Outlet safety

The following is a true story.

 

When I was about 3 years old I had quite a "shocking" experience playing house one day. I had some old house keys on a ball chain that my brother had given to me to play with. I wanted to be able to use these keys while playing house because unlocking "air" just wasn't as fun. So, I looked around and found the next best thing to a real key hole for my keys: the wall outlet. Well, both keys in and a loud pop later I was screaming my head off and the wall outlet was smoking. I survived without any damage. (Blessing from God right there) Mom and Dad had told me countless times about the dangers of the outlets, but like most little kids I didn't heed their warnings and I suffered the consequences. (I still wince when I plug something in an outlet)

  

So when my son began crawling I was (and still am) over cautious about our wall outlets. Hubs, knowing this story, felt the same way and bought the plug safety covers. Putting them in the outlets was super easy. What I find to be the most difficult aspects of them are getting them back out (without killing your fingers) and remembering to put them back in after using the outlet. I run into this problem the most when I vacuum.

 

So, I thought I would share a trick. This isn't something I learned off the Internet; I was taught this by my coworkers when I was a maid after college.

 

Use the prong of the plug to GENTLY pry the safety cover off. I pry it out just enough to remove it the rest of the way with my fingers. (But, sometimes my strength gets the best of it and it goes sailing across the floor; so don't fret if it happens to you)

 

 

 

 

Plug in your cord

 

 

Then place the safety cover on the cord like so

 

 

I turned it upside down to show how it stays on there.

 

Then when you go to unplug your cord you have a reminder to put the safety cover back on.

 

This works with most cords. Yes, it can bump off as the cord moves (e.g. when vacuuming) but my vacuum cord in particular is a little thicker so it sticks; even when my toddler shakes the cord as I vacuum.

 

Cautions:

 

As with any small object keep the covers away from kids as they can be a choking hazard.

 

This trick should not be used on cords that have a "permanent" home. (Lamps, TV’s, etc) This trick is mainly for cords that will be unplugged shortly after use (like my example: the vacuum)

 

Do not use any other items to remove the covers. I use the plug prong because if it "slips" into the socket it's not going to shock me.

 

And most importantly, outlet safety covers don't keep your children 100% safe, so don't rely solely on them. Teach your children the dangers of outlets as well.

 

Keep the kiddos safe and God Bless!

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