Helpful Hints from joeeze: Putting a plug in a socket

The prongs on most appliances' plugs are different: one's bigger than the other, something to do with grounding and whatnot.

That makes putting the plug into a socket without looking closely at the orientation of the plug and the socket's vertical receptacles a 50/50 proposition: you'll have to try again half the time.

Why not get it right every time?

Look at the picture above.

What do you see?

It's the end of my coffee grinder's cord.

By putting a self-adhesive 1/4" color-coded dot on the top when the plug is correctly aligned, all I have to do is see green to know I'm good to go.

What could be simpler?

Do it with all your plugs.

Use whatever color you like.

Tip: It's better to put the dot up than down.

That is, if you put a red dot on the bottom and then make sure you're not seeing red when you prepare to insert the plug, you can't be certain that the dot didn't fall off and that you're not inserting it the wrong way.

A positive is better than a negative, in other words.

A box of 450 Avery 1/4" color-coded dots (probably a lifetime supply unless Ray Kurzweil's right) costs $1.94.