Red flag for the whole kitchen," @piperf40? That's the whole house.

Totally get that. My old computer would randomly shut down and I was ready to replace the whole power supply. Turns out the fan was just clogged with dust and it was overheating. Spent weeks thinking it was something huge when a five minute clean fixed it all. Now I always check for dust or loose cables before I even open the manual. That kind of basic check feels obvious after the fact, but in the moment you just assume it's the worst case scenario.

Laptop graveyard" seems a bit dramatic for a few days of plastic clips.

I mean, a good knee kicker is key, but for me it was a cordless trim stapler. I got the Milwaukee one last year and it was like 400 bucks. It sounds crazy for a stapler, but not having to drag a hose or compressor around for baseboard and quarter round changed my whole day. I finish rooms way faster now because I'm not constantly moving air lines or tripping over them. That kind of tool just takes a constant small headache out of the job.

Mine kept going through a whole rainy week.