Happy Tuesday!! You know my "tools" can come from any where...this one is from the sporting goods section. It's a carabiner. What's a carabiner you ask? From the online Merriam-Webster dictionary...
Definition of CARABINER
: an oblong metal ring with one spring-hinged side that is used especially in mountain climbing as a connector and to hold a freely running rope
Origin of CARABINER
German Karabiner, short for Karabinerhaken, literally, carabineer's hook
Here's today's Tool Time...This is a jumbo carabiner and specifically says on the package...NOT for climbing.
Mountain Climbing?...Me?...never. Shopping?...Me?...Yes.
Here's a picture of the back of the package. Great for camping and hiking to hook supplies to a back pack.
Here's the DO NOT CLIMB warning!! Don't worry about me. LOL
I do love carabiners though. I have a little one for my keys. Easy open to add or take off keys. Look how big the Tool Time carabiner is compared to my key chain. There is also a tiny one on there too. That little capsule carries 2 Tylenol.
The big one was only $2.38 in Walmart camping section, but check any sporting goods store.
Why I love the big one is the large padded handle.
Easy open spring...
Here is my Tool Time suggestion...SHOPPING!!
Bringing in groceries or any bags for that matter is a pain in my house. Long trip up the front walk way from the car or through the garage and up a big flight of stairs to the kitchen.
You know the feeling when you're try to make it all in one trip. It's a game I have in my head. Carrying 15 bags in each hand, the bags digging a permanent scare in the palms of your hands and your biceps burning because I'm too lazy to make 2 trips! Lol Thankfully, my husband is always there to help bring in all the heavy stuff.
Here's how it looks for me now. One carabiner in each hand with all the bags hooked on. No more plastic bag marks digging in my fingers...
I was thinking more about this. It would be great for any shopping. When you're out in a mall or outlet shopping, you have to carry bags for a long time. The large paper bags from the stores have those white twisted handles...they dig in your hands too.
Keep 2 of these in your purse and you can use them when...
- mall shopping
- bringing in the bags
- quilt show shopping...you can be walking around those shows for hours carrying bags
- quilt or craft retreats...carrying in your supplies from your car to the event
- on vacation when you are carrying in bags from the car to the hotel
- great for kids to help carry something. If they put the bags down, they won't lose track of all the bags
- great for carrying bags on a train, subway or other transit...keeps them all together
I'm sure there are more ideas for this...if you have any, share them in the comments.
Have a great day,
~Karen~
Very clever idea. I'm going to try it.! Thanks
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, thank you .
ReplyDeleteWalmart will, no doubt, be sold out of these by the time I get there to pick one up! I love my carabiners but I don't have any as large as the one you are showing. Great idea to use it for hauling in those multiple plastic bags from the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteI have a smaller one that I put on my 8 year old's backpack to hold his water bottle. The darn thing kept falling over inside the bag and no matter which kind I used, it always leaked, and everything would get wet. Mostly because he would forget to close it.
ReplyDeleteAfter my daughter's purse and identity were stolen we had a friend who's a policeman tell us that they get lots of calls for wallets/purses stolen out of shopping carts. Women tend to turn their backs on their carts without thinking. He suggested burying your purse under all your purchases to make it harder to get to but I found that if I hook it onto the top seat part with one of these that it stays secure and so far no one has tried to steal my purse! I hook it up on the part where the babies would normally sit and leave the purse itself in the bottom of the cart. Someone would really have to want my purse to go through the trouble of undoing it and running off with it.
ReplyDeleteThey are also great to use in the garage. wind up the electrical extension cords, and hang them on these. You can put a few of them on here and keeps them all together too. We have a few of them that we use for different stuff. Also take two long pieces of rope about 5-6 feet. tie loops on the ends, then when collecting firewood you lay the wood over both pieces of rope spread about 12 inches apart, put both looped ends of both ropes on the caribiner and you can carry LOTS of firewood VERY easily!
ReplyDeleteHaving worked at a wilderness camp for many year, I have seen lots of creative ways to use carabiners. Love them! My entire family uses them, especially for water bottles and keys.
ReplyDeleteI was planning to make the same suggestions as Ann Marie, the extra large ones hold extension cords nicely!
You have a BRILLIANT mind Karen. Love your creativity and finding uses for things.
ReplyDeleteWho'd have thought? I'm going to look out for them next hardware shopping trip. My little neighbour with the 3 little kiddies could find it easier to caryy in her groceries with these. Thank you Karen.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of carrying groceries, but you must have some "fabric" bags, that you've made, right? I keep fabric bags in the trunk of my car and have made some that fold up and snap that I keep in my purse. I use those carbiner clips for my keys too and they are great for clipping on the straps of your purse or tote bag so you can find your keys after you are heading towards the car with all your bags.
ReplyDeletesmall ones are great for removeable project "ID" tags that you put on baskets, bags or those fabric drawers. =)
ReplyDeletehugZ,
annie
Many ladies around here put their purses/bags in the cart. Reading your post, I thought it would be a good idea to use the large carabiner to secure the purse/bag to the shopping cart, making it more difficult for someone to walk by and grab the purse.
ReplyDeleteI clip my car keys to my purse or to a belt loop with a carabiner. Those little items are very handy.
I use one on my granddaughters stroller. When we are out shopping I use the clip to hold the bags, works great. Love your ideas, I'm thinking I will need to buy some more.
ReplyDeleteWe hike and use a lot of carabiners. I love that name, sounds so juvenile! LOL.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing I use them for is to hook the dog leashes to a hook in the back of my SUV or to the bike rack. So they cannot leave. Not that I WANT them to leave, but DiNozzo is really bad some days........just saying
glen: who would never part with that bad boy, really
Hey Karen!! This is great! I also have one on my keys, but never knew that they came bigger! I can't wait to hit Walmart, and grab me one!! Thanks for the climbing tip, I am going to have to cancel my climbing trip for this weekend, what a bummer :( ,but better safe than sorry! haha, The only thing that I climb, is into my car to get myself an ice cream!! lol karen♥
ReplyDeletevery good idea
ReplyDeleteGreat idea - I am headed to WalMart this afternoon, so I will defintely pick up one of these - thanks!
ReplyDeleteLove this. Like you, I have to try to get them all in one trip. Never works though. Now it might!
ReplyDeleteWe use the large one to hold the outdoor extension cord. Makes it easy to hang and carry around. Hubby and son use the smaller sizes for camping stuff. They are great to hold water bottles on belts.
ReplyDeleteSuch a clever girl....I will be picking some of these up for sure!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea!!! I will definitely have to look for some of these....it would be wonderful not to have the bags digging into my wrists anymore. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteouroldhomestead.blogspot.com
Awesome idea...I deal with the same thing at my house..flight of steps from garage or go up long walkway to the door. I will have to get one of these! Thanks Karen!
ReplyDeleteGreat tool, thanks for sharing Karen!
ReplyDeleteWe have something like this that is actually for carrying groceries but it doesn't have a cusion on the handle plus it might be a little more expensive than these carabiners.
ReplyDeleteI use one to hold my hanging bird feeder on a tree branch. Easy to remove feeder to refill. At work I use one to hold plastic sheet holders ( with instrution sheets inside). This hangs on a hook behind the computer. Easier to peruse than a binder. Lots of great ideas here.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea and source! Where did you find your Tylenol keeper?
ReplyDeleteGreat idea,thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love carabiners & have bought them even when I was not sure what I'd use them for, but I always find something. I also use one for my keys so that I hook them to my purse & take the ignition key off to give the valet at the hospital. I bet Walmart will wonder why the run on them, especially the large ones this week! LOL
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea, I will have to put it on my next shopping list. That way I can carry all those bags in when hubs goes to bed before I can get home. Which happens often because I have an hour drive to go shopping most anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI bought me about 4 of these last year. Mountain climbing not me either but i did fall down some stairs. Long story short i broke my leg in lots of pieces and it took about 18 months to get back upright. So i am still wobbly sometimes and if i had to make 4 million trips up my hill for the grocerys i would be a dead mountain goat haha. I keep 2 in each car. That way i only make one trip down my hill to the house. It saves me lots of treading. Its a great idea and i highly recommend these thingy's.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I use cloth bags and non-woven bags for groceries and other shopping, and the carabiner will work for these too. I did not know about ones with padding, so I'm going to look for those. (I use smaller ones for my keys--I call it my "tacky" display since one of my keys is on a Tiffany key ring and I have that key ring hooked on the carabiner. However, given where I live, I truly doubt that anyone has noticed the combination of Tiffany and Tacky!
ReplyDeleteI also love carabiners...all the different colors...with raising boys who are eagle scouts we've had our share of them layinging around the house...never thought of using the largest one in this way. Great idea!
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