The really small things that make life worth living?

[econopodder]

Okay, flist, here's a question for you.   I was thinking the other day about how there are certain really small things that make a huuuge difference in how smoothly life functions.  Often these are things that (a) have no close substitutes, and (b) are slightly awkward to go buy because you have to figure out where to get them

Comments

[bquinlan]

There are two things I recommend everyone carry that fall into this category.

1. Light: Put one of those tiny coin-cell powered LED lights on your keychain. How often do you wish you had just a little more light on the subject? Available for under $1 (example).
2. Knife: Keep a small-size Swiss Army Knife in your pocket. It's worth the negligible size and weight just for opening packages, but it will come in handy for all sorts of common tasks. Available for under $10 (example).

[hlynn]

I have one--a metal needle tool, like this. I bought the light duty one for ceramics class and I still use it for a variety of things--cleaning out the crevices in jewelry, setting in new watch bands, or any other task where I need a thin but strong needle that won't bend under pressure. It's the perfect cleaning tool for small crevices that you can't reach otherwise. Right now I have it with my jewelry beads, for widening or unblocking bead holes.

(Most of my other pottery tools gained a second life elsewhere, too. The wire clay cutter is perfect for cutting hard cheeses, palette knives are good for frosting cakes, and the ribbon and loop tools are great for cutting out seeds or shaving cheese and chocolate.)

[eliz]

Interesting thought-- I know I can get all the things on your list at Harris Teeter (and generally any larger-style grocery store for example) and know where I'd find them most of the time. :)

As for stuff to add-- a pack of zip-ties or twist ties. Binder clips are awesome too- for hanging things, marking in a cookbook, etc.

DUCT TAPE!

Mini screwdriver- for tiny screws - preferably one of those that flips and has both flathead and phillips. We are always using ours and it was a freebie from some company at some point. Ours stays in a jar with pens and the scissors. At least until Riley finds it...

A box cutter. Just be very very careful with it.

Oh! Mark offered waterproof matches over regular matches.

Hrm, if anything else comes to mind I'll come back. This is a really interesting question, would LOVE to see what input you get and what your final list is-- and what you're doing with it. :)

[econopodder]

Ooh, another one:

* A yardstick. (My favorite one was a freebie my folks got from a hardware store in the early 60s (it's still got one of the OLDSTYLE-123 phone numbers. I like it b/c it folds in thirds.)

[anirt]

Heh, this will be long because I still have (a) the wedding wish list and (b) the list currently growing of things we still don't have.

pan scraper -- great for not only daily dish use, but also removing mineral scale buildup on the sink or the dish drain