Tools of the Trade
Having a clear-out? The first place you want to go is your garage or tool shed. Chances are, you’ve kept certain tools for years when you should have donated them long ago. You see, a lot of people buy a tool for a certain job, and then when the job is finished it just sits around gathering dust.
What’s worse is that many of these tools eventually become outdated, broken, or completely unnecessary, yet they still take up valuable space. Here are 20 tools people keep for years without realizing they’re useless.
Paint Edger Tool
These look great on TV, but in real life? They smear, clog, and usually need constant cleaning. People buy them, use them, get sick of them, and leave them languishing in the garage. Just get rid of the darn thing already. The truth is, a steady hand with painter’s tape will give you far better results without the hassle.
Paint edgers often end up being more frustrating than helpful, and once abandoned, they only waste space instead of serving any real purpose.
Old Stud Finder
Old beeping stud finders are and have always been totally unreliable. Modern magnetic models work way better. Yet, people hang onto these out of date tools for some reason. Get rid of your old one and buy a brand new one – you’ll be happy you did. The older styles often give false readings, waste your time, and can lead to crooked shelves or unsafe installations.
Upgrading ensures accuracy, saves frustration, and prevents the headaches that come from trusting outdated gadgets.
Corded Electric Hedge Trimmer
It’s the “corded” part that trips people up here. They spend more time untangling the cord then they do actually using the item. Plus, are you really going to use an electric hedge trimmer all that often? Sometimes shears will do the work, and sometimes you could just rent the tool instead.
On top of that, corded versions can be dangerous if the cord gets in the way of the blades. A lightweight battery model, or simple manual shears, is far more practical.
Laser Level
Clever marketing convinced people they needed a laser level, and they don’t. Unless you dropped a lot of money on a quality one, most laser levels are wildly inaccurate. People try using them once to hang pictures and end up more confused than when they started. The truth is, a simple bubble level or even a piece of string can get the job done faster and more reliably.
Cheap laser levels rarely provide precision and usually end up tossed in a drawer, forgotten.
Rubber Strap Wrench
These things are supposed to help loosen stubborn jar lids, plumbing fittings, oil filters and so on. In reality, though, they’re pretty useless and no-one is entirely sure why so many people keep them around. Put yours on eBay and see how much you get for it. Most people find they slip, stretch, or break under real pressure, making them more frustrating than helpful.
A good pair of pliers or even a strong grip usually works better, making the strap wrench unnecessary clutter.
Allen Wrenches
You get one with every piece of flat-pack furniture and toss it in a drawer. Years later, you’ve got a whole collection, none of which fit anything anymore. And the original piece of furniture might be gone by then anyway. Throw those Allen wrenches away! They clutter up toolboxes and junk drawers, serving no real purpose once their matching bolts are long gone.
If you ever do need one again, a proper multi-size hex key set is far more useful and reliable.
Electric Engraving Pen
Everyone buys these things with dreams of personalizing tools, gifts, or even glassware. But unfortunately, you have to be good at art in order to use it effectively, and a lot of people just aren’t. The electric engraving pen just ends up languishing in the garage, providing no value. Most attempts result in messy scratches or uneven lines that don’t look professional.
Unless you’re highly skilled or dedicated to practice, it’s far easier to order custom engraving online when you truly need it.
Caulk Removal Tool
These tools are something people believe they can’t live without… until they actually get them. A utility knife and putty scraper do a better job of scraping caulk – a caulk removal tool often ends up taking the paint away as well. Yet people keep them for ages anyway. They sit in drawers or toolboxes, rarely touched, while simpler tools do the job more effectively.
In the end, the “specialized” gadget just takes up space and complicates an otherwise straightforward household task.
Wire Twisting Drill Bit
These look brilliant in online videos. Pop it into your drill, and it twists wires like magic! Except in real life, it actually just frays the ends or spins the wires into a mangled mess. Still, many DIYers hang onto their tool, hoping that someday they’ll figure out the “right technique.” Spoiler: they won’t. Traditional pliers or manual twisting methods are more reliable and safer.
The drill bit version usually causes more damage than progress, turning into yet another wasted purchase.
Manual Hand Drill
That old hand-crank drill is just taking up drawer space, because nobody uses it anymore. Today’s power drills do the job faster and easier. Most people keep it for nostalgia or “just in case,” but realistically, it never sees action. The effort required to bore even a small hole with a manual drill feels outdated and unnecessary.
While they may look quaint or vintage, they serve no real purpose in modern DIY. Unless you’re collecting antiques, it’s best to let this one go.
Small Dremel Sanding Discs
Those little sanding drums for your Dremel look useful until you actually use them. They wear out in seconds or fly off mid-spin. Yet, people keep bags of them in their kits because they came with the tool and they feel like it would be wasteful to throw them. It won’t be, though. The truth is, these flimsy discs can’t handle real sanding jobs.
Better attachments or larger sanders always outperform them. Holding onto them just creates clutter without any real benefit.
Multi-Bit Screwdriver
In truth, you really don’t need a multi-bit screwdriver, no matter how much the internet tries to convince you you do. In the end, you’ll only use three or four of the bits and the rest just rattle around, getting lost or rusty. Worse, some bits probably don’t even fit properly.
A solid set of individual screwdrivers in the sizes you actually use is far more practical. The multi-bit version mostly adds clutter, frustration, and wasted space in your toolbox.
Digital Tire Pressure Gauge
Okay, the real problem here is the cheap ones. A more expensive one may serve you better. But when you buy a cheap digital tire pressure gauge, you may well find it only lasts for a few weeks or starts flashing random nonsense numbers at you. On top of that, the batteries often die quickly, making the tool even less reliable.
A simple analog gauge is often sturdier, easier to trust, and far less likely to let you down in a pinch.
Tool Belt
This is another one where people are lured in by advertising and believe they absolutely have to have one. But unless you're on a roof or doing heavy-duty construction, that huge tool belt is overkill and will just weigh you down. It looks good and that’s about it. For everyday DIY tasks, a small toolbox or even a bucket works better and keeps things organized.
Tool belts usually just gather dust in closets, taking up space without ever being truly practical.
Adjustable Wrench That Won’t Adjust
These things always seem to get gunked up or loose over time. Eventually, they don’t stay at the right size or slip when you try and tighten. But instead of tossing them out with the rest of the garbage, people hold onto them for some reason. A broken adjustable wrench is practically useless and often more dangerous than helpful.
A proper fixed-size wrench set will always perform better, saving you from stripped bolts, frustration, and wasted time wrestling with faulty tools.
Socket Set With Missing Pieces
The one socket you really need is the 10mm one, and once that’s gone, the socket set loses most of its value. Yet people hold onto these no matter how many pieces they lose, and it can take up valuable shelf space in a small garage or workshop. At that point, the set becomes more of a frustrating reminder of what’s missing than a helpful tool.
Replacing it with a complete, reliable set makes far more sense than keeping a half-empty case.
Handheld Tile Cutter
In theory, a handheld tile cutter makes clean cuts in tile quickly and easily. In practice… not so much. It chips, cracks, and eventually just frustrates. Most DIYers give up after a few cuts and borrow a proper wet saw instead. But if you still have a handheld tile cutter, you could consider renting it out, even.
Realistically though, the cuts are rarely straight or smooth, and the tool ends up collecting dust while better equipment delivers far more professional results.
Plumbing Snake
Cheap drain snakes promise to clear clogs, but usually just poke a hole in the disgusting gunk and slightly delay the inevitable plumber visit. They very rarely solve real blockages. Yet they’re always stashed under sinks, like they might save the day next time. (They won’t.) In most cases, they just make a mess and leave you with the same problem hours later.
Professional-grade tools or calling a plumber is the only reliable fix, making that bargain snake a pointless purchase.
Tiling Spacers
Sure, you needed 20 of them for that one backsplash project five years ago. But now you’ve got 980 left sitting in a dusty container in your garage. They’re not hurting anyone, but let’s face it - they’re taking up space you could use for something actually useful. Just throw them away. Realistically, you’ll never need hundreds of these again.
And if you ever do another tiling job, a fresh small pack is cheap and easy to buy when needed.
Old Tubes of Super Glue
A old tube of super glue is incredibly useless, yet you’d be amazed at how many people keep them around, just praying every time that they can get a tiny bit of extra glue out of the tube. It’s not worth it. Super glue tubes should be disposed of as soon as it becomes obvious they’ve run their course.
Dried-up glue never works when you need it, and hanging onto them only clutters drawers instead of saving money or time.