Times change. When Dad was a young dude, toolboxes were heavy on handsaws and block planes. But in this age of reliable, inexpensive power tools and modular building materials, it’s time to rethink the traditional toolbox. So here are our picks. You can rent or borrow specialized tools that you’ll use only once, but the tools below are must-haves for the modern household.

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From the wacky to the practical, renting instead of buying can save you serious money, as well as benefit the environment.

1. Tools
In these tough economic times many people are looking for ways to shave expenses off their budgets. One tried-and-true method is to rent instead of buy. Environmentalists have long pointed out that we can also significantly reduce our impact on the planet if we borrow the things we only need occasionally. 

16 more things…

How many M.I.T. engineering Ph.D.s does it take to repair a dishwasher? In the case of a balky Maytag at Eric Wilhelm’s house in Oakland, Calif., one doctorate sufficed. After a plastic wheel on the dishwasher’s upper rack broke off of its assembly, Wilhelm faced a classic consumer conundrum. The same plastic part had broken and been replaced three times—and now the warranty had ended. Considering this history and Wilhelm’s mounting frustration, repairing the 3-year-old appliance seemed marginally less logical than buying a new one.

Yes, we live in a throwaway society. But a growing band of old-school tinkerers and new-school modders are rediscovering the joy of fixing what’s broken.

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