7 Household Items You Should Get Before You Need Them!

You just moved in a few weeks ago and now you’re settled into your new apartment – you have everything you need. Except … a few months later, you reach for your drawer to pull out some scissors and you realize … oh, wait, you don’t have any. It’s your parents who have a pair of scissors in their drawer. It’s not a big deal, but, gosh, at that moment, it sure would be helpful to have some scissors.

So here’s a list of seven such items that you’ll need … a little bit. (OK, it’s actually eight items, but two of them go together.) If you have the budget, you might want to go ahead and purchase them.

1. Scissors. What are scissors good for? Cutting open boxes that are shipped to you, cutting tags off your new clothing purchases, cutting paper (for example, maybe you’re making an art project with a visiting niece), cutting open that irritating plastic vacuum-packed container on the new headphones you bought, cutting packing tape when you need to ship a package to a friend … and these are just a few examples. I recommend getting a sturdy pair, rather than a flimsy pair. It might cost a lot more, but it will last you literally twenty years.
2. Hammer and Screwdriver. Personally, I think every home should have at least a small toolbox. But that’s a lecture for another day. At bare, bare minimum, make sure you have a hammer and a screwdriver. After all, many minor problems can be fixed with this pair, plus, if you don’t have a hammer, how did you hang up your framed photos? See what I mean?
3. Tapemeasure.  This is your best friend when you are buying anything bigger than a breadbox.  Unless you are an arts major, you won’t be able to estimate if that dresser will fit without a tapemeasure.
4. Calculator. You might not use it much, and maybe you can use an app on your phone or your computer, but you should have a way to do the maths. On rare occasion you’ll need it – like when you’re doing your taxes – and you don’t want to trust your own long division … or do you??
5. Light-bulbs. If you have no light bulbs on-hand when a light bulb burns out in the bathroom, all of a sudden you have a major problem. If you have light bulbs in a drawer: Meh, problem solved in about three seconds. So get some now, preferably the fluorescent type.
6. Sewing Kit.  You are dashing out to the job interview and a critical button pops out (see, you should have checked you outfit last night, like your mom told you!).  Your options are a.)  frantically run around looking for a dry cleaners with a tailor or b.) pull out your sewing kit and still make the interview on time. Which one will it be?
7. Flashlight. Probably the only time you’ll need this is if the power goes out. But … if the power goes out … well … you gotta have a flashlight.

So those are my  items. Did I miss anything? Any quibbles? Let me know what you think in the comments section.