25+ Tips and Products to Travel Light and Compact

It’s hard to imagine what people (oops, I almost said ladies) take with them on a short business trip. Their luggage looks like they plan to travel around a continent for the next six months. A real vacation luggage assembly, in its turn, makes you consider calling the movers instead of the taxi company.

A golden tip that I read long ago goes as follows: Place everything that you want to pack on the floor next to your luggage. Then pack half of it and take twice as much money as you’d originally planned to. Traveling too heavy is no fun, and can be expensive if you exceed the luggage allowance. Worse, airport fluid restrictions can force you to leave your stuff at the security check, so you end up flying to your destination without your contact lens fluid or shaving foam.

CompoSphere Composting Tumbler Makes Composting Easier

Last year I was enthusiastic about the EarthMaker rapid no-turn composter because you don’t need to turn the compost on a regular basis in order to aerate it. This CompoSphere compost bin is another alternative that not only makes turning easier, it can even be rolled to anywhere you need it. Read on to make up your own mind on which one you like best.

Easy-threading Needle – Spiral Eye Needle

Cancel that order for your new prescription glasses! Here’s a needle that you can thread with your eyes closed. Even a mild manifestation of Parkinson’s disease won’t stop you from threading this within seconds – and I’m not kidding. Now you know what to buy for Mother’s Day.

Wireless Picture Light, No Batteries Either - CleverLite

A typical frustrating situation: You buy some nice posters or paintings and you can’t show them off as much as you’d like to because you don’t have picture lights on your wall – or wires in the wall to connect any. Recent technology offers battery-operated LED picture lights – the cordless solution to your problem, you’d think. But did you know that these can cost you $30 or more per year in batteries? Not so with this CleverLite, which is cordless and battery-less at the same time.

Smush Can Self-powered Compacting Trashcan

Boxes, bags and other empty packaging fill your trashcan quickly and force you to take out more air than trash, almost on a daily basis. This new trashcan lets you compact the trash inside your home, and it doesn’t need electricity to work. Now you don’t have to get your hands or feet dirty to compact your garbage.

Buckle-Up Your Pet in Your Car – Pet Seatbelt

In many places it’s prohibited to take a pet with you in your car without a partition between the pet and the passengers. And that’s for a good reason: Did you know that the average Labrador has an equivalent weight of 1,800 pounds when it hits you after your car crashes at 30 mph? But some cars might not offer enough space for a divider, or it might not be convenient for you. That’s where a pet safety belt comes in handy.

LightSpeakers from Klipsch Use Your Light-Bulb Sockets

Wireless cameras, wireless controls, wireless networks, wireless speakers ... Many of these products claim to be wireless, but the manufacturers “forget” to mention that, although the signal is transmitted wirelessly, they still require a power supply. Or worse, they force you to change batteries every few weeks, like most wireless (picture) lights. Following the Truly Wireless Security Camera from Vue, now the people from Klipsch have designed Truly Wireless LightSpeakers.

Free Remote PC Support for Your Relatives – Netviewer

A few months ago, we posted an article on ShowMyPC, a free software package that helps you to control someone else’s PC remotely from your own chair at home. Ideal for helping relatives and friends when they're stuck with their computer. But when I’d been using ShowMyPC for some time, I noticed that it didn’t work in every situation. When either myself or the other person was working from behind a strict company firewall, connection wasn’t possible. In that kind of situation, Netviewer Support can help out.

Paint Your House Fast – Dulux Weathershield BackPack Roller

Time to paint the masonry of your house once again? It’s not the most pleasant of chores, and it’s either too hot, too cold, too windy or rain is expected shortly. You might want to get it over with quickly, then. That’s exactly what the Dulux Weathershield BackPack Roller System should help you to achieve, and they claim you can get it done twice as fast as normal.

Free Backup Solution – The Software Is Already On Your PC

Have you backed up your PC lately? No? Do you hear that strange sound coming from your hard disk? Maybe it’s too late already! Just kidding, but it’s very unwise not to make regular backups, and there’s no reason not to do so. There’s a free backup solution in the shape of the XCOPY command that’s part of every Windows installation and can be automated.