The 11+1 essential tools to have in any home

Endlessly imitated, rarely matched, spend the extra few bucks for the Knipex Combination Pliers. The steel is better, the ergonomics are better, the action is butter smooth and it will never fail you. It grabs, it clamps down, it pulls, it twists, it cuts soft wires, hard wires, cables, it does it all. I recommend the 03 02 180 model for an excellent all rounder.

The plumbing tool to have is a set (you need two of them, one to hold the pipe while you unscrew with the other - plumbing pipes are fragile) channel lock style pliers. These have completely replaced the adjustable wrench as a superior option. I highly recommend this set from Knipex, but similar more budget alternatives will do the job too, even if not as smoothly.

There are sooo many options here, from 2-3 dollar a piece store branded options, to brand name options, from individual screw drivers, to combination screw drivers. The fundamentals are: You need a Flat Head, Philips heads in all 3 sizes (PH1, PH2, PH3), especially the first two, and a few sizes of PZ heads Highly recommend are also a set hex heads An example of a an exhaustive budget set from DIY retailer Leroy Merlin: https://tinyurl.com/4499494d An example of Wera set. Wera is a trusted, high quality brand: https://tinyurl.com/bdf85bx8 Or, an example of a high quality combination screw driver with many bit kit options: https://tinyurl.com/42r937pv

If you're into PC building, or fixing your laptop or other smaller sized electronic devices, these usually have other types of screws than the general purpose screws like those found in furniture or larger electrical appliances. A great kit for working with computers is is iFixit Essential Electronics Toolkit

There's many types of hammers but, in my opinion, the best overall purpose hammer to have in your house, if you have only one, is a medium weight (400-500 grams) framing hammer, with straight claws, and a nail removing notch. This DeWalt example is great, but any similar hammer will do the job

The humble utility knife, cheap, simple to use, and so useful when you need it. An example in the link, but just pick whatever you find in your closest DIY store.

You need one. Get a Stanley. 5 meters. 3m is not enough. 8 is great, but it's bigger, heavier, and you might not need it.

In this day and age, there is no excuse to reduce yourself a simple pen test for your electrical diagnosis. Multimeters are cheap, capable and easy to use. I don't recommend you do serious electrical fixes on your own if you are not qualified but, at least, you'll be able to diagnose the problem and see where you have power and where you don't. Not to mention you can also use these to test the health of your car battery and other electrical appliances you may have, for example solar chargers, external batteries etc. I'm linking an iFxit example, but pretty much any brand will do.

One of the two power tools on this list is the Hammer Drill. I recommend a drill over an impact driver, because the drill is far more versatile and can be adjusted to work as an improvised but good enough for occasional use sander, polisher, mixer and more. Get a Hammer drill (a drill with the hammer functionality) if you will have to drill holes into masonry (brick, concrete). If you're only going to be working with wood, metal or dry wall, you don't need the hammer function. I use DeWalt, I have the DCD709 (DCD708 is the same tool but without the hammer function). For light home use, any 18volt option will do, including the budget ones. A link to the latest generation DeWalt hammer drill as an example.

If you might need to do some light wood cutting, but you're not sure how much, what kind, or if you know, and it's light, the best tool for that kind of task is a Jigsaw. You have softwood blades, hardwood blades, even plastic and metal blades, as you can also cut metal and plastic pipes or sheets for example. They vary from 20-30 USD budget plugged in options like this (https://tinyurl.com/5x56kerz), to the battery powered, higher end options like the DeWalt DCS331 linked below. I have this exact 20 USD model linked here, and I've used it dozens of times over the past 3 or so years, and it's worked great for me.

A multitool is especially great if you have a yard and you don't always want to go back to the house and get that one screw driver for one screw that needs a little tightening, or if you're doing something in the car, or for a friend. As the best general purpose multitool I recommend the Leatherman Wave, linked below, or its cheaper, but almost as good clones, like the Bibury Multitool Pliers, 19-in-1 (model 922.7848), which I have and I've used many times, for work around the house and as a camping tool, and it's served me very well.