I snagged one of those Ikea tyvek-material yardsticks the last time I was there and keep it in my purse. It has impressed many of my friends. ;o)

I keep a measuring tape in my purse, my car, several in the house. Maybe beef up your supply at home (3 or 4?) and keep them religiously in one place or in several designated spots (kitchen, bedroom, etc.). If you don't want to keep a heavy thing in your purse, try folding up a soft sewing tape in your wallet. I think I'd lose the stickers in all honesty but I can see sticking it to the cover of a project notebook or clipboard would be handly.

But still...sometimes I'm without one. If I'm in home depot or lowes, no problem, I just grab one off the shelf (you can always put it back when you're done). Furniture, consignment, thrift and accessories stores will usually have one and will let you use it (or even better will measure for you). Even non furniture stores (say you're buying a used fixture) will usually have a measuring tape for purposes of working on their visual displays. If its in a box, dimensions are usually written on the box or there's always google.

I didn't know that about the dollar bill & carrying around a floor plan is awesome, can't believe I didn't think of that (thanks!). You're on foot so this won't apply but for us with rides, I often keep the sample pieces of my flooring, countertops etc in my trunk too. To see if a piece of brown furniture has the right tone against my brown floor. Pictures on my phone too for the same purpose.

i'm seeing a whole industry begat from this practicality. forget kitten checks... give me spanish>english checks. forget the carbon fiber iPhone case... i'll take a ruler or a conversion chart.

Oh wait, they are itty bitty! Cool. Not as useful but might come in handy. Or you could just measure & log the dimensions of your credit card, wallet or phone on your phone's notepad, save yourself a couple of bucks. My BF knows the measurement of his outstretched hand from thumb to pinky and uses handspans to measure (construction dude who has much better guestimation skills than myself).

redneck...how about a conversion chart phone app :-)

It's always pretty easy to find a piece of paper that's 8.5x11 inches and measure from there, up or down.

Dollar store measuring tapes.

mauishopgirl... I also use the hand span measure. You always have it with you.

I always carry the Ikea tapes in my purse. Recently, I pulled it out when I was at Jysk and the customer in front of me at the checkout needed one and the staff could not find any.

The stickers are better than nothing but I would not want to measure a rug with them, for example.

I find it easiest to know the dimensions of my body parts (thumb joint, hand, foot, arm) - you can measure pretty much anything like that...

Once I did a floor plan over the phone for a friend without any measuring devices - the whole thing was done in the scale of his foot!

I'm a hopeless eyeballer. Even if I had measuring tape with me, I'd still just eyeball it and say, "Eh, looks like it'll fit!"

I've seen a tattoo of measurement markings along the side of someone's thumb before. Very simple, looked exactly like the lines on a ruler for the first 3 inches. So funny and really clever!

You can get small measuring tapes for sewing in dollar stores, too. Home Goods is another place with free paper ones, you just have to find them (hanging inconspicuously at t he ends of shelves, usually.)

Also, most stores would have a measuring tape that you can borrow. Before I adopted the habit of having a measuring tape on me all the time, I would always ask staff - I must have borrowed a tape at least 50 times at Home Sense.

Another vote for just knowing how wide your outstretched hand is. Mine (I think it's average-sized) is 8" from thumb to pinky when the fingers are wide spread, and 4" across the knuckles, including the thumb knuckle, when the fingers are closed. That's been more than enough for me to measure anything!

The inside of my Moleskin weekly planner has a ruler on the edge which has come in handy a billion times, along with pages of other things (like time zone charts and conversion and country codes) that are handy dandy for the amateur detective/intrepid reporter/secret spy/ocd nosy person.

I also know that my hand, from heel to my middle finger is five inches.

Instead of carrying a small floor plan, scan it and load it onto your smartphone, in the photo app. For a ruler, there is one made for a smallish Filofax that fits in my wallet. When I travel, I carry an Ikea yardstick. There are also measuring Apps, which I haven't tried.

I carry a fabric sewing measuring tape in my purse (I think its 2 or 3 feet long), and a small (neon orange!) metal tape (10 feet!) in my car at all times! And in my phone, I have the dimensions of various things in my home.

My arm span is exactly 6-feet. This knowledge comes in handy regularly.

@mauishopgirl. true. i was trying to stay in the "physical" (rulers, etc.) which didn't work out. however, if routsey loads any slower, i might have to just get a physical train schedule.

I use a small keychain tape measure. They cost a couple of dollars at any hardware store.

I have one of those Ikea tapes in my bag, but it keeps ripping. I am totally fishing out the mini tape measure I tossed into the charity bag!