Hail to the 5-gallon bucket, the ubiquitous hold-all and do-all. Preppers seems to have a million uses for them, so look for them on the coat of arms of some future post-apocalyptic government. I am not a prepper, but I like to be prepared, and have many empty 5-gallon bucket, so I reserve the right to some day become a prepper. I’m ready!

I love using these buckets in the garden for weeding, but have always wished I could get the handle to stand up to make the bucket easier to grab and go. This week I cracked it. Bucket, meet bungee cord.

The handle stays up, so I won’t be grabbing the side of the bucket to move it when I’m on my hands and knees in a flower bed, which has always meant eventually breaking chips off the side of the bucket. And it’s easily reversible if I want to let the handle fold back down.

The bucket handles are mostly made of metal with a plastic piece that you hold. That plastic piece seems to break down long before the bucket does, and carrying a heavy bucket while only grabbing the thin metal bit is uncomfortable, so I take a piece of old water hose, cut off a suitable length, split it lengthways, and tape it over the handle. Ready for a few more years of puttering.