A touchscreen stylus does not have to be expensive in order to work well.

I did not buy a stylus when I first got an iOS device about two years ago; however, once I picked up a $9.99 model at Walmart, I was hooked. That first one lasted for about six months, until it started to wear out.

As luck would have it, before I broke down and bought a replacement, I actually won a nice fancy Bamboo model as a door prize at a campus event.

Last week, during a crazy couple of days, I lost track of it. I had up to that point been pretty proud of myself for not losing it.

I usually just keep it clipped to the shirt pocket where I keep my iPod Touch, but during these past few very hot days I started wearing T-shirts with no pockets, meaning that keeping track of my stylus required a little more cognitive effort.

It might now be at the bottom of a laundry pile, or between the cushions of a sofa, or standing in as a battering ram on a Lego battlefield somewhere in the house.

Even though I got it for free, a Bamboo stylus is not cheap, meaning that I worried about the cost of replacing it if I lost it, so may have used it less frequently. Deciding whether the convenience of using the stylus is worth the risk of losing it ets up even more mental effort.

So it would seem then that the solution should involve either becoming more careful, which would require more effort, or getting a supply of cheaper backups, so that losing any one stylus is less of a big deal.

This Colorful Stylus Bundle is priced at about $1 each.

The little stubby ones are awkward, but better than a finger. They work just as well as $20 models.

These styluses work just as well as the more expensive ones did when they were new. They feel a little light, but I suppose if that still bothers me in a week I can try to open up the tube and pour in some Elmer’s Glue to provide it with a little more mass.

I’ve been socialized not to want to use the pink one, so I offered to let my daughter pick a stylus for herself to keep. As I hoped, she went right for the pink one, and had it clipped to her pajamas when I out her to bed.