Seniors trying to open bottles, containers, etc!

Buy ‘Gilhoolie Jar Opener’ from Vermont Country Store or a similar type such as Swing A Way from Amazon.

I have had this type of jar opener for years! I have no grip strength due to permanent damage from a bicycle accident. I would be lost without this type of jar opener.

Try adding a little water to those hard to squeeze bottles FF, the stuff comes out easier when it's not so thick (save the old bottle and divide it between the two).... if you make it thin enough you can just pour it with no squeezing needed at all.

I love Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products but it is the dish soap that I had to stop buying. The heavy duty plastic container was hard to squeeze once the soap got down a couple of inches. So I now use Dawn as their bottle is more senior friendly.

Same issue with liquid body soap... now I use Ivory which has a hand pump.

Still experimenting with hair shampoo trying to find something more senior friendly and works well on my hair. Had to give up my favorite OGX [small round turquoise blue bottle] loved the richness and smell of that shampoo because the bottle was just too hard to squeeze :(

I totally agree cw. Keep it simple.

Reading these posts I am reminded of a time I was in a hotel and had bought a new mouse for my laptop. It was impossible to get it open with my fingers it was so well wrapped with hard plastic but I had a pair of nail clippers in my purse and clipped away until i could open it which took me quite a while and was very frustrating. Thinking about it, it would have been smarter to go down to the desk and see if they has scissors.

A lot of the child proof lids are also difficult or next to impossible for seniors and people with disabilities. As for the toilet bowl cleaners - I think we are victims of marketing there, unless you are dealing with lime build up from hard water there is absolutely no reason to use a special toilet bowl cleaner, a spray of Lysol and a swish of the toilet brush are just as effective.

Thanks for the great ideas to help open up jars, I will need to add them to my kitchen tool box.

Wish companies would make easier to open toilet cleaning products. Squeezing the tabs on either side of the bottle top is becoming harder and harder as I get older. And the vice grips are becoming harder to use.

Oh my gosh, I was just struggling to open a jar and thought, "what do older people do with these &%$@ lids?"

I have noticed that the lids on everything have become incredibly shallow, making them harder to grip and open.

I am grateful to see more items being packaged in bags. Scissors can solve that challenge.

Oh yes! I struggle to open plastic liners in cracker and cereal bags. Now I keep scissors in the kitchen to deal with most packages. I have asked clerks in stores to open bottles for me. And don’t get me started on trying to open medicine packaging!

My hubs has neuropathy in a few of his finger tips. He can barely open the blister packs for his migraine meds. I usually peel the primary layer of paper off the entire pack when he gets a new batch so that he can at least pop out the pill through the foil more easily. Often we have to cut the pills out with a scissor.

I get my medication by mail.
Because of that they are required to put the meds in a "child proof" bottle. They can send a regular cap with the order but they can not put it on the bottle.
The most frustrating one is my bottle of Synthroid. It is a tiny sort of square bottle with a small cap. On the bottle neck are sorta like "wings" that protrude out and you are supposed to squeeze the cap while turning the cap. I can NEVER get the cap off. I have resorted to trying to cut the wings off, they have a nub on them that catches the cap. I use nail clippers to do that. Sometimes I can not get it cut close enough so I am left with a wing that I can't cut back cuz it is so small the clippers can't grip it.
I have taken a serrated knife and cut the entire top of the bottle off and then I have to pour that med into another bottle. (won't get into the time when I cut my finger deeply with the knife!)
Then to contend with the plastic/foil that is on the bottle, that stuff is darn near impossible to tear.
AND...once I get the bottle open there is one of the moisture absorbing plastic "things" that is just a hair lash smaller in diameter than the opening of the bottle so I have to get that out so I can get the pills out.
No wonder one of the meds is for BP!
I suppose the good thing is I have not had to purchase cotton balls for years because 6 yards of the stuff comes in each bottle with each supplement I buy.

Actually, no. They disappeared. I always wondered where they went. I was lucky to have one pair.

LOL, Golden you must have had quite the collection of needle nose pliers!

glad - that looks good

I have pliers - needle nose and slip joint in my kitchen drawers. They help with some things like bottle or carton caps that are too tight.. Years ago the kids were told to always put my needle nose pliers back or they got me a new pair for Christmas Guess what? Yeah, pretty well every Christmas.

Breaking the seal on jars in usually relatively easy for me. I have an implement I use to pry open the lid a little and the seal breaks. Apart from that the hot water trick works and or banging the jar up side down on the edge of the sink or counter. But I once broke jar that way so that is my last resort.

OTC meds sealed in a blister pack type of thing can annoy me. Some are easy to pop out, others need scissors every time. And child proof containers can be a challenge. I think I finally have the pharmacy trained to not use those for me, but other things come similarly packaged.

Ziplock type bags with the indentation showing where to cut can drive me mad. I inevitably miss the sweet spot and have to trim the top more. Then there isn't enough edge to grab to open the bag. The seal on a bag of three Romaine hearts can be a pain to open. Usually I end up cutting it off.

And they call these improvements. Don't get me started on the size of, for example, supplement or pill bottles compared to their contents. Sometimes I order two of the same that I use regularly and dump one into the other.

I used to have one like this, so did mom, they work great!!!! Now, where did I put that thing?! No matter I just ordered one.

https://www.amazon.com/Jar-Openers-Multi-Purpose-Reusable-Stainless/dp/B09XHSHG7P/ref=sr_1_153_sspa?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI07a82pbW_AIVdhvUAR3Cow2QEAAYASAAEgIGWfD_BwE&hvadid=397075555588&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=9028940&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=6126981613838855159&hvtargid=kwd-371389380449&hydadcr=28522_10703235&keywords=the+best+jar+opener&qid=1674218979&sr=8-153-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyWFJTWEdQN1FQNjYwJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDMzNDcyMkRKTFc3TTQ3SUlOOSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTk1NTMyM08zOVYwVVdHRFFVOCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX210ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Here is another one open up to 4" lid!
https://www.amazon.com/Kichwit-Adjustable-Jar-Opener-Arthritis/dp/B071V3G23Y/ref=sw_img_sspa_dk_huc_pt_expsub_7?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B071V3G23Y&pd_rd_w=wYnge&content-id=amzn1.sym.421156cc-ae17-4608-955b-a8d126cb098e&pf_rd_p=421156cc-ae17-4608-955b-a8d126cb098e&pf_rd_r=S0XEPPXAX2BAD0M7BXT0&pd_rd_wg=bmgHq&pd_rd_r=c27538bf-e471-490e-bf50-2e15dc8fd32f&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExSjJMTVo3OEQzSEhOJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUExMDI0MzU1S0tYUE43SUJOQVlEJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA1Nzg3MTYxMzhUMTlGRFExNDRRJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfaHVjX21yYWkmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

I have had good luck with the Oxo jar opener with base pad.

https://smile.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Opener-Base/dp/B002DWA6KM/

Plop the pad on the counter, put the jar on the pad and use the tool like wrench. The pad is surprisingly good at holding the jar still.

I’ve used it on everything from Perrier bottles to the Costco sized Parmesan cheese containers.

The teeth can chew up plastic lids sometimes so watch out for scratchy bits on reusable containers if you have thin skin.

LOL! That reminds me why my hand is hurting! I was trying to get the lid off a bottle of sauerkraut a couple of weeks ago. It sure is hurting a long time, must have bruised that muscle good!

What worked, finally (no it wasn't calling my neighbor, the hulk😁😁), was inverting the bottle under running hot, hot, water over the seal for a minute or two. That was what my mom did, and rapping the lid on the edge of the counter to break the seal. I wouldn't do that, might chip the counter top! But using a utensil to tap the lid sometimes works.

I had a bottled drink at the hospital yesterday. I couldn't get the top off and two nurses tried and couldn't get it done. A patient transport guy cut the topp off of the bottle with his pocket knife.

Isn't this the truth. At 80 and 82 respectively both my partner and I struggle so much with these thing. We have various tools and various tricks that help a whole lot, but one of these days we will come to the container that neither of us can get into. It is so frustrating.

I must have handed my hubs about 4 things to unscrew in the past 2 days. My thumbs get stiff, and my hands hurt! Feels like I am peeling the skin off!

I have a special gadget that does the same as the spoon thing others have mentioned and I love it. It's the bottle cap size I'm having trouble with now and I think a lot of it is that we have to break the security seal too, although I find a pair of slip joint pliers works on those.
I'm afraid to ask what's going on with your dish soap bottles down there, I haven't run into any difficult safety features on those yet.

You are singing my song!! A large number number of 'expletive deletes' have been muttered (screamed) while trying to unscrew tops, pull the covering off bottles (I use a letter opener for that). The lastest frustration has been opening a new box of Glad Cling'N Seal food wrap--impossible to get the new roll started. I have stood on top of the Miralax bottle trying to get it opened. The handle in the new Dawn spray broke for the first time I used it --- so frustrating!!!

My 93-yr old Mother (who has arthritis in both hands) lives next door to me. I can't tell you how many times she calls me over to open something and between the 2 of us we *eventually* get it open, after much sweating and swearing.

It takes R&D and $$$ to change packaging (which is often outsourced) so companies need to really have a good reason to invest in a change.

My favorite tool is the cheap disposable plastic box cutters with the push-up blades. I don't know what I'd do without those.

Jars can be depressurized, so sticking a spoon under the lid to loosen the cap and allowing the air to move will make turning the lid a lot easier.

My personal roadblock is my plastic Pellegrino bottles... oy, those caps.

I agree. I use the 'spoon under the lid' burp-it method to get pickle jar lids open, have you tried that one? LOL. But the caps you mention can be horrible. I've been known to throw them out in a fit of rage, only to have DH come by to fish them out of the trash and open them. He has hands the size of a pot roast which makes it MUCH easier for him to twist off the infernal caps, so what does he know about our frustration?