(Image courtesy of wikipedia)
There comes a time in every renter’s life when they need a painting hung or the toilet has a simple clog. Rather than searching up and down the halls for the one neighbor that will be willing to let you borrow a hammer, make sure you have the items you need to get the job done quickly. Being prepared is easy when you have an idea of the basic pitfalls that many renters run into.
This article from renters.apartments.com has a great rundown of the essential items every renter needs to have at his or her disposal. Keep reading to find out what items you should keep handy in the case of an emergency.
Hammer. Just owning a hammer instantly makes you better at home repairs. It drives nails in, pulls them out, and destroys spiders on contact (also the walls they’re crawling on, if you swing too hard).
Measuring Tape. Don’t think it’s necessary? Go ahead – try to get along without one. We’ll see how long it takes before you buy a sofa too big to fit through the front door.
Screwdriver. Invest in a Phillips-head version. Anything can sub for a flathead – a penny, a butter knife, a credit card – but the Phillips-head is tougher to work around and shows up more often in kitchen cabinets and IKEA furniture.
Spackle + an old credit card. Move-out day is a tough time to discover that not all of those picture-hanging strips you bought remove cleanly without taking your paint off with them. A squeeze bottle of spackle – I’m partial to the kind that goes on pink and dries white – can be spread and smoothed with an old credit card to undo a lot of damage on paint and drywall.
Plunger. The good news about plungers is that even the dollar store kind get the job done. Stash it behind the toilet and when you have to use it, alternate between deep plunges and shorter, faster pumps until you hear it unclog.
All-in-one tool. Think Swiss Army Knife, but bigger. Mine folds out into needle-nose pliers and also contains two knives, a file, a bottle-opener and something I use in place of a flat-head screwdriver. It’s probably the best gift my dad ever got me.
Flashlight. Fuses blow, blackouts happen and sinks always leak from the part of the pipe that’s too dark to see. Any flashlight will do, but for style, function and the obvious swagger factor, headlamps are tops.
And last but not least: Two kinds of tape. Specifically duct tape and painter’s tape. Duct tape is for things you want to keep stuck together for the rest of time. Painter’s tape is for everything else.
Because it comes in a wide array of colors, duct tape can be used as a patching agent that isn’t glaringly horrible. (Case in point: I’m currently rocking it over some small tears on my third-hand leather couch.) Painter’s tape can do all kinds of stuff, but one of my favorite uses for it is creating a line on the wall before hanging pictures. It’s easier to stand back and make sure the tape is level and you can hammer your nails in right along it to get the spacing right!
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