The HO I am sitting for needs a steady supply of hard boiled eggs to feed the parrot, so she has a Dash Rapid Egg Cooker. I have never seen one of these before, but they come in six-egg and 12-egg models, she has two sixes. You add the prescribed amount of water to the bottom of it, use the provided needle to puncture each egg, place them in the cooker, plug it in and it turns off when the eggs are done. You put the eggs in a cold water bath to stop the cooking and Voila! Perfectly cooked eggs with shells that peel right off! No more struggling to avoid mangling the egg. I’m going to get one of these.
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Cooking eggs in an Instant Pot has the same effect on the shells peeling easily. It’s to do with the pressure. I now always cook my eggs that way. If you already have an Instant Pot, save yourself the purchase of another gadget.
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Interesting, @Snowbird No, I don’t have an Instapot, but I mentioned what you wrote to the HO. It turns out she also has an instapot but prefers this cooker for the eggs because it’s much smaller.
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I have a mini Instant Pot - 3 quart - but I understand what she means. They come in sizes up to 10 qt and they can take up a lot of space, like many gadgets.
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I used both a litter robot and a robot vacuum for the first time at house sitting gigs! 
And I saw a bunch of self-driving cars for the first time on a sit.
Robots!
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@mars my parents had something very much like you described when I was growing up - maybe something like 35 years ago. Great for cooking a number of eggs at once.
@Snowbird I currently have a fridge full of eggs after we were given lots. I also have an Instant Pot (Duo Plus) and have not yet tried boiling eggs in it. Seems like a good time to give it a go!
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On our most recent sit in Spain, the HO had a small, flat, cast iron grill that went on the stove top. We grilled burgers, veg, fish, lamb chops, etc. and all were fantastic.
We ordered one as soon as we got home and plan to use it both inside on the stove, as well as outside on the BBQ.
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Google the 5-5-5 method for cooking eggs. people swear by it.
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I haven’t really discovered anything new (though i’ve seen a lot of fancy coffee makers that I don’t use as a tea drinker) but I think the best gadget i had on a sit was a roomba. It was the 2nd time a sit had one. I didn’t have a good experience the first time (kept getting stuck under stuff) but this time it was a game changer. I was taking care of 2 labs in england who LOVED to roll in puddles and mud on our walks/play time. So the carpet when we returned from a walk would just be wrecked. I asked the HO about wiping them down or keeping them on the back porch to dry but they said the roomba would get it. First night I went to bed leery with a carpet streaked with mud. It was magic - like house elves came in the night. Not a speck remained. I was a complete convert. I loathe sweeping/vacuuming so if I ever have a normal size home, a roomba will be one of my first purchases.
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Several house sits we have been on have pot fillers. If I ever design a kitchen it will have one.
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@CreatureCuddler , I tend to not use the Roomba but after reading your post, I turned the Roomba on here. They have flooring that looks just like wood but it’s sheet vinyl-perfect for pets and it doesn’t show the dirt or hair, but there is hair because it sticks to my socks. So … the Roomba is in motion. I’ll do a better job later with their regular vacuum. Another thing, they have a motion detector kitchen faucet and toilet flusher. You wave your hand over the faucet to turn it on continuously and wave it again to turn it off. If you just want intermittent water, you put your hand under the faucet and it turns on. When you take your hand away, it turns off. This took some getting used to. When I would put something in the sink or move something, the water turned on and soaked my sleeve a few times. For the toilet, you wave your hand where the lever would be and it flushes.
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I think a roomba isn’t, for pet owners at least, a complete solution. I think it just stays on top of the worst of it with a minimum of effort so when you do the real clean it’s easier.
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An expandable garden hose.
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I discovered these this year in France… love my flexi hose!
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I’ll second the roomba and the Instant Pot for eggs. We sat a short haired dog in a home with tiled floors and rugs. I would have sworn the floors were clean but the amount of hair the roomba picked up was amazing. HO could progam it with their phone too! We bought an Instant Pot after trying one on a sit as I loved their versatility. Unfortunately can only use it on local sits. Two other interesting features we found was in homes that had a central vacuum system. These had a floor level aperture that could be activated so that when you swept all the bits towards them all the dust etc. was sucked into the vacuum. No dustpan needed! AND, as we are big tea drinkers we loved the instant boiling water tap in the kitchen - never needed to wait for a kettle to boil
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I was just getting ready to mention that we really liked the boiling water taps that were at two of our sits, but @Liz beat me to it! The taps are a fast way to make a cup of tea, cook pasta, etc.
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if i ever decide to have a home, 100% i am having one of these. I have multiple cups of tea a day and boiling water can be a pain.
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@liz my Instant Pot almost always comes with me to UK sits!
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An invisible fence for indoor areas. We sat for 2 shih-tzus and an enormous Great Dane who have been trained via their shock collars to avoid certain areas of the house, like the front door. It’s super helpful when answering the door. They also don’t go upstairs(where the guest room is). Sounds a little harsh, but it beats them escaping and/or jumping all over visitors. They don’t even wear their collars all the time.
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@CreatureCuddler - me too, top of my list for a feature if ever I get a home!
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