How many power tools does one husband need?
It all started with a basic Black & Decker drill. At our flat in Freeman’s Bay, Auckland, my husband Will, excited to test out the first of what would become many power tools, took the doors off the wardrobe in our bedroom.
If he’d put them back on, there would not have been an issue, but off they remained.
When we moved into our own home in New Plymouth four years ago, that’s when things really escalated.
The car shed has become his tool shed and is a sea of Ryobi green.
There is a tool for every job in the house.
When we were renovating our en suite, he tried to tell me how he needed a tile cutter. I had to pull him back and remind him this was the only time we’d be cutting tiles.
It feels like every few weeks he’s telling me what he wants his next tool to be, and it begs the question: how many tools does one husband need? (And that’s not including me – I’ll just get that in before a smartarse email turns up in my inbox from someone called Roy.)
Some of them are totally necessary, and I get the benefit of them too, such as the batterypowered lawn mower that saw me cut the grass for the first time in my 31 years on this earth.
It’s turned into a tradition that every year I get him a new tool. So yes, technically I am enabling this, but he is very good at making his case for each.
And in return I get a pair of Dr Martens every year.
Last Christmas it was a reciprocating saw; for his birthday it was a hand router, and this Christmas it was meant to be a jigsaw, but now it’s an edger because apparently ‘‘that will benefit the whole family’’.
Will is just waiting for Ryobi to release a kid’s tool kit, so our nearly two-year-old son can be his little helper.
His collection also saw Will’s dad say, ‘‘You’re not going to need me to leave you all my tools now.’’
Will says the coolest tool he has is the finishing nailer, but when I asked what was the most useless tool he owned he put his head in his hands, sighed, and eventually said there wasn’t one.
Will has turned into an all-round handyman, which is great for the ongoing renovations in our house.
What he has spent on tools, we have probably saved on having to get ‘professional’ help in.
In all honesty, he could have been a builder. Once he’s been shown how something works, he is off.
When we first moved in to our 110sqm two-bedroom home, his building skills started out with some pallet furniture, for which he got a bit of a reputation.
He’s evolved greatly since then, though, and has built our fences, decking, en suite, planter boxes, and outdoor table and chairs.
We do have a beautiful house which I love, and admittedly it wouldn’t be this good without Will’s tools.
So I ask you, how many tools does one husband really need?
For mine, it turns out it’s 26 Ryobi tools, six chargers, 10 batteries, and 10 other miscellaneous power tools.