Other
Plastic spine
I bought this plastic spine to understand my health problems and
my x-rays (in dutch) better.
It has really helped me to understand them better.
Electric toothbrush
It might seem a very simple adjustment,
but for me an electric toothbrush is much less stressful for my neck than a regular toothbrush.
For everyone with neck problems, who is still using a normal toothbrush,
I can recommend an electric toothbrush.
Phone
I always use a headset with a phone.
If I have to hold the phone with one hand, then my neck is stressed on one side.
In my opinion it is bad for everyone to hold a phone with one hand for a long time.
For me, a headset with two speakers is better.
Due to my neck problems I am often dull, and with two speakers I have less trouble with
the conversation.
Because my voice is not very clear, I don't use a headset with a noise-canceling microphone,
because then people often don't understand me.
A phone with "hands free" or "speaker phone" could be useful,
but I have problems with those, because only one person can talk at a time
(except for some expensive phones) and I have to make more effort to speak clearly.
For a long time I used a phone that I tampered together.
In the picture below you see a phone, an amplifier and a headset (which is unfortunately with one speaker).
The amplifier is meant to be able to use a regular headset, which can also be used on my computer.
This way I don't have to use a special headset that are used with phones.
The photo below shows a phone with a connector for a headset.
I was not able to properly set this phone for me.
However, inside the phone was a chip which was programmable by use of the keypad of the phone.
I therefor was able to set the volume for the microphone louder.
So I could use this phone after all.
I thought a dect phone with headset would do.
But with the phone above, I had the problem again that people don't understand me, because my
voice is not very clear.
In 2016, I only use a cell phone.
By using a headset with the cell phone, I don't have to use my hands to hold the phone.
The microphone of that headset is good quality and is close to my mouth, so that others hear me better.
Board for reading and writing
To read or to write something while sitting at a table, I have to bent my neck too much.
So I sought the most simple way to make a board for reading and writing.
The simplest solution was a board with a clamp. And it does work very well.
Sometimes I stick a paper to the board with adhesive.
I use writable adhesive, because that is easy to remove.
Rollerball pen
I don't use a pen a lot, because I have to bent my head during writing.
But if I write something, I prefer a rollerball pen
(also called roller, roller pen, roller ballpoint).
These pens write a lot easier and need only a very little force against paper to write.
A roller ballpoint uses a water based ink or a gel ink, and therefor they write very easy.
Some are not waterproof, but others have ink that is immediately dry after writing and
are waterproof after just a few seconds.
This is the best pen for me:
Brand and type: Uni-ball Jetstream SX-210 Blue
Price: In 2018 I paid 2.95 Euros for it.
The pen writes very smooth. It writes a good solid line without applying force.
The ink is waterproof and does not fade over the years.
The pen is approved for signing official documents.
This roller pen with blue ink smudges a little during writing.
In 2019 there are pens that write even more smooth and less smudgy.
Stainless steel plates
I use these stainless steel bowls as plate.
They are cheap, very light in weight, and they don't break when they fall.
A brush with some cold water is often enough to clean them for the next meal.
The stainless steel plates turned out to be very handy,
and therefor I bought a stainless steel teapot as well.
It is a very cheap teapot of 10 euros.
Soap puck
My preference is a bar of soap and not a pump with liquid soap.
A soap dish on the wall in the kitchen is bad for my neck and back because then I must reach too far.
A soap dish on the counter must be cleaned regularly.
And when I put the bar of soap on the counter, the soap stays wet.
I wanted to buy something that almost needs no cleaning, but the bar of soap should still be able to dry.
Something like that did not exist, therefor I invented something myself.
The solution was to put the soap on an elevation, I call it a soap puck.
I made it with silicone with fumed silica as filler.
The green color is ceramic dye power, neon green.
This is my first version. The result is not a round puck and the top is not flat, but it works.
Kitchen appliances with temperature control
Kitchen appliances with temperature control are handy, and therefor
less stressful for my neck.
A electric kettle with temperature control is handy and that saves time and effort.
For example water for tea can be 80°C or 90°C. Water for instant coffee
can be 60°C or 70°C.
A sous-vide cooker cooks the meat at the same temperature and the result is always the same,
without the troubles of frying.
In 2018 there are yet no simple and cheap induction hobs or microwave ovens which are able
to measure the temperature of the food in a accurate way.
There are induction hobs with a separate temperature sensor, but they have limitations.
I would like to bake and fry at a certain temperature with a frying pan
and also cook meat sous-vide at 57°C (135 degrees Fahrenheit) in a ordinary pan.
Bucket
Bucket: construction bucket, 12 liters, bought at hornbach.nl in 2018.
Price: 95 eurocents
To clean indoors, I used good quality buckets. They were unhandy to use,
because the bottom inside is not flat.
I replaced those buckets with cheap construction buckets that have a flat bottom.
Due to my neck problems, I fill the bucket for only a small part. Therefor a bucket
with a flat bottom is much more convenient to use.
Towel rail
Sometimes something simple and obvious does not seem to exist.
I was looking for a towel rail which is over 1 meter long.
It is for towels and also for a wetsuit.
Since 2019 I am able to go
swimming to improve my health,
and I use a wetsuit when it is cold. Therefor the towel rail may not have
sharp edges.
Such a towel rail does not seem to exist.
The towel rails that I can buy are too small,
and handrails to grab on are too close to the wall.
The solution was plastic flagpole holders and a PVC tube.
Trolley
In 2017 I had two trolleys made for me and in 2020 another two.
They are very handy for me. I can put a plant on it, I can place
plastic storage boxes in them, and I can move heavy things with them.
When I'm vacuum cleaning, I can just push them aside.
Because my table is 92 cm high (36 inches), these trolleys are also 92 cm high.
Roll-over towel
The towel in my kitchen is sometimes wet in the middle and sometimes it even stunk.
The edges of the towel are barely used, so it is not efficient use of the towel.
Replacing it with a fresh towel every day was too much of a hassle for me,
because I don't always have a normal day and night rhythm.
That's why I came up with a roll-over towel.
I found a used towel of 80x140 cm (31x55 inch), which I cut in half lengthwise.
The towel is therefore 40x280 cm (16x110 inch) and that is perfect.
I string the ends together.
When I want to dry my hands, then I pull the front down for a clean piece of towel.
The towel is not enough for a week, but it is enough for several days.
It has more advantages than I first thought:
• It is much more hygienic.
• The surface of the towel is used more efficiently.
• The water that drips from my hands falls on the already used lower part.
• The used front does not come into contact with the clean back.
• Because it hangs flat and air can reach on all sides, it dries much faster.
• I know when to change the towel, that is when I have reached the end.
Since I have this roll-over towel, I have never had to dry my hands with a wet or smelly towel.
It happened once that the towel was twisted into a knot in the washing machine.
So I think it would be better not to make the towel any longer.
Last change to this page: February 2023
