My Five Favorite Home Tools & Gadgets

I’ve always been a sucker for a good gadget! Have you guys ever been in the Container Store around Christmas time when they have the bins full of stocking stuffer gadgets? Totally my thing!! So I’m pretty excited about today’s post because not only do I get to share five of my favorite home gadgets with you but I get to hear about my friends’ favorites too because my blogging buddies Pam of Simple Details, Lisa of Shine Your Light, Jennifer of Dimples & Tangles, and our guest host, Sarah of Thrifty Decor Chick are joining me to share our five favorite home gadgets. 

Have you all met Sarah before? She’s one of the talented women who paved the way for home decor blogs (she’s been blogging almost ten years!) and is someone I really look up to. She’s done a lot of pretty amazing DIY projects over the years with one of my favorites being the DIY reno of her kitchen where she painted her dated and worn wood cabinets – you can see the “before” {here} and this is the beautiful “after”:

Sarah shares her detailed cabinet painting tutorial in {this post}. So glad you’re joining us today Sarah! Now let’s get started with my five favorite home tools and gadgets (post includes some affiliate links – full disclosure statement available {here})  

Keep Things Laser Level!

I wish it didn’t bother me as much as it does, but when artwork isn’t level it drives me nuts! So, as you can imagine, I was kinda worried about how hanging the art around our TV was going to go down – how the heck was I going to get all ten of those art prints to be level and lined up with each other (because if they weren’t lined up, I would notice EVERY time I sat down to watch TV…)?

Even the longest level wasn’t going to cut it for this job so I decided to try a laser level and it worked beautifully! I didn’t take any in-progress pics (I was in too big of a rush to get the room done in time for my One Room Challenge reveal!) but after working out the math on the placement of my frames, I figured out the height for the top row of frames and had my husband hold the laser level while I put down painter’s tape along the line of the laser beam. I did the same thing for the top of the pics in the second row and then for the spacing between the frames. After about 15-20 minutes I had the spots for all of the art pieces taped off:

Then I figured out the spot for each picture hanger and hung each art print (without any extra holes to fill – victory!). Once the art was all up, I used my laser level again to make sure all of the pieces were level with one another:

I’m telling you – it was a serious lifesaver and definitely a favorite! The exact laser level I have is no longer available but after reading several reviews, {this laser level} seems like a great choice. 

Keep Guacamole From Turning Brown!

Chips and guacamole are one of my all-time favorite foods – actually pretty much anything with guacamole is! So I take browning of my guacamole pretty seriously 🙂 When I first saw this little gadget that keeps guacamole from browning, I knew I had to give it a go since none of the other ways I’ve tried (storing it with the avocado pit, putting a layer of plastic wrap on top, etc.) have worked all that well. 

The Guac-lock works by pushing all of the air out of the container (it’s exposure to air that causes the browning) through a hole in the top and then popping down the Guac Lock to seal it shut. Life changing! Ok, life changing might be a little bit dramatic but I do love it! I think that guacamole always tastes better the day after you make it anyway so now I have a way to make it ahead of time without being worried about it being a brown mess when it’s time to be served. You can find the Guac-lock {here} and {here} and my favorite homemade guacamole recipe {here}!

Clip Off Long Knob Posts in a Snap!

A few weeks back, I shared my love for {this inexpensive tool} for shortening the posts on knobs and pulls and wanted to add it to my favorite gadgets/tools list too because it’s so quick and easy!  Simply screw the knob post into the hole that fits it best and squeeze the grips to cut. Just make sure you’re screwing it in the correct side (my tool clearly says “insert screw this side”) and that you wear eye protection because sometime the cut end goes flying. It works well for plain screws too!  

Strain Pasta (and Taco Meat) the Easy Way!

Pasta is another food high on my family’s list of favorites – definitely a dinnertime staple at our house! This clip-on strainer is perfect for draining pasta without even having to remove the pasta from the pot. And the best part? The strainer is dishwasher safe and takes up a fraction of the space in your dishwasher that a typical strainer or colander does. It’s super simple to use – just clip it on to the sides of the pot:

and you’re ready to go:

It works great for larger pans and skillets too (like for draining fat from taco meat)!

Turn Your Outdoor Lights on at Night Without Lifting a Finger!

A little over a year ago I bought a programmable timer for the flood lights outside our home and it’s been so great! We have our lights set to automatically go on at sunset and off at sunrise (you can also specify your own on and off times or put it on random mode which is nice for when you’re on vacation). I love always having our outside lights on at night whether we’re home or not and also love that our lights turn themselves off when not needed during the day (saving money on the electricity bill!). 

The timer that we installed is {this Honeywell Programmable Switch} that has amazing ratings, no minimum wattage requirements (so it’s compatible with CFLs and LEDs), and a backlit display that you can see at night. It can be placed on almost any single pole switch that has a neutral wire and the installation is pretty straight forward. Whatever I can do around my house that is fix-it-and-forget-about-it, I’m in!

So there you have it – my five favorite home gadgets and tools! Thank you so much for stopping in! If you’re new here and would like to read my future posts, you can sign up {here} for emails or follow along on Instagram {here}.    

If you missed any of my past posts from our My Five Favorites series, you can check out my five favorite paint colors {here}  and a few of my other My Five Favorites posts here: