Old Things

My mouse died. A computer mouse. In recent weeks I began to notice problems with the wheel, there was an issue with vertical page scrolling, and today it hardly responded to movement on the pad. So, the time has come. As if this event is unimportant, and I wouldn’t write a whole post about it. But before sending the mouse into the trash bin, I wondered if it could be used in some alternative way. First of all, I googled this question to find out what people generally do in such cases. Well, of course, apart from the simplest thing — disposal.

In fact, there are many ways to use a broken mouse. You can take it apart for spare parts, the battery compartment and contacts can be adapted for other devices. The mouse body can be used as a safe — to hide a flash drive, handwritten passwords, jewelry. As a last resort, it can be turned into a work of art. Or filled with soil and grass seeds. After a few days of heavy watering, green sprouts will start breaking through from every gap, it will look original.

Image Source: AI, Sora.

To begin with, I decided to just take the device apart to assess the prospects and possibilities. The body of the computer mouse was held together by a small screw hidden in the battery compartment under the sliding cover.

Inside there is a board, a wheel, and a certain amount of free volume to give the appropriate shape for the user’s hand.

First I reassembled the case without the “innards.” At that very moment I realized that in such a state the mouse looks unnatural and too light.

That is, in any case, it needs some weight to imitate a working device, if I suddenly decide to use it as a “safe.” If a thief or a tax inspector takes such a mouse in hand, they’ll understand something is wrong, and inside its body are pleasant surprises.

I put the microchip back in place and tried to fit a hundred-dollar bill inside the body. It turned out to be too long, even when I rolled it into a thin tube.

Well, such a volume is perfect for small jewelry or for a note with passwords, for example, for a seed phrase that can be stored like this for many years.

However, it doesn’t matter what you need and from whom to hide it. The main thing is that you have the desire. And with desire everything is possible. And you won’t need a computer mouse for that. That’s a fact. I still didn’t send the mouse to the trash bin, but reassembled it and set it aside. Someday I will find a use for it, maybe even in six months I’ll notice it and think that I have enough junk, and really throw it into the trash.