Product Review: Mighty Handle

If you grew up somewhere in the northern part of the U.S. (like I did), you are probably quite familiar with the aspect of winter-time grocery shopping. Temperatures can range anywhere from freezing to I-can't-feel-my-nose-anymore, and the last thing anyone wants to do after they bring groceries into the nice, warm house is go back outside for more groceries. In our house, the phrase "not it" wasn't just a childhood cliché, it was how we decided who was going to go out and finish bringing the rest of the stuff in. Well, until mom came along and booted us all outdoors to finish the job.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could carry all your groceries in just one trip every time? Last month I was sent a handy dandy little item that allows me to do just that!

I was sent a complimentary Mighty Handle to test out so that I could do this review, but please know that my opinions and statements are my own! For more on my disclosure policy, please see the "Let me disclose to you" tab at the top of the page! Now on with this review!

Mighty Handle is, in my opinion, a super-tool for moms. Let's face it. Moms are the pack-mules of just about every family, and more often than not, good moms everywhere find themselves a hand or two short in their quest to be a carry-all. A big part of this is the awkwardness of carrying so many items. You can only grab so many bags before you have to start looping them over your wrist... you know, to the point that you cut off your circulation and have to wiggle your hands around every minute or so to relieve the pressure? Fortunately, Mighty Handle was created just to combat that problem. You can think of it as two giant plastic fingers coming out of a handle that is comfortable to hold. These "fingers" grab all the bags so that you don't have to, freeing your poor wrists and forearms from the damage caused by excessive strap-pressure.

The video at the bottom of this post demonstrates the way to use a Mighty Handle perfectly, but just to put the icing on the cake, I'd like to tell you about my five favorite things about this product.

1. Arm-relief. Pain-free definitely makes my number one reason on the list because, well, you know... who wants to be in pain?! Mighty Handle can pick up so many things at once that I'll never have to loop another bag around my wrist again. That alone makes this thing worth buying, but I promised five reasons, so here are the other four!:

2. I can get things done faster. I'm stressed pretty much 24/7. I am always thinking about the next thing to do on my list and how I can get it done in less time than I expect it to take. One trip from the car to the house instead of three? Yes please! Mighty Handle makes it really easy to pick up all my groceries in one go - not just from the car to the house, but also from the cart to the car.

3. You know that sound you hear when you turn a corner while your car is full of groceries? The one that sounds like a can of something heavy rolling onto something else that is probably soft bread or eggs? I hate that sound. That sound makes me wince, and wonder if I'm going to play hide & seek with my yogurt cups when I unpack the car. (You really don't want to accidentally miss one of those if they fall out of the bag. In hot weather, they explode. Trust me.) With Mighty Handle, after you finish putting your bags into the car (one-handed, mind you) all you have to do is twist the handle around and the bags will all sort of "lock" together, making it nearly impossible for your groceries to escape. No longer will turning a corner be a problem! (And no longer will yogurt explode in my car!)

4. This thing fits in my purse. I am the ultimate forgetter of forgetters. If I have something I absolutely must do, I usually write it on my hand, or on three different lists that I keep around the house. I have A.D.D. in a bad way, and unless I am continually focusing myself on what I'm trying to accomplish, I'll probably forget about it. Normally when I buy something that is supposed to help me get my work done faster, I forget to use it. I'll get to wherever I'm going (the store, the mall, jogging, etc.) and think, "Man, it sure would be nice if I would have remembered to bring "blank" with me!" I've actually found myself thinking that a few times at the store about Mighty Handle, which is nice for me, because then I remember that it's in my purse. (Yay!)

5. Oh my word, this thing does laundry. Okay, it doesn't actually do it for you, but I have managed to put everyone's hanging laundry onto it (from three different loads) and then just walk around from room to room putting things away. I have no love for doing laundry. Out of all the household chores, I think folding and putting away laundry is my least favorite. With Mighty Handle, I can pop all the hangers onto the sides and make one trip with all our clothes, which is infinitely nicer than needing to run back and forth to the laundry room. If only it did dishes too...

And if those five reasons didn't get you interested, here's a little house-chore math. (I told you I'm always thinking about how I can get things done faster!)

Without Mighty Handle, unloading my cart to put groceries in my vehicle takes me an average of three minutes. Using the handle, I can do it in one minute, thereby saving myself two minutes per grocery trip. If I estimate that I make an average of three shopping trips per week, I am saving myself 6 minutes per week, which comes out to 5 hours and 12 minutes per year.

Without Mighty Handle, unloading my vehicle to take my groceries in the house takes me an average of ten minutes. Using the handle, I can do it in one minute, thereby saving myself nine minutes per grocery trip. Using the same average of three shopping trips per week, I am saving myself 27 minutes per week, which comes out to 23 hours and 24 minutes per year.

Now to take an even more in-depth look at my time savings...

Let's say that on average, I have one grocery bag per month spill out inside the car. It takes me an extra five minutes each month just to pick all of that up and make sure that I haven't lost anything under my seats. Oh, and lets not forget that exploded yogurt, which took me around an hour itself just to clean up. If I'm looking at time saved from bag-spillage, I can now add another 2 hours to my time saved each year. And remember the laundry! On average I can save myself ten minutes per laundry load, or around thirty minutes per week, just by making one trip with Mighty Handle. That comes out to 26 hours per year.

Here's the fun part: I save 5 hours and 12 minutes per year by using Mighty Handle to unload my shopping cart. I save 23 hours and 24 minutes per year by using it to unload my vehicle. If I remember to twist my bags with the handle, I avoid grocery-spillage which comes out to around 2 hours per year. If I make further use of Mighty Handle by putting away laundry with it, I save another 26 hours. The grand total of time I save per year is 56 hours and 36 minutes. That's almost two and a half extra days!!

The cost you'll incur from grabbing a Mighty Handle for yourself? Each set of 2 will only put you back ten bucks, which makes buying one a no-brainer. Who wouldn't trade $10 for a couple of extra days' time?!?

My recommendation here is an obvious one, I'm a firm believer in this product! The only draw-back that I could find is that the bags may hit against your legs and make it a bit difficult to walk long distances if you have weak upper body strength. I didn't have a problem with this when I first got Mighty Handle, but I have been having some health issues lately which fatigue me and make it difficult to carry anything heavy. Otherwise, I never would have even realized that this could be a problem!

You can find out more about Mighty Handle and where you can buy your own at www.mightyhandle.com, or connect with them through social media on Facebook or Twitter!

(The giveaway that was associated with this post has expired, please check out our giveaways tab for a list of available contests!)