One-Handed and in the Dark is one of my favorite Thought Technologies I adopted from Merlin Mann, who talks about it in his podcasts sometimes. Like the phrase implies, important things in your house should be accessible using only one hand, and without needing to look at them.

The example Merlin often gives is changing a fuse. If you have a bag of fuses in a known location you can reach in the dark, and this bag also contains a flashlight, you can set to the task of changing the fuse without obstacles.

I often find myself thinking of this when I need to access an item that has another item stacked on top of it, most notably plates, or when I’m tripping over toys my son left in the hallway.