Labour Saving Devices

cordless phones and cell phones

Stereo remote controls
remote control lighting
La-Z-Boy chairs equipped with a mini-frige, phone, and remote (!)

Anyone have any experience with those "do everything--and I mean everything--for you toilets?"

Popular in Japan. Made me uncomfortable.

microwave, electric toothbrush, remote for the stereo, remote for the comp media player

Losing power stweering and power brakes in a car that is equipped with them is very scary!!

Remote control has gotten to the point that the device will not function as it should without it. Our DVD remote is broken, so, although we can play DVD's (except for the silly Balinese ones that lists the "special features" before "play"), we can't do things like scroll through the menu, get subtitles, zoom, or fast forward.

We have a set top box for free to air digital TV. This means that we need two remotes to get a picture on the TV. Labour-saving has gone mad, if you ask me!

Hi Dollywagon - Don't feel too old fashioned - I used to drive vehicles without power steering or power brakes too. I actually hated power brakes the first time I had them.

In the garden - rototiller, all sorts of hose sprinklers with timers, I think it's called a weasel - sort of a very small cultivator, electronic bug-zappers for flying insects, weed whips and edgers, electric chain-saws, electric pruners, seed tape (has the seeds already in it at the proper spacing), stand-on sulky type riding lawn mowers (very popular with lawn care companies), Japanese beetle traps, lots and lots of chemical sprays etc for all types of pest control including crab grass. I'll see if I can think of any more later. Puma

Dolly, I'll bet your arms have grown three inches since you started driving that truck - from planting the brake pedal into the ground and leaning back!

Our current car is front wheel drive and does not have power steering or brakes, so there's not much opportunity for index-finger driving, but I have had cars that have had both in the past. Amazing what you miss when it's gone...

Love your photo - always wanted a pet goat - wouldn't need a lawnmower, then. Another labour-saving device! They have robotic ones these days!

Tiger said:

Anyone have any experience with those "do everything--and I mean everything--for you toilets?"

Popular in Japan. Made me uncomfortable.

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Oh yes, in Korea (Japanese brand). I was afraid to use it because I couldn't read the buttons and I know that one of them was Korean for "EJECT".

laundry chutes -- not me, but some people
automatic water/food pet feeders & doggy doors

miles111 said:

My absolute favorite, and most used, part of an electronic divice is the "mute" button on my TV remote control.


How about the "Clapper"? It allows one to turn off a lamp by clapping one's hands, thus saving an arduous trek of 3, or possibly even 4, feet. Whew! Now *that's* a lifesaver.

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Saw an episode of "Columbo," where such a device gave away the murderer... Not that anyone here should be concerned

Tsu Dho Nimh said:

Oh yes, in Korea (Japanese brand). I was afraid to use it because I couldn't read the buttons and I know that one of them was Korean for "EJECT".

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Did you notice whether or not the ceiling was padded?

Dollywagon said:

It's no good, I can't look at that spelling mistake in the title any more.
If any mods see it, would you alter it please, it's been driving me nuts since I posted!

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Who's Labour Saving? What did she devise?

coffee maker. Waffle Iron. toaster oven. Oh I LOVE my toaster oven. I bake in it as mcuh or more than my oven, because it is hot almost immediately and is smaller so I am not heating up a big oven for a little thing. My pumpkin pie comes out better in the toaster oven. I make biscuits and pizza rolls(for mr. groove) tater tots, and toast in there.

I don't know what else to add right now.

1) Those little robot vacumm cleaners that you turn on when you leave the house, and they go around bumping into things while they vacumm the floor.

2) Clapper Lamps (not that popular anymore)

3) Laptops/MP3 players/internet phones/phones that play music such as the Iphone

4) Lights that turn off when you go to sleep

5) automatic sprinklers

6) automatic pet waterers/feeders

7) Frozen dinners

-Feathers

Hah. I don't think anyone's mentioned computers yet. When was the last time anyone used an actual bulletin board, or did their taxes, longhand?

How about self-stickers? I've licked neither stamp, nor envelope in quite some time.

Tiger said:

How about self-stickers? I've licked neither stamp, nor envelope in quite some time.

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Yeah but those aren't time savers, those are tongue savers. I always hated the taste of the glue! One of their better inventions.

Did someone mention...

microwave ovens? (Hate 'em, myself)
Thermostat control in a house so that the temps are constant.
automatic electric ovens which turn themselves off when things are cooked.

And what I dream of having, Dollywagon, which I don't think has reached America, but you will know, is the gas fired Aga with instant hot water, constant warming oven for the weak lambs, day old chick/ducks/goslings and the constant low heat to set the cream for Devonshire clotted cream, do the cheese milk and make custards. I had an oil fired Aga once and it was heaven.

I've always favoured the automatic washer and dryer, having lived in the wilderness of Canada on a commune. We did without running water and electricity, too.

We used the wash board and a Yukon plunger. I was assigned to wash a logger's clothes, and there were times he would get so grubby I couldn't see the plaid pattern on his flannel insulated shirts. (It still seemed sometimes that all I was doing was getting his clothes wet and soapy instead of clean.) And then we had to hang up the clothes around the wood stove. Since this method of drying caused the clothes to become stiff and wrinkled, we then had to iron them. We used an old, heavy, electric iron that had the cord cut off--we'd warm it up either on the propane stove or on the wood stove. We also had the choice to freeze-dry the clothes on the clothesline outside. When it's -20 degrees, it doesn't take long for you to feel like your fingers are going to freeze and break off.

My first night off the farm I dreamed of washing my clothes in an automatic washer and drying them in a clothes dryer. I was looking forward to nothing more than that.

Even now I keep a wringer washer in the basement in case my washing machine breaks down. They agitate clothes like I've never seen a regular automatic washer work. And it's better than hand-washing clothes, any time.