HOUSEHOLD ODDS & ENDS

OdorOuters. StinkSuckers. We like those names better than remodeez®, the charcoal remedy that “Outsmarts Smell,” but they work like magic. Activated charcoal is non-toxic, non-chemical, and really does remove odors and moisture. Perfect for the laundry pile, closets, gym lockers, storage bins, cars, boats, camping gear, backpacks—anywhere musty, chemical and all-too-human odors proliferate. You pick the pair of 3-1/2” dia purple circles, the 4” x 5” light-blue oval, or the 4” x 5” dark-blue rectangle.

One of our all-time favorite items, back in neon colors. These surprisingly sturdy fly-swatters have plastic grip-handles, mesh heads and extendability. Measure 10-1/4” long when compressed, but pull the 4-draw handle and they extend to a fly-smacking 28”. Yours will be bright yellow, lime green, fuchsia or orange, but they’re all attractive, and the flies won’t care.

Or are you just an inaccurate swatter? Either way, this humongous fly swatter is what you need. The swatter end is 7-1/2” long by 6-1/2” wide and is on a telescopic handle that extends to 39” long, which means the buggers can’t escape to the tall ceilings anymore. Contracts to 16” long for storage and has a rubber grip. In neon green so you won’t misplace it.

For when you just can't drag yours around anymore? No, for out-of-sight cigarette butt and ash disposal. This mini-bucket, sans handle, is a 3-1/4" dia x 3-7/8" tall black-composition ashtray that can sit on a desk or table, or fit neatly into a car's cup holder. Its removable lid has (3) slots to hold lit cigarettes and a small, cigarette-diameter hole so the butts slide out of sight and go out for lack of oxygen. Cuts down ambient dead-butt odors, too.

We’re fascinated by this thing. It’s a collapsible Red-Riding-Hoodish dispan/basket for your sink and beyond, with solid gray plastic rim, base and folding picnic-basket style handles, plus silicone sides in fashionable chartreuse. Measures 15" x 11" x 5-5/8" when open but collapses down to just 1-1/2” high for storage. Could also be a very nostalgic shopping basket, dandy for collecting garden vegetables. Hose-off-able and pretty much niftiness itself. Holds water like a champ and is great for camping.

With justifiable pride, we offer for your consideration this set of fingernail and toenail clippers shaped like the appendage they're designed for. Keep these in your medicine cabinet and you'll never again suffer the heartbreak of inappropriate clipper application. In carbon steel with precision cutting blades, they measure 2” x 7/8” and 3-1/4” x 3/4”, hand and foot respectively.

Like sand through the hourglass, so are the apes of our lives. There might be better ways to waste, er, measure time than with a somber 9” tall polyresin monkey holding a large sand-filled hourglass, but we seriously doubt it. This particular primate chronometer sports brown trousers and a red smoking jacket with gold trim. His hourglass is 6-1/2” tall and fits beautifully in his monkey mitts, resting between his monkey toes on a 3/4” base. Sand runs out in 2 minutes 40 seconds to 3 minutes—perfect for a soft-boiled egg—which, as any primatologist will tell you, monkeys love!

You can do both with this non-functioning, fake electrical outlet that’s actually a small safe. Looks like an ordinary off-white outlet, but has a 7" x 2" x 2-1/4" cavity in back. Swap out a real outlet, or use the teensy drywall saw that’s included and make a new bogus one anywhere you like. This one even takes plugs for further verisimilitude. We suggest putting a burnt-out bulb in the lamp you plug into this outlet to fool the smarter burglars. Always work at least one step ahead.

Life, and needle-threading, is hard enough, so this little tailor's friend has a 3/32" loop with a white LED below it so you can see what you’re doing. Includes a pair of button-cell batteries and the threader has a cover plus a little hook so you can string it on something and find it in your sewing box.

Be good to your wooden and other water-averse surfaces by keeping these slate coasters always at the ready. They’ll stop condensation from dripping down the sides of your rocks glasses, or cans, or bottles or any other kinds of potentially dripping vessels. Each coaster measures approx 4"x 4" in a tasteful slate gray (duh) rough-hewn along the edges with a cushy bumper under each corner. Use chalk to write on them. Yeah, custom coasters—just your style.

Here’s our set of (3) colorless glass mini bottles (which you may consider vases) in a nice wicker basket. If you buy ’em in a Big Box, or an Arts & Crafts Emporium, you’re pretty much guaranteed to pay double our price. Vases/bottles are clear glass, approx 4” tall x 2” dia with shoulders that slope to openings that are approx 7/8” ID. Basket measures approx 5” long x 2-1/2” wide x 2-1/2” tall. Your basket will come in green, yellow or blue, pre-selected to match your outfit. Use the set simply as décor or make it function for you.

In flexible copper, 6-5/8" x 7/16" x 1/16" with 3/16" dia magnets on the ends, this bracelet is flexible enough to fit all wrists. Might be good for you, might just look good. Front of the package says the combo has been believed to relieve arthritis and rheumatism since Roman times but the back says it’s definitely not a medical device. F. Scott Fitzgerald said “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time.” He probably would have bought some of these bracelets. We'll pick from the twisted one or the smooth one.

Bamboo and charcoal aren’t just for tiki bars and barbecues anymore. You’ve got smells—we all do—and these odor- and moisture-absorbing bamboo charcoal air purifying bags will eat them up. You’ll get (4) non-toxic, kid- and pet-friendly Hawk-N-Shop bags, approx 5" x 6" x 2" each, plus a bonus plastic refrigerator deodorizer, 5-1/8" x 2-3/4" x 1-1/4" with (2) suction cups. Bags are in tasteful brown/green earthy tones, with eyelets for hanging, and the fridge deodorizer is bright white. Reactivates by putting them in the sun every few months. Check out it's baby brother smaller set. Click

So why can't you ever find one? Put a stop to that with this clear plastic storage box with (100) steel safety pins: (50) at 1-1/8"; (25) at 1-1/4"; and (25) at 1-1/2". Your grandmother would be proud of you.

But don't even try to resist the bargain price on this home exercise set designed so that the time you spend hunkered down at home will result in your emerging looking just like those guys in at the gym--six-packs, eight-packs, 12-packs from head to foot. Made for any physique level from 98-lb weakling to Mr. Galaxy, the set includes (5) resistance bands in an array of colors and strengths: Yellow--6 to 8 lbs; Green--8 to 10 lbs; Red--11 to 13 lbs; Blue--15 to 18 lbs; Black--20 to 22 lbs. Use them alone or stack them up to reach 70 lbs or any other combination, and improve your arithmetic skills at the same time. Comes with a door anchor, cushioned handles and a carrying case.

It's so much easier if the shoelaces stretch, not your back. Our each is a pack of (3) in yellow, orange and red, 22" long. Put them in shoes like you usually do, tie them, and turn oxfords and gym shoes into slip-ons. No more bending down to tie! They’re a boon for kiddies and old folks alike, and they're washable if you spill on them.

And does that baby have baby fingers and baby toes with tiny baby fingernails and tiny baby toenails? And do you buy that old grandmas' tale that you should chew them off so the baby doesn't scratch his or her baby skin? Really—go ask any old grandma. Or just get this baby-nail clipper. It’s like a standard nail clipper but teensy at just 1-5/8” long with a 1” dia 5X magnifier attached. The bezel is baby blue, and it's attached by a little pink arm so you can use it with any baby. Makes a great baby-shower stocking stuffer.

These pull chains (think ceiling fans or light fixtures) are 6-1/2" long with a 1" dia U.S. Army, Navy or Marine seal halfway down and a resin mule, goat or bulldog approx 2" long to pull at the bottom. No lights? They make great gifts and very nice hanging ornaments anywhere.