This sort of question comes around every once in a while; “what’s your must-buy under $100”, “what goods would you recommend for people just moving out on their own”, and so on. I love reading these because, despite my simply vast experience[1], I sometimes pick up new tricks.
This question is about second-level stuff; maybe not “must haves” that you’d recommend as a first purchase, but the stuff that makes life easier, that you might acquire after you’ve gotten settled. Things that you may have only discovered that you’d buy again if the house burned down.
For example, my wife bought a couple of these microwave tools years ago, and at the time I thought they were going to be gimmicky stuff we never used. Turns out, we use them all the time; whoever came up with the idea was brilliant.
I like them because, unlike a hot mitt, if they get food on them you just wash them. They’re way easier to use than mitts, and can be used more securely one-handed. I wouldn’t trust them on stuff from the oven because of their size, but for plates and bowls from a microwave, they’re surprisingly handy. It took me a dozen times using them before I realized the ring in the back actually works to clamp them to the bowl and turn them into a handle, rather than just using them as grabbers.
The thing I used today which prompted my post, and something I’d encourage people to buy if they don’t have one, is a battery-powered rotary tool. My current one is a Dremel 8250, but many companies make them. They’re handy and make short work of a lot of odd jobs, and IME if you have one you constantly find places to use them.
A kit like this one runs about $150, and I think it’s worth the price. I think it’s worth getting an accessories kit, but the bits that came with the kit are the ones I use most often and can take you a long way.
So, what are your tools, devices, or products that you’ve discovered which may not be a common, basic first-level “must have” household item, but which you’d not want to do without? Things which might be a little off-the-beaten-path but indispensable? Stuff you may have stumbled upon which turned out to be surprisingly useful?
When did you stop using thorns?
I didn’t; I just don’t use them when I’m top-posting, or replying to comments to my posts.
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Garden twist ties - Not only are these useful if you do gardening but having a source of cut-to-length twist ties has proven to be invaluable if you’re doing crafts, need temporary ties, etc.
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While a power drill with various tips, and a solid set of screwdrivers are indispensable, a power/cordless screwdriver can really save your wrist/forearm if you’re doing a lot of tasks. It is low speed low torque so you don’t have to worry about stripping screws but it really saves on fatigue of you’re replacing a lot of switch plates, hinges etc.
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Headlamp - Perfect for having to work in lowlight places and don’t have room/places to put work lights or try to maneuver flashlights.
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Light gloves - it reeeaaally made replacing switches/receptacles much easier! Like the headlamp it gives you precision lighting in tight spaces?
I always save extra long twist ties when I come across them; it never occurred to me I could just go buy them.
The best cordless I own is a Dewalt Gyroscopic. For some reason, Dewalt makes these, then discontinues them, then makes them again. They’re discontinued right now and are going for an absurd $300 on ebay, but when they make a new run I want to get a second one.
Headlamps are so useful! They make great gifts, too, because so many people don’t have one.
Light gloves are a great idea! TIL.
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If you don’t have a wet-dry vac (shop vac being a popular brand) they tend to be a huge help in cleanup when it comes to really sucky jobs (pun absolutely intended).
Especially for water-messes such as flooding or sludge when you drop a glass jar of jelly or whatever. Turns a super bad time into a slightly less bad time.
I searched for
“microwave bowl grabber silicone”
and first result was a bunch of dicks!
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And yes the 8250 is excellent for many precision, polishing, or cutting jobs.
Sometimes you wonder if people think before making and selling something like this. On a practical note, I’d be afraid of incidental burns using these.
I have an older, corded Dremel too, but the cordless is so much more convenienr. I haven’t pulled out the corded since I got the 8250. If I used it so much I was running out the battery, I’d probably just buy a second battery before going back to the corded version.
I have no idea how those are supposed to be used, they do look quite dangerous.
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I got an extra aftermarket battery, which AFAIK, is higher capacity and seems more powerful.
I’m gonna add not so much a single item as an idea. If you are a car owner, find your car in an online owners’ message board. There will usually be a post or more detailing socket sizes and types, specialty tools, and common issues with your car model. Take notes and go to Harbor Freight to assamble a dedicated tool kit to keep in your car. Mine cost about US$50 and fits in a small soft bag. You only have to get tools to cover repairs you’re comfortable performing yourself, though if you break down and a good samaritan stops to help, they can make good use of them.
If you’re feeling rich and sassy, think about adding oil changing tools like a filter wrench, and more extensive accessories like a torque wrench (the clicky kind is fine) and a basic engine code reader. You can always Google the code for your vehicle once you know it. If your car has special bolts for something, make sure you get the sockets for them. You don’t have to keep the entire set, just the sizes your car actually needs.
Include baling wire, zip ties, gasket maker, hose clamps, and some repair tape that will withstand pressure. If there’s a repair manual for your car, get one.
The idea is that, should anything happen when you’re out and about, you’ll have everything with you to get yourself back on the road, even if all you’re doing is limping the car to the nearest shop. At the very least, it’s handy to have all the car tools in one place.
This is really good advice.
We have an EV now, and except for the tires, I’m afraid to touch any of the “makes it go” parts.
Screw removal pliers for extracting stripped screws.
Yes!
I have a little bit set for this. At our last house I’d been slowly replacing all the Phillips with Torx, which almost eliminates the stripped screw head issue. When we had our deck redone, the guy who did it said they were doing all new decks and deck repairs with Torx and I was ecstatic.
Hand powered drain auger. This isn’t exactly a quality of life enhancer but it’s one that new homeowners probably won’t buy right away. It is one of those items where you pray you’ll never need it and thank whatever deity you want that you do when you do.
Other enhancers: automatic occupancy light switches if appropriate for your home setup. We have them on garage stairs for safety reasons so we dont have to reach for switches while carrying things.
Good task lighting. I have a second switch in the garage for high output lighting when I need it to be bright as daylight inside while working on the car etc. And bright under counter lighting in the kitchen for cooking or entertaining.
Second the powered auger. First time the house main septic drain got plugged cost me $350 to have a plumber fix it.
Second time cost me $300 to buy the auger and do it myself.
There hasn’t been a third time but it will cost me zero. It does take up a bunch of space in the garage though which is a pain in the ass.
Multi-meter
Good soldering iron
Oscillating multi-tool (power tool)
Infrared heat camera (great for assessing energy loss, engine, electrical diagnosis).
Good soldering iron
can you drop some names please?
I’m still an amateur overall but I went with a tried and true Weller 70W soldering station. Probably overkill for most but I needed every advantage I could get, repairing my amp. Dialing in your temperature removes one big variable from your equation. Already used to repair household appliances as well.
My personal recommendation is the Pinecil. It’s powered by USB-C and is very small compared to the typical 120/240v iron, makes it a lot easier to do precision work.
System Memory: 132KB SRAM
i have the feeling we finally live in the future :-) i mean,… it’s a soldering iron, right?
still interesting. thanks for the tip!
I know it sounds dumb, but it runs a very small open source OS called IronOS which is made for soldering irons.
It does have a small display and two buttons for navigation, and lets you set the exact temperature you want to use, and has settings like auto shutoff, etc
Commenting to remind that the Pinecil won’t work plugged into a laptop or standard USB-C power bank. You need something like a laptop/steam deck charger that puts out the appropriate wattage.
But if you don’t do a massive amount of soldering (or want a portable or small footprint setup) the Pinecil is fantastic.
Fair point, I think it needs like 45 watts or something around that.
Personally, I hate how a standard soldering iron has to be held so far away from the tip, it makes it hard to do fine precision work.
Calipers. I bought a cheapo pair (this one) because it was convenient for measuring the parts on a mechanical watch that I was modding. Now I use them all the time around the house for finding the size of nuts, bolts, rope thickness, etc.
cheap verniers are one of the tools I have in every main space, alongside a machinist’s ruler, allen keys, and a ratcheting screwdriver
Also, if you buy a non digital one knowing how to properly read them will feel like you just unlocked some arcane magic
It feels really cool to use a purely mechanical one, haha. Like you’re a chemist in the 16th century figuring out pressure for the first time.
Best advice I can add is don’t buy new. Broadly speaking, prices from high to low run: eBay, FB Marketplace, thrift store, flea market, garage sale. That’s also a rough outline of how available a given item will be.
Looking around, I’m not sure 1-in-50 items in our house was bought new, outside of consumables of course. I could show someone around for at least two hours, showing off the things I found, repurposed, repaired, reused, recycled, etc.
I try to snap up rockin’ deals as I find them. I don’t need box knife blades ATM, but if I find a great deal, MINE. If you’re in a area like ours, keep your eye on the sides of the road for people putting items out to take away. The richer the neighborhood, the better! That’s one of many reasons I have a truck. We’ve found amazing goods being thrown out.
Get to know your local thrifts and flea market(s). We know exactly what sorts of things we can find at our flea market and hold off until we’re setting up or shopping there. And don’t forget you can bargain at the flea market, FB and garage sales! Don’t do that at the thrift, the price is what it is and the clerk can’t change that.
Great advice. I’d also add that it really helps to try keeping an understanding of how things work and basic repair or testing procedures. You can get amazing deals on things that are “broken” when the owner just doesn’t want to try repairing it.
Most things can get repaired, and there is probably a video or five online explaining common issues and how to troubleshoot/repair them. Sometimes if you’re lucky, all it takes is a factory reset. Just note how something isn’t working and Google the symptom.
Our 52” like-new LG tv was in a free pile at a garage sale. I asked the owner why and he described how it behaved; sure enough, that behaviour was a brief Google away. $40 and an afternoon later, I had replaced the backlight strips and it’s still our primary TV.
Learn how to sew. Learn basic soldering techniques and how to use a voltmeter. Learn how to replace your own brake rotors and pads. The information is out there and it’s worth knowing.
A small, flexible plastic bottle, which was actually meant for drizzling lemon juice or oil over your food, but which I use to store isopropyl alcohol for various cleaning purposes. It’s so handy because you don’t end up spilling it everywhere; you can just apply a few drops exactly where it’s needed. And the smell isn’t as strong that way.
Good lithium jump starter, and keep it in your car. Better than cables. I must have used mine 20 times between kids leaving my lights on all night and helping strangers.
My advice is: Avoid buying anything until you really need it.
Otherwise, you end up buying a ton of stuff that you never need and it just sits around collecting dust and you’re that much poorer for it.
Source: I have a bunch of stuff I bought over the years thinking I’d need it and much of it is rarely used. Save your money because money can be anything.
When you do need a tool, check out garage sales and estate sales first because you can get some top-notch stuff at huge discounts. Alternately, pick up a cheap version from harbor freight and use it until it breaks, then get a good one because you know you’ll use it enough that quality becomes worth the extra cost.
My parents’ garage is packed full of “tools” that are 50% cheap Chinese gimmick crap bought on a whim for a “maybe” problem they end up asking me to fix with real tools because by the time the problem happens, they forgot about the cheap gimmick thing bought to fix it.
People say that a lot about harbor freight / cheap tools but what actually happens is you end up always having either the cheap one or then two of the same thing. It’s actually really hard to break a tool. I am always working on stuff and I’ve only actually broken a tool to the point of being unusable like a handful of times.
I’m not saying go out and get top notch stuff either. My tools collection is a random mish mash of stuff I’ve acquired over the years. I am absolutely terrible about losing drill bits so I tend to buy cheap ones for example lol. I agree second hand tools from flea markets, pawn shops, or yard sales is a great way to start a collection.
Also harbor freight has really stepped up their game in the past few years. They still have the reputation of being the budget brand, which they are, but there’s some great stuff there. I personally don’t like the feel of some of their hand tools, but I just got a carpenter’s vise that feels like top of the line despite being $70.
I have definitely broken stuff, however I do agree: Some HF stuff is actually pretty great for the price.
If you have a yard, a pickaxe, a digger bar, and a hand truck. A hi-lift jack is also one of my favorite tools. Never would have bought these but sort of happened into having them and if they were lost or something I’d buy them again without a second thought.
You will probably want to do something in the dirt at some point (sprinklers, electrical lines, landscaping, etc) and a pick is super useful when you need to trench or dig in hard or rocky ground. Same with a digger bar but it can also double as a large pry bar.
My hand truck gets used for moving everything from new/old furniture to rocks and logs around the yard. Just makes moving stuff easy.
I’ve used my hi-jack lift a lot more than I thought. Used it to pull up fence posts, raise walls when I built a shed, works for changing tires, can be used as a winch, used it to hold up gates I was hanging, just a surprisingly useful tool.
Last one I’ll add is a vice - very helpful to have when you need a third hand.
Something I don’t use a whole lot but would buy again if I lost it:
Cable staple gun. It’s just like a regular staple gun (and about the same price) but it shoots U shaped staples so you can quickly run cabling throughout your shop/garage etc.
Beats drilling holes for cable mounts or accidentally pinching the cable with a regular staple.
