I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve said that to myself. The other frustrating thing is when I see some great idea that I had previously thought of but didn’t do anything about. I’m sure you’ve all been in one or both of these situations.

I recently had such a moment. From time to time, people send products in hopes that they’ll spark some interest and we’ll publish them in our Product Showcase section. Typically, we run them if appropriate for your review, and that’s the end of it. The market decides quickly if the product has merit. That’s the beauty of our free market system.

Occasionally, I see something that’s really clever or useful and grabs my attention. Rarely will I write about it, but there are those rare instances.

This product pictured is one of them. Called VaccUFlex, it recently came in the mail. Most probably would have thought that it was fairly mundane, but to me, it was sheer genius. As many of you know, I’m an avid car guy and all-around tool junkie. You can see from the picture what this thing does. If not, you won’t use it anyway. How many times have you looked at an area and said, “I sure wish I could get my vacuum in there.” Well, ask no more. This thing gets you right under that fridge and cleans those dust bunnies off the coils. Or, what about between those seats in a console-equipped vehicle?

If you work on stuff, your mind has probably already come up with many more uses than I can rattle off here.

Just seeing the product should have been enough, but I needed to talk to the guy who came up with it, partly because I was jealous and partly because I’m somewhat entrepreneurial. His name is Joe, and as with most of these kinds of items, he came upon it out of necessity. Joe’s wife fell in love with a new light fixture for the front porch and it turned out to be very difficult to clean. He tried to use his vacuum, but it just didn’t get in there. And there you have it! Several iterations later, his problem and ours were solved.

I guess my point here is this: the next time you’re faced with a situation that requires some ingenuity, stop and ask yourself, “Can I solve this?” If so, do it and then ask, “Does anyone else have this problem?” If so, look into getting it made. What the heck, it might just be the next big thing.

And hurry up! I’m probably struggling with the same problem and not clever enough to solve it.