I was thinking about how I missed having an indoor thermometer that measures humidity. It’s such a small specific thing, one I’d never think of getting unless pushed to it (which I was by one particularly dry winter). But I like having one now.
What are your small, “random” or “junk drawer” type of gadgets that you actually use or like having around?
I got a carbonization machine. I’ve been drinking way more water these days. I always thought I liked soda because of the sugar. Actually I liked the fizziness. It gets fizzier than anything else I’ve ever drank.
Cold, fresh seltzer water is the nectar of the gods. If you get unflavored seltzer in a can it has a noticeable unpleasant aftertaste, which I guess is why almost all of them are flavored. But plain filtered tap water in a seltzer maker? Glorious.
We used a soda stream for a little while until we realized how stupid expensive they are. Then we donated it and went to the local beer brewing shop and asked how we can make our own carbonated water. He hooked us up with a 5 lb canister of Co2, a valve, a hose, and a connector that goes on 2 liter bottles. Now we can make carbonated water in larger quantities for pennies on the dollar compared to soda stream. It costs about $35 to refill the Co2 canister and it lasts 6-8 months worth of constant use.
I can’t agree more! I have tried both soda stream and drinkmate and would recommend the drinkmate. It’s just better, you can fizz juice and non-water drinks. Soda stream is also a consumer boycott target if you don’t want to support the genocide in Palestine. 😬
I’ve been wanting to get one for forever, but was told you couldn’t carbonate non water drinks, and to mix flavor into the carbonated water (which, to my thinking, would make it go flat…). In the drink mate, could I make Kool aid (with Splenda) and carbonate that? Cause if I can have fizzy cherry drink, I’ll be a happy boy.
I have a Soda Stream and use powders. The trick is to turn your powder into a “syrup” first.
Mix your powder with 1-2 oz of water, stir it well (I use a hand held milk frother), and then put that into your bubbly water.
A bit on the costly stuff but I find the vacuum cleaner robot (not sure it’s called this in English) very useful. The house is cleaner to be vacuumed every day (even if it’s not as efficient as manual vacuuming or cleaning). Especially with pets and children.
Those are great! I loved having one. Unfortunately my wife hates the noise they make, so we stopped using it.
It’s indeed noisy, we schedule it to run when we’re not at home.
I would do that, but we’re never not home on a schedule, since we work remotely. I suppose I could always just manually start the thing when we’re leaving the house.
I automatically set to start at a time I am likely to be away.
In case I am at home I just override the cleaning run and command it to return to the base. In my case it’s rare.
Maybe you can set it at the time you typically go to the supermarket?
We live an hour outside of town, so we do most of our shopping in big runs once per month. I’ll just manually start the thing whenever we’re leaving the house. Thanks for the ideas! I get to start using my Roomba again now!
As a European city dweller the concept of leaving 1h outside town is impossible to wrap my head around 😅
But okay fair enough in the absence of a routine no much of a choice:).
We’re city transplants and honestly, I can’t see us ever moving back to the city unless we are forced to. I’m so glad to be away from the noise, the traffic, the crime, and the filth. I wake up in the morning, open my bedroom window, and look out at a beautiful forest. I walk outside to have my morning coffee and listen to the birds chirping, watch the rabbits and the deer, and completely love every minute of it.
We’re also very glad to have some space to spread out on, an abundance of gardening options, and we like being mostly off the grid. Our only external connections are electricity and Internet, and we’re talking about getting solar, or a residential wind turbine. We have a backup generator for when power goes down, but that definitely can’t meet our needs long-term.
We thought the long drive to the city and reduced access to easy amenities might be a major concern, but it ended up being totally okay for us. The drive is pretty, and relaxing, unlike my commute in the city was, so I don’t even really mind it. There is a small 20,000 person city about 25 minutes away, and that has most of the stuff we need. We do still have to go to the big city if we want high culture experiences, or want to shop at fancy places, or even just Costco, but it has just become part of our lifestyle and we don’t mind at all. This would have never worked for me as a young man, but as a middle aged couple it’s just our speed.
I got a set of metal picks from Harbor Freight for like 3 bucks. They’re similar to the pick tool that a dental hygienist uses. I use these things nearly every day to scrape stuff out of a crevice, retrieve something out of a narrow hole, pull stuff out of a tube or straw, precision clean corners of things, etc. I love them.
Every day? fascinating
Once you have a hammer the world is full of nails.
Can confirm, I have the same set, and I do probably use them every day. It’s one of those tools that you don’t realize how often you need it until you start using it.
I wish you would clean my house with those things.
Safe Cut Can Opener, traditional can openers should be extinct. It unrolls the original seal so there’s no sharp edges. It also doesn’t leave a lip, so none of the insides get stuck on the ledge. Then, if you don’t use all the can, just plop the lid back on and throw it in the fridge.
Technology connections convinced you too?
Technology Connections is the universal method of converting to better tools. How does he do it?
Painstakinglly detailed scripts and smooth jazz, mostly.
on a slight tangent, i find that i often have to put on lofi music in the background to be able to enjoy his content, which is not something i do at all with other music-less creators like adam ragusea. i’m still wondering why that is the case.
I only ever used this sort of can opener:
But most cans are now like this:
I have one of these and dislike it because it makes it harder to drain a can of tuna (which is the canned item I eat most often).
I prefer the side cut options. No sharp edges but you still get good penetration and drainage. Zishi was the best option the last time I bought 5.
Is there a specific model you’re talking about? I’m getting a lot of different results searching online and I’m not sure they’re the same. I’m not a fan of the can opener my wife has, though; its cuts are jagged and uneven and sometimes gets the outside dipping into the food.
Lime and lemon squeezer, since I like to make cocktails this was essential.
I have a counter top commercial grade juicer and it is an absolute pleasure to use. Manual citrus juicer
A night light that turns on automatically as it gets dark. No more stumbling around when I have to pee in the middle of the night.
We have small lights that plug into the socket. They turn on automatically when there is movement and it is dark, or if the power goes out. We can also take them out of the socket and then they become flashlights.
Indeed, being Belgian and an adept of the real French fries (double cooked) I was not convinced at all. In the end, I still prefer real fries but I find the air fryer very practical to cook (or warm up quickly - unlike microwave oven it does not make stuff soft) all sort of food.
Small electric fan oven doesn’t sound as magical as air fryer. Good product, great marketing.
I was gifted an air fryer a while back. While it’s generally useful, cleaning if after each use is really obnoxious imo and so I hardly ever use it.
It’s a lot easier to clean a pan I used in the oven because I can just pop it in the dishwasher. I can’t pop the air fryer in the dishwasher. It would destroy it.
You can buy air fryer liners to minimize cleanup.
I recently found out about these and they have been a huge help, but I found that food still manages to make it’s way into the rest of the basket, even if it’s not as much.
Mine came with a little pan or tray that we can line with foil easy peasy. Much less to clean.
Thank you for this knowledge. This will honestly help me eat more chicken instead of less-messy frozen meals.
Seriously the most useful thing I ever bought for around the house is barely even a gadget. It’s literally just a screwdriver where you can flip the tips and the shaft so that it has four tip sizes; two Phillips and two flatheads. Oh and also a tape measure. That tape measure will save you literally all of the headaches when it comes to purchasing furniture. A good socket set of Allen wrenches for assembling set furniture too.
I bought several of those flippy screwdrivers and keep 1-2 on each level of the house and in the garage. I never have to leave the floor or often the room to fix something I notice is loose.
The idea of getting something before I know its usefulness confuses me. Do you mean finding that something is more useful than you expected?
If that’s the case, I once had an alarm clock which curiously had a thermometer in it to measure the temperature in the room. I was able to use it - for years - to hold my landlord to account for being shitty on the heat during the winter.
The idea of getting something before I know its usefulness confuses me.
My spouse buys things because they seem neat. Uses them once or twice, then not again.
I have a digital clock with thermometer feature and a dedicated thermometer. I’ve been logging the measurements every half an hour for months. The clock is ~1.5-3 degrees off (or the other way around, who knows). Just be aware they are not always super accurate.
I have a few motion activated lights in my house and really love how convenient those are. One is an in wall light switch and another is a screw in one in a ceiling light socket.
I also use my pour over coffee set daily. And my coffee grinder.
I bought a cheap little wire cutter and keep it in my junk drawer. Great for cutting zip ties and twist ties on packaging.
I keep a water bottle in the fridge. Always have cold water and hardly use glasses. Bring it to the table when you eat.
Lazy Susan on the dining room table for salt, pepper, toothpicks, pencils, sticky notes, etc.
Long plastic dollar store shoehorn by the door.
I get big packs of 3M clean removal hooks from Costco and use them all over the house to hang keys, pants, hats, string lights, jackets, etc.
I have a few motion activated lights in my house and really love how convenient those are.
I thought about installing a few of these, and then I realized that I don’t always want lights to come on when I’m in a room, especially in the evening. How do you deal with that? I did install one in my wife’s closet though, and she loves it. The light comes on as soon as she opens the door, and she feels oh so fancy with that feature.
Lots of other great ideas in your list too. About the cheap wire cutters, I had the same for years. I needed to cut something really rigid for a custom job on my truck and bought a good, American-made set a few weeks ago. They’re sooo much better than the cheapos I was using. I recommend splurging and getting a good set of cutters, even if you don’t need anything heavy duty. They’ll perform for any job, last a lifetime, and be more of a pleasure to use.
My motion switch in the main floor bath also senses light so it does not turn on when it is sunny.
My motion switches in the basement laundry and garage might also be light sensitive but it is always dark there so I always want them to turn on.
I think to do what I think you want, I would investigate X10 or other home automation hardware. That stuff lets you program switches so you could set it to never come on during certain times (for example). X10.com
X10 used to be much cheaper than most other home automation hardware/software.I agree that spending more gets better quality tools but I don’t want or need great quality in my junk drawer. Nor do I want to use expensive tools on packaging. The expensive tools go in my tool bag to get used and abused on “real” work.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll look into it.
Bamboo tongs for taking hot things out of the toaster. They even have magnet built into the handle so I just stick it on the side of my fridge when not in use.
I just use chopsticks …
That’s a great idea! I haven’t burned myself lately reaching into my toaster oven, but it’s only a matter of time
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InstaPot. I hate gadgets and things that have limited purpose so when this was gifted to me I planned to regift it. I use it so often I got an upgrade model. Totally worth the counter space!
edit: oops wrong reply
Extendo arm. It’s goofy as hell but it’s a god send when there’s a bunch of random crap on the floor. They also have deceivingly good grip strength too.
Hand held vacuum. I don’t think this is that niche anymore but it works really well for cleaning tables, random tight corners and I park it next to my clothes dryer to easily clean the filter. I also use it a TON for sucking up bugs. Buy a corded one since battery operated ones die fast (I went through 2 or 3 of these personally)
Bench scraper. Easily removes 90% of any grime on hard surfaces. Honestly more effective than a rag and detergent. When I bought mine I decided to try it out on my “thoroughly cleaned” kitchen counter and removed a disheartening amount of grime. Afterwards I use some detergent just to sterilize everything.
Having worked in restaurants I am amazed that more people dont use scrapers to clean counters etc. It does such a better and quicker job than scrubbing.
I bought mine as a paibt scraper at a dollar store. Works just fine.
Yeah, I actually use a cheap kiwi nakiri and flattened the edge 😆
Hand held vacuum
We splurged on a Dyson battery powered vacuum that can transform between a floor vacuum, and a hand-held vacuum. I thought it was going to be a goofy novelty, but my wife really wanted it, so we got it. It’s awesome! We completely stopped using our corded vacuum, and eventually donated it. It was just such a hassle compared to the Dyson. The Dyson is expensive, but it is so very useful and convenient.
My ex got the dyson in the breakup. I’m still not over it.
Bitch.
A Moka pot, it’s the best coffee I’ve tasted, I’ll never go back to using those coffee machines with the basket and the glass carafe.
Also, a really good chef’s knife, kept really sharp. I use a couple of Global ones.
I bought a variety pack of scouring pads and brushes that I can attach to my cordless drill. Super handy for cleaning stuff that would otherwise take some major elbow grease. Probably bad for my drill, but it’s worth it to me.
I made one of these years ago with a round dish brush and a long bolt. One of the most effective cleaning tools in the house. That plus “barkeepers friend” cleaner will take care of any hard-to-scrub grime.
I’ve been loving the spider skimmer my wife got me for christmas.
This! So great when simmering/cooking stuff one has to fish out of a pot. Mine is used almost daily at home!