Household tip

[urbpan]

I just came from the grocery store, where I saw special rubber jar openers for sale. I just wanted to remind you all:

A foot-long length of bicycle inner tube can be used to open stuck jars. Next time you have a flat tire on your bike (that you can't or won't patch) cut a length of it and keep it handy in a kitchen drawer. It's free.

Comments

[turil.livejournal.com]

Wow, how clever! It's obvious, but completle oblivious! I love those little red jar openers and use them all the time. Now I don't ever have to worry about losing mine (which I did for a while and coulnd't eat some of my condiments because I couldn't open the jars). Thanks!

Oh, and you can make a bazillion little rubber bands out of the tubes too. Or cut them at an angle for longer ones.

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

I use the rubberized handles on either the can opener or a reversed pair of slip-jaw pliers. Once I discovered this trick, I have yet to meet a jar I can't open.

[artemii.livejournal.com]

am i the only person who whacks the side of the top of a stuck jar lid with the handle of a blunt knife to unstick it?

(ok, you probably shouldn't answer that...)

[indefinitetheca.livejournal.com]

no, my mom does that, but she also runs it underwater while doing it

but that is the sole reason that i work out
so i can open the lids

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I always do that. I generally use the non-business end of a heavy can opener - it's all about releasing the vacuum seal.

[by-steph.livejournal.com]

Not to say I don't appreciate the hint from Heloise but a plain old rubber band works too. :)

[izzy23.livejournal.com]

A regular ol' rubber glove, like you might have on hand for scrubbing the grubbier parts of your kitchen, works just as well, too.

[miss-jett.livejournal.com]

Jef! YAY! I've missed you - 'til I left NM, I still had a magnet I made from our sticker pictures up on my fridge. (It is now in a box at my mother in law's.)

I'll be back in Boston by the end of the year, and I'd love to get together and play catch up once I get there. *hugs*

[You can make nifty belts/bracelets out of inner tubes, too.]

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea...I have never had to use the rubber ones, but now in the future I will remember your idea...I just tap the jars or use that jar opener thingy that's on my can opener...

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Of all the good ideas here, this one's my favorite. How are you feeling, by the way?

[trollhagen.livejournal.com]

A wide, sturdy rubberband, like the kind that tends to come on broccoli, also works well!

[izzy23.livejournal.com]

Really surprisingly good. As I've been fond of saying pretty frequently over the past six years or so "it's the future". I mean, I had friggin' BRAIN SURGERY a little less than a week ago, and I've been managing at home with naps and Tylenol! I went for a lovely walk yesterday. Not quite up for the usual two-mile doggy loop yet (made it about two-thirds of the way before turning back), but that's hardly grounds for complaint, considering. A trip to Target the other day wiped me out, but discount stores do that, anyway.

[miekec]

Smart. Oh, the wonderful things one can make of an old inner tube.... air mattress patches, shoe soles (yes, really. If money is tight, recycle, reuse, recycle!), trivet, ....

[plantgirl.livejournal.com]

I have RSI in both wrists and so can't grip hard enough to use the rubber jar openers, but back when I could I often used the wide rubber bands, like trollhagen mentioned.

About 10 years ago a friend gave me this gizmo (http://www.oxo.com/xxoxo_ibeCCtpOXOPrdDtl.jsp?section=10053&item=46416), by Oxo Good Grips. I completely depend upon it. I slot it over the lid, brace the handle with my stomach, and use both hands to turn the jar.