Oct 22, 2025–What single-purpose tools facilitate your daily living?
That is, what is a tool that does only one thing, but does it extremely well. So well, that you couldn’t function without it.
You probably don’t even notice them. But here are some examples I came up with while sitting on my single-purpose chair.
Envelope slitters with blades:
You know the ones… those colorful plastic slitters that look like evil PacMans.
They usually come with an advertising slogan, handed out by banks and insurance companies.
They are so satisfying to use, you look for envelopes to open, even ones for Highlights magazine subscriptions. They are not like the old-fashioned knife-style ones, which seem to show up as murder weapons in classic detective stories. The new ones can only do one thing–slit open envelopes. But they do it impeccably well.
Can Openers:
In the same category as envelope openers. They serve no purpose in 99% of your daily activities. But hand me a can of chili, and if you don’t also hand me a can opener I might stab you with the old-fashioned letter opener.
Boot jacks:
Never thought I’d need a boot jack until my instep got arthritis. Short of employing a British manservant, it’s the only way to remove a cowboy boot.
Tongs:
The only function of tongs beyond removing hotdogs from the grill or flipping steaks, is snapping them together repeatedly before using them.
Toasters:
We are currently on a new-fangled toaster oven, but I miss my 2-holer countertop toaster. It couldn’t be more simple: stick in your toast, depress the lever, it pops up when perfectly toasted. No settings, dials, or times to set. I don’t want to have to deal with that before coffee.
Speaking of coffee, is there anything that will beat a drip coffeemaker? Scoop in the grounds, fill with water, and press play. I’ve flirted with all the exotic ways of brewing coffee, from French press to percolating to pods to cowboy campfire. They involve too many steps to reach the caffeine. I don’t want to conduct science labs when I first wake up. Let Mr. Coffee hydrate me.
The bicycle:
How old is that contraption? The bicycle as we know it was invented in 1885, featuring two wheels of equal size and a chain-driven rear wheel. What other simple machine is able to convert our downward foot pressure into forward motion? Simple, light, affordable, fun, and amazingly, healthy. That’s the quinella of design.
The Sharpie:
This permanent pen marker was introduced in 1964. There is now an average of two Sharpies in every American household. That means that many houses are Sharpie-less, as I alone keep at least two dozen within reach. I used to tease my dad who used them to mark the purchase date on household items, from window air conditioners to tubes of toothpaste. Now, I do the same. I need to know when I froze this bag of bean soup, and where I purchased that single-purpose toaster. Nothing but a Sharpie will do.
Bamboo back scratcher:
Someone in a third-world country sits all day carving little fingers at the end of a strip of bamboo. I honor them every time I pick up mine and use it to scratch the itch between my shoulder blades. It has no other function, but it fills that need that only a girlfriend with long natural nails could do, but is never at hand.
You can go on and on with this mental exercise. Think of the chair, the computer mouse, the pencil, the paper clip, the straw, the BIC pen, the safety pin. Unless you are MacGyver, they each do one thing and do it exceptionally well.
What is on your list? What is NOT on any list?
Go out and invent it.