The One Tool I Wish I’d Bought Years Ago

By Jack Mercer · Gear · June 12, 2026

A forty-dollar tool that’s saved me more time and swearing than anything else in the garage.

For years I borrowed a neighbor’s impact driver every time something needed assembling or a stripped screw needed rescuing. Every time I told myself I’d buy my own eventually.

Eventually took about six years. I finally bought a decent cordless impact driver after the third time I had to walk next door, apologize for the late hour, and explain what I was building this time.

It cost less than a tank of fuel. It has assembled two flat-pack wardrobes, fixed a wobbling deck railing, and removed a screw I’d genuinely considered just leaving in forever because the regular screwdriver wasn’t winning that fight.

What changed wasn’t the tool’s capability so much as my own willingness to start a project. When the right tool is sitting in the garage instead of two houses away, a Saturday afternoon job stops feeling like an event and starts feeling like something you just do.

I’m not precious about brands or specs. I bought a mid-range one because it does the job and I’m not running a workshop. It’s done everything I’ve needed without complaint.

The real lesson wasn’t about the driver. It was about how many small jobs I’d been quietly avoiding because the friction of borrowing tools was just high enough to talk myself out of starting.

Forty dollars and one trip to the hardware store removed that friction completely. Wish I’d done it years earlier instead of wearing out my welcome next door.

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Jack Mercer writes about real life for men who are too busy living it to talk about it. No advice. No solutions. Just one bloke being honest.