Could somebody please invent...

was glad of my Swiss Army Knife last week!!! I had been decorating all the stairs landings etc, taken off all the door handles on one side of the doors! went to bed and closed my door too!! yes!! locked myself in...luckily I had left the square bar thingy that goes through the lock on the inside of the room (this was about 11-00pm at night, but then of course one doesn't keep screwdrivers in ones bedroom, which I needed to unscrew the 4 screws to take the handle off so I could slot the bar back in to open the door.

Thought! Oh *** gona be stuck in here all night until I could ring dd up to get the ladders to pass me screwdriver through window! but searched through my drawers and found my "swiss army knife" managed with great difficulty to unscrew the 4 screws with one of the blade...

Those retractable pencils with the little rubber on the end are perfect for crosswords, codewords and sudoku, if you take the wrong track as often as I do.

Yes you can get packs in most supermarkets. Work out about 50 p each. Have a rubber on the end so as you say brilliant for sudoku or the fiendish Sudokarrow that the 'I' do on a Saturday.

Re Weetabix conundrum. Will second the container idea. Keep mine in a click and lock one ( spaghetti container I think) and sort of shake it off as I bring out the said article. Works a treat!

biker that situation would have had me in a complete panic at the thought of not being able to get to the loo in the night - I usually need to pee at least 3 times . If I had an en-suite it wouldn't be a problem of course, but I don't. Thank heavens for your Swiss army knife!

lol same here Ashtree I was starting to think could I perch on the edge of the windowsill and hope that the neighbours wouldn't be around at that time of night

I had not heard of the pencils mentioned which sound very useful but it still
leaves the problem of sharpening coloured pencils which we usually have around for when the DGC come. Better get a Swiss army knife - none of the kitchen knives do a very good job.

Biker, Respect! for a gran who keeps a knife in her drawers. is there anything down the cleavage as well?

I 'serve' Weetabix over the sink so the crumbs get washed down the drain! Haven't blocked it yet!

They have, it is called Supaclip.
One of the best gadgets I have come across.
The papers you need to clip together are pushed into the jaws of a small (about 12 cm long) but sturdy clip holder, you then slide a small button and bingo, the papers are firmly held because the clips are sprung and so grab the papers tightly and exclude the possibility of picking up other sheets of paper. The clips also come in bright colours which tend to brighten up otherwise boring paperwork exercises.

Small penknives to sharpen pencils used to be ok in teacher's pockets and some trusted older primary school pupils were taught and allowed to use them too. The pencil sharpeners I found most effective were the matt silver ones which they had spare blades available. I've bought Staedtler sharpeners like that fairly recently though the blades may no longer be available for H&S reasons I guess.
Given a small budget for classroom extras some of us went for electric pencil sharpeners. Big mistake - by the end of the first week of term thrilled pupils had reduced their new pencils to stubs.

Elerl

I can just imagine the queues to use them and the look of delight on their little faces!

Absolutely!

And a knife is more likely to be handy when you want it

Nandalot have you found that some of the cheaper retractable pencils have erasers on the end that do not rub out ? They leave awful black smears on the paper.

I am off to buy a Supaclip - sounds like stuff dreams are made of. Staplers - you will not get the best of me. Am also going to invest in a nice weetabix tin. I love a nice tin. Knew you lot would have the answer

I used to go into panic mode if I mislaid the staple remover at work; such a simple litle gadget but so perfect in every way. I even have a bag of the removed staples thinking that I might be able to do something creative with them one day [a tiny Anthony Gormley figure made of staples for example]. Of course, I haven't got round to it yet. Goint to take Weetabix tin out of the cupboard and put it on display somewhere; if and when I work out how to put photos on here I shall proudly show it off to you all.

Staples - Keep your stapler well loaded and the staples should stay straight and not bend in all directions at the end. Don't squeeze it together but put it on the table/desk and give it a hard, sharp bang.

Use the "open" position - makes removing them far easier.

Actually, I prefer keeping papers together in those simple see-through plastic folders, open on 2 sides. You can see what they are, but you can take out all the sheets and hand them to people individually, or look at all the sheets at once.

And there's no staple to fiddle about with to make them suitable for the paper disposal bin.

Paper clips are the work of the devil and to be avoided at all costs. They must be the most inefficient invention of the last 200 years.

Weetabix I keep in a large plastic container, as I do the other cereals. (I think they're really for washing powder. The lid opens partly to pour powders or cornflakes out quite well). It's not the ideal way to keep Weetabix, though, and still produces crumbs. But at least they stay in the container and don't go all over the table.

By the time I've used up a packet's worth of Weetabix there are enough crumbs left in the bottom of the container to make a whole new Weetabix! I then tip that out into my bowl for the last breakfast from the packet. But then, I hate crunchy cereals (and people who crunch them!) and I pour warm milk on them and leave them to soak before eating them.

Ginny, , the ones I use are Papermate ( can I mention a trade name here?) Only smudge if I have been chewing the end of the pencil in desperation at the Sudokarrow. Yuk!

That's what I use too Nandalot. The only ones I've found that work well.

I've got my dad's genuine Swiss Army knife he got when he was conscripted into the cyclists in 1930! Still got his Swiss army bike too- weighs a ton, no gears and pedalo breaks. He did all the Swiss passes during the 2nd WW- with heavy wooden gun, rows of heavy bullets, and his kit- in huge leather studded boots. Got those too- they make great door stoppers.

I'd like someone to invent a self-emptying dishwasher- anyone?

Lakeland do a staple less stapler I'm sure

Self-emptying dishwasher: (should I start another thread?)

Someone I knew had her kitchen made-to-measure. She was pretty thrifty, although extremely well-off. She refused to have a dishwasher, and the plates were rinsed and put into the cupboards over the sink, stacked vertically, as you would on the draining board. The bottoms of the cupboards were taken out - so the plates just dripped into the sink or on to the draining board and were always tidied away. No teatowel necessary. So that means that the plates were actually taken in hand two times less than if washing by hand the conventional way, and drying on a teatowel, and even once less than being washed in a dishwasher, where you still have to take them out and put them in the cupboard.

She got the idea in Switzerland. I think it may be used in industrial kitchens, but can't think why it never caught on in private kitchens.