Rant: I used to think a $2 dental pick from the flea market was a fine tool for cleaning shutter blades.
After launching a tiny spring across my garage and spending 45 minutes on my hands and knees, I finally invested in a proper set of anti-magnetic tweezers, so what's the one cheap tool you stubbornly used for way too long?
That story about the spring is a real nightmare. My version was using a butter knife as a pry tool for way too many electronics. Finally chipped a circuit board and learned that lesson the hard way.