Are there any household gadgets you found unexpectedly useful after you'd gotten them?
Are there any household gadgets you found unexpectedly useful after you'd gotten them?
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?
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Halogen oven: I live alone, and even though it's relatively small, it's big enough for me (unless I want to cook a pizza). It preheats much faster than a regular oven, so meals take much less time to make if I'm just throwing something in it too cook.
Headphone stand: I got a stand that you can hang headphones on, and it's so much nicer than just tossing it on the table or whatever.
Battery powered lamp with a flexible "spine". I have an adjustable lamp which charges via usb and has a flexible neck. It saves the hassle of trying to prop up a phone or something with the torch turned on.
Did you know you can get toilet roll holders that have a little shelf for you to put a phone on? If you browse on the can, they're rather handy.
Extension cables: If you have a desktop or tv, you can just grab some USB, hdmi or audio extensions and swap things using that instead of leaning behind the device.
Egg cooker thingy: I have a thingie that you put a certain amount of water in and it boils an egg using the steam and turns off when done. Saves the effort of setting a timer or boiling a full pan of water.
Kettles: Apparently not a thing in the US? I don't know how you live without them.
Extension cables: If you have a desktop or tv, you can just grab some USB, hdmi or audio extensions and swap things using that instead of leaning behind the device.
This is what my receiver is for, with regard to the TV. But yeah, even in that case I have a spare HDMI that hangs out near the front of the TV for laptops.
Kettles
Lots of Americans have ones that sit on the stove. I have one that plugs in.
Part of the issue is that most outlets in American houses only provide 120v power, only special outlets provide 240v. So even though an electric kettle will boil faster than one on the stove, it’s not significantly faster like it is in other places.