Painting supplies I am glad I had

Here are a few things I'm glad I had while painting the outside of our house:

• A Belt Bucket. This is a bucket that has its own belt that clips around the waist. It has a plastic clip for your paintbrush and you can buy removable liners. (I have to go back to the paint store, though: The Bad Guy at the paint store sold me the liners for $2.99 each when they should have been 3 for $2.99. The bastard!). The only problem I've had with this tool was the time my shirt got caught in the clip, so the clip didn't fasten securely. A few minutes later the clip popped open and I spilled purple paint all over the ground. I only did that once.
  
• Glad Press 'n' Seal plastic wrap. This stuff is perfect for sealing up paint containers that don't have lids. None of the other kinds really stick like this stuff does to dry containers. (You don't need to buy the liner lids for the Belt Bucket if you have a roll of this stuff around.)
• My iPod. I've been listening to my new playlists, "Enough Spoons," "Moody," and "All I Wanna Be Is Sheryl Crow." Music makes the work go so much faster.
• Zip-sealed plastic sandwich bags. I tape one with duct tape to the bucket and have a place to put my brush when I don't want it to dry out.
• A bucket of water and at least two absorbent rags. I use an old kitty-litter pail for water and cloth diapers (never used on a child's bottom) as rags. I keep a damp rag with me to wipe off errant brush marks or paint splatters before they have a chance to dry. I like to have two at a time so one can be in the water bucket and I can use the other one; then I drop the used one in, squeeze the excess water from the other one, and go.
  
• A plastic drop cloth. Necessary for when you really want to load your paintbrush or roller with lots of paint and you know little drops of paint will fly.
• A bucket hook. This was nice to have when someone else was using the Belt Bucket. The hook can attach to a pail handle and you can hang it just about anywhere.
• A good extension ladder. I have spent many hours over the past few weeks high on the ladder. I learned a lot about maneuvering a large and heavy ladder. E.g., always collapse it to its shortest height before you lift it; lift it above its center to keep it from tipping in some direction you don't want it to go; if you're working on an uneven surface, keep a bunch of shims around to help level it. I did fine with a bunch of chunks of sandstone of different thicknesses that we had lying around. But if you are painting a house or building that is on a hillside, you should consider a ladder leveler tool, which I've seen at painting supply stores. If I were a contractor, I would definitely buy one. It would save a lot of time and hassle.