• Gadgets & Technology
• Men’s Lifestyle

Life’s hard. There’s a housing crisis, you’ve hit your 4G limit, it’s a five week month and the colleague you thought was game at the staff do still hasn’t replied to your texts (and now avoids you like the plague). There are few solutions to the hardships and heartaches the man upstairs throws your way, but there is room to improve elsewhere. In a bid to make life easier, we’ve handpicked eight gadgets that’ll make for a marginally less miserable existence, whether you get that raise at work or not.

1. GPS For Your Keys

Half an hour late and still no sign of your keys? Never again. These genius tracking devices can pinpoint the exact whereabouts of misplaced items (keys, wallets, coats, partners etc.) via a smartphone app. Lost that? Just double press one of the Tiles to make it ring. Tile Tracker Tag, available at Amazon, priced £22.95.

2. Herb Scissors

Unless you interned under Gordon Ramsay, light-speed chopping of chives is ill-advised. As all undiscovered chefs know, you should be using herb scissors instead. Five sets of steel blades will save you plenty of time (and fingers). Easy-Clean Herb Scissors, available at Amazon, priced £8.49.

3. Portable Phone Charger

If you’ve tried all the tricks to save your iPhone battery, you might just have to accept its fate as being, well, a bit crap. Save yourself the frantically misspelt 1 per cent text and invest in a portable phone charger with enough juice for several rounds of Google mapping and Uber ordering. Or, yeah, Tindering. Veho Pebble Verto Portable Battery Pack, available at Amazon, priced £12.99.

4. Portable Speaker

Thanks to the game changer that is the portable speaker, guilty pleasure tunes can do as noughties pop-rockers The Calling suggested and go wherever you will go. Way up high, or down low, simply hook up via Bluetooth and keep your favourite hits on loud. And now you’ll have that song stuck in your head all day. Sorry. JBL Go, available at Amazon, priced £24.99.

5. Smartpen

Going green should be a priority for us all, but if you’re still a slave to the paper and pen, there is something you can do to make life easier for both yourself and your more tech-loving colleagues. This smartpen converts handwritten notes into digital versions; meaning can share your ramblings and doodles easily. Just make sure you’ve nailed the cursive. Livescribe 3 APX-00020 Smartpen, available at Amazon, priced £129.95.

6. Beard Catcher

Despite pleas of innocence, nobody will believe that the tonne of hair trimmings left in the sink came solely from your face. Swerve a showdown with the flatmates by covering your tracks. A shaving bib (however ridiculous it looks) will catch all those curlies, leaving you with facial hair-free tiles. Shaving Beard Apron, available at Amazon, priced £2.

7. Vacuum Razor

If a sheet full of beard bits sounds a bit, well, weird, luckily the latest grooming releases do away the need for a tent attached to the mirror. Created with a built-in vacuum to hoover up the offcuts from your facial foliage, this trimmer catches hair as you go, giving you a mess-free shave wherever you decide to do it. Remington Vacuum Beard Trimmer, available at Amazon, priced £74.99.

8. Multitool

There are all sorts of broken lightbulbs and loose nails that don’t warrant a call to a handyman. Investing in the builder’s version of the Swiss army knife will give you all the tools of the trade without sacrificing your cupboard space. Plus, think how great you’ll look replacing that fuse. Leatherman Wave LT650 Pocket Tool, available at Amazon, priced £83.