Our friend Lori P. shares our passion for finding easier ways to garden and move heavy loads with less effort. Here’s her review of Vermont Garden Carts, which she says she couldn’t live without in her garden and elsewhere:

I have a delicate lower back and wonky knee and need all the help I can get when it comes to carrying things. I’m now 55 and have been using these Vermont Garden Carts since I was in my 20s and working in my first garden.

The cart is so well balanced that I can carry a full load of cordwood and easily flip it up to dump the load, without anyone helping me.

I’ve used them to carry everything from compost and buckets of water to hay, pumpkins, shrubs, ducks and even a lamb or two. Other members of my family have used the same cart to move gravel, car engines, wood stoves and heavy loads of automotive supplies.

Perfect for giving my nieces rides down to the garden, the carts comes in several sizes and can be taken apart for moving, if necessary. To me, my cart is priceless because it makes life so much easier.

Just as we trust OXO products, we have faith in Gimpliments sold by Lee Valley.

Our households have full-sized drills, but we admit to have drill-envy when we look at the compact size and price - $26.50 - of this Lithium-Ion 3.6 Volt Driver Set.

Lee Valley says this well-made drill is the primary household drill used in Japan and will hold retain 85 percent of a full charge after more than a year of storage.

It has a quick-release chuck, a forward/reverse trigger, a co-molded soft rubber grip and a switchable LED light. In tests, Lee Valley workers said the drill excelled at small jobs in their shop and around the house.

The drill, small enough to be kept in a drawer, comes in a padded case with 15 screwdriver bits, a magnetic bit extender and two hex-shank drill bits.

Pair it with the Condo Hammer and Mr. 7 Hands and you nearly have a complete tool box — of which could fit in the drawer of your condo, apartment or your grandchild’s dorm room.
 

This little doo-dad is brilliant and at $3.50 a piece you can buy an extra and give it to a friend who will love you for it.

The Magnetic Paintbrush Holder solves the problem of where to rest your brush when it’s wet and it even comes with a metal tab to open paint cans.

It clips to the rim of any size can and then secures the metal ferrule of the brush to its magnets.

One magnet keeps the brush above the liquid in a full can and the other grips it vertically for when the paint level is lower.

The Wordlock lets you set a combination using a word rather than a set of code numbers for locks for your luggage, locker, shed, yard gate, etc.

Its maker calls Wordlock the next generation of friendly, easy to use security devices for everyday life with thousands of possible combinations.

We’re not saying the Wordlock is going to improve our memory, but it’s got to be less confusing to remember a familiar word rather than a set of code numbers - at least for us!

We wouldn’t recommend Wordlock for a bank vault, but they’re sturdy for myriad other uses such as your travel luggage or the locker at your water aerobics class.

Eds. Note: Marty has two locks with numbers she hasn’t been able to open for more than a year. Periodically she retrieves them from her May-Be-Useful-Someday-But-Junk-Right-Now Drawer and plays with them hoping the code numbers will magically pop back into her brain. Fat chance.

Here at Gimpy Girl World Headquarters, we’ve always got projects waiting for spray paint - old metal tables, a metal headboard turned trellis or wire shelving salvaged from someone’s curb.

This spray paint nozzle makes the work easier and less painful on our Gimpy hands. It makes a usually semi-annoying task fun because your poor old finger doesn’t have to hold down the button on the can.

The comfortable pistol grip and extra-wide trigger ensure your hand doesn’t give out before the project is finished and the reusable nozzle changes easily from can to can.

Your hands and fingers also stay clear of the spray valve so you end up with more paint on the project and less on yourself. Cait says the nozzle gives added control and feels more like air brushing than spray painting.

Eds. Note: The only downside to the nozzle is Marty’s fear that many things at Gimpy Girls World Headquarters will turn purple over night. To learn why click here and go to the bottom of Cait’s bio.

Cait treasures her 12-ounce Lee Valley Condo Hammer because it’s easy to store and has a shock-absorbing handle, which is wider than most for a comfortable solid feel in her hand.

It’s got surprising heft and can be used for most household jobs where you normally might use a longer hammer.

Pair this with Mr. Seven Hands and you have an ideal gift for anyone living in a condo or a dorm.

This was designed by two college students looking for a way to give the top person in a bunk bed a small shelf.

But it also would be handy for someone who has trouble reaching over to a table when they merely want to get their book, have a drink of water.

This back-saving tool attachment was created by an Alaskan fisherman named Stout who wanted to ease the strain of hauling heavy dip nets full of halibut and salmon.

Stout’s friends liked it so much they transferred the grip to their garden and snow shovels, rakes, push brooms, pool skimmers, paint extension poles, tree trimmers and saltwater fishing rods.

Its creator says this back-saving Gimpliment improves the performance of long-handled tools by transferring effort from the back to the legs, which lets the user stand up straighter under a heavy load and ease the strain on the back, neck and shoulders.

Click here to see a video of the backsaver in action.

Cait has this Planet Bike Handlebar Tape on her adult tricycle and says it reduces the hand pain and fatigue that can come from gripping the bars of a bike.

Planet Bike calls the tape a gel but its really more a spongy foam backed by cork. The soft tape, which comes in fourteen colors, is easy to apply and becomes tacky when wet for a better grip.

Cait likes the Planet Bike tape so much she’s thinking of applying it to the bar of our gas mower to reduce the vibration to her hands.

Eds. Note: Cait has a teen-age friend who says this tape “screams Baby Boomer - the older crowd seems to put it on every thing.” To which Cait replied, “Just like young people and ketchup.”

If you watch your neighbors’ trash as closely as Cait watches ours, you’ve seen how many fans and small appliances get thrown out after only one season.

With fans, the problem often is the gunk built up during a season and not the motor, so a fan ends up getting thrown out well before its time.

Via lifehacker.com we found this detailed info for cleaning a box fan and getting more years out of it.

Do yourself, and those you live with, a favor and clean the fan outside or in the garage with a tough grease-cutting cleaner, a big roll of paper towels and the vacuum cleaner nearby.