OK Ladies…admit it. How many of you ACTUALLY change your mascara every 3 months? How many of you replace your toothbrush every 3 months? And how many of you replace your air freshener ever 30-60 days (depending on the freshner)? If you raised your hand to all of those questions – I’m amazed. Because I don’t do any of that. I will use my mascara as long as I can, to try to use up every bit of that gooey black substance. I’ll diligently use my toothbrush until the bristles are all soft. And I’ll keep those plug in air fresheners plugged in at least 30 days after they no longer emit scent.
Even though I try to convince myself that it’s OK because I’m saving money, the truth is that it’s not good hygiene to keep things that grow icky bacteria on them. One of the problems that I seem to face is that I just can’t remember when I actually started using things. Who keeps track of what day they plugged in their plug in?
One solution to help us get into a schedule is the Days Ago Digital Day Counter. Awarded a Good Houskeeping Good Buy Award in 2007, the Days Ago Digital Day Counter is a little device that is very simple and very useful. It does what the name sounds like it does – counts days (up to 99 days.) Simply pull the plastic tab to connect the battery and it automatically starts counting the number of days that have passed. There are three different types of DaysAgo Counters to accommodate the different surfaces or items you’ll want to keep track of – Magnetic, Suction, and Band. When I first got the product, I wasn’t sure what things I wanted to count, so I checked out the DaysAgo website for some ideas, which helped inspired my test cases.
Here are some of the ways that I’ve found to use the Days Ago Digital Day Counter:
- Counting days to replace my air filter (every 30-90 days depending on the filter) – Using the Magnetic DaysAgo
- Counting days that my Dream Dinners have been thawing in the fridge (up to 7 days max) – Using the Band DaysAgo
- Counting days since I’ve changed the litter box (until it starts to stink…is that so wrong?)
Other uses that I’ve thought of that aren’t pictured are:
- Keeping track of when I start wearing a new batch of contacts (replace every 14 days)
- Keeping track of when I start the new air freshener (every 60 days)
- Reminder for paying the bills (every 30 days)
In addition to keeping track of food and left overs, the Days Ago Digital Day Counter helps you keep track of the last time you cleaned the aquarium, watered the plants, or even the last time you called your parents! Once you’ve used up the item, finished the chore, or made the call, simply press the button and it’ll reset back to zero.
Another creative way to use these would be if you set-up a dry-erase board in a grid fashion, then use the Magnetic DaysAgo to keep track of things. That way you can have all of the things you’re tracking together in one place. Once you’re done, just erase and reset to start anew! Maybe DaysAgo will consider designing a special Magnetic DaysAgo Board accessory. (I call dibs on the first one!)
It’s available for purchase at the Container Store, Neiman Marcus, the DaysAgo website, or amazon.com. (Just a comment, I was reading some of the reviews on the Amazon site and I wanted to note that I haven’t had any problems with the suction cups. I stuck the Suction DaysAgo to the mirror last week and it hasn’t fallen off at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if moisture and smoothness of surface affect the length of stickiness – which is the case for all suction cups.) Currently, DaysAgo has a Special Edition Pink DaysAgo for just $5.00, of which 10% of sales is donated toward breast cancer awareness.
With the holidays coming up, this would be a great stocking stuffer for people of all ages.
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