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Could somebody please invent...

(48 Posts)
gammon Wed 05-Aug-15 11:21:47

I am currently fighting with a stapler. I don't know why but I always seem to pick up the dud that crunches the staples and I have to break a nail trying to get it out. Is there an alternative to a stapler? If not, could somebody pls invent one?

And while we're at it (first world problems I know!) does anybody have a trick to serving up weetabix without crumbles going everywhere? Could somebody please invent a weetabix server-upper?

ninathenana Wed 05-Aug-15 11:38:04

Paper clips ??

As for Weetabix I have seen them served with tongs. Whether this would reduce the mess I don't know.

Ana Wed 05-Aug-15 11:42:03

You have to try to contain the crumbs within the box - fingers or tongs seem to work best, with a little shake before you actually take them out!

gammon Wed 05-Aug-15 11:58:01

Tongs!? Will give it a go. But they're so wedged in. Maybe if they sold them in a bigger box...?

Eloethan Wed 05-Aug-15 12:03:48

We were never allowed to use paper clips in one of the legal offices I worked at. There was always the danger of important papers going missing because they had inadvertently been clipped to another document.

I agree re staplers. They drive me mad.

Elegran Wed 05-Aug-15 12:14:43

With the Weetabix - you could take the paper/plastic sleeve out of the box and invert that over the bowl while you take out the crumbling portion.

Staplers are another thing! But you can get staple-taker-outers so that you don't need to break fingernails. A lot of staplers have a sort of lever thing for doing that, integral with the handle. The end of a nail file sometimes works.

Ana Wed 05-Aug-15 12:23:43

You could always decant the weetabix into an airtight container to make it easier to take out whole ones without the crumbs.

Anne58 Wed 05-Aug-15 12:36:25

I believe that there is a sort of staple-less stapler that works by sort of pressing the papers together (or something like that) Off to Google!

Anne58 Wed 05-Aug-15 12:37:58

Here you go!

www.amazon.co.uk/Amazing-STAPLELESS-Stapler-Ultimate-Office/dp/B0019YF420

Anne58 Wed 05-Aug-15 12:40:41

There are some cheaper ones too, and some in animal shapes, a panda for instance.

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 05-Aug-15 13:13:38

Hold the upside down 'tube' of Weetabix over the bowl before tearing the paper down. At least it's not so difficult now as it was when they used that awful shiny film stuff to wrap them. [hhm]

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 05-Aug-15 13:14:47

That post crossed with Elegran's one.

Elegran Wed 05-Aug-15 13:24:45

Great minds think alike (but fools seldom differ)

rosesarered Wed 05-Aug-15 21:06:24

I think I would feel like Mrs Bucket, the tongs/Weetabix thing.
I usually do what has been suggested and tip it over the bowl , then you get the whole Weety ( I have just coined new word there) plus the crumbs.

AshTree Wed 05-Aug-15 21:24:29

Eat cornflakes grin

Ana Wed 05-Aug-15 21:27:53

grin Ash Tree!

roses, I don't like the crumbs going all soggy in the milk. I suppose that's why I don't dunk biscuits - but that's another thread!

AshTree Wed 05-Aug-15 21:47:26

Like you, Ana, I don't like the crumbs all soggy - I just want the weetabix with no crumbs, so I have to deal with the mess sad

Tegan Wed 05-Aug-15 21:58:35

I've actually got a special tin for keeping Weetabix in; however I don't eat Weetabix so I keep other stuff in it.

Tegan Wed 05-Aug-15 22:00:22

In fact, there's one on ebay right now. Blimey; hadn't realised mine was worth so much!

grumppa Wed 05-Aug-15 22:28:48

Eat the Weetabix dry with a coating of marmalade to bind it together. I admit I haven't tried it recently, but it was a delicacy at boarding school in the fifties.

Grandma2213 Thu 06-Aug-15 00:45:14

What you need for Weetabix crumbs everywhere is a mother to clear them up every morning. DS has one of those! Grrrr!!!

daffydil Thu 06-Aug-15 08:50:55

And what about pencil sharpeners? I have never found one that wasn't completely useless.

annodomini Thu 06-Aug-15 09:16:30

My Swiss Army knife is better than any pencil sharpener. grin

AshTree Thu 06-Aug-15 09:26:53

I've given up on pencil sharpeners. They're only any good on the first half dozen uses and then they're past it. And tbh, it's often the fault of the pencil that has broken lead (OK, graphite, but it just sounds wrong grin) all the way through, so you sharpen, it falls out, you sharpen more, it falls out again and so on ad infinitum
Nowadays I buy packs of throwaway plastic propelling pencils. Lovely writing point and never any need to sharpen. Perfect!

rosesarered Thu 06-Aug-15 09:52:27

Didn't know they did those still Ash Tree.Useful for So Duku and other puzzles.