I'm not fully diagnosed with arthritis, but if I don't take anything for it I can't sleep from all the pain. So I take Aleve. Have you seen the newest bottle construction? I cannot believe they're the most widely used OTC remedy for arthritis and have an unopenable bottle. I can still do the pharmacy bottles, but not this one. You have to pinch it and turn. Uh, no. I had hubby take the top off and then put it in the drawer, opened. I like the looks of that gadget. I'm looking more and more for ways to prolonging being crippled by it, and that looks to help.

We have a little gadget that slips around the jar cover that makes it very easy to open the lids of almost everything. I think it cost something like $4.95.

I use a pipe wrench.....cost a lot more than $4.98, but it works to tighten hose connectors, upen nail polish and also a huge jar of pickles.
I had one fo those electric things....more hat than cattle if you know what I mean...didn't work and took up too much space and was fiddley to get it our and place the har in it and turn it on....I just grab my wrench and open.
Linda C

I have an adjustable gadget, slips around the jar-cover and has enough length to get leverage - it opens everything from screw-top bottles to huge jars, I heard it's called a "gillihoolie" (sp) but have tried to google it and can't find out anything about it, had it for a long, long time.
I used to call it the substitute for "Honey, will you open this for me?" and then wait and wait and wait...until the next commercial LOL

This does look like a useful gadget, but in reading the reviews, one person said it broke the second time it was used. That would be a bummer!

Fortunately for me, even though several of my fingers are misshapen due to arthritis, my grip is good enough that --after several tries, some hot water run over the lid, and a little judicious banging of the rim on the edge of my counter--I can usually open the darn thing!

What's almost worse for me is trying to open the sealed paper in the cereal box. I don't want it to tear raggedly, b/c then it won't fold properly. I finally got smart and started using scissors to cut it evenly. Every once in awhile, though, I still have to try to open it with my fingers--and can rarely do it! Oh well, my fingers have reached the point where there is seldom any pain, anymore. That's something to be thankful for.

I've lost my grip too, and find this extremely useful and takes up almost no space. Pretty easy to find locally--grocery stores, etc.

If you do a search in the cooking forum or rest of GW for Jar Opener, you'll come up with lots of things that work or people have found a waste of money. Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: simple jar opener

I purchase a few things in jars, but not very many.....because most of the stuff I use I can myself. Then I take those rings off after a day or two when the seal is fast. Of course, I don't do my own maraschino cherries, olives, or the occasional odd and end. I find that nine times out of ten, when the vacuum seal is broken, the lid easily twists off. So, I take a church key (one of those old fashioned type things you puncture something like evaporated milk with) turn it over and use the pointed triangle to slip under the lid just a bit, and lift and you can hear the air whoosh in. Then it untwists easily.

I've nothing against kitchen gadgets, or any other appliance when it helps with a disability. But I hate cheaply made kitchen appliances and most of them are anymore.

Yes, I get frustrated as well, with safety rings, pinch/twist/and bear down locks, the whole nine yards. That's why my drawers are filled with all sorts of kitchen shears. The sad thing is I can remember when you could buy an article of food and not have to worry about somebody fouling it for the fun of it. I think it points more to something being a lot more wrong with society than lids.

Like Suzy, I use the pointed end of a 'churchkey' to break the seal on pickle jars, etc. and an old set of nutcrackers for nailpolish or acrylic paint bottles. Also have a 6" round thin piece of rubber-like material (never seen for sale...this one has an advertisement on it) that is great for gripping jar or lids even with wet hands. For cereal, I pour it into tall clear plastic containers with easy-open tops...same for things like saltines and oatmeal, grits, rice. I can easily check "inventory"...and also a measuring 1/2 cup fits inside easily. josh