A window vac to beat condensation
Every morning I console myself about the lack of double glazing as my window-cleaning vacuum sucks up the condensation. It’s a gift that keeps on giving!
Jim Clay, Lewes
Pastry blender … your hummus
Comprising a curved set of four blunt blades with a straight handle, a pastry blender is great for quickly rubbing fat into flour for making crumble and pastry. But it’s also good for mashing tinned chickpeas to make hummus, or for any similar task. It’s cheap, takes up little space in a drawer and is easy to wash.
Rebecca Maddox, Shropshire
Digital scales – great for liquids
A great way to save time and fuss when cooking (and washing up), digital kitchen scales also allow you to measure liquid accurately, by weight, instead of trying to hold up a jug to judge the level.
Janet Dew, Woking
Karabiner clips aren’t just for climbing
Although they are usually used by climbers, karabiners have a thousand other uses. All my spare house keys and car keys have one. They are easy to hang up and are easily identified because of their different colours. My bird feeders are attached with them – making them easy to remove and refill.
Geraldine Blake, Worthing
Silicone bowl scraper – the zero waste tool
Shaped like a wonky teardrop, my yellow silicone bowl scraper is brilliant at getting every last bit of whatever out of a bowl or pan and I use it almost every day. What’s even more pleasing is that it was a freebie from a magazine!
Mari Philip, Hertfordshire
For a barista-worthy cappuccino
I bought a handheld battery-operated milk frother from a well-known Danish chain and it pretty much goes everywhere with me. Heat the milk up, press the little button, add a few shots of espresso and I have the best morning cappuccino.
Robert Young, London
Salon hair at home
Transforming my “morning” hair into something presentable for work in five minutes, my hot brush is simply marvellous.
Carole Mistry, Sheffield
A pencil, but better
My favourite everyday gadget is a Uni Kuru Toga 0.5mm mechanical pencil. It rotates the lead as you write, so avoiding the common “chisel” effect of every other mechanical pencil I’ve tried.
John Fredrickson, Bedford
The humble shoehorn makes a world of difference
A fairly recent discovery for me is the shoehorn. I have at least three on the go at any one time and I take a small one with me on holiday.
Anonymous
The secret to perfect mash
Creating a smooth mash every time, a potato ricer is much better than a basic masher and it looks cool. The best birthday present I’ve ever received.
Dan, Yorkshire
The bike pump that really works
With three kids and a shed full of bicycles, I’ve inflated (and repaired) so many children’s tyres over the years. It used to be hard work with a normal bike pump but an inexpensive track (or floor) pump, with its clip-on valve and pressure gauge, makes it a doddle.
Dave Gibson, Devon
Tick remover – a gardener’s best friend
I get at least one tick whenever I work in my garden, so I couldn’t live without my tick removers. I have two: one for adult ticks and the other for nymph or immature ones. I have a large garden with mature hedges and shrubs, and ticks hang around in these for months.
Libby Gill, Argyll
Ice-cream spoons make great coffee
For coffee agitation and getting stuff out of the bottoms of bottles and jars, long handled ice-cream spoons are really useful and vastly superior to normal spoons.
Anonymous
From pasta to pets, foldback clips work wonders
These little gizmos are so useful. In the kitchen I use foldback clips to close bags of things like coffee beans, cereals and pasta. They are strong and the seal is good. I also use them as cloth clips on the garden table and have a set that holds together the cage and lining for our guinea pigs.
Alex Pomerańska, Kent
An easy way to catch crumbs
Most days I use my Bissell carpet sweeper – just like the one my granny used to have – to sweep up crumbs and bits off the carpet, and it’s surprisingly effective. Unlike my vacuum cleaner, it’s quiet, light and much less of a palaver to get out to deal with a small mess. It even sweeps up dog hair. Best of all, it looks as though it will last for ever.
Rachel Ward, Norwich
If you think it’s just for melons, think again
I use my melon baller to remove the hard centre of pears, the stringy flesh of winter squash (think butternut), to make small meatballs and Mexican albondigas, form small cookies, remove seeds from cucumbers, or to core and hollow out apples to fill then bake. And a melon baller is indeed great for making balls of fruit.
Ben Brown, California, US
Better than any other glasses cleaner. Tried and tested
Like tiny tongs with a pad on either side, my Peeps glasses cleaner is something I can’t do without. You pop it out of its case, place a pad either side of the lens, squeeze gently and rub the lens clean. It does a bang-up job (better than the microfibre cloths the optician gives you) and I no longer have to use messy sprays or disposable wipes. I suggest buying the actual Peeps ones: there are cheaper copies, but they don’t work nearly as well.
Liz Smith, Oxfordshire
Keeps the fizz party going
I like fizz a lot, but drinking a whole bottle on my own is neither possible nor advisable. Screwpull’s sparkling wine stopper stops it going flat and means the fizz can be drunk over two or even three days. I’ve had this a long time and it can’t have cost more than £20.
Gillian Marsh, Cambridgeshire
An actual everyday game changer
My one essential gadget (so essential that I now have five of them, one in each room) is a claw grabber (AKA litter picker). Not only do they help me pick up stuff from the ground, but I use them to make putting my trousers on easier – by keeping the leg holes open as I slip them on. I also use them in the garden, so that I can pick up the balls for our puppy. One small, cheap item has transformed my life for the better.
Kiran Toor, Washington State, US
Use for drinks, breakfast – and DIY
My wooden lemon squeezer can be held in one hand and pushed and twisted within the fruit. I use it for cooking, making marmalade (it works with lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges), drinks, overnight oats. I have also used it as a hammer.
Elspeth Bromiley, Wirral
Positions books – or phone – at the perfect angle
While struggling to prop a book up to read in bed, I Googled “book bean bag” and fell into a whole world of items designed to keep a book/phone/e-reader in the perfect position. I bought a mini bean bag for £15 and have never looked back. I use it every day for books and devices. I bought some as Christmas gifts and they have been universally praised as the thing you didn’t know you needed but now can’t live without.
Anonymous
For soups without the mess
Perfect for making nourishing soups and purées, my stick or hand blender is so easy to use directly in the pan, thus reducing the amount of washing up. The head detaches and you can wash it in a dishwasher. No mess, no fuss, great results.
Anonymous
A faff-free way to cook with lemons
This zester removes strips of lemon peel with ease, and without getting the zest stuck to the grater. Strips can be chopped if you wish. My lemon zester encourages me to make lemon curd and cakes, and add zest to tagines.
Heather Parry, Watford
The peeler that makes veg prep a joy
I can’t do without my Swiss-made Kuhn Rikon vegetable peeler, with its incredibly sharp blade. Cheaper peelers are available – they’re just not as lovely to use. This one glides through potato skins, and makes peeling a pile of carrots or parsnips a pleasant job. I once inadvertently threw mine in the bin with peelings and had to replace it immediately.
Katie Gray, Birmingham
The infinite uses of a mini torch
LEDs have completely changed torch tech, and the amount of light emitted now is amazing. So my small AAA-sized torch has proved very useful – as I age, I need additional light for many everyday tasks, whether it be looking in the pantry or digging in the garage.
Evan Fabricant, California, US
Keep surfaces spotless with a supoon
A cross between a spoon and a spatula, but with a kink in the handle so that it “sits up” and doesn’t get the counter or table dirty, supoon is short for a stand-up spoon. I went out and replaced all my other serving spoons and spatulas and now use these for everything.
Austin Gregg-Smith, Bristol
