Protect Your Straws!

Hello Ability Powered, gamers! Disability confession: I have to drink using a straw. For those of you who also need straws, you’ll understand fully the perils I am about to discuss. Everyone else sit back and listen to a tale… a tale of untimely demise!

Straws.. of Demise!

If you need straws, they are something you’d never leave home without. You run to town, get thirsty, see a coke machine (I’m from Tennessee, everything here is referred to as a “coke”), and drop your money into it. The machine just gave you a cold refreshing drink…  but no straw. Now say you can’t lift this drink, you have two choices… You can either wait until you get home to put a straw in it, which if you’re thirsty defeats the point in buying it, or ask someone to tilt your head back and slowly pour some into your mouth.  If you choose the latter, be very careful or it could turn into soda water boarding in the blink of an eye! Coincidentally that is precisely why I now never leave home without my straws.

Protect Your Straws from the Grave!

The water boarding however is not the untimely demise I spoke of earlier. That comes to our poor friends the straws once they start traveling. Guys, meet the wheelchair backpack… as known as the straw graveyard.

At first, I started buying straws in an plastic bag. At the time I was in school and the bag would go into a backpack nice and neat. However, my textbooks would go into and out of my backpack all day, and before I knew it the poor package of straws would come out looking like this:

The top would be completely ripped across, straws would be bent and mangled… It was pretty terrifying! So I thought “Hey! I bet a box would be a lot more sturdy!” I switched to buying the boxes of straws instead. Again what came out was pretty horrifying.

That’s right friends, the poor box met its untimely demise also. It was squished! Not only that, but the top and bottom were busted open!

Done with School, Done with Backpacks

I’m out of school now and the days of textbooks are long gone. The dreaded backpack was never kind to our hero the straw. Boxes to this day still meet uncertain death anytime they enter the ferocious backpack. Later, you clean out the backup and always get this pile of remains. *Hears Taps faintly playing in the distance*

One day I was mourning the loss of another handful of mangled straws when I decided the backpack would no longer be the bane of our friends: the straws. I needed a way to protect them not only in my backpack, but in my purse. Something that was small enough to be convenient, but tough enough to last all day. And then it hit me! The solution is in the travel section of your local Wal-Mart, Target, etc store! So friends, are you ready to save a small fortune by protecting your straws? I thought so.

The Solution to Protect Your Straws??

Here’s what you do: go to your local department store or any store that has a section for travel supplies. Ignore all those little bottles of soap and lotion, and focus on the end of the aisle with the plastic bottles and boxes. Now there should be this nifty little tube.

Now I know what you’re thinking, but this is not a toothbrush holder for your upcoming vacation. This, my friends, is the solution to all the straw problems we talked about!  That’s right, here’s the secret to protect your straws.

Toothbrush Holders: Savior of Straws

These toothbrush holders come in a variety of colors. They slide open easily, yet are secure enough that I have never had one come open in my bag on its own. Now straws come in different sizes, so I make no promises on exactly how many your straw holder will hold. If you use the average gauge, straws such as the brands shown in these pictures should be able to fill up the tube with around ten straws. Depending on how thirsty you are and how long your day is, this should be enough to last you all day. The best part of all is your straws will not be mashed, mangled, or destroyed in the bottom of your backpack ever again!

Saving Your Straws, Saving Your Sanity

So now you guys know the secret! Be a responsible owner and protect your straws from the dark depths of a your wheelchair backpacks or purses. Putting your straws in a toothbrush holder will save them from being mashed, mangled, or meeting their untimely demises! But don’t take my word for it, get you a toothbrush holder to day and let me know how it works for you!

If you’d like to discover more disability tricks and tips then check out our accessibility IRL Shortcuts!