I never thought Id be excited for a garbage can, but after going through multiple plastic cans and having the lid mechanism fail on cheaper metal cans, I broke down and got a more expensive one from Simple Human. I feel the quality everytime I use the step to toss something. It sounds so dumb, but I'm really blown away after years of crappy cans.

Aside from that, my python water changer for aquariums. That thing has been the goat for years at this point.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 child)

This story sounds familiar. Allow me to offer a couple suggestions.

Water the ground about a half hour before you need to dig. Use plenty of water but don't make it muddy.

Sharpen the edge of your shovels with a file or grindstone. It makes a world of difference for reducing the effort it takes to cut through even small roots.

Get a mattock and a long handle ice chopper for large roots. Keep those tools sharp as well.

I broke two wood handled shovels within 3 weeks of buying my first house that had heavy clay soils. I also resorted to buying the metal handled kobalt shovel. These days I'm back to mostly using a wood shovel with these tips and only break out the metal handled shovel for really demanding work. The wood handled shovel is much lighter and therefore less fatigueing to use.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment