# Cheap, low-tech ideas to make life better. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2015, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340 "2015-06-12T08:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/41 "2015-06-13T11:08:20Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I use [caffeine](http://download.cnet.com/Caffeine/3000-2094_4-10914397.html)to keep my computer/tablet active and the screen on. For most\* screensavers, setting one end of a stapler or equivalent on the CTRL key will work too. \*for my computers at work and home, anyway – this may be less universal than I’m aware of. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/42 "2015-06-13T11:43:48Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Wow, really? You realize that this argument is the product of 20 years of P&G carefully conditioning us to be ultra germ-squicky? I mean, I’ve lost count of the types and variations of disposable cleaning wipes, with and without sticks, and all they’re selling you is a false sense of convenience and cleanliness. Add it up sometime. > > Oh, please x2. I don’t want to hijack this amusing thread, but do the math. One wipe, manufactured once, packaged once, shipped once, washed maybe once a week for two years - and now calculate the cost of all that hot water etc. for _one more hand towel-sized item in a load_. > > Vs. 3-a-week disposables - call it 250, conservatively, for the same time period - manufactured individually, packaged and shipped in small quantities, and ending up in landfills since they are often too contaminated to recycle properly. Now figure just the relative costs. > > The most valuable thing a consumer can do is think for themselves, and these two arguments are pure dogmatic propaganda from P&G&friends. You will, I hope, concede the point that a Swiffer is still a hell of a lot better than a broom, which I’ll bet is what most people are still using to clean indoor floors when they can’t be troubled to get the vacuum out of the closet. Sure, there’s an argument for your alternative. But in terms of making one’s life better (thread topic!), it’s six of one. And let me call bullshit on the notion of replacing your Swiffer cover 3 times a week. Are there people who actually sweep their floors that often? It’s more like once a week chez Firefly, and a Swiffer cover lasts for several sweepings. Though nowadays we actually go through one every two weeks, since our cleaning lady insists on throwing the old one away each time she’s here. So that’s 26 a year. So I confess I’m sending nearly $14 a year - the cost of a pizza - to P&G for Swiffer refills. Such is the power of their marketing! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/43 "2015-06-13T14:50:07Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > You will, I hope, concede the point that a Swiffer is still a hell of a lot better than a broom, which I’ll bet is what most people are still using to clean indoor floors when they can’t be troubled to get the vacuum out of the closet. Do I concede that there is a proper tool for any particular job, and that people tend to use one “hammer” for everything? Sure. Is a dust mop a great tool? You bet. Always has been. They’re about $15 and last as long as most brooms. Get one of each. Recommended. Is a variation on a dust mop, rather cheaply made and sold on the “razor and blades” or “junk lock” model, based on replacing the active part every time a normal tool would just require a shakeout, rinse or wash, with a cost that mounts and mounts over the life of the tool and has far greater ecological impact, driven entirely by an enormous marketing onslaught that plays on manufactured fears, an improvement? No. It’s a monument to how corporations do business these days, by bamboozling people into buying whatever they can be made to buy, to the maximum benefit of the corporation and little else. Happy dusting. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/44 "2015-06-13T14:55:32Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Hiding keys, safely: > > This won’t work for some people (like apartment dwellers), but there are safe ways to hide keys to your house. If you have any other locking building or shed, etc., just hide a key to where your key is. I use one of those extremely realistic cans of Coke with an unscrewing lid. You can’t tell it from the (heh, heh) real thing. And it’s weatherproof, so it will last forever in the middle of my yard. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/45 "2015-06-13T16:03:31Z")
For small bathrooms with a sink and nothing underneath but a pipe (and it’s too small or awkward to figure out a way to use it for storage) and you’d like some way to cover it, cut the right size trash can in half and spray it with paint meant for plastic outdoor furniture. I use paint sample strips for bookmarks—and color-coordinate them with the book cover because I’m crazy that way. For knitters/crocheters making fringe, I cut the side panels off detergent boxes because they’re just sturdy enough and I can get whatever size I need for a 'double wrap." When you know what length you want your fringe to be, each time around the “card” will be right. Wrap a bunch of yarn around and cut at the top. You can use different brands (colors) for each size. I got this off the internet: use empty CDs for photograph holders. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/46 "2015-06-13T17:50:17Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Do I concede that there is a proper tool for any particular job, and that people tend to use one “hammer” for everything? Sure. Given that I suggested using a Swiffer for one thing (exactly the same thing you use your beloved O-Cedar for, btw), saying “people tend to use one “hammer” for everything” must be a reply to someone else. (Don’t ask me who. Maybe someone in another thread.) > [@](#): > > Is a dust mop a great tool? You bet. Always has been. They’re about $15 and last as long as most brooms. Get one of each. Recommended. I have used a dust mop. It’s sure fun to shake them out - if you don’t mind getting half the crap all over yourself when you do so. Granny used a dust mop because that’s what was available in 1930. > [@](#): > > Is a variation on a dust mop, rather cheaply made Mine’s lasted quite a few years. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘cheaply made.’ > [@](#): > > and sold on the “razor and blades” or “junk lock” model, based on replacing the active part every time a normal tool would just require a shakeout, rinse or wash, with a cost that mounts and mounts over the life of the tool and has far greater ecological impact, driven entirely by an enormous marketing onslaught that plays on manufactured fears, an improvement? No. It’s a monument to how corporations do business these days, by bamboozling people into buying whatever they can be made to buy, to the maximum benefit of the corporation and little else. Boy howdy, you’re really pretty pissed about that $14 a year I spend on replacement pads for the Swiffer. And for the $10 a year I spend on razor blades too, I guess. People like you give environmentalism a bad name, because you don’t know when to stop. If we’re not as pure as you in our dedication to the environment, you’ve got to break into our conversation to yell at us, and denounce us for being tools of the machine. If most environmentalists were like you, then Rush Limbaugh’s rants about environmentalists would actually have a point. Which would be a scary thing indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/47 "2015-06-13T18:16:55Z")
Hijack’s gone on long enough. I’m not going to waste the space it would take to deprogram you. Dust mops have been around a long, long time. The newer heads that pick up dust better, withstand washing better and last longer have been around a couple of decades. It’s only the fact that most people have never used one that lets P&G sell Swiffers as some brilliant new concept, doing a job that absolutely no other tool could possibly do. (My reference to the hammer, BTW, was referring to brooms, which most people under about 40 think is the only way to clean a dry floor… except for this brilliant innovation advertised everywhere you turn.) I also suspect you and most users spend more than $14… and even if, it’s $14 you didn’t have to spend at all. Multiply that by the dozen or fifty equivalents throughout your house, and it’s no longer trivial money. I’m not an environmentalist, by the way. Secondary concern. Oh, hey, your glass of kool-aid is empty. Better run fill that up. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/48 "2015-06-13T20:15:21Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’m not going to waste the space it would take to deprogram you. Projection! > [@](#): > > I also suspect you and most users spend more than $14… and even if, it’s $14 you didn’t have to spend at all. Multiply that by the dozen or fifty equivalents throughout your house, and it’s no longer trivial money. Yeah, I’ll admit it - when my light bulbs burn out, I don’t fix them, I toss them out and buy new ones. And I don’t run my sponges through the dishwasher; I toss them out after a month or so. That probably costs me another $10-12 per year. I don’t re-use my son’s single-serve bottles of apple juice - oh wait, I do, refilling them from a half-gallon jug. So cross that off. I call bullshit. You can’t come up with a list of fifty equivalents that are commonly used in most people’s houses. Might come up with your lower end of a dozen, but I bet you can only do so by including some stuff that are really stretches. But thank you for your efforts to rescue me from spending the equivalent of two pizzas a year, if we include the razor blades and the sponges. > [@](#): > > it’s $14 you didn’t have to spend at all. No question! But it’s white noise. Unless you can get rid of a lot of $14/years in one fell swoop, it ain’t worth the effort. Not having cable saves me, I guess, about $1000 a year. (Haven’t priced it lately.) Making my lunch and bringing it to work, rather than paying what the cafeteria charges for lunch, another $1000. Brewing enough coffee at home to take into work, rather than buying from the Starbucks there, another thousand, even after subtracting the cost of beans. Drinking homemade sweet tea rather than sodas, both at home and at work, probably a few hundred. And so on. But for fourteen dollars a year? Sorry, but forget it. And I bet if you came over to my house and went through it, top to bottom, you couldn’t save me as much money as I’m saving by tea v. soft drinks. I think after the Swiffer, the razor blades, and the sponges, you’d have to get into time-sink territory like washing and re-using zip-lock bags. Oh, and “Hijack’s gone on long enough” which you then follow with several more paragraphs of your silly rant. I guess it hadn’t gone on long enough for you after all when you said that. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/49 "2015-06-14T01:41:09Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > For small bathrooms with a sink and nothing underneath but a pipe (and it’s too small or awkward to figure out a way to use it for storage) and you’d like some way to cover it, cut the right size trash can in half and spray it with paint meant for plastic outdoor furniture. > > I use paint sample strips for bookmarks—and color-coordinate them with the book cover because I’m crazy that way. > > For knitters/crocheters making fringe, I cut the side panels off detergent boxes because they’re just sturdy enough and I can get whatever size I need for a 'double wrap." When you know what length you want your fringe to be, each time around the “card” will be right. Wrap a bunch of yarn around and cut at the top. You can use different brands (colors) for each size. > > I got this off the internet: use empty CDs for photograph holders. \>Addle-brained. To the first suggestion please add “And stick it under the sink to fit.” Damn mini-stroke. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/50 "2015-06-14T04:59:07Z")
That is OK, I made the jump with you. I leave out stuff a lot so my posts don’t make a lot of sense a lot of times. Now where are my car keys? You are not alone… ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/51 "2015-06-14T05:45:39Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > +1, except that I’ve found hanging a couple over the side of the can works a little better. > > When you put a new plastic bag in a garbage can: WHOMP it all the way open. ALL the way. Now squeeze all the air back out of it (you can learn to do this in one stroke.) Drop the tail in the can and stretch the rim around the can. Presto, a liner that goes all the way to the bottom and doesn’t push back against the first few items. I always drill holes in the side of my trash cans so the air can escape. I’m not saying I invented the idea but I did submit it to a home tips website and have seen it on several other sites since. When I do see it somewhere, I like to kid myself and think it was original after all and millions of people are now doing it because of me. It’s probably the sole reason why I was put on this earth. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/52 "2015-06-14T07:05:16Z")
Fascinating Swiffer debate aside, I guess my best one is to keep a laundry basket or backpack or something near the top and/or bottom of the stairs (if you have multiple stories) so you can haul a bunch of crap up and down at once. In the same vein, since some ghost absconded with my tea tray, I often use a cookie sheet (technically, a jelly roll pan) as a makeshift bus tub to clear the dining table with, so that I make fewer trips. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/53 "2015-06-14T07:35:25Z")
Keep a pair of shoes in your vehicle. I started doing this after the morning I got halfway to work and then had to go home and change out of my house slippers! (And call the receptionist to ask her to pleasepleaseplease offer my first meeting some refreshments and make apologies on my behalf and tell them that I’d be there in two shakes!) Since then, the spare shoes have been handy when I broke a (shoe) heel, the morning I managed to wear one black shoe and one navy blue, and on more than one occasion when I stepped in a puddle. (I keep black ballet flats as my spares, because they look fine with jeans or a dress or shorts or most anything I might wear in public.) Not completely low-tech, but it makes use of technology you probably have handy: I always take a photo of the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer before I go to the grocery store. That way, if I get to the baking aisle and have one of those “did I need more flour?” moments, I can check the pantry shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/54 "2015-06-14T07:38:48Z")
The plastic lid from one of [these](https://i.warosu.org/data/ck/img/0050/99/1389655059887.jpg)tumbler-jars of Nutella is just the right size to reseal an open, half-used can of beans, soup, hot dogs, etc, which can then be stored in the fridge. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/55 "2015-06-14T14:53:15Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Not completely low-tech, but it makes use of technology you probably have handy: I always take a photo of the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer before I go to the grocery store. That way, if I get to the baking aisle and have one of those “did I need more flour?” moments, I can check the pantry shelf. The Mrs and I have always had a low-key war over how best to keep household lists. I always used a small yellow pad, which I could take with me on shopping runs; she insists that a whiteboard is something blah blah blah. Of course, the whiteboard is always there and visible and has a marker handy and is easy to edit… but it’s a tad less than portable, meaning you have to stop and make a list of what’s on it for shopping… and sure as sunrise, something won’t get transferred or some detail like the exact size of a nut and bolt won’t make it to the pocket list. Or one category or another of stuff will be left off because you weren’t planning to the hardware store, grocery, Target, whatever. Not-really-lo-tek-solution: I snap a shot with Evernote on my way out. The Mrs being techno-manglic won’t use the same tool… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/56 "2015-06-14T14:54:59Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I always drill holes in the side of my trash cans so the air can escape. I’m not saying I invented the idea but I did submit it to a home tips website and have seen it on several other sites since. When I do see it somewhere, I like to kid myself and think it was original after all and millions of people are now doing it because of me. It’s probably the sole reason why I was put on this earth. The pop-squish-drop technique works on all trash cans, including large metal ones and small ceramic ones that are hard to drill or can’t really afford the leak/bug-entry point. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/57 "2015-06-14T17:15:01Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > That is OK, I made the jump with you. > > I leave out stuff a lot so my posts don’t make a lot of sense a lot of times. > > Now where are my car keys? > > You are not alone… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/58 "2015-06-14T18:41:54Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > When you go to get a new plastic kitchen bin liner bag, get several. Drop all except the current bag in the kitchen bin so that they’re lying at the bottom, under the current bag. That way a new one is right at hand ready to unfurl after you remove the full bag of trash. … And when a leak develops in the bag being used the glop drips down into your whole supply of clean bags. Once you’ve had a pile of a dozen bags glued together with dried Coke & old egg shells you’ll stop doing that. Or at least I did. 🙂 It’s not that hard to keep the box of new bags in the same general area as wherever the trashcan sits. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/59 "2015-06-14T18:45:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And when a leak develops in the bag being used the glop drips down into your whole supply of clean bags. Once you’ve had a pile of a dozen bags glued together with dried Coke & old egg shells you’ll stop doing that. I don’t remember the last time a trash bag leaked, even when it got packed down hard with sharp-ish things like plastic clamshell packaging in it. I’ve been doing the hang-some-bags-on-the-side trick for a long time and don’t recall ever having them get fouled. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340/60 "2015-06-14T18:55:39Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Take a water bottle, fill it one-third full and lay it on it’s side in the freezer. Tip up the mouth end so it doesn’t freeze into the neck. When needed, top it off with water. > > Ice water for hours! Even better - keep another one in there, freeze it horizontally, store it vertically. If you’re not sure if your freezer got warm in a power outage or something, or you don’t know how long the power was out, or how long the door was open, or whatever, look at the bottle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-low-tech-ideas-to-make-life-better/722340.md?page=4)