It’s time to write about what matters and I don’t mean health, happiness and love. I mean the stuff that really gets you through the day.
Take the Foley Jar Opener for example. While President Obama tackles health care, high unemployment and continuing home foreclosures, he might have a greater impact on the world if he found a way to get the Foley manufactured again.
This clever device patented in the late 1950s and commonly found in stores through the 1960s is the only gadget that reliably opens every jar, every time. It fits any lid, it never slips; its adaptable, durable and unlike any other jar opener it provides leverage against the vacuum sealed lid. There isn’t a speck of plastic on the thing. The Foley is all metal. It lasts forever, which I think was it’s undoing. Everybody who needed one eventually got one and the company probably couldn’t wait for the population to increase. I don’t know what happened to the Foley name, but people who visit my home often ask where I got my unique jar opener. I tell them the place to find them is the 1960s.
All the years I was growing up, I watched Mom and Dad accumulate things which they packed from the attic to the basement and inside the barn on our property on Chandler Street in Worcester. Then, after decades of acquisitions, they turned on a dime to start the process in reverse. Suddenly all the stuff became a burden to them. Every time I visited home from Syracuse they encouraged me to take things. One day, I took the Foley and I’ve been grateful for my wise selection and my parent’s generosity ever since.
On a visit to my home in Syracuse a few years ago, my sisters noticed the gadget in my kitchen and said ‘oh you got the jar opener” as if I got the heirloom silver. We proceeded to have a discussion about the complete tragedy these things aren’t manufactured anymore which is why I call on the President. If anyone can get them going again, he can.
Here are some other indispensable items of my life. Simple Green household cleanser. Nothing cuts the grease better than this. I buy gallon refills and fill up the same quart spray bottle. Surprising too, because its eco-friendly.
Tilex is another product with more uses than you think. It’s not just for removing mildew off bathroom tile. It’s for removing mildew off anything. Before I paint an exterior door I spray Tilex on the wood. Mildew is a little organism that grows and eats paint. If you don’t kill it your paint job won’t last long.
I spray Tilex into the humidifer reservoir to keep it from getting swampy in the winter. I spray the bird bath and rinse it of slime, I spray the inside of the washing machine occasionally to freshen up the drum. Be careful not to get any on your clothing. Mildicide is not as caustic as bleach, but concentrated drops of it can do damage to your clothing.
Barkeeper’s Friend and a toothbrush. This gentle abrasive makes pots and pans look like new, and the toothbrush clears out the gunk from the rivets, but the one-two punch does great work on polishing things too. I love to clean things that give me a dramatic before and after. This is at the top of my list for that.
A friend recently approached me in the grocery store and asked what skin care products I use. I told her I use only one, on my face, my body, even on my lips. It’s 100 percent shea butter from Africa. I order it online but there’s a little store on East Jefferson Street near South Salina that I’m told has it as well. There are no fillers or preservatives, it’s just pure nutty shea butter and it’s great for the whole family.
Back to the Foley Jar Opener. I turned to the best resource for stuff that’s impossible to find and bought up a few Foley’s on eBay. I’d love to know if there’s an indipensable item I’ve yet to discover and I’ll provide incentive to the readers of this blog to share their ideas.
Win a Foley!
If I can get 25 people to leave a comment below, I’ll send one of my Foley’s to the first person who writes and to the 25th. It won’t cost you anything and I don’t have ten pages of rules for you to accept. I just want 25 different people to post a comment. Tell your family and friends, anywhere in the country. I’ll wait one week to approve and publish them, and I promise to post them in the order they came in, so don’t worry if you don’t see yours or anyone else’s until Tuesday, November 3rd. That’s Election Day. Start typing….
UPDATE: We’re off and running. Comments are coming in. Winners of the Foleys; the first and 25th readers who comment, as well as all the remarks will be posted the evening of November 3rd.
SON OF UPDATE: One more day, not up to 25 comments yet. Tell your friends and have them post.
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Maureen,
I love the blog. I would give the Foley to my elderly friend who has trouble opening jars. Your writing has inspired me to keep a journal of thoughts.
Nan
Maureen, you crack me up. I have never heard of the Foley jar opener but I do have a difficult time opening jars. I use those rubber samplers that politicians hand out and if I can’t find one I’m at a loss. Also never heard of Barkeepers Friend. You are certainly a wealth of information. I wish I had your energy to polish, clean and whatever. I did wash all of my crystal last week and it is so pretty in my corner cabinet. I have a ton of silver to polish. I need an incentive to get going. Going to Our Lady of Pompei on Tuesday for spagetti lunch. It’s a fun time and great meal. Hope to see Jean Kesner there and maybe you. Carol
I hope I’m not cheating because I’m Maureen’s daughter but since I moved out of the house I’ve really missed that thing! I used to use it all the time. Sometimes a good old wack on the bottom of the jar upside down just doesn’t do the trick. Mom, send it my way!
I have been looking for our Foley ever since moving from one city to another. No sign of it. The opener I have works best if one is left-handed. Think about this. You grasp these oversized pliers and hold on with your left hand while you use your right hand to unscrew the jar top, counterclockwise. Hmm. Anybody else find this difficult? Oh for a Foley again !
The Foley is quite a neat little gadget. It’s a shame they don’t make them anymore. There are multiple generations that have never even seen one before. Another indispensable item I would add would be Pledge. I love to put it on the hard wood floors and go skidding across them in my socks. The cat, however, is not as fond as I am of slippery floors
Good Morning Maureen~
What an interesting little device. It takes me back to my military days, only we used a P-38 , commonly known as the John Wayne, to open all of our food in the field.
I still use it to this day. Have fun with your raffle, I am headed off to NY today to see if the Yankee’s can rebound……
Have a great weekend, here is a thought for you today……”People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.” ….today I will be the latter!
Bill
Ok, I’ll play. I’m rather intrigued by this little device – never ever heard of it or seen one before. Biomechanical and ergonomic efficiency in a legacy kitchen tool? Quick, contact Vermont Country Store! Now let’s get a bit more traffic generated for this little contest.
Hey Moey,
No fair you got mom and dad’s. I WANT ONE!
your jealous sister susan
What gets me through the day…..as a piano teacher is antibacterilizing my ivories with wegmans antibacterial wipes. I get alot of “body fluids ” coughed and sputtered on those poor little keys…….The “wipes” degerm them and don’t dry them out and I’ve preserved their antique intergrity……..
Maureen-
I’m in…although all I really need to know is where to get one….ebay I guess! I remember seeing one of these..it’s going to bug me. Probably at camp or my mother’s drawer…maybe in a box somewhere. I will look.
FYI and aside..I’m headed to Worcester Tuesday (after I vote of course) for my semi annual eat/drink fest. I will visit Annie’s and/or Coney Island..this time the sauces go on the dogs!
I’m curious as to how many people will reply! Let us know.
Don
Haha. I’m not trying to win a foley, but I had to comment just because I remember you showing me this gadget a while ago…it really is the neatest thing. Also, seeing all the pictures in this post are making me miss “home” really bad right now. Even if they are just pictures of chemicals, tabletops, and shea butter.
I’m sure you’ll get 25 comments….good luck!
Never heard of the Foley opener, but I have do use simple green for everything. Another product I use all the time is Mr. Cleans magic eraser, I had stuff that had melted onto my motorcycle exhaust and nothing would clean it off. I used Mr. cleans magic eraser and it worked, after that I use it on all most any tough stain. The reason I am even reading your blog tonight is because the dreaded NY Yankees are on and if it had been the beloved Red Sox, I wouldn’t be on the computer…lol
Good Mornin Maureen, WD-40 will do all your household chores and loosen rusted nuts and bolts on your car, remove sneaker marks on your floor, remove paint marks when you hit your garage door with the car and not take the car paint off. This stuff is in every work shop in America and has over 100 uses. I read somewhere it has a fish oil base and it don’t smell bad either. Oh I forgot stops squeekie doors, wood floors and rocking chairs. I don’t have enough time to tell all the uses WD-40 has because I have to clean my golf clubs with WD and go golfing this afternoon.
Hi Maureen,
In the 1950′s My grandmother had what I always thought of as a spaghetti strainer but it was
really a Foley food mill. It looked like an inverted witches hat with a ringed metal stand, and had a wooden, one handled “rolling pin” to mash whatever you were running through the mill, I thing the process was called ricing. It lasted forever,my mother had it until she moved to Florida in the early ’90′s . Have no idea what happened to it, it was so well made I’m sure it still has a home somewhere.
Will & Arvy
Hi Maureen – It can’t be possible that I am the first to post and the winner of a Foley Jar Opener. But maybe I’m the 25th. I’m sure you’ve received a number of recommendations about indispensable household items. (I endorse Bar Keepers Friend.) Here’s one that I use all the time in the lawn: A dandelion digger. It’s a simple foot-long tool that allows me to pull up dandelions up by the root. It’s the organic way to rid the lawn of dandelions. Fortunately, I like weeding. Stan
ooh, the Foley looks great. I have a book on vintage kitchen stuff, if I was a collector, old kitchen gadgets would be my thing. I am also a big fan of Barkeepers Friend
i remember my grandparents having one of these in the big kitchen drawer with tons of crazy things in it….unlike u i don’t know what happened to it…surely i could make good use of it now….but it also brings back fond memories of so many other things and good times in cascade…thanks 4 that….
Well, your “son of update” leaves me not to worry. I was writing a “son of post” to tell you that if I were #25 (I know I’m not #1)…to pass the Foley along to the next person. I found mine! Right at camp where I thought it was. Never to be thrown out!
Don
Maureen
Along those same lines, I don’t know what I would do without my 3 tine fork with the wooden handle that was my grandmothers. In my family we refer to these forks as granny forks. When my father passed away a couple of years ago, it was one of the household items that I was lucky enough to get. I have 5 siblings and we took turns making our choices. It also allowed us to reminice about our parents and growing up in Syracuse.
Bill Cass
I’m a sucker for freebies, not to mention vintage freebies. I’m crossing my fingers that I’m number 25.
I know I am late for the Foley, but Barkeeper’s Friend is terrific. I have an older bathtub and that is the only product that makes it shine!
Yes Pat. And a lot of people don’t know about it. But you and I are changing that.
You have made me think alot about the past. I am in to genalogy and love history. Just thinking about Folwy and what my grandmother did for me makes me very happy. Love you bog. Please keep up the good work.
Thank you Linda! And everyone else who posts encouraging comments. Some days I need them more than others, and today is one of those days. Maureen
I know I posted earlier but wanted to point out a real best buy, IMO. There are many openers on the market, and some of them work as well or better than the Foley. I was in Big Lots yesterday and for 5 bucks picked up an opener they sell which uses a cam/coiled path mechanism that, with a twist of the spinner on the opener, grabs any size top, and with one pull on the opener, opens the bottle or jar. It keeps a grip on the top, too, until you twist the spinner to let it loose. Neat. Hard to describe the thing adequately, but it is a winner and looks like it might just last a lifetime.
Fred thanks for the idea. I’ve never heard of it. It’s called IMO? Not the brand OMO? I’ll have to check it out.
Sorry to read in your comments that it was a day requiring more positive feedback, indicating that the day itself was not so positive. Seems there’s a lot of that going around lately. Hope things are better today! Neat entry, neat product.
Your blog is entertaining for an insomniac like me. I appreciate it greatly. And I am really short on sleep, so I could be wrong on this, or perhaps it was sarcasm on your part, but I think the IMO in Fred’s post was “in my opinion” and maybe the OMO in your post was the brand OXO?
Haha
Like I said, I’m short on sleep, so disregard that part if I’m way off.
Good Mornin Maureen, Great contest and lots of memories in the responses. Just a quick thought of a time when I was a kid I was on a trip to the Farmer Museum in Cooperstown and everything I saw there was stuff we were using on our farm in West Stockridge MA I had to live this long to think of them as antique tools and equipment. Thanks again for the blog and the great thoughts
No Cathy I think you’re spot on! In My Opinion. I didn’t know that! Thank you! And yes, OMO is the brand to which I referred. By the way, you came to the right place in the middle of an insomniac night. ZZZZzzzzzzzzz.
Denny, just make sure you refer to the stuff of your generation as antique and not the people! West Stockbridge, a stunningly beautiful area everyone in CNY should visit at least once, right?
I grew up in the 50′s and 60′s and the Foley is the only jar opener I was ever exposed to. I thought everyone had one. After my parents passed away, “I got the foley”! I am still using the same foley (turquoise green) from 50 years ago. It has never failed to open any “impossibly stuck” jar lid. With all the new gadgets available today, this tool is still the best in it’s class. Today’s youth may be able to out text and twitter me…but I know I can still open stuck jar lids better than anyone, with my treasured foley.
Jon, HA! You too? Why the heck do they not make this incredible device any longer? And with baby boomers becoming arthritic, the need has never been greater! Go figure. Hold tight to it. I snatched up a few extras on ebay “just in case”. Thanks for writing.
Hi Maureen!
I got my Mom’s
Foley. I just looked at many stores to buy a
jar opener for a friend….and there is NOTHING available at all.
Hello Toni, and thank you for writing. Aren’t Foley’s the bomb? Nothing like them. They should be manufactured again, plain and simple. Happy jar-opening.
Hi…a friend that I work with found a foley’s jar opener in her dad’s kitchen drawer…she remembered it….we have guessing games with things like this all the time………I had no idea what it was!!! what fun! Enjoyed your page! We also exchange big hair greeting cards……it’s all a game, and competition! Happy New Year!janie
Hello Janie, You have a Foley! Congrats. It’s curtains for every jar lid in your friend’s house from now one. What’s a big hair greeting card? Sounds like something I should know. Do tell. Thanks and Happy New Year. Maureen
I have been looking for this Foley Jar Opener for months now. Do you have any idea where I can get one for my mom? Hers is probably from 1960.
Hi Stacey, Are you registered on ebay? Because they often come up for sale. Let me know. Otherwise I could sell you one of mine for what I paid on ebay. I’ve been gobbling them up for family, friends and future blog contests. Maureen
Hi Maureen,
I remember having one of those at my parents house when I was growing up. But didn’t know it was a Foley. I’ll have to look and see if it’s still at my father’s house. I do remember that it would really bite in to the lids. Thanks for bringing back the memory.
Mike
Hi Mike, yeah, you’re right. It’s the best way to open any jar. Good luck.
Marueen:
I inherited a Foley can opener complet with magnet to lift up the detached metal lid. Do you know anything about it? Like how old?
Hi Amber, this is the first I’ve heard of a Foley with a magnet. The only Foley I ever saw, and still see on ebay, is the very same one I grew up with. I imagine a magnet version is very rare! Lucky you.