How to Fix Things at Home to Save Money compared

A one-piece forged hammer with a shock-reduction grip. The reason to buy a decent one rather than the cheapest is the handle joint: cheap hammers loosen where the head meets the shaft, and this has no joint to loosen.

The standard against which other tape measures are judged, and cheap enough that owning two is sensible. Sixteen feet covers any room in a house; the thirty-foot versions are heavier for no everyday benefit.

Both drivers, in the sizes that actually appear in a house. Good screwdrivers matter more than people expect: a soft tip rounds out a screw head, and a rounded screw head turns a two-minute job into a drilling job.

Adjustable-jaw pliers that grip round things — pipe, fittings, stubborn nuts — where a spanner has nothing to bite. A two-piece set covers small fittings and the large ones under a sink.

An adjustable wrench replaces a drawer of fixed spanners for household work. Twelve inches gives enough leverage for tap fittings and bolts without being unwieldy in a cupboard.

A 20V drill with a battery included, packaged with a 68-piece accessory set. Buying a kit rather than a bare tool matters — a “drill” listed without a battery is a body only, and the battery and charger usually cost more than the drill did.

A flange plunger — the shape with the extra rubber sleeve — because the flat cup sold for sinks does not seal a toilet. This is the single most annoying thing to have to go and buy in an emergency.

Twenty-five feet of flexible cable that reaches the clog a plunger only pushes around. It is also the tool that decides whether you need a plumber: if the auger cannot reach it, the problem is further down the line than a homeowner should be poking.

Comes with the putty knife, which is the part people forget to buy. The colour-changing formula is genuinely useful for the mistake described above: it goes on one colour and turns another when it is properly dry and safe to paint.

The attached straw is the whole point — it gets lubricant into a hinge pin or a lock barrel instead of over the door. Worth knowing what it is not: a long-term lubricant. For a hinge you keep re-oiling, petroleum jelly or proper grease lasts far longer.

If adjusting the chain does not stop the running, the flapper itself is done — they warp and go slimy after a few years. Turn the water off at the valve behind the pan, flush to empty, unclip the old one, clip the new one on. Check whether your toilet takes a 2-inch or 3-inch flapper before ordering.