Bufo’s Things That Work Gift Guide 2023

We have so many options when we shop nowadays! Remember when you used to go out to get garbage bags, and you didn’t need a spreadsheet to figure out all the variables?

There are a lot of positives to that, but it can be overwhelming and lead to “analysis paralysis”. Then again, there’s that other issue…

Some things you buy just don’t work.

Well, maybe they work, but not as well as you thought they would, despite watching all those customer videos and reading the artificial intelligence written summary of a thousand reviews (that’s a real thing on Amazon now, by the way).

Everything in this guide works.

At least, they work for me. Yep, I genuinely use everything here…that’s really the only thing that will tie this together.

I’m going try to have a variety, from small gifts under $10 on up. I hope this helps you, or perhaps just entertains you!

O’Keefe’s Working Hands Hand Soap

• Price: $10.24 for a 2-pack at time of writing
• Overview: I’ve been using this for quite some time. I worked in healthcare: although I didn’t provide direct patient care (I trained the people who did), I was in patient care areas. I was pleased to be complimented by a doctor on my hand washing technique, and I wash them more than most people do. I try to wash them before I touch my face, for example, and I wash for 30 seconds. However, that tended to result in dry skin on my hands. I had used O’Keefe’s very popular hand cream, but this works quite well for me. It’s a pump liquid soap, and could be a small gift
• Nothing’s perfect: I have gotten a couple where the pump didn’t work, as far as I can tell. I just poured the soap into another one of the bottles. I’ve written to them about the fact that it’s hard to tell how much is left in the bottle: it’s a white liquid in a white, almost opaque plastic bottle. I’d love it if they put a transparent stripe in the bottle

Skoy Swedish Dischcloth

• Price: $4.99 at time of writing for 1, multipacks available
• Overview: a dishcloth might seem like a strange gift, but these have attractive patterns and have the advantage of being ecological (they are made from remnant fabrics). They are used for scrubbing, and work well for that (like a scrubbing sponge). I wash them from time to time in the clothes washer, just like other towels
• Nothing’s perfect: we’ve had a couple wear out eventually, but that hasn’t been a big problem

ELS Pet Travel (water) Bowl

• Price: $13.35 at time of writing for 1L
• Overview: we have two small dogs and they drink a lot of water. We used to just have open bowls, but this works much better for us, and the dogs even seem to prefer it. There is an insert that floats on top of the water, with a hole in it (cutely designed to look like a dog pawprint, matching a design on the bowl itself). The dog licks the water through that hole. That keeps it from spilling and tends to keep the water much cleaner (dogs can get their water dirty through transfer from their fur). Neither of these are 100%, but so much better than the old way
• Nothing’s perfect: to remove the float, you have to pop off a plastic restraining ring. That can be some work, just to get it off and on properly

Ring Chime Pro

• Price: $59.99 at time of writing
• Overview: we have Ring security cameras at our doors and they are very useful for us. They’re great for package delivery & I like seeing animal that may pass by our doors in the middle of the night. The automatic light is also a nice feature. However, it wasn’t going to wake me up if someone used the door in the middle of the night. This solves that problem! It’s a separate, small devices that just plugs into a wall outlet. It can make a variety of noises: we use “Triangle”, which is very noticeable. It’s controlled nicely in the Ring app. It can also extend your wi-fi network for your Ring devices, but we don’t use it for that. It has a nightlight feature, but we don’t use that, either
• Nothing’s perfect: it does take up an outlet. I don’t think you can set it on a schedule: there are days I don’t want the alarm going off for the front door, and during the day, I don’t need it to go off every time the dogs use the dog door

Paladone Batman Multi Tool Bottle Opener Keychain

• Price: $6.99 at time of writing
• Overview: I love this little Batarang and use it often! I replaced one when it got lost. It’s got a small Phillips screwdrive head & a small flathead screwdriver head. I don’t use them for that very often: it’s great for opening boxes! I’ve also used it to “grab” things that were just out of reach…holy Bat-gadget, Batman!
• Nothing’s perfect: the hole where you put in the ring to use it as a keyring is quite small, you need to use a small ring. It also would set off metal detectors, I think, and I wouldn’t try to get it past Security at a concert or a ballpark (I leave it home in those cases). When it comes, it’s black, but that has worn off over time, leaving it just grey metal looking, but that still looks cool

Rongbo Detachable Pull Apart Key Ring

• Price: $6.59 for a 3-pack at time of writing (other multipacks available)
• Overview: I used these all the time! A ring attaches to your main keyring, then there’s a center cylinder part, and another ring where you attach your key (or, you know, Batarang…see above). You sort of squish the center part together, and it separates. This has been very handy, for example, if I need to leave a key when the car is getting serviced
• Nothing’s perfect: It takes a bit of doing to figure out how to separate the two rings. Once you get the hang of it, though, it’s easy enough

NOCO Boost Sport Lithium Jump Starter

• Price: $61.56 at time of writing
• Overview: this is one of those things where you wonder if you’re the only person who didn’t know about it already. We needed one of our cars jumpstarted and I called AAA. I was surprised when they got to us and just walked up to the car with a small box…I was expecting a tow truck. I was astonished when they just clipped it on the battery and the car started in seconds. I asked what it was and ordered one for us. I have to say, I think they should come with a new car, or maybe the insurance company should give you one! Most things on this list I’ve used many times. This one I’ve only used once: we had somebody coming to work on our heating and they called: their van wouldn’t start. It sounded like it might be hours before their company could get someone out there. I ended up just doing it myself with this device…presto! It can also charge your phones and it has a light
• Nothing’s perfect: it comes in a cardboard storage box, but it didn’t fit back into it very well. I will have to charge it from time to time (USB charger)

Hopeshine Arm Cooling Sleeves UPF 50+

• Price: $15.99 for a five pack
• Overview: this may seem silly, but we really like them. They are sleeves you put on your arm, so your arms are covered if you are wearing a t-shirt…no need for sunscreen there! It makes sun healthy behavior simpler. We keep several pairs in different colors by the door. They can be washed in the washing machine
• Nothing’s perfect: they can really get things like burs stuck in them!

Wolverine 8mm & Super 8 reels to Digital MovieMaker Pro Film Digitizer (other models available)

• Price: $399.99
• Overview: We had literally hundreds of family Super 8mm film reels sitting in a box in the garage. They hadn’t been seen in 50 years or more. I could have sent them to a service to have them converted, but that ends up costing a lot of money. I also did it once with a few reels several years back, and they returned them all spliced together. It also meant I didn’t have the film boxes, with handwriting from family members on them. This device converts those film reels into digital. You need to buy an SD card for it, but then you can upload it to the cloud with an included cord. I’ve shared the ones I’ve converted with the family and it’s been wonderful! The digital files look good. It’s smart enough that if it’s only seen black for 15 seconds, it stops recording
• Nothing’s perfect: it takes a long time…a 3 minute reel takes about half an hour to digitize. The feeder reel arm folds down for storage, which is a good thing, but it takes an effort to unfold it and fold it…someone with weak hand strength probably wouldn’t put it away at all. There are also two plastic adapters for the reels, which could be easy to lose

iClever BK05 Bluetooth Keyboard

• Price: $47.99 at time of writing
• Overview: I’ve considered this an essential for years. I type pretty well: last time I was tested (a very long time ago), I was in the 90s for words per minute. Not super fast, but fast. I really wanted a foldable keyboard I could use with my phone and have it feel like a regular keyboard. I tried a few, and this was by far the best. It’s a good size: folded, it fits in a large pocket. It can switch easily between using Android, Windows, & Apple, so you can use one keyboard with multiple devices. The keyboard is backlit if you want, but I don’t use that. Besides typing, the best thing is being able to use Windows shortcuts (CTRL+C to copy, CTRL+V to paste…) on the web on my phone! It stays charged for a long time: I use it every day, and maybe charge it once in a month
• Nothing’s perfect: they break after a while…I’ve replaced mine multiple times. If it’s on a soft surface, it may add extra spaces and things like that. I’d love it if they had something rigid that could lock it open, like a flat bar on the back

Worx WG509 12 Amp TRIVAC 3-in1 Electric Leaf Blower (& vacuum & mulcher)

• Price: $109.48 at time of writing
• Overview: I’m not good with tools (I literally have screwdriver scars from using just a plain old manual screwdriver wrong) & I jokingly say I have a “black thumb” in the garden. This tool, though, has been a complete game changer for cleaning up leaves and such (we have trees that drop a lot of leaves and needles). It’s a leaf blower, but I rarely use it for that. The thing that really works for me is that it’s a vacuum and a mulcher…it sucks up the leaves/needles and chews them into dust. It’s amazing!
• Nothing’s perfect: it’s a workout! It says it’s lightweight, but I wouldn’t say that. I see Amazon says it weighs 11 pounds. It’s hard to flip the switches…maybe that’s for safety. You need to be careful not to vacuum rocks and mud will gum up the valve that switches it from blower to vacuum. I open up the part that lets me get to the blades and make sure they are clear after every time I use it. Oh, and don’t forget to zip up the collection bag again before you start on the next area…if you don’t, it will just blow that dust all over the yard

Plustek Photo Scanner ephoto Z300

• Price: $199 at time of writing
• Overview: I would guess we’ve scanned and shared over 1,000 family pictures with this! It’s pretty simple, once it’s set up. You connect the scanner to a laptop. You feed a picture into it…it scans it & automatically crops it (makes the image the size of the photo…I’d say that’s more than 95% right). There is some photo correction available on the device itself. Then, you can save it to the cloud. I’ve also used it for documents, and it works well for that, too. Free your family photos!
• Nothing’s perfect: you need a pretty powerful laptop…not a super powerful one, like a gaming computer, but it needs quite a bit of free space to save the pictures, and a decent processor. It takes a while to convert one & that depends on the power of the laptop…I’d say up to maybe 10 seconds a picture. I bought a more powerful computer after we’d started, which cut it down to more like 2 seconds. It’s not completely intuitive to use, but not too bad

Soundbot sb221 Headphones

• Price: $15.99 at time of writing
• Overview: I use these every day! I wake up hours before my Significant Other, & that’s when I get a lot of my writing done. I have movies or TV shows on in the background: I’m more productive that way. People used to say to me that I’d get more done if I didn’t watch as much TV, so I did the experiment: I didn’t watch TV for 1 year. I got nothing more done. For some reason, they didn’t want to try to the experiment in reverse and watch more TV. I digress: these are comfortable, easy to use, & sound fine: that’s all I need. I was a conga player, so I may not have the best hearing (although it’s ok): I’m sure $500 headphones have better fidelity, but I don’t need that. I don’t like things sticking in my ear, and the crosspiece goes comfortable behind my head, down near my neck. They’ve never fallen off, but I’m not playing ultimate sports! You can answer the phone on them: there’s a built-in microphone, but it’s not a boom, so it isn’t in front of your face. I’ve never used that, either. The range is good (I can go into the garage & close the door behind me & still have it connected). It’s easy to pair
• Nothing’s perfect: it’s a micro USB connector, not a USB-C (the connection only goes into it one way: there is a rightside up and an upside down). They do give you one, but if somebody has a long cable they use for a phone, that one might not fit. This is a minor thing, but the little rubber cover that covers the charging port doesn’t tend to stay closed for me. I charge mine every day after listening for a few hours, although that may not be necessary

I may add to this later…

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This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the The Measured Circle blog. To support this or other organizations, begin your Amazon shopping from a link on their sites: Amazon.com