You've spotted an awesome piece of furniture, but you're not sure if its size is right. These tips can help. Use them to approximate dimensions (and fill out the cheat sheet to keep in your wallet) so you'll never come up short.
A "hand" -- the measuring unit for horses -- is 4 inches, the approximate width of many a palm. Another trick: Measure the span from the tip of the pinky to the tip of the thumb; then you can "walk" your hand across a surface. Additionally, the span of your arms is roughly equal to your height, so you can measure with outstretched arms.
A typical card is about 2 by 3 1/2 inches. On the back, the distance between the magnetic strip and the opposite edge is 1 1/2 inches.
It's about an inch in diameter, and its edge, rolled in a straight line, measures 3 inches (start and end with Washington's profile facing the same direction).
A man's size 10 1/2 shoe is about a foot long. A woman's size 8 is about 10 inches. Using the length of your shoe, you can measure a rug by traversing it heel to toe. For longer distances, count strides (to determine the length of your stride, walk through a puddle so you'll make footprints, and measure the distance between them).
U.S. currency is 2 1/2 by 6 inches. Paper money can wrap around objects, so it comes in handy for measuring small curved items (to mark the size, crimp the bill).
3 comments:
I've used all of them to measure things in a pinch, to get some idea of scale! Nice to know it really does work!
This is one killer PSA! I'm never smart enough to remember my measuring tape.
that is awesome...what great things to know! i keep measuring tape in my bag at all times, but it gets really heavy!
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