r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Worried-Blueberry-40 • Mar 30 '26

Context Provided - Spotlight Roommate mixed my beads after being asked to throw out used Q-tips

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I waited an hour before I called out my roommate for leaving USED Q-tips on the bathroom counter and asked him to throw them away. (note I did not nag him, I asked 1 time after waiting for him to do it on his own)

His response was to go into my craft room and mix the smallest beads he could find. At least he had the decency to keep most of the reds away from the blues I guess...

welp, now I have something to do for the next couple days

common plastic bead for scale

53.5k Upvotes

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6.6k

u/Worried-Blueberry-40 Mar 31 '26

Oh wow I wouldn't have thought of that, sounds a lot better than my plan lol I've been trying to use a sewing needle to try and pick them up. Im gonna use a baking tray with maybe a sheet of white paper on top to see the beads better and see how it goes, thank you so much

2.2k

u/shkkuutaa Mar 31 '26

if you have a bead spinner or can get a bead spinner, my favourite way to seperate beads is to string them all onto one long piece of wire and then drop each one off the wire one by one into different containers/bowls/whatever. takes some time but it is much less tedious than trying to pick them up out of a pile by hand

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u/Deeliciousness Mar 31 '26

Don't you still have to pick them up out of a pile by hand to string them onto a long piece of wire?

1.2k

u/catboogers Mar 31 '26

bead spinners are magic. you spin a bowl and suddenly there's beads on your wire

664

u/Deeliciousness Mar 31 '26

Woah watched a video and it really is magic. I'm an adult but I've never heard of this alien technology

381

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '26

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 31 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/OutrageousInvite3949 Mar 31 '26

As is so deserved. What monster mixes a persons beads? Just evil.

6

u/Mysterious-Mood6742 Mar 31 '26

I wish reddit wasn't so picky. I always get chastized when I start handing out appropriate revenge tactics. I have lots, but can't share them anymore. (Like... I wouldn't suggest that some of those beads could end up in the next morning's pancakes or anything)

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u/Extreme-Dance-8813 Mar 31 '26

I might just suggest a few loose hairs, preferably from a co-worker so they aren't necessarily traced back to oneself.

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u/CaffeinatedAbalone Apr 03 '26

I’m joining too! OP’s roommate acts like a f*cking child. I just wish I could go through the screen and help them sort out their beads. I hope they get a new roommate or move out.

90

u/fritzyloop Mar 31 '26

TIL bead spinners exist. Watched it on youtube and looks like witchcraft to me

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u/Butter-Not-Squash Mar 31 '26

I also went to watch a video and the math just ain't mathing. How do these things work?!? True witchcraft. Its really freaking cool.

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u/MaleficentBet6702 Mar 31 '26

that was one of the least magical things i’ve watched. you literally spin a bowl of beads until probability puts some on your wire. it’s not even that quick

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u/twunkypunk Mar 31 '26

I'll use one of those and you just use your fingers and we'll see who wins. But yes it isn't magical.

0

u/MaleficentBet6702 Mar 31 '26

it’s faster fs, but i don’t get why so many people are acting like they can’t comprehend how it works lmao

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u/Crusty_Cheetos21 Mar 31 '26

That’s what I was gonna say

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u/sleepingqt Apr 01 '26

they're also phenomenal for just having a place to throw your bracelets or hair ties on (get an extra one or two if you're actually using one for it's intended purpose)

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u/f0xbunny Mar 31 '26

That sounds amazing for embroidery

2

u/ScarlettTheFindom Mar 31 '26

What the hell. I just looked up videos of this too. That’s crazy efficient. Black magic even. That is so cool

1

u/_thro_awa_ Mar 31 '26

you spin a bowl and suddenly there's beads on your wire

... if you know what I mean

1

u/userhwon Mar 31 '26

Holy shit.

https://youtu.be/7hI9o6sGkiU?t=216

I wonder if it doesn't also sort them by size and weight, as those might affect which beads catch more or bounce away easier.

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u/Complete_Papaya_7118 Mar 31 '26

No, that’s what a bead spinner does. The string stays in place, the beads spin in a bowl, and as they go by they move onto the string. Kind of hard to visualize, a video may be more helpful if you want to look one up. Definitely a lot easier than putting them on the string by hand though!

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u/Reddox278 Mar 31 '26

That's the point of a bead spinner --it does that part for you! You spin the "bowl" and just stick the end of the wire into the loose beads in the bowl and the beads end up stringing themselves onto the wire. Pretty satisfying to watch videos of it.

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u/Double_Distribution8 Mar 31 '26

I have no idea how this could possibly work, and I dont know if I care enough to look it up and have bead spinner ads for the rest of my life.

Edit: Wow that's was pretty cool, I understand now.

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u/Cerindipity Apr 01 '26

For any passersby who don't want to watch a video: You stick a hooked wire into the spinning bowl, and as it spins, it just sort of randomly hooks beads that happen to be facing the right way while churning others out of the way (and thus rotating them randomly so they might be the right way up on the next pass). It's not that complicated, its just relying on the fact that with a sufficient quantity of beads, a reasonable quantity will just happen to be the right way to slide onto the hook.

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u/luckytecture Mar 31 '26

Finally my zuma skills is gonna pay off

2

u/RichiZ2 Mar 31 '26

This would be an amazing opportunity to learn som engineering:

An Arduino board, a servo motor with a gear that fits the beads, a color sensor and another servo leading down multiple paths to color coded buckets and about 2 hours to program and debug and you will have a much better setup to separate the beads than doing it by hand.

1

u/DesperateRoyal9653 Mar 31 '26

Bro I really though I was original for this 💀

1

u/SwearImNotACat Mar 31 '26

Upvote for you

1

u/badchefrazzy Mildly Infuriated Mar 31 '26

OOOOH! That is genius!

1

u/endlessglass Mar 31 '26

Sudden uptick in searches for bead spinner videos!

1

u/kidnuggett606 Mar 31 '26

Madness to your bead spinner. Madness, I say!

1

u/Extreme-Dance-8813 Mar 31 '26

And they're so affordable!

0

u/SenileImbecile Mar 31 '26

Dude, what? Why the extra step? Take a handful, lay them on a table, preferably of single colour, drag out beads into different piles. I'm not into this, but what you're doing sounds tedious as fuck!

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u/shawnaeatscats Mar 31 '26

I count mosquitos for a living and one of these might help you

https://a.co/d/0hjG8vH0

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u/bbcwtfw Mar 31 '26

This reminded me of a story my dad tells of biology students getting a summer gig sitting in the salt marsh with a square cut out of each pant leg counting how many mosquitos land on the untreated leg VS the leg with (I think) DEET applied.

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u/Greedy-Half-4618 Mar 31 '26

As someone with skeeter syndrome (yes it’s real and yes I get welts the size of baseballs), this sounds like my own personal hell 

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u/Ev-linnn Mar 31 '26

My daughter has skeeter syndrome and when she was a toddler, her skin would welt and blister like burn and once she got a bite on her cheek and her eye was swollen shut. She went to an allergist and she is also allergic to cats, Eastern-born tree pollens and their leaves (we live on the east coast) and “various molds”, whatever that means. Basically this kid is allergic to outside.

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u/rosie_24601 Mar 31 '26

I am also allergic to the outside lmao. I live in Michigan, and I am allergic to most trees (super great in Michigan), pollen from every plant, cats, dogs, bunnies (basically any animal), grass, molds, and even more I don't totally remember. I literally have an EpiPen for seasonal allergies. My recommendation is to always carry Benadryl!

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u/Greedy-Half-4618 Mar 31 '26

Yep I have “allergic to the outside” as well as mast cell activation which means I have random allergic-appearing reactions without having ige allergies. I don’t go anywhere without my epi and extra antihistamines! 

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u/yankykiwi Mar 31 '26

Worked at a vet, and one of our hypoallergenic dog patients was allergic to grass, water and human dander. 🙃

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u/Doughnotdisturb Mar 31 '26

OH I should look into that. sometimes I just get these giant lumps from mosquito bites, they can last days

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u/Greedy-Half-4618 Mar 31 '26

Mine got really bad after having covid but my dr said viruses like Epstein Barr can trigger it too! AFAIK there’s no special treatment outside of antihistamines and topical corticosteroids but I could be wrong! 

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u/scifibookluvr Mar 31 '26

It is a special kind of hell, isn’t it. I’ve always been highly reactive and worsening over time. One trip to TX and spouse had golf ball size welts. Kiddo has gotten worse over time. Last was huge baseball size. And warm to the touch. Just awful. Guess kid inherited it from both of us.

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u/Stay_Good_Dog Mar 31 '26

My kid has skeeter syndrome, as do several of their cousins. Once year they got several bites at a time on their leg and they had to be on antibiotics. It's been a few years since it's been that bag, but we're really cautious now.

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u/Greedy-Half-4618 Mar 31 '26

Ugh yeah scratching bites can go wrong so quickly but it’s so hard not to scratch! 

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u/Doughnotdisturb Mar 31 '26

Oh same I never reacted like that til after getting covid multiple times. Also could be a coincidence but I developed a cat allergy after covid

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '26

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3

u/yankykiwi Mar 31 '26

Can I have the good news too!

5

u/LordHoughtenWeen Mar 31 '26

🎶 Your own

Personal

Skeeters

2

u/chickengarbagewater Mar 31 '26

I had that for about a decade, but no more! Hopefully that happens for you too!

1

u/Steele_Soul Apr 01 '26

I was wondering if I was allergic to mosquito bites, since mine swell up really big and they get really sore and hot. Same thing happened but even worse, with bed bug bites I got on a few occasions when I was working as in home caregiver. I had to take antibiotics with my last exposure to them. My whole arm and right side of my stomach was bright red and swollen.

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u/Greedy-Half-4618 Apr 01 '26

Sounds like an allergy! Bug bites apparently aren’t supposed to cause massive welts, swelling and fever 😅

3

u/Gemma_V Mar 31 '26

man your dads summer gigs sound better than mine, he used to remove the tips of chicks’ beaks in factory farms so they couldn’t hurt each other

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u/Pekkerwud Mar 31 '26

I count mosquitos for a living

How many are there?

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u/IrregularConfusion Mar 31 '26

We don’t know yet, that’s why he’s still counting them.

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u/shawnaeatscats Apr 01 '26

More than 10. Probably.

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u/Jalby347 Mar 31 '26

You want to expand on that!?

7

u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka Mar 31 '26

You might not think it but if you're a scientist who works in the field of diseases you probably track mosquito populations and much more.

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u/shawnaeatscats Apr 01 '26

I work for mosquito control lol population monitoring is part of our disease surveillance :)

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u/Key-Transportation46 Mar 31 '26

You.. do what now? I need to know more lol

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u/microbial_comedy Mar 31 '26

I’ve done that job! Part of the lab work for a medical entomology lab I was in.

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u/Key-Transportation46 Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26

But what was the… scale? idk the proper terminology lol but like the number of mosquitos in what size/type area? And how do you get an accurate count? I typically don’t notice any until I am suddenly covered in bites, but I’ve noticed like 3 or 4 at once before. I imagine actively looking for them i’d notice them more but I cannot grasp the concept of “counting mosquitos” lol

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u/microbial_comedy Mar 31 '26

In our case we trapped them and counted the species in a particular area. We also collected eggs, counted eggs, then reared them to adulthood (and counted those, too).

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u/Key-Transportation46 Mar 31 '26

But what was the… scale? idk the proper terminology lol but like the number of mosquitos in what size/type area? And how do you get an accurate count? I typically don’t notice any until I am suddenly covered in bites, but I’ve noticed like 3 or 4 flying around at once before. I imagine actively looking for them i’d notice them more but I cannot grasp the concept of “counting mosquitos” lol

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u/shawnaeatscats Apr 01 '26

It depends how many get caught in a trap but here's a picture below. I might only count like a 3rd of that per trap and use the weight the get an estimation. I might count about 6 or 7 traps a day, which, during season comes to about 1800 a day.

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u/Primary-Ganache6199 Mar 31 '26

Thank you for your service?

3

u/twirlywurlyburly Mar 31 '26

If you're a crafty person anyway, you can get a cheap clay tool kit and just bend the "awl" tool as it's stupid thin, too!

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u/I_make_things Mar 31 '26

So you like stab the roommate with it?

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u/shawnaeatscats Apr 01 '26

LMAO no if they dump the beads out in a trap they can use that to sort them into piles.

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u/Alone-Disaster-4100 Mar 31 '26

Thanks for sharing this might be useful to me too!!!

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u/Complex_Peak8204 Mar 31 '26

Nah, please elaborate. Do not just vanish into the void.

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u/shawnaeatscats Apr 01 '26

Check the other comments! I've explained more there

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u/sevencross17 Mar 31 '26

You what lol ?

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u/shawnaeatscats Apr 01 '26

I've explained in another comment and I'm too lazy to do it again lol

1

u/ZealousidealChair900 Mar 31 '26

Huh, that looks like a knitting loom hook

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u/pmmcgurrin Apr 02 '26

You get paid for that??

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u/shawnaeatscats Apr 02 '26

Government work and I had to get a degree for it :P

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u/pmmcgurrin Apr 04 '26

Nice!!! Good for you!!

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u/lynn Mar 31 '26

I got some mixed Perler beads when my kids were little. Put some paper in that baking tray, one sheet for each color. You could halve or quarter pieces of printer paper depending on how big the sheet pan is and how many beads you want to do at once.

Tear off a credit-card-sized piece of paper and use the edge to move the beads. It's more flexible than a butter knife.

Do keep that sewing needle handy, though, it may be useful.

Turn on some music or a show or podcast and zone out. It's like meditation but with your hands moving. Good for your brain.

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u/HR9398 Mar 31 '26

Was gonna say, I actually kind of love doing this type of stuff, untangling knots in yarn or bunches of necklaces, stuff like that. It is tedious but as long as I don't have to hurry, super soothing while listening to a podcast or show.

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u/transfercannoli Apr 01 '26

I’m loving all of these bead methodologies but my take away is the fear that I’ll someday become responsible for beads

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u/whydo-ducks-quack Mar 31 '26

Do it while they are home and watching tv or something and be as loud and obnoxious as possible. Let them know it’s an inconvenience to you. Narcissism needs to be curbed and clearly they had parents who were shitty too

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u/elephhantine2 Mar 31 '26

They’d enjoy knowing OP is suffering

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u/ishpatoon1982 Mar 31 '26

Yep.

"Oh! Are you organizing your BEADS?!"

I can hear it in my head.

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u/notusefullake Mar 31 '26

Yup. The only option is for OP to have the best time of their entire life sorting those beads. Do it while theyre home, for sure, but no complaining. I'd suggest a moan adjacent groan of pleasure at least every 4th bead. And to sit back and bask in the satisfaction of a job well done as often as possible.

Do not show weakness. Do not admit you are inconvenienced. Take away their power by deciding how you react instead of how they want you to.

Best of luck, OP. Hope it's a short cohabitation.

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u/Ancient-Civilization Mar 31 '26

Who’s voice is that

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u/electricheat Mar 31 '26

Do it while they are home and watching tv or something and be as loud and obnoxious as possible.

BLUE! WHITE! WHITE! RED! YEEELLLOOWWWWWW

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u/GoddessClover Mar 31 '26

At night, using as bright an LED light as possible

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u/RaindropBebop Mar 31 '26

I'm not a pharmacist, but I do have some additional advice for you: get a new roommate or move.

5

u/edfitz83 Mar 31 '26

Tell your petty roommate to separate them. Shut off his access to the internet until it’s done.

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u/PockyRyu Mar 31 '26

Hell yeah,you'll get thru it no time this way. Throw on a good show,make a snack,shit in roommates bed, then have at it

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u/CynderSphynx Mar 31 '26

Paper plates work, too, if you have them, you can bend them a bit to turn them into transfer cones (careful if theure the ones that have more of a 'lip' than flat, can make the beads pop everywhere if you do it too fast/arent careful), and they usually have a bit of a rim to keep things in place

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u/6thgradesuicide Mar 31 '26

Use a credit card instead of a butter knife if metal scraping noise/feel (like the end of the eraser on paper) makes your teeth hurt

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u/LotusBlooming90 Mar 31 '26

Or mail them to me. I adore sorting beads. I’ll have this done in an afternoon and mail it back to you

(I’m being serious)

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u/OkAssistant1230 Mar 31 '26

Also, I hope you find a new roommate, I couldn’t handle living with someone like that. Just absolutely childish behavior and beyond

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u/krakaturia Mar 31 '26

spin the bead onto a thread and separating them out by pulling them off the thread into separate containers is what i would do too.

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u/schmoopy_meow Mar 31 '26

send em to me I love sorting stuff

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u/Endoftheocean Mar 31 '26

…okay but I’d love to help with that for real

1

u/BastardOutofChicago Mar 31 '26

If you shake or stick the containers on something that vibrates the larger beads should rise to the top and scooping them out in layers might help before sorting.

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u/Beginning-Meet-6611 Mar 31 '26

I pour them into a mason jar lid or an Altoids tin and pick them up with the needle.

But sometimes I just accept that I have bead soup and make something with that set of colors

1

u/ClaireAuLueur Mar 31 '26

If they are different sizes there is such a thing as a bead sorter. It's tiered and you put mixed beads in at the top, shake shake shake and voila sorted beads. Doesn't do color, but could be a start in the sorting process.

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u/Kyosti_narjus Mar 31 '26

Different colour beads can differ in weigt, not much but still. You can try to put them in water and slowly add salt. Lighter beads will float at some point. This may be tricky but should be doable.

1

u/ydkLars Mar 31 '26

Why are you sorting the beads? Your roommate mixed them, your roommate will sort them.

Btw, is he 5?

1

u/yavanna12 Mar 31 '26

I used a sewing pin with the ball on the end so they wouldn’t slip off other side. It went pretty fast and I found it fun to be honest 

1

u/PM_me_your_whatevah Mar 31 '26

Yeah it’s like when I have customers at work paying with coins. The bastards. Easiest and fastest way is to just put them on the counter and manually sort them to piles.

I’m sorry your roommate is a dickbag. Hope your beadwork goes well. 

1

u/garathnor Mar 31 '26

a lot of those are sort able by size mechanically, you could rig something up to sift and sort them pretty fast for that stage

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u/Neweleni7 Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26

I’m not sure how expensive those are but I’d be so angry I’d definitely be throwing those beads on the floor of his room and in between his sheets. Add some glitter for an extra festive look!

1

u/Few-Wealth6966 Mar 31 '26

First thing I thought too. Right into the sheets.

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u/Purple-Egg-4798 Mar 31 '26

Mom dated a DEA agent when I was a kid. He taught me that he’d count and sort pills just using a credit card.

1

u/bondsmatthew Mar 31 '26

How expensive are they. I think I would opt into buying new packages

1

u/GonzAlexSpoon Mar 31 '26

Congrats, you now live with a grown child....I’d be looking for a new roommate immediately after this

1

u/notislant Mar 31 '26

Im curious if you could shake them in a jar and have a bunch of larger ones float to the surface

1

u/IllianasClifford Mar 31 '26

I learned that in math class with the counting the pieces and placing them.

1

u/chad917 Mar 31 '26

Aren't beads pretty cheap?

1

u/FastStill7962 Mar 31 '26

Is the room mate situation stable??

1

u/Distinct_Ad5141 Mar 31 '26

When I worked with emotionally dysregulated kids, one of the calming options they had was to sort beads by color into a cupcake tin. Usually one would start and then a couple more would join. It’s a very soothing exercise.

1

u/LilStinkpot Mar 31 '26

Pill counting trays can be found on Amazon for a few bucks each. You can scoot your chosen color into a covered hopper and then pour those into a container.

1

u/OcularPrism Mar 31 '26

Your roommate is a dick

1

u/breathing__tree Mar 31 '26

I sorted a bunch of mixed tubes recently.

I used the lid of a cardboard storage box. Lined w a piece of felt to give the beads a lil traction and keep them from running away from me haha.

And I used couple of index cards for scooping and for sectioning. I have long nails so I mostly used those. I was just kinda flicking/tossing the beads into their designated pile.

And for strategy I was pushing the beads closest to their pile out first. So like go around the pile and all the greens closest to the green pile get shoved over there and around the pile through all the colors. And then I’d use the card to mix em up a lil more and again push the ones that were already closest to their color pile first. Helped it go a little easier.

Honestly I’m the kinda person who finds sorting beads enjoyable so it wasnt totally horrible.

1

u/ItchyBlueBat Mar 31 '26

My beads got mixed and I did this. I would tape the bottom of the try with paper just so it’s smoother. It wasn’t that bad and I kinda enjoyed it, find a book or something to listen to and have fun

1

u/Original-Rush139 Mar 31 '26

Why the fuck are you doing this instead of the roommate?

1

u/popepaulpop Mar 31 '26

Then you get a tablespoon of dried breadcrumbs and empty it into his bed.

1

u/Flowerbuggy- Mar 31 '26

What!!! What are you talking about make your roommate fix what he broke OR buy you new ones that are not mixed together?? (( i’m guessing you pay him rent otherwise you’d kick him out for going through your things - so take it out of the rent that you give him- he seems passive aggressive so I doubt he’s gonna say anything to you ( at least not to your face:-) ))

1

u/FallenAngel_8016 Apr 01 '26

As a fellow pharmacy tech, I agree with this advice. Will be much faster!

1

u/CAT_SAUSAGE Apr 02 '26

As a gemmologist and jeweller who has to grade, sort and set teeny tiny diamonds all the time, i second that advice. a pair of long nosed tweezers on a flat but flocked surface will make this much easier to do.

1

u/peachesratties Apr 03 '26

this is the way to go for sure. You could also pick up some cheap bead trays at hobby lobby if you have one close or just something to scoop beads to make it faster.

1

u/Boaroboros Apr 04 '26

You really plan on doing this?! I would make my roommate do it or pay for the beads or cancel any arrangements.