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What things do you have are surprisingly good / handy?
As I write this, I’m using a $10 foot massager from Temu that my wife bought. I thought it was totally stupid but it gets nightly use. We lie on the couch and just let it run.
Edit2: it looks like the LINGTENG one on Amazon - probably white labeled from same factory, nothing special about it but we like the simplicity.
What has anyone else found surprisingly useful?
Edit -
Here are some things that came in mind as I was walking around:
- Different type of mason jar lids from masontops for sprouting, cold press coffee, pouring spout for watering plants, etc.
- ifixit kit - originally used for phone fixing now used for prying random stuff - the Ifixit jimmy is really useful, and it’s great to have all tools in one place
- Shoegoo - originally used for shoe fixing now used for fixing bike parts - time to invest in a glue gun
- YouTube premium - I originally got a family plan so that my mom wouldn’t watch so many ads, but now it’s an integral part of my passive learning system - languages, guitar, sports, etc.
- hydrogen peroxide - I got it for wound disinfecting but it has only ever been used as a stain remover.
- cheap Muji mini umbrella - way more used than my fancy Davek
Physical:
Digital:
I especially love your digital collection and will be emulating most of these
Another tip with regards to "the numbers" and other pieces of information you might need at your fingertips- use macros (and custom dictionary on your phone)!
On windows, I use AutoHotkey (any macro software works), and you can have the ability to insert things like VIN, TSA precheck #, etc. by just typing a few letters and hitting tab (I've found this to be the most useful, but you can bind it to keys or any other number of options). So typing "email" and hitting tab will insert my email address. Or "addr" and tab will insert my address. VIN, TSA precheck #, zoom/WebEx, phone numbers, socials, you name it - all available at your fingertips.
I also host my own bookstack instance as a personal wiki - I upload product manuals, notes on things in my home, API keys for my self hosted stuff, save all my work reviews, copies of articles I want to reference later, and so on and so forth. Can be super useful for searching or finding information quickly.
2nding the signature.png! Comes in handy so often, and you get a perfect signature every time.
MacOS Preview has this feature built into it, and even though I probably need to sign a digital document once every year or so, it's still convenient enough to keep me on MacOS because it's not handled as well with any other document viewer.
Firefox's PDF reader lets you insert text and images nowadays, that could be an option if you want to move away from MacOS.
It's not quite the same. Preview will save your signatures in the application, so you don't need to keep track of where your image is. Not only that, but you can capture your signature either by using the trackpad or an iPhone as a writing pad, or by using the camera as a makeshift scanner.
Gotcha, that sounds nifty. Just figured I'd mention it!
I also keep photos of all important docs like this on my server.
Second this. I used to keep color scans of important docs and cards, but in recent years I've found cell phone cameras to be plenty good enough and much faster.
Yep, I used to waste a lot of time scanning.
I set up paperless (now paperless-ngx) on my home server and configured my scanner to dump PDFs onto the network share. Anything on my person or in my bag when I get home goes straight through the scanner and into the shred pile.
I casually review the database every month and shred once I know important documents have successfully imported. I tried to use the phone apps for a while but it was always difficult getting a clean shot without distortion or shadows.
I hadn't heard of this, but seems like it might fit in nicely on my home server. Thanks for sharing. :)
Hah, fun, your digital collection is super close to mine. I also want to add that I have PDFs of important documents such as passports, contracts, etc.
I would also like to add something physical that I thought would be a waste of money. I just got it because I had some leftover budget at work: My iPad Pro with one of those pencils. I use it for taking notes (with CollaNote) and scribbling stuff for my coworkers (you can log into a Slack huddle or a Google Meet with several devices and share your iPad's screen).
This is awesome.
Your citric acid remark reminded me that hydrogen peroxide has become my goto disinfectant. It's way more versitile than bleach, its especially great for a quick produce rinse.
On a whim, I bought a pair of screwdrivers on a keyring kinda like this and they’ve lived with my keys for the past decade. The number of times I’ve just been able to quickly screw or unscrew something without going digging for the toolbox (even better when I’m at someone else’s house and don’t even know what tools they have) has absolutely been worth the modest price I paid for them.
Adam Savage has a saying: The best tool is the closest tool.
A very long time ago, Swiss Arms made a Utili-key. It had about 7 tools on it, and folded into a key. Looks like someone took that idea and sells them on Amazon for $8 a piece.
I love mine, use it often, and it's tough as nails and super discrete.
Big Ass Screwdriver (tm)
All it is is a huge flathead screwdriver; the shaft itself is probably 8" long, with another 4" or so for the handle. I use it for almost everything: prying stuff during my automotive projects, feeling inside walls, levering other random stuff, bracing things, etc. It is probably mostly used as a lever on a multitude of things, but it is hands down my favorite tool and anytime I'm working on a project, I crack this thing out.
Funny thing is, I was going through my late Grandfather's tools in 2022 and discovered that he was also a fan of Big Ass Screwdriver (tm), only his is probably twice the size of mine. I claimed it for my own, so now I have two, though I find mine more useful generally, because it's just an easier size to use for a variety of things.
Oh yes, I also have a big ass screwdriver that has never been used for screwdriving! It mostly is used for weeding.
Milwaukee make an excellent BAS. I use my all the time. It's one of three tools that lives on my actual bench because it's too useful to put away any further.
However, I don't think I've ever turned a screw with it. Admittedly I don't have flathead screws in my life unless I have absolutely no alternative. But a Torx BAS would be far less useful.
For people who are BASless, the thing to check for when buying is a full tang construction, which means it is one piece of metal from the tip to the top of the handle - because that means you can use a hammer on the back end for extra pry/lever/chisel power.
Speaking of chisels, I can't help but wonder if a basic woodworking chisel might being the better tool for a number of these off-label applications. But I suppose you would have a greater risk of injury with the sharp edge.
A fine thin/flexible diamond file like the one DMT makes. Not only is it easier and faster than traditional knife sharpeners but you can also use it on other things too like vegetable peelers, scissors, shears, bench scrapers, etc…
Everything in my house is sharp now. Living here is a hazard.
Does it also sharpen serrated knives like steak and bread?;
Excellent question—the sharpening of serrated knives has been a (dull) thorn in my side for years. It seems that none of the existing sharpening tools work with serrated blades and for some reason none of my local knife sharpeners will touch them. We have all been abandoned by the knife gods to hack away at our loaves of bread like monkeys smashing clams on a rock.
That is until I discovered DMT actually makes another rounded and tapered diamond file that is explicitly for serrated blades.
Another tip I received but have yet to try involves wrapping a pencil in extra-fine sandpaper and using that to sharpen between the teeth.
Get a multitool if you don't have one. Carry it with you everywhere. I went for 10 years wirhout carrying mine, and now I find myself using it dozens of times per day.
Its so convienient having pliers, wire cutters, scissors, and a screwdriver with you at all times. Gotta get the 1-hand model though.
For a slightly less typical answer: A jug of food grade mineral oil. Great for cutting boards and getting a protective coat on your metal tools, especially after a soap/water wash.
I can't stand them. Sure, I suppose it could be convenient to have that many tools at hand, but it's the worst possible version of them. The pliers suffer from a poor grip, the screwdrivers are offset from the center so you're constantly losing contact with the screws unless you handle it the most painful way possible (and worse, they tend to be on the side of it, making it closer to a weapon to use like a piercing version of a brass knuckle), the scisors are so so small that it takes ages to cut the tiny pieces of paper it can actually cut - it's usually faster to crease and tear. All of the tools will hurt your hands if you use them for more than a minute at a time, and for some reason the knives they put on them - the most competent tool they include - seem to be permanently dull, requiring constant sharpening.
They can be very good for some kinds of jobs - stage techs come to mind - but for everything I need to do a set of purpose-made tools works way better and are well worth the inconvenience of pulling them out of the box they are stored in.
My opinion is higher for the pocketknife ones, like a swiss army knife. But usually when people say "multitool" they are referring to the ones with pliers, and those ones tend to be the worst.
Edit: I was referring to the ones where the pliers were the largest tool and all the others are built into the handles. Someone else linked to a swiss army knife with a very small set of pliers built into it. I haven't used one of those, but I could see them potentially being useful for some smaller things like staples.
The wire strippers on my Gerber are my absolute favorite to use, its like a little notch in the corner of the cutter and it works excellent for everything from 10 gauge to 24.
Otherwise yea, but it's about being in arms reach 24/7, and the finicky seconds added from inferior tool saves minutes of going to get a proper one.
Coincidentally I've dealt with electronics to some extent for most of my life, so I've dealt with wire strippers for a long time. A while back I got a good quality but otherwise very simplistic pair of strippers from Klien Tools; the kind where it's just two half-circle notches that grip together so they only cut through the insulation, and it absolutely blew me away with how well it worked. It worked even better than my (at the time lost) extremely convoluted mechanical strippers. That and my Engineer wire crimper made me decide to never skimp on hand tools ever again. Not even if it's only for a single project.
I OTOH am a terribly disorganized ADHD-riddled redneck engineer.
The fewer tools I have at my disposal the better, lest most of my project working time is spent finding my tools. Though I've found having dedicated plumbing/electrical/hanging/all-purpose bags helps tremendously.
That said there is definitely a threshold for any serious project that justifies buying the correct tool over fucking around with what I already have. I'll probably be a huge contributor and user of the library's toolshare when they get it going.
I agree. I've never met a multitool which isn't a collection of frustratingly compromised versions of everything on it.
I carry a bike multitool when I cycle but that's only because of storage and weight constraints - actually doing anything with it is painful but is better than not having it.
In the rest of my life I never need a tool so often that I need a rubbish one of it in my pocket, I can just keep proper tools and go to get them.
Have you tried one of the good quality multitools (e.g. one of the full size Leathermans)? The cheap multitools tend to be horrid to use but a good one gives you tools that can actually be usable. They are inherently a compromise tool but having something capable of doing the job already in your pocket instead of walking all the way across the building to get your toolbox (or potentially not having the tool at all if your proper ones are off site) has made my life so much easier over the years.
The Wave+ I have gets particular points in my book for having knives that are made of decent steel, good sized pliers that you can actually put a fair amount of force into, and bit drivers that both have interchangeable bits (and therefore can be replaced when worn) and are mounted in a location that allows you to undo screws without hating life.
A solution to this issue that I've adopted is a small, pocketable pouch with a set of small pliers (knipex), a small screwdriver and small scissors in it. These together are lighter than a multi tool (if a bit less compact) and much nicer to use.
I want to second this. Specifically, a leatherman. They're awesome. You can find a good Leatherman for like $50. I got my "Sidekick" on ebay for $20.
I've had a leatherman micra on my keys for over 15 years now, it has saved my ass so much that it deserves its own shrine.
Man. I loved keeping a Leatherman in my daily carry bag. I stopped doing it when the TSA got their third one from me. Still annoyed about it.
Seconding the multitool. Sure, every single tool on my swiss army knife¹ is inferior to the real version of that tool, but you know what? They're in my pocket, all the time, and every single one is about a hundred times preferable to not having the tool in question when you need it.
(…Except the hook, whose utility is very unclear. It's sort of an inside joke among Victorinox customers to come up with plausible things to do with it, almost all of which are somewhere between "circumstantial" and "laughable".)
¹ This one; note Victorinox sells a bunch of different knives with "tinker" in the name with different sets of tools, so if you want one, make sure you're getting the knife you think you're getting.
It sounds like you might be referring to the parcel hook, which was designed to carry twine-wrapped parcels. With the waning popularity of brown paper packages tied up with strings, these hooks are not often "favorite things."
For years I carried Swiss Army Knives, and my favorites were either the Mechanic or Huntsman, depending on where I was going. I also have a couple of multitools, which I normally keep in the car. I've mostly fallen back to just carrying a good knife in recent years though, probably because I spend so much more time near my proper tools since starting to WFH. My current favorite knife to carry is the Benchmade Sheepsfoot Mini-grip.
Industrial grade, top of the line 3M earmuffs. There's just a lot of stuff I don't wanna hear without attenuation. I use it every day at least once. It helps me deal with my neighbors loud music, my kid screaming bloody murder, my dogs barking when I touch their leash, or just the regular noises around me.
Generally speaking my headphones are good enough for this purpose. However they have been working on a side street for weeks now (replacing the sewer and a bunch more) and also have been building a new building around the corner.
With the current weather we have the balcony door open and I have seriously been considering getting something like this. I might still do it, I just saw that they also sell earmuffs with Bluetooth which would allow me to still put on some music if I wanted to.
I have a set of 3M WorkTunes Connect and like them. I use them for occasional woodworking and regular lawn mowing, so I can't say how well they'd work all day on a noisy construction site, but I can definitely recommend them for "I occasionally need real ear protection and would like to listen to music or audiobooks while I do it" use.
I expect the sound quality from earmuffs would probably be pretty poor... so I'd probably get some wireless bluetooth earbuds & earmuffs since they can be used either together or separate.
It has been a while since this thread was posted. But this weekend I was in my local hardware store and they had the 3M WorkTunes connect so I figured I'd try them out.
The sound quality is surprisingly good. Not exceptional as it clearly only supports SBC, but much better than other cheaper Bluetooth headsets. They also come with a 3.5mm jack.
Unfortunately, the delay with them is pretty bad over Bluetooth. Additionally, the 3.5mm jack requires them to be powered on and introduces static.
I am only planning to use them at home while construction down the street is happening. Normally, I use Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X's connected to an audio interface. So ideally I'd also like to connect these earmuffs the same way without the static.
So, I decided to have a look inside the 3M earmuffs to see what is possible.
The good news there is that they are very easy to work on. It requires just three screws per side to be able to access the electronics.
I was hoping to be able to replace the drivers with those from an old DT 770, but unfortunately that is not possible without compromising on the sound dampening.
But, as I said, the quality of the current drivers in there is already fairly acceptable. As it turns out, the drivers are 30ohm 0.1watt each, so there is no reason for the board itself to act as an amplifier.
I ripped out the Bluetooth board and the battery. I then used the old cable of the DT 770 and connected the drivers directly.
Long story short, I now have a poor mans version of the GK UltraPhones, and they honestly sound pretty good. Nowhere near as good as my DT 700 Pro X's, but good enough to have some music on when I want or do a teams call without annoying delays.
Also tagging @kej in case they are interested.
Possibly, though from looking at some reviews online, people seem to be generally pretty happy with them. Which in combination to not needing in-ear earbuds made me consider them for a second.
Related: good music earpieces (I use Earpiece, but any rubber earpiece with inserts will do). They're quite cheap and it saves you from hearing damage from concerts, band practice etc. Unlike foam ones, rubber earpieces let some of the sound through, so no muffled sounds. It literally feels like someone put the volume down a notch. I have also grown to find it more pleasant because it cuts the lainfull edge off.
I have found them useful for light noises (think snoring, loud music half a km away etc.). I live in a fairly quiet neighbourhood, so I have no need for anything stronger.
I also use these for concerts, since the sound levels are hazardous to your hearing as a rule and very hazardous at worst. I wish people would take hearing damage risk more seriously...
I use Etymotic Research concert earplugs.
This style of hearing protection is actually a simplified form of what musicians wear on stage. They typically wear In-Ear Monitors (IEMs), which are the same sort of rubber and plastic construction, but are also earbuds, so they block out the ambient sound and play a clean signal so they can hear what's important amid the chaos.
I wasn't familliar with them, so I looked them up. Are you using the active or passive ones, or the custom ones? They've got quite a few options even within those categories.
In case you want options, other popular brands of music festival earplugs:
Loop
High Fidelity
Alpine
Eargasm
Hearos
Earasers
Vibes
Decibullz
Surefire
If you just search "musician earplug", you'll find plenty, and they're all more or less the same. If you go out regularly I'd suggest getting a few different pairs so you have backups and can find which ones you enjoy the fit of the most.
Or if you go out a lot, go to an audiologist and have them make you custom ones. They are more expensive, but you can spend HSA/FSA dollars on it, and they will both give you better protection but also allow you to hear other people better because there aren't places for sound to leak so overall reduction doesn't have to be as high.
Adding Mumba to this list, I love my pair.
The cheap passive ones. The ER20s, I think they're called. They take sound levels down about 20db, which makes it difficult to, say, have a conversation since you think you're a lot louder than you are, but they're perfect for music.
Heck yeah! Got some issues to me when I was in the military, and I've used them frequently despite not being around jet engines anymore.
Painters tape is also great for when you have to drill/screw something into a wall. You make a little hammock of tape beneath the hole, and all the dust falls in the tape-hammock, which is easily folded up and thrown away!
I have learned that you can buy lamps that plug into a standard outlet, and when the power gets shut down it will automatically light up.
It sounds super useful but I haven't bothered to buy one because I realized that phones having flashlights is usually good enough. But I think the power where I live is pretty stable; I haven't had too many major outages.
Phone flashlights are okay for most things. The LED flashlight I have provides a much brighter beam.
It also isn't for outages, just in general it is incredibly helpful to aid in places where you don't quite have enough light.
I have a few items I can think of:
Hot pan, plenty of lube, don't stir too much.
I used the method on this website which was mentioned by someone on Tildes a while back. Worked like a charm!
I realized a while back that teflon pans are a bit of a gamble. Some work very well, but some work poorly, and even though I have been buying the America's Test Kitchen recommended ones from T-Fal, the performance has been pretty poor in them lately. Beyond that, the nonstick coating can be poisonous if you don't take good care of it. And it's probably not realistic to take perfect care of it all the time....
So I switched to the ceramic pan that ATK recently recommended, by Greenpan. And I've got to say that I'm fairly impressed. It's only a tiny bit more expensive but it's much better at preventing things from sticking to it than teflon coated pans and it probably isn't poisoning us.
Nonstick is important to me because I try to cook oil-free. There's only so much that can be done with water sauteing.
Yeah that was one of the big motivations for stepping away from teflon pans, and it's annoying to have specific tools just to avoid damaging the teflon layer.
I've not tried ceramic before, but thankfully I don't need to avoid fat in cooking. I'll keep them in mind though, I hadn't realised it could be non-stick to some extent.
I recently went through the whole 'new skillet' thing - ceramic and teflon are both prone to damage/degradation over time. Ceramic cracks if you over heat it (something I learned during the research - I went in heavily biased towards a ceramic skillet). I ended up w/a De Buyer carbon steel skillet. Spent a week seasoning it. Thus far its been awesome and its built like a family heirloom. True story - you can totally use modern dish 'soap' (it's really modern dish detergent) on carbon steel and cast iron w/o risking your seasoning. I've had a cast iron skillet for 20 years, still rocking the seasoning Lodge put on it at the factory. The whole 'no soap on cast iron' dates back to mid last century when dish soap was actually soap and much more caustic than modern detergents.
edited to add: The new carbon steel skillet is heavy AF - 0 advantage over cast iron in that regard. What it does have is a much smoother surface that makes all the difference when dealing with eggs.
I got them because I was tired of buying pans over and over again. Worth every penny.
Do be warned that ATK says that even the ceramic coatings will wear down. That being said, mine has not yet, and with the power of small sample sizes, science tells me it never will.
I was also very Taflon exclusive until I just couldn't balance the risk and cost anymore.
These days I cook almost exclusively on stainless steel and cast iron. The stainless steel is for oil free cooking, or else deglazing is part of the steps. Cast iron with enough heat and minimal oil is sufficiently non stick the rest of the time. Trade a bit of oil in our diet with extra iron sounds fair.
I own a carbon steel pan. It’s rusting away. I could not for the life of me figure out how to properly season it; no matter how thoroughly I oiled it or how hot the oven was, the seasoning would not stick. It is without a doubt the most finicky pan I own and I regret buying it.
And yes, I bought it before I cut out oil. It just never worked for me.
Maybe it's defective? :/ fell off the factory QA line somehow. Got an extra weird coating. Machine went Beep Boop while the alloy was mixed.
Maybe it's too fancy! No, wait, listen,
I have two bog standard cheapest possible cast iron pieces that I bought specifically to ruin. I was going to start on them and learn how to season / clean / cook before moving on to a set of ceramic cast iron le creuset. I haven't managed to damage them yet, even after a small grease fire, one of them made a full recovery with minimal baking soda scrub. At this rate I'll never be able to own pretty cookware.
In case you aren’t aware, ceramic cast iron is fundamentally different than bare cast iron. You don’t season the ceramic coated stuff. Ceramic cookware is all pretty much the same. It doesn’t matter if the base metal is iron, aluminum, stainless steel, or something else. I love my le creuset, but it has basically nothing in common with bare cast iron.
Also some bad news for your plan: even cheap cast iron is basically impossible to permanently break. The most damage you can really do is warp it so it isn’t flat, but that is pretty difficult. Unless it is physically broken (also pretty difficult), you can always strip it down to bare metal and season it from scratch. I usually do it by putting it in the oven on a self clean cycle, but there are other ways to do it too.
Ah dang!
Plus what @Akir said about ugly cookware :/ I guess I'm stuck with these forever - which is a good thing environmentally speaking and for my wallet
IIRC I actually ordered it from a restaurant supply store; it was supposed to be a functional buy.
My rule of thumb is that cookware works better when it's ugly, especially when it's something that's supposed to get hot. Baking sheets, for example, brown bottoms better when they've been darkened from use. If you want food to look pretty, you put it in a serving dish.
A lot of carbon steel woks come with a weird coating that needs to be burnt off, I wonder if that's the issue with your pan? I know I needed to hold my carbon steel wok over the electric stove burner at different angles to get the coating to break down. Wouldn't expect it to rust with that coating still on though, so who knows. Carbon steel is THE material for a wok, absolutely nothing else on the market comes close, but I've never tried a non-wok pan made out of the stuff. Guess it's not really relevant to you now that you've cut out oil, though.
Great stuff, and I'm intrigued by the earplugs. I assume they're comfortable to sleep with but is it a problem hearing an alarm in the morning? Or an emergency in the middle of the night?
I've longed for some way to reduce sound in the evening/night but not make it so I'm totally cut-off from necessary sounds, and something I can side-sleep with in.
The ones I have are like the "night earplugs" on this page: https://www.monaudition.ca/customized-protective-earplugs-page/
I went to an audiologist to get them made. He injected silicone into the ear canal, allowed it to harden, then sent the mold off to be made into these earplugs, which were mailed to me a few weeks later. I've said this on Tildes before, they're like (apologies) dildos for the ears - that might give you an idea of the texture and solidity.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
Most of this is my personal experience, ymmv (I'm also a side sleeper if it helps). If all of that sounds fine to you I say go for it and never look back!
Awesome! Thank you for the detailed reply, I am hopeful now that I may actually get some quality sleep in the future.
As a side sleeper who also has a pair of audiologist made silicone plugs and a different experience than /u/Foreigner, the only solution for side sleepers is plain foam plugs of some sort. The body compresses on the ear, and there is unfortunately no material outside of a highly compressible one like foam, which wont hurt when you are on your side.
I'm a big fan of using my watch vibration alarm instead of a loud one. You can also get under the pillow vibrating alarms but I find that overkill.
I've had pretty good experience with Loop Quiet earplugs for this. Sometimes I can't get then to sit right and will wake up with an aching ear, but the vast majority of the time they work great for sleeping through a snoring partner, and a piercing alarm is still audible enough to work.
I bought a Dremel like 10 years ago saying this is the tool I would use once a year but when I do, I'd be glad I have it. Since then I bought second unit as the first got so much use and abuse that I had to buy new one. I use it so much I can't even believe it myself. I cut plastic with it, I shorten screws with it, I cut holes to things that need them yet don't have them, I have customized a few PC cases with it... It gets real use.
I bought LTT screwdriver which was quite hefty price as I'm in Europe, so VAT and shipping. I kinda went with their hype and heavy advertising in their videos and kinda wanted to repay the value I got from LTT so I went for it thinking I won't probably use it that much - just to show my support. I have many fixed shaft screwdrivers, all that I need, and I also have multibit one with quite nice holder for bits and many bits. Since I got LTT screwdriver, I used it for everything! It's unbelievable how fast I got used to it - be it the ratcheting (as I didn't have ratcheting screwdriver) or multibit storage inside the screwdriver (I didn't have that either). The only things I don't use it for are when I need to reach screws that are too deep - and I hate going for fixed shaft screwdriver for those since I got this one. I even carry it with me everywhere and used it to fix shopping trolley, door in local zoo and chair in a restaurant :-D
I also have Pica-Dry marker for makers that I value highly, as I got it from my brother and I keep an eye on it as I do on the screwdriver. No more looking for standard carpenter pencils anymore in my workshop/garage. I lived with pencils for very long but since I saw my brother using it, I wanted one as well, it is incredibly handy as it has this little plastic springy thing that holds the holder in your pocket when you reach for the pencil. The holder has sharpener at the end, so you are not at mercy of having a knife. It is full package.
I could find more such things but they may not be as surprising or handy as these three are.
Oooooohhh. Jeez, ok. I could, if I either let myself or had the energy to do so, write a novella here. I'm very much a maximalist (exact opposite of minimalist). Ok, I'll try to not spend too much time on the more niche / esoteric stuff and touch on things that are broadly useful.
Carry with me:
3ft extendable magnet and mirror set. Useful for more than you might think. The mirror can be tightened to be stiff to bend/rotate and I use it during grocery shopping to get items from the back of the top shelves all the time.
Leatherman multitool (Charge TTi) - doesn't need to much explanation, a multitool is just useful. I've had it for... holy crap... 20 years!? Wow, yeah, I've had it for 20 years. Very useful at random times.
Flashlight - for me I use the Nitecore 'New P12' which is apparently discontinued and replaced by the MH12 V2. It uses a rechargeable 21700 battery that lasts a long time - I use the light intermittently and charge the battery when it occurs to me to do so, maybe 2 to 4 times a year (because of low/intermittent use). The battery I use is a Nitecore rebrand that has a USB-C plug in the side of the top for easy charging with integrated red/green LED to let you know charging/charged. I also keep a backup light - one of the right-angle Armytek C2 Magnet models. The base is a magnet so you can stick it on stuff and it comes with a separate headband so you can use it as a headlamp. Why 2? I used to go caving. Two is one, one is none.
At home:
Hot air station (primarily meant for soldering use). I've gotten so much off-brand utility from this thing I really couldn't have imagined it. Neet to remove a sticky shipping label? Hot air. Need to use heat-shrink tube to do a DIY fix of something? Hot air. Need help removing darn near anything sticky? Hot air. Need to use it for the intended use and reflow some solder? You'd better believe, hot air.
Along the same theme of coming from my electronics bench: a multimeter. Need to know if a battery is actually dead or if the device is having a problem instead? Need to check an outlet? A multimeter is quite helpful to have around.
Knipex 8-in 74-01-200 side-cutters. From my time working in residential cable install, I can firmly say these are the best side-cutters I have ever used. They are useful for more than you might think too - I use them to trim fur knots on Floof, my long-haired tuxedo cat. They are far better for this (in my opinion/experience) than either scissors or electric trimmers (always better than scissors, most of the time better than trimmers). Why? They are way safer as to not cutting my cat by accident compared to scissors - with sharp scissors the first you might hear about placing them wrong is when you have already nicked your kitty, but side cutters are not knife-sharp, and I gently close them around fur and gradually apply pressure to cut - and if I'm about to pinch skin, Floof lets me know BEFORE the cut happens.
Multi-port USB power supply that displays voltage and current - I use the PinePower 120W Desktop Power Supply - I do actually recommend that model from that store as it is both good and cheap. Pine is kind of a maker-collective store that makes a few specific things to put them in the hands of makers for as cheap as possible. Anyway, the point of having a USB power supply that gives you voltage and current reading is that SO MANY devices lie to you about their battery SOC (state of charge) to make you feel like they charge quickly or stay at 100% longer or some bullshit like that. Many will claim they reach 100% charge before they actually do. With a USB power source that shows current, you can instantly tell if a device is still pulling power or not.
Thermal camera. Being able to see heat sources and thermal gradients is both cool and useful. Great for diagnostics of all sorts, you can often tell if something is actually running and where power is being consumed, that kind of thing. I keep one in my primary toolbag.
In my vehicle:
Cut-resistant, nitrile-dipped work gloves. Seriously. I feel like everyone should leave a pair of reasonably good work gloves in their vehicle.
Gas can. Not for everyone perhaps, but I can't count how many people I have helped out on the side of the road over the years just by keeping a 20 liter NATO can of gasoline. Straightforward case of having the right tool for the job.
Along the same lines: Jumper cables, 4-way lug wrench, bottle jack, and a tire pump and patch kit. Between those items you can help yourself and others with the most common roadside issues.
I do carry more vehicle-oriented stuff but after what is already listed you get less common return on investment so to speak. But then, I have a large van so I have the space to carry more. MaxTrax recovery boards for getting unstuck from mud and such. Tow strap. Spare coolant. Lithium-battery jump box. Shovel, pickaxe, machete, axe (all are applicable to vehicle recovery). Automotive-oriented toolkit (basically means there is an inclusive emphasis on sockets and socket-wrenches). OBD2 code reader.
In the vehicle, but not for the vehicle: a 'just-in-case' backpack. Lots of people would call this a GHB (get-home bag) or BOB (bug-out bag), but neither of those really fit my philosophy of use for it. In it I keep a change of clothes, toiletry bag, cash, a few non-perishable snacks, a small toolkit, a respirator, as well as stuff like spare shoe laces. It's a general use pack that covers a number of minor-emergency and minor-inconvenience situations. Fall in the mud in the field? I have a change of clothes on hand. Need to spend a night somewhere? Toiletry bag. Minor emergency that needs a vehicle tow / repair / buy a meal / rent a car? Cash on hand. Mask lost or broken (I still mask since COVID)? Spare available in the bag.
I'm on /u/l_one's team in the apocalypse!!
I see a lot of folks on the side of the road and I've never once stopped for them because all I can offer is a cell phone that sometimes works :( that's so kind of you to have a well equipped van to pull folks literally out of the mud
Those maxtrax don't come cheap.....but out of the car stuff you listed that's the one I might end up needing the most. Sometimes I go on an old logging road and there's pits. Do the Lite or Mini work okay for a sedan size car? Or don't risk it and go for bigger? Do they go on holiday sale?
Also, since you and others on this thread have probably casually looked into it more thoroughly than I can research, got any recommendations for garden hoses? Primary concern is kinks and how much of a pain in the back a long one is to coil back up and into the basement.
Hahahahahahaahhahhah. Oh, thank you, that gave me a wonderful moment of nostalgia.
So, funny true story. For about a period of 10 to 15 years starting in College, I quite seriously oriented my life around preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. Not from a perspective of literally believing Zombies would happen, but rather from the perspective that, if I was prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse, I would therefore be prepared for all the other, lesser apocalypses.
By 'quite seriously' I mean I studied multiple different schools of martial arts, sought out medical training (wilderness first responder class - 1 week, then EMT-B - I think roughly 6 months?, then Paramedic school - 18 months and graduated top of my class). I had a prepper mentality in general - kept a pantry, stocked my car with roadside assistance items, got firearms training and my CPL...
I'm much more relaxed about it these days, but have kept the mindset overall and it has been useful both to myself and others more times than I can count - very, very seldom for anything that might be considered 'life or death', but much more often helping to make a bad day, or very bad day, much less bad.
The added focus on helping people on the road has a specific story. For years (until COVID), I was an avid Magic: The Gathering player. Some friends and I were driving to a tournament near the Detroit area (I think this was sometime between 2004 and 2008?). Four of us piled in a van with our backpacks full of our decks and trade binders and headed out at something like 2AM Friday night / Saturday morning so we could get to the tournament with time to spare for breakfast. The vans radiator failed maybe 3/4 the way there or so, and the driver decided to try to keep going. This was winter with tons of snow, and he was pulling over every 5 minutes to shove armfuls of snow into the engine compartment as a cooling method. Hilariously bad idea, but it was his engine to kill and we were all going to be stranded anyway, so better to be stranded where we could do the tournament and still have time to figure out some ride back home. The van didn't make it, and maybe 20+ miles on the outskirts of Detroit at 4:30 or 5AM, we were on the side of the freeway in the freezing cold, very stuck with a thoroughly murdered van engine.
I was the most warmly dressed of all of us, so I was the one trying to wave down anyone to help. By warmly dressed, I mean I was wearing a black trench coat, black ski mask, black gloves, in the middle of nowhere, late at night, standing by a windowless panel van that just needed a 'free candy' sign to find the last possible way to make things look worse.
It was less than 20 minutes before a woman pulled over for us. A single woman, in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, pulled over for me looking like I did. And she was completely willing to give a ride to 4 guys into Detroit.
At that moment, I decided that I rather thoroughly owed the universe and would repay the debt by helping anyone I could who needed it stuck on the side of the road.
Ok, story time over. You asked about how well the Lite or Mini models would work for a sedan. They should work and still be just as durable, but you need to keep in mind that the longer they are, the more 'stuck distance' they can get you out of, so it really just depends on what kind of environment you anticipate you might get stuck in. Balance utility against cost and what you can practically store in your vehicle. It is less about the size of your vehicle, and more about the amount / distance of 'stuck' you are in terms of depth / distance of mud or snow you need to get past. Also: if you are in an area with some degree of brush or trees, you can supplement with laying down a track line of branches and brush to drive over.
No idea on sales, sorry. Check eBay maybe? Look through 'sold' listings to see what they have sold for in the past. Also no idea on garden hoses.
That woman was an angel. Or she was aiming to help a fellow stranded serial killer and slightly disappointed to find it was just a buncha nerdy kids. Probably angel.
Can I ask you about wilderness first responders? Im a life long Megalopolis person now living in rural Canada, and the closest hospital is often closed, with only one doctor even when operating. Should I at least learn how to do stitches? Keep a defibrillator and some epipens at home even though none of us have heart problems or allergies? I could probably drive to the city to do a day or weekend course but I'm not sure what classes are most helpful. It's been 10+ years since my first aid certification has expired but honestly all they taught us was to call 911 and (probably useless) chest compression until they can defib.
Remote area medicine:
Training how to do X is generally a higher priority than having the tools to do X.
I'm in the USA, so I don't know how the legal aspect interacts vs Good Samaritan principle in Canada, but EMT-B is a higher cert than WFR, and Paramedic is higher than Basic - and each training and certification level essentially authorizes more expansive levels of decision making, procedures, and drug administration. There is also a pretty strict rule of 'you do not practice medicine above your legal certification'. Edit: there are exceptions to this, but that is primarily in the form of authorization to do X or Y that is direct and explicit from your department's medical director or equivalent - in that case legally you are considered to be operating under their licensure within certain limited bounds. Outside of that you are in territory of justifying your actions to a medical review board, and then quite possibly to a court - which means you'd better have darn good reasoning.
Stitches: even as a Paramedic I am not authorized to do this, though you could actually make a better argument for it being excused in a WFR role if patient extraction was days (or more than a week?) away. Learn how to do it? Sure, absolutely. And for good practice you can buy some pork with skin from a butcher - the feel will be pretty close. Be aware that stitches, as medical supplies, are expensive and also expire. It is not advisable to just use thread or anything else of that sort. Sewing thread has many fibers and provides wicking action which is an ingress route for infection, medical stitches or sutures are one form or another of monofilament, either organic or synthetic and do not cause wicking ingress.
Defibrillator: Multiple issues here. Medical devices such as this often require regular testing and recertification. Not sure what Canadian regs are on this. Also, very expensive (though maybe they've gone down in price since I was in school?). This is the kind of thing you don't want to get on eBay, but really need to get new and keep in certification. That or you are getting sued by the family with their lawyer explaining to a jury that your untested, expired AED absolutely could have mis-read a heart rhythm and shocked when it shouldn't have, and of course you are at fault for murdering that patient. Stuff like that - massive liability issues. Do your own EXTENSIVE research here.
Epipens: again, depends on Canadian regs, but if you don't have the licensure and you aren't administering a drug to the person it is prescribed to, you are likely screwed. So may be your patient. With drugs, very much training first to know when not to, then when to, and in what dose by what route, administer.
WFR (from what I remember, this was around 17 or 18 years ago) primarily about stabilization and extraction. Not a whole lot in terms of definitive treatment - most treatment was focused on what was expedient enough to stabilize a patient for transport / stop major bleeds / splinting and fracture reduction to some extent, and methods of moving the patient along with various wilderness specific issues like knowing where to and not to set up camp if sheltering in place waiting for incoming rescue. I am definitely glossing over a great deal here given how long ago this was, so do be aware of that. Look up NOLS WFR if you want to read up on this.
My advice: if you want to be able to do X in the realm of medicine, get the training to do X. Learn about the related liability ahead of time. Only then consider spending possibly large amounts of money on tools / drugs / supplies. Know Canadian 'Good Samaritan' law. Know Canadian law regarding both giving (handing over) drugs, even OTC drugs, to a patient vs administering drugs, even OTC drugs, to a patient. Maybe look up and have a conversation with your closest emergency medical services personnel about these issues and what is OK for you do have and do in your specific circumstances.
Very interesting..... Well obviously I'm not looking to Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman-ing anyone out here, and ideally we will make the 2 hour drive / helicopter extraction to a hospital if given the choice. But Canadian rural health care has been decaying to a point where, if I have to choose between waiting 12+ hours at ER for couple of stitches vs staying home and hoping for the best..... Maybe the quickest thing I can do right now is to look at over the counter solutions like surgical glue and fancy surgical bandaids....hmmm
Also: how far into the Pandemic did you realise it was your time to shine? :)
In fairness, if you are treating yourself it's not like you need to worry so much about the legal aspects I've outlined, and if you are treating family / close friends and you are really sure they won't go to lawyers... that can open up some options.
As to the Pandemic: I was reasonably well prepared with some of my preps. I had and still have a pantry which, in the early days of COVID we made extensive use of and I was stretching going out for groceries to only once every 2-3 weeks. This did have quality of life impacts though as we (my girlfriend and I) were craving fresh fruits / veggies. Later on this got relaxed to once per week, I think after the vaccines came out. I also already had high-quality breathing protection in the form of 3M half-mask respirators with P100 rated cartridges, as well as a stock of isopropyl alcohol in my medical supplies for cleaning my hands after being out. Having those in advance was more valuable than I can express, as in the early days of COVID, they became near-impossible to get for a while. I remember a time when I was checking if I could get a backup respirator in case I had one break or wear out and sale was being restricted to medical infrastructure staff and other emergency services (understandably) - again, that was pretty early on.
Using what I had in combination with being very diligent about avoiding / protecting from exposure worked and we have still never gotten COVID. I was certainly taking more precautions than the average person though since my girlfriend is immunocompromised and we really didn't want to risk her getting sick.
Nice, fellow solid silicone spatula friend.
If I may make a recommendation for Zojirushi brand vacuum bottles for anyone considering them. They're absolutely amazing. I mean as a product category you can't really go wrong, but this brand just takes it a step further. The safety labels will scream not to put hot liquids in but don't listen to them. I use them to bring boiling water on hikes, so I can eat steaming hot cup noodles at the destination many hours later without having to bring a stove. It'll also keep your coffee too hot to guzzle hours after it's brewed.
Collapsible garden cart like this? Hmm. Some of them don't look very sturdy do you have a recommendation? Or is that the way it is, and use a solid metal wheelbarrow if i need sturdiness?
Zojirushi is the brand of bottle I have. The first time I used it, I made tea in the morning and burned my mouth with it that evening. Now I know to put in 2-3 ice cubes.
I've seen people pull children around in those carts, but they are indeed not sturdy like a metal wheelbarrow. I use my wheelbarrow for moving things like rocks, dirt, and mulch. I use my cart for moving things like transplants. I have put a completely full big cooler in it and it was fine.
Wheelbarrows are for heavy things that you want to dump out. Carts are for things you want to move and keep together. Drip irrigation supplies, tools, a bunch of packages, things that would otherwise take multiple trips but aren't worth getting a wheelbarrow out for. The collapsing feature has been especially handy for me, it fits nicely in the car for when I'm going to a place I'll need to move many things around, like camping or picnicking.
Painter's tool!
Seriously I didn't even know these things existed before this year, and now I can't understand how I lived without it. There are just so many little tasks that it has been perfectly suited for. Best $10 I've ever spent at Walmart.
I watched the same video years ago, bought one, and yes indeed it's a wonderful multitool. I can't go back to life opening and closing in paint cans without it, for example.
This feels obvious compared to most, but I got touch screen gloves in a white elephant exchange one Christmas. Was initially a bit meh about it, but then I realized it worked with my Macbook's trackpad. Ended up buying another pair at the campus bookstore and kept them on me at all times in college because some rooms would have the AC cranked up to the max. One of the few seating areas at the building with a majority my classes was also directly below an AC unit. I actually wore out the fingertips and had to replace them.
What benefits do you see by wearing them
Not to answer for someone else, but it seems to me that the answer is that their hands were warm. Context being they are gloves and the classrooms were cold.
Yep, as morganmarz said, it kept my hands warm. The part that made it surprisingly useful was that I used them more indoors than out, and year-round at that. Even now, I have a pair in my basement next to the computer down there.
I've never been one to wear gloves (I just really don't like the way they feel) but in more recent years I have been wearing them more and more. It turns out that losing a lot of weight means losing a lot of your body's natural insulation. I have to tell you the ones I have do not work on my macbook trackpad and it drives me absolutely off the walls crazy. Do you know what brand yours are?
I looked it up, seems to be Pangda. They're just simple knitted gloves with different material for three of the fingertips. The downside: they're only sold in bulk online in batches of 12 as far as I can find. My mom figures it's because they're so cheap, that shipping just a single or even four pairs would cost more than production. That said, I did wear out the fingertips enough to need replacing, so at least you'll have backups if that happens.
Magnetic bowl - holds all the screws for the thing you're fiddling with inside until you're ready to close the thing again
Min/max thermometer - analog is important for me so I can read APX values from any angle across the room.
Whole silicone spatula - none of this wooden handle or sudden slope change nonsense. Use the back or the handle or whatever, stands up to high temperatures, cleans well. Needs hard metal core for the best ones. I'm super stingy and it's so satisfying to scrap down 99%+ of whatever liquid/food I'm moving.
Slant tip Tweezers - a good quality pair. Useful for cosmetic applications, but also excellent to have handy in case of splinters, plant barbs, ingrown hairs, ingrown nails, hang nails. Cheaper ones can be of good quality sometimes, but poor quality ones are nearly useless.
Digital: physical filing cabinet index. - I have a physical filing cabinet for paper documents, and a digital file that tells me which drawer holds what physical documents. Oversized items scattered around the house's various nooks, and boxes-within-boxes with warranty cards etc also have index entries in this digital file.
Food:
Instant mashed potato flakes/powder - thickens sauces, curries, broths and drippings without having to bring to boil. Last night I made red wine roast beef and the last step of the recipe was to corn starch + boil the sauce which already has potatoes in it. Nah, shake in mashed potato flakes and bam. Also means you can eat mashed potatoes any time.
Powdered milk - aside from being a good emergency food pantry item, also handy for cooking and making hot beverages more milky without having to steam milk.
Flexible Around your neck phone stand - https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Flexible-Rotating-Multiple-Functions%EF%BC%88Black%EF%BC%89/dp/B07G9FXHFF/
I never would have purchased one. About 18 months ago I had a hip replaced and wife got it for me while I was confined to a recliner and all doped up on pain meds. Turns out my chronically sore elbow wasn't just me getting older - the act of holding my phone while I watched videos/played video games was aggravating the nerve bundle that runs over the elbow. Also, now on nights where my 'monkey mind' refuses to calm down, I can fall asleep watching videos that are just engaging enough for my monkey mind to drift off to sleep w/o getting all wound up thinking about some cringeworthy thing or another I did in jr high. YMMV on that last one - I've been using a cpap for almost a decade now and am habitualized to stuff hanging off of/around my head while I sleep, but I can say I don't notice the neck stand/phone at all while I sleep.
Turns out K'NEX are really great for making impromptu device holders. I've got a swivel model strapped to the side of my bed.
Some random things that I can't live without.
I've got a set of 6 giant tumblers made of super duty plastic. They were always in our house growing up and my Grandma gifted me an Italian made set for my wedding. Its just so much easier and safer than glass for everyday use. They've been dropped countless times and I'm sure my grandkids will use them.
For cooking, a mini food processor. Even after I got a full size one, its just easier for small jobs. Like I can mash up some fruit and yogurt for quick breakfast. Roughly cut up veggies. Whip up a little sauce. It's just a nifty tool to have on the counter.
Also an induction cooker adapter plate if you're interested in those cooktops. Surprised I don't see more of them but any steel disk should do. I enjoy induction cooking but it can be very unintuitive and the compatibility can be a turn off. The adapters basically turn into a regular hot plate and let's you use all your cookware.
Another thing I use a lot of are towel rails. I fit them under tables, shelves and on my tool walls. With a box of S hooks, I can hang most things up for easy storage and access.
The weirdest thing I always find use for is a stack of bricks. If I'm moving to a place with yard space, I can normally get a dozen bricks for free just laying arpund near finished construction. Perfect to raise things off the ground or stop something rolling or to seperate and mark things in the garden. Like last week my cheese press broke so I just stacked bricks on the moulds. Also, I really enjoy it when the best solution is just BRICK.
Bricks are the real life examples of LEGO. We have a lot of cinder blocks around the yard im addition of brick. My favorite ones are the grey, slightly rounded small square ones, easier on the hand and less .... Crumb?
Can you give me an example of towel rail? It sounds very handy but I don't know what product you mean or how to apply them
Sorry to leave you hanging. Was traveling. It's just one of these. Its probably called towel racks or towel bars on amazon.
I stick them on walls and under tables to be used like this with a box of S hooks.
Will try to send a pic when I'm back home but I used an old door and some galvanized steel pipes to make a rolling kitchen table with a bar under each side and a big one for pans. The best things to hang on it for me are two garbage bags like this and I have different sized metal containers to hold utensils and ingredients I don't want on the tabletop but still need at hand.
Oh!! I understand what you mean now. That does sound very helpful and more flexible than nailing a bunch of hooks everywhere
Very nice idea thank you :)
I carry around a shoulder bag with me everywhere and I love it so much. Items I like to put in it:
I change it around whenever I'm going out, the top 5 are pretty much essential. I like not having tickets in my pockets and having to worry about them falling out or if my pants have nice deep pockets. I got the City Bag by Bellroy and it's pretty good quality. It doesn't soak the insides if it's raining as well.
There's a separate buckle/rope which I use a small carabiner to put my keys on as well. I just take that thingy out to tap into my office or get into my home. It's less risk that my keys accidentally fall out which has happened to me once.
Oooh I've been looking out for a new crossbody bag since the zipper on my Samsonite gave up on me. This might be what I need to replace it. Thanks for the tip! I also find these smaller cross body bags super handy.
About a month ago I fully adopted a man purse and got an Aer City Sling 2. I love it. The inside pockets allow for a good amount of organization, and the overall design seems to be well thought out.
We got a cheap compact wet-dry vacuum to clean the dust on the balcony, it didn't work that great though, a wet towel with some baking soda worked much better. But then we found out the vacuum worked really well sucking out a bathroom sink clog! We ended up keeping the vacuum for that
We got a foam maker for milky foam on our coffee, which quickly started to feel like a waste of space and money, until we found out it also makes fantastic matcha tea! We regularly buy a pack of matcha powder from the Asian grocery and the drink always comes out warm and smooth, not powdery!
I love using my milk foamer for hot cocoa and other drinks that are powders. Chuck everything in there, start it, get hot delicious drink that has been stirred to perfection
Strawberry Corer and a cherry pitter.
It sounds dumb but being able to eat them without needing any cleanup bowls is somehow so satisfying. You get more of the strawberry too!
A razor blade, in the form of a Gerber Gear EAB Lite utility knife. Replacement blades are frequently on sale for less than 10c each. I use mine many times a day for a wide variety of uses. Other than door keys and my albatross of a smartphone, I’ve never carried anything in my pocket that has been as frequently used.
Do you pay for the tougher more expensive baldes, or mostly cheaper ones and just replace more frequently?
They're very sharp and very handy. I grew up with the smaller "snap off old to reveal next chunk" blades, so I keep both kinds at home. The trapezoid blades still intimidate me a little.
Also for folks who want to have scalpels and syringes around the house for non-medical purposes, they're very cheap at animals feed stores.
I generally just buy the cheap ones. Most recently I got Craftsman "heavy duty" blades (100-pack for $6) and they work really well, but I doubt they're tougher than generic blades.
Got the EAB lite for my job a couple weeks back (after seeing it recommended here on Tildes a few times before) and it's been super helpful multiple times per week when opening something or cutting something precisely.
So much so that I now find myself reaching for it at home, only to remember that I don't actually have it on me because I leave it in my work bag (so I don't forget to take it to work the next day).
I was worried that I might not use it as much as other people made it seem like they do, but I've definitely been proven wrong and found that I actually prefer using it to scissors, a letter opener, a knife, or some other box cutter.
My relatively cheap Ryobi (Home Depot brand) cordless tools. Ryobi started out with a drill and a power saw and their product line keeps expanding and they have dozens of tools now.
Im not buying them all but I have the 18v drill, driver, power saw, reciprocating saw, jigsaw, chainsaw, weed whipper, lawn mower and I just bought their grinder. I cant believe how many times I've used them in the last 8 years. Like at least a 2 to 3 times a week and even with heavy use (abuse) Ive only burned out a drill and a reciprocating saw. My brother is a pro carpenter and he has all the same stuff in Milwaukee brand but he pays four times the money for them. Not even worth it in my view.
SO convenient to have cordless tools when you have several batteries and you can just keep working continuously while charging. I still have some corded versions of the same tools as backups but they only get used when Ive forgotten to charge any of the batteries.
A cheap strap wrench. They're often sold as oil filter wrenches, but they are perfect for undoing things that you can't really apply additional torque to any other way, or are awkward shaped and hard to grip. Pickle jar lids, hose connectors, that kind of thing. I use mine maybe 3-4 times a year but that's more than enough to justify the few pounds it cost me, well over 15 years ago. I did once take an oil filter off with it.
Pineapple corer someone bought me one of these as a gift and I laughed and put it away in That Cupboard where all the weird stuff goes. Months later, I had a pineapple and remembered this tool. I will never not have one of these tools. Again, I use it a few times a year but it makes pineapples so simple and easy, it's totally worth it. Also it's the only way I know of to get a pineapple mug left once you've taken the flesh out. Just add rum and a straw!
I'm normally pretty allergic to single purpose kitchen tools, but yes absolutely the pineapple corer is the best way to make pineapple fried rice
The sideways cut looks prettier, but it's annoying to get the pineapple out. And also the rice cools down too fast on a sideways cut. Need to keep it nice and hot in a cup format
I have two sets of these. They live on the shelves of my basement most of the time, but they become instant guest beds the moment we have a few people over for a weekend. They are WAY better than sleeping on a couch, the floor, or an air mattress.
They also travel easily in the trunk or back seat of a car, so I can bring my own guest bed with me if I’m going to be at a friend’s house or an Airbnb with limited sleeping arrangements.
The brand I got was Millard. I like the quality of the mattress a lot, but I’m iffy on recommending them. I tried to order directly from their site, and my order got flagged as fraudulent — probably because I generate masked emails for site sign-ups. I contacted support, and they said they weren’t interested in helping me, which was weird. They just flat out declined to sell to me.
At the time they were really the only company offering a foldable mattress, and I still really wanted it, so I ordered from them through Amazon instead (which is what I was trying to avoid by buying direct), and that went through with no issues.
Shortly after this, Milliard’s website got breached and their customer data got leaked. The masked email I had generated to sign up with them started getting spammed. I felt pretty validated for using a masked email then, even if it did get me accused of fraud.
For anyone who decides to do this, I recommend going small. My first purchase was a twin-size one, and I opted for a thicker one for comfort reasons. It is huge and unwieldy when folded up though. I’m a big guy and I still struggle to comfortably carry it around. It also completely fills a car trunk.
The second one I got was a smaller “cot” size and thinner overall. It is much more convenient. Admittedly, it’s a little less comfortable, but it’s still miles ahead of any other ad hoc sleeping arrangement.
This is so interesting, I never thought to bring my own bed to a friend’s house. This is like a brilliant version of a Murphy bed…. Thanks for the recommendation!!