It’s the 21^st century and I don’t even venture into our laundry closet anymore because it is like some mad scientist’s laboratory: bottles of colored liquids with mysterious purposes oozing and dribbling all over the floor.  One day, I fully expect a chance combination of chemical compounds from the detergents and softeners and presoaks to combine in an event that will unleash a quasi-sentient protoplasm (the Blob!) on an unsuspecting world (surely the first-ever instance of spontaneous generation). Oh, the humanity! Years later when the handful of survivors are struggling to survive, the truth of the gooey destruction will emerge, and the truest of words will be spoken:  “Damn, dirty laundry room!”

Never fear dear reader.  Unlike the coming zombie apocalypse, this future is preventable (even without the use of time-traveling cyborgs) thanks to designer Neilmac and his 3D printed detergent cup holder available on Shapeways.com.

It’s a simple idea and product – elegant in its execution – that makes life just that much easier and keeps your environment clean.  The plastic basket hangs below the nozzle and holds the cup in a state of perpetual readiness; readiness for you and the inevitable drips that issue from this bottle.

And lest you conceive this invention to be a flimsy piece of nothing just waiting to snap asunder on its first use, rest assured that Neilmac has thoroughly tested his invention under the most grueling of conditions: He suspended a 10 pound (4.5 kg) dumbbell from the detergent cup holder (that’s a lot of fabric softener!). Hang a number of those above a doorway, and you could do pull-ups.  (Note for the sarcastically impaired: Do not attempt to perform pull-ups using the detergent cup holder.  Only damage and pain will result.)

The detergent cup holder can be printed in a variety of colorful plastics and can be purchased on Shapeways.com.