional electric kettle with a Gooseneck kettle for my pour over coffee. Still works great for tea. Also have a stove top gooseneck kettle for the camper when camping.

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Poopknife

Sorry, what?

Lol it's an old story from reddit. Allegedly, this guy was at a friend's house and he went to the bathroom. But he couldnt find the poopknife and called out for it. He was mortified to learn that the average family did not employ the use of a poopknife.

What's a reddit?

It's like an internet poop knife.

I made the whole thing up. It came to me in a fever dream.

A closed source centralized Lemmy alternative.

The funny thing is that you can actually buy a poop knife now.

WTF

A knife made of fossilised coprolite, so it looks at home in the toilet. Alternatively, a knife used to cut up poop for inspection before disposal.

Bit nit picky but coprolite is fossilied poop. Saying fossilied coprolite is a bit redundant as coprolite already states that it's fossilised

No I agree with you perfectly, but it was a choice between making it semantically correct, and making it more readable / understandable to most readers.

Poop knife.

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Depends on your lifestyle ofc but a cheap 6' tape measurer keychain has come in clutch more times than I can count. Within the past week I've used it to

measure the hatch of my car to see if a box could fit

compared a 14" pizza to a 17" to my friend group to figure what size pizza to buy

measured an entire house worth of soffit

The thing was like $5 and honestly gets more use out of anything in my EDC except maybe my earbuds and even then I barely touch them since graduating from uni

Make sure you test it against one you're sure is accurate. My wife bought one that looks right at first blush, but it's off by at least 5%.

That's a funny cautionary tale.

Roughly 0.5 inches would you say?

I use the one on my leather man micra all the time. Also fans of Adam Savage know about his measuring device tattooed on his arm which is cool too.

Funny, I was just watching some lockdown-era Tested videos and was wondering what that tattoo was on Adam's arm. Reminds me of my mechanic friends with a 10mm socket tattooed so that "they'll never lose it"

I keep several full size 30' tape measures in different places like my truck, kitchen junk drawer and (of course) toolboxes. You might find that more useful than a 6'. Cheap ones are fine, I think, as long as you don't drop them.

https://tested-store.com/products/adam-savages-temporary-ruler-tattoo

Thank you, now I know what tattoo to get if I pass by a walk in place. I'm always tempted but the things I want aren't exactly walk in tattoos. Only question now is to go halfway up my forearm or to my elbow. Guess I could go all the way down my index finger, too, but I'm not sure how long a tattoo on the side of the finger would last, plus all the possible bends when including the hand could reduce measurement accuracy by quite a bit.

Dude, you’ve gotta factor in way more than diameter if you’re trying to make wise pizza choices. They have calculators for that: https://www.omnicalculator.com/food/pizza-comparison

Your link is the other way around, you should put the text between [ ] and the link between ( ), i.e. text, the way you did it the text that appears is the url but when you click it it tries to go to literally the address url.

Luftkin makes a high contrast 8' the size of most 6' and it is glorious. I have one as a daily driver for work, cold dead hands.

The rest of their tape measures in that same line are great.

Floss picks. Flossing is actually more important than brushing and it's really nice to have a pack of floss picks at your desk so you can floss absent mindedly while watching a video or even in bed.

It's so much wasted plastic though. I 3D printed a handle and with a little sandpaper to smooth the handle out, it's super easy to floss. Using this one currently: https://www.printables.com/model/267704-dental-floss-holder-with-tensioner/comments

Would be better with the 90 degree bend.

But also PLA will grow bacteria after putting it in your mouth even if you wash it.

I actually modified it in solidworks to have a nice curve, and open at the tips vs trying to thread the floss everytime.

Bacteria? You're brushing your teeth with a reused toothbrush. Besides, that's what immune systems are for.

Different plastics have different properties, like how much moisture they hold. You can clean polypropylene but you'll never clean off PLA

I used petg, better for the engineering stuff that I do.

Feel free to google whether you should be putting petg in your mouth and then giving it time to grow bacteria and then putting it back in your mouth again.

(you may be shocked by the answer)

I don't think anyone is shocked. PETG is probably the best solution here since it can be food grade and transparent to help with disinfection via UV. Would probably be a good idea to limit each one to a month of use or something but it's still better than the wasteful alternative.

Jesus, clickbait language in comments is worrying

Have jokes gone too far? Some lemmy experts are concerned

Ask an expert: Is Arugula a super food?

I understand your point, and still disagree.

If I could injection mold it out of polycarbonate, I would. I'd still rather use this than mindlessly buy 150 plastic prongs, only 5% of each disposed piece being actual floss.

I also thought that too and I've been looking for a reusable one now. I bought one but it's too much of a hassle and frankly takes more time to change floss than actually flossing (have to unwind, remove from track unwind again, pull floss, rewind, align with track, rewind again and trim)

There's always a tradeoff: security or convenience, environmental destruction or convenience, healthy life or convenience..

I don't mind at least trying to do something right. But I don't know other people's lives so most I'll do is ask them to consider or try something new.

Awesome! Thank you so much, I have floss picks that I hate as they're crappy and break or stretch out before I can do my whole mouth so I end up using two. Definitely printing this when I get home!

Glad you like it. Maybe snap the ends off as threading the floss through the holes is a pita haha.

There are also wooden floss picks out there, for those who don't have a printer but want to use less plastic.

I started doing this a few years ago, and it made a world of difference. I dislike the whole process of using regular floss; having to wrap it around my fingers and then try to maneuver it around inside my mouth, all while staring at myself in the bathroom mirror is a mental burden. Now I just keep a bag of floss picks in easily reachable places where I tend to spend the most time, and I've ended up with really good flossing habits.

I'm in the same boat. I didn't floss until I started using those little picks. I've looked into reusable floss holders, but none of them seem like something I want to regularly stick in my mouth.

A year's worth of floss picks is the same amount of plastic as just a couple of bottles/containers. If you feel bad about the plastic waste but can't find an alternative, you can always focus on getting fewer single-use plastic containers.

There are also wooden ones; still making trash but at that point it's equivalent to a bad toothpick habit lol

Hmmm. Wooden toothpicks would make me look like some 1950s gumshoe...

I've got one that's basically a handle that dispenses the floss, so you just use it and then click a few times and there's new floss ready for next time. Makes it a lot easier to get done.

Do you know the product name?

Yeah, it's a GUM Flosbrush.

Dentist hate this one little trick… because it is not actually as good as flossing. Floss picks tend to have a very tight piece of floss. It is good for cleaning the surfaces directly between your teeth, but not the curved parts of the teeth.

I hate regular floss (or rather sticking my fat fingers deep into my mouth), so flossing sticks are better than nothing.

What I do to mediate that is sticking in the floss pick, turning it and pulling it out while under tension and whatever it doesn't get will be removed by brushing. My dentist told me I have very healthy teeth (I actually don't even brush very consistently (please don't do this even though it happened to work out for me (I was depressed, just listen to your dentist))). I also floss the gap between each tooth twice, once applying pressure to one side and vice versa.

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Boneconduction earphones. They are cheaper than you think and I use mine to listen to music while swimming. Also great for music when you need to be able to hear to things around you (it doesn't block any external sound, so don't use in noisy environments)

it doesn't block any external sound, so don't use in noisy environments

It's actually because I work in a high noise environment that I got into bone-conduction headphones. They still work when you're wearing earplugs.

Nvr thought of that but wouldnt good earbuds with active noise canceling be better for you?

No, it wouldn't. When I say I work in a high noise environment I mean that I'm surrounded by enough machine noise that I wear ear plugs to protect my hearing. Active noise cancellation isn't a substitute for actual PPE. It'd be cool if it worked that way, but sadly not.

Bone conduction works great with earplugs though. The only minor downside is that earplugs make the bass frequencies stronger, so I need to open up the EQ settings and tweak things a bit if I'm listening to music, but that's not really a big deal. I'm usually listing to podcasts or audio books at work anyway.

ANC plays the inverse of the soundwaves. So a loud noise isn't made safe, it is just made inaudible and just as loud and harmful.

They are not safety products, only sound deadening earplugs or muffs do that.

that's ... not how science works

Don't the soundwaves cancel each other out?

Anyway my bigger fear would be a short hiccup or outright malfunction and suddenly you stand unprotected within loud machines.

They do, but not in the intuitive way one would think. They work because there's a passive seal around the hearing, thus the headphones only have to cancel the smaller amount of noise that gets into your ear, not the full loud noise outside in the environment. This is why ANC need to have mics inside your ears.

The problem is actually that the louder the noise, the louder the noise canceling would have to be. And at a certain point the passive seal cannot stop much of the outside noise, and if poorly designed, if the speaker tries to cancel that noise, it would be blasting massive soundwaves into your ears. But most consumer speakers can't achieve that and don't even try. So after a certain threshold, they won't work and can't help you with the noise. And the passive noise block is not even remotely good enough as a straight up earplug. So they are not considered protective gear, at least not the consumer devices, only aviation grade ANC is considered protective gear. But you'll see that they have massive ear cover,s with huge speakers and drivers, and elastic tensors on the headband to absolutely seal your ears and some truly state of the art audio processing that would make the most snob audiophile blush in envy.

They do make some of those for ground crews, construction sites and heavy machinery, but they insists that they are only effective if paired with a sound baffle earplug.

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My greatest purchase of the last decade I reckon. I first tried them 9 years ago and since then I am onto my 6th pair, no because they break easily but simply because I use them for between 8 and 10 hours every single day.

I do a lot of running and cycling and they allow me to be aware of idiots in cars whilst being able to listen to music or books whilst I ride / run. I use them at work with ear defense in so I can still hear what my machine is doing.

They are light, comfortable and really just the best way to listen to stuff for me.

Do you use aftershokz?

Not OP but I do use AdterShokz! I bought them during Black Friday sale last year and love them! I also do a lot of running and cycling - very nice to have the background song playing while also being aware of my surroundings! I also do a lot of late night walks listening to podcasts - I feel much more comfortable knowing I could hear someone approaching me.

I listen when to music / podcasts doing chores around the house. My wife doesn’t realize alot of the times and starts talking to me and I miss first half of what she said. I told my wife when buying them I’d be able to hear her now! Turns out I listen too loud still and can’t comprehend what she is saying when first talking while headphones are still playing. So… don’t use that as buying excuse :)

I use a generic one from aliexpress, even the voice alerts are in chinese lol

Any particular brand you recommend?

When I looked into them, a lot of people seem to speak highly of Shokz/aftershokz. I haven't used them so can't make a personal recommendation.

One thing to note is that if you want them for swimming you need to get ones with built in storage bc Bluetooth can't really penetrate water

Thanks for the excellent tip, never would have occurred to me that water would cause a problem for the Bluetooth signal!

No idea, I bought a generic one on aliexpress that is 'good enough', wouldnt recommend

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Pretty niche, but a citrus squeezer. I cook a lot of Asian food and it's much better to put half a lime in the squeezer at a time than try and hand squeeze the juice out.

But... Isn't that standard equipment in every household?

I don't think I've ever seen one.

I assume they mean one with some sort of lever to make applying pressure easier?

Maybe. We had one of that too, but didn't use it too much either

Strongly disagree, any cheap squeezer is way harder to use than a fork and my hand.

That's what she said.

Driving gloves. Some halfway decent calfskin gloves make it nicer to drive, whether the steering wheel is hot in the summer, cold in the winter, or if you're going to be driving long distance. Not sure if real leather will be less than $20, but seen some cheap fingerless work gloves make driving more comfortable.

Clip on sunglasses that fit on my eyeglasses. Super easy to clip on, cost about ten bucks. So nice to not have to squint as much.

Dim light bulbs. Nearly every bulb in my house is as dim as I can manage. Some are salt lamps and some are those flicker fire bulbs. Either way, it makes the light at night a little warmer and a little dimmer, and all around a lot more cozy, which really is what one wants. Keep a couple of the overhead bulbs at the brighter end in case you need them, but dimmer bulbs make me a lot happier at night.

I got a new house with LEDs and at night it's lit like a 7-Eleven. I feel it's part of the reason I never get to sleep before midnight.

Dimmable smart bulbs, a mix of white and RGB.

A convoy s3 flashlight with uv emitter, about $15 US.

I have a geriatric puppy who's starting to "leak", and this flashlight is really quick and easy to tell where needs to be cleaned up. Way easier than shining a regular light, missing and slipping on a puddle.

Now that's something I've never thought of. You must care a lot for the puppy.

Please pay the dog tax. We'd love to see your senior pup!

USB cables with LCD displays. Now i can easily understand if a device is properly using QC or PD when charging, or whether there is an issue.

Swiss tech keychain pocket knife.

They have a microphillips and micro straight small enough to fix a loose screw on eyeglasses. The blade is serrated and sharp enough to make it through just about anything you really need to cut.

It looks enough like a key that (almost) no one questions it on my keychain.

I flew all the way to Florida with it on my keychain went through Disney with it on my keychain got to universal studios They actually recognized it and made me lose it.

When I got back I bought six more now somebody makes me throw one away I don't care.

"swiss tech utili-key" on amazon, less than $8

Swiss tech keychain pocket knife.

Where do you get these?

I googled it for you and it seems like walmart sells them.

How do I get to Walmart?

Idk, I'm on an entirely different continent, never been

The $8 Munchkin 10oz Sippy Cup. It's technically made for toddlers but it excels over any other travel mug unless you want insulation. I don't care about insulation because I don't want to wait an hour until it's a good drinking temp. Instead of some stupid spout mechanism that gets dingy and can't be washed in the dishwasher, there's a simple silicone lid you can drink from on all sides, and it's all dishwasher safe and super easy to clean. It also contains a perforated screen perfect for steeping tea leaves or cardamom tea. Of course there's the brilliantly simple spillproof aspect as well. I've had mine for 4 years and there's zero wear on it.

You can hook the tiny handles on things too, which is nice when going hands-free.

Jokes aside, that's a pretty good idea.

I got the one without handles so it's just a round cup, fits in the car cupholders that way. There's a whole bunch of customizations like that though, you got handles, different sizes, colors, materials, even an insulated one, and all interchangeable parts from what I've seen. There's a stainless steel one that looks like any other travel mug.

They are interchangeable, my one year old uses a bunch. Thanks for tuning me onto the steel one, I'll have to check it out!!!

The handle thing was a bit of a joke, though the handles do hook on to stuff pretty well. I can hook it onto my belt when carrying the little one.

Use daily? Very few things.

I guess shower head with hose? The advantage is the water comes at you from a higher point, great for tall/medium height people like me.

OMG those are amazing for hosing down the shower walls or washing your dog.

Good quality kitchen knives. Makes cooking a much better experience.

what's a cheap quality kitchen knife.

Victorinox chef's knife 8" or 10"

edit: didn't see the under $20 qualifier. looks like ~$45 on amazon currently. well worth that price imo

+1 for victorinox, until I got my current knife, I exclusively used these

Literally the top choice for beater chefs knife in kits around the world. My Henkles and Globals are nice knives but if Im splitting up a partly frozen whole chicken Im using the victorinox because it is made to be abused

On the same note, Victorinox peelers are fucking great and, at least in here, they cost like 14€ or so.

Nice. I need a new peeler soon and most of my best knives are Victorinox. Their paring knives are pretty well made as well.

I personally really love my Babish Chef's knife. I generally avoid buying content creator merch, but all the reviews I read for the knife seemed overwhelming positive for the price point

If you've got an Asian market, look for "Kiwi" brand knives there. Usually sold in big bins without packaging (maybe a plastic sleeve if you're lucky). They're sharp, but they do wear so also grab a cheap pull-through sharpener

Smart lights to wake you up in the morning. Vastly prefer it to a normal alarm clock.

On a similar note, I have an alarm clock that has a thing I can put under my pillow that vibrates to wake me up. (The box said it's made for Deaf people, which makes sense lol). As someone who doesn't wake up to ANYTHING, this works for me almost every time.

Is the vibrating of your phone not enough to wake you? I just use my phone as an alarm clock and keep it by my pillow. All my alarms are set to vibrate so it doesn't wake my husband.

The phone vibrating on the bed doesn't wake me up, nor does the sound at full volume. And the alarm clock is super aggressive lol. It has 15 levels, and I turn it up all the way. The whole mattress be shaking

That is some super deep sleeping you got going on. 😅

This doesn't work for everyone obviously, but I leave my blinds open at night so that the sun will wake me up. Works for me when I don't have to be anywhere before noon.

Yeah the further north you get the less this works on both sides of the sleep unfortunately

A sunrise alarm clock will do the trick, too

I had one before but the light was so weak and if you were sleeping on the side with the back of your head towards it, it did nothing. Though to be fair I do have a smart light in my nightstand lamp to do the same, but it is more like extra.

There's better and worse ones, obviously. Mine is so bright it lights up the entire room by itself.

I'm pretty fond of these little Velcro straps I got from Amazon that are like 10cm x 30cm, you use them to push all your computer cables into them so you can neaten them up. I've got several of them strapped back to back and it's a pretty decent solution (and being Velcro you can just pull it apart later on)

A place I used to work at gave us big rolls of double sided velcro for cable management purposes. Me and another guy built a jig to split them in half so it was 1/4" instead of 1/2". Worked great and I still have a ton of those rolls we made from leaving it in my pocket at the end of the day. Very handy stuff to have around.

Is "leaving it in my pocket at the end of the day" a euphemism for "I stole it"?

Leatherman metal bracelet with a lot of tools on the wrist. Not only it is strong and sturdy, but also looks cool. Also, saved me from being completely locked inside a room with no one around cause the door handle decided to break. Quickly disassembled the locking mechanism with the bracelet and was free in 2 mins, lol. Leatherman might be on an expensive side but there sure are alternatives. More than that, somehow I never had any issues with airports. They literally let me take it onboard every single time.
Phone holder for bed, aka robo-arm. Watching content before/while sleeping has never been more convenient.
A waist bag. No more stretched out jeans cause I keep all my stuff in the pockets.
A gas lighter. Works as a candle substitute if necessary. Also stylish.
A small but reliable kickscooter might be a great option if you need to go some distance that's too long to walk and too short for a taxi drive.
A second usb-c charger for the laptop actually is a convenient thing if you need to carry the laptop across rooms. No need to carry the bulky charger every time.
Speaking of chargers, consider buying a lot of 2 or 3 way wireless chargers for your mobile devices. I don't remember last time I bothered with plugging in my phone cause it's always charged wherever I go due to having wireless chargers everywhere.
On an expensive side, but a good sturdy metal gaming chair.
A portable SSD. Saved me by having all my backups many times.
A usb-A and usb-C compatible flash drive.
Paper cups and plates I guess? I don't like doing dishes and those two both eliminate the need to, but without a downside of being plastic.
Gonna sound strange, but a ladder. Replacing burnt lightbulbs with a chair is a nightmare, at least in my house.

Paper cups and plates I guess? I don't like doing dishes and those two both eliminate the need to, but without a downside of being plastic.

I have a bulb tool that screws onto a standard broom pole handle. $3.

Bad news, Leatherman bracelets seem to be retired, unless there's another series besides Tread that I can't find

You forgot to mention a towel and a rubber chicken with a pulley inside.

A metal gaming chair? I've never heard of such a thing.

What I meant is a gaming chair with some good metal base construction. I currently use DxRacer Iron series and it's by far superior to all alternatives I've used.

Equally as expensive but I’ve found high quality office chairs are much better. Gaming chairs used to be fine for me until WFH. Every day after work my back was killing me, and I couldn’t ever game after work.

I got a relatively cheap ($500) office chair and it’s been fantastic. Ergonomic, fully adjustable in every way, and shaped for someone to sit in for 8 hours a day. Fantastic. I’d love an aeron but even used they’re over 1k and 500 was already a lot to spend on a chair for me.

milwaukee fastback with screw driver attachment. I'm no contractor and use this thing all day everyday. Primarily as a knife but the screwdriver has came in clutch countless times. You can get a two pack for under $20

the tanto fastback with screwdriver is a pretty good looking design. I'm adding that one to my wishlist. Lol

Ok. I bought one of these three weeks ago based on this post.

Holy shit.

I've been a Leatherman or knife carrier most of my life. But I have reached for my new Fastback more than most multitools I've ever owned.

In these past weeks I have:

Taken a fence apart to back a truck into the yard of a friend who was moving.
Opened several boxes that I wouldn't have needlessly dulled my knife blade on.
Removed the blade to scrape residue off of a window more than once.
Used the flathead to pry whatever small retaining clip needed persuasion.
Cut the end of of zip ties totally flush.

I know not everyone will have this experience. But the disposable blade coupled with a 1/4" bit was an absolute game changer for me.

Thanks, OP

Was coming here to post this. I cannot overstate how much I use this thing daily. Bought it to help with some diy projects, and ended up carrying it everywhere I go. This is one of those few items less than $20 that I honestly can't see being without anymore.

Good nail clippers. My toe nails grow hella fast and if I don't keep 'em trimmed, I end up spending a lot more on socks. Good trimmer is like $5. Though I wish they came in bright colors since I quite often misplace them or they fall off my night stand and are a PITA to find.

Plastidip the handles, you can get bright blue or yellow pretty easily, and one can will last ages.

That's a good idea. Would also give a better grip on the lever. :D

A victorinox pocket knife! Really comes in handy for many purposes

I ended up buying an aftermarket belt clip that screws into the Swiss Army knife on Amazon. Best purchase ever. Always on me and used daily for random stuff.

Take my money!

I've carried a SAK for years. I now also have a cheap benchmade knockoff with pocket clip and flipper. So easy to pull out and open that I almost never use my SAK. Hopefully a pocket clip will change that.

Love this idea, thanks. (I know you bought a belt clip and I'm going to buy a pocket clip but you gave me the idea).

totally agree in principle. my edc of choice has been the Leatherman skeletool for the last 5 years. pliers, Phillips and flat head and blade have been the perfect combination to balance portability and utility

I also carry a Skeletool. I've had it for ~10 years now. I love that thing. It's the best designed multi-tool I've ever had.

A "traveler's" journal that consists of a cover and replaceable notebook refills. Cheaper than having to buy entire journals once you finish the last one (though uglier, since these refills don't have cool covers), you can interchange them based on context/what you require and journaling is pretty great by itself.

Seconded - I spent maybe $30 on the journal (might be a knockoff, but it works) and intentionally got one with card slots as well. No carrying a wallet required, self-contained, and when I think of something to do/search/etc it goes in there immediately.

I started with Midori notebooks in A5, and realized I love the paper, but the binding just didn't work for the way I write. Switched to Rhodia spiral bound 80gsm and haven't looked back. Wouldn't call myself "organized" per se, but far more than I ever have been and I no longer lose the random things I think of. or end up with 500 notes on my phone and no idea what's in each.

My tiny skillet designed for a single egg and my small silicone spatula. It's also just big enough for a slice of Spam.

Is Spam still a thing? I thought it was like post-WW2

Yeah, it's still totally around, and pretty popular for very low budget meals. And here in the Midwest at least, spam over rice and spam sushi is associated with Hawaiian cuisine.

Spam is pretty big in Phillipine culture as a comfort food as well.

A metal 2mm mechanical pencil set. I use it for woodworking and absolutely love it.

Biggest thing for woodworking for me was just buying more pencils. I bought a pack of 30 or so and put all of them in a cup attached to the wall. Now I just grab a new one if I forget where I put it down.

Did you forget your ear? I thought all woodworkers kept their pencil on their ear.

I recently bought an electrician's pouch that velcros around my belt. Great for holding screws, square and pencils. Think of it as a wall cup on your belt.

Hard to tuck a pencil in the ear when also wearing safety glasses and hearing protection.

True that. I'm less careful when using my compound miter saw or circular saw.

ditto. also keep one on each side of the miter saw and at the table saw to use the eraser side as an 11th finger when needed

I've got a Staedtler 2mm and sharpener that I've had for at least 20 years now. They both have a permanent spot of honor on my lathe stand.

I've been a huge fan of this Hultafors Dry Marker for carpentry and woodworking. Having that sheath with a built-in sharpener is excellent too.

Snag Nab-It and an electric depiller (fabric shaver).

Miracle makers during sweater season.

Reading glasses, unfortunately

Velcro for my remotes, I have various places to stick them around my room, game changer

I have a magnetic knife board on my wall. I hot glued washers to my remotes and I store them on the magnetic board.

Tea bag squeezer. No more burned fingers trying to wring out the last drops from my nightly cup of PG Tips.

Eeesh... But those last drops are kinda strongly bitter, I've noticed.

Ewe. Gross. This ruins the tea.

Carabiners. I bought a bunch for accessory and gear hauling when climbing long routes/distances. They've since been used for a lot more. I find endless use for them and usually have one clipped on a belt eyelet.

Don't have an egg beater? Here's my carabiner.

Do you mind sharing how you apply those fears outside of climbing?

Well, just earlier I used two to extend a dog lead and tether it at the pub.

In sight of me, a couple are looped through jacket tags holding them onto a skinny rack clothes hangers don't fit on. My house keys hang off a small one so I can clip them on and off my car key and 4×4 key. I clip on lock keys as well if I'm going mountain biking. Another has a dog training clicker and treat bag on the outside of my backpack. There's a few holding up shoes and accessory ropes on my outdoor/climbing gear rack.

Other common things, though... Holding up things like lighting, bins, cooking stuff when I camp. Clipping through tied up bin bags so I can take them all outside easier and cleaner—basically anything with a small loop, they become a clip in handle. They're great for undoing tight knots instead of finger nails. Switching weights in and out of my harness for different exercises on the pull-up bar or hangboard.

Most situations needing a handle, hook, ring, or knot, but faster and easier. I have a lot of very strong climbing ones, but decent ones that'll statically handle up to 100kg—but try not to ever go half the Max static rating for safety—are light, tough, and very cheap.

That should give you plenty of ideas to work with :)