[HN Gopher] Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately ...
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Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your
life?
What cheap yet very useful things have made a substantial change
and improvement to your life? For me it has always been USB flash
drives. I'm scared of getting ransomware'd one day, but I am safe
in the knowledge that I'd have to have every thumbdrive I own
plugged into my PC for some real damage to happen. They are a
lifesaver, and they get cheaper every year too!
Author : legrande
Score : 79 points
Date : 2021-08-09 17:07 UTC (5 hours ago)
| bluewalt wrote:
| - A sneaker cleaner kit, to keep my sneakers clean with no
| effort.
|
| - A 15000 lux day lamp, because my apartment is pretty dark, why
| causes some sort of depressing feelings over time
|
| - A Brita Water Filter Pitcher, which replaces all the bottles of
| water I needed to buy and carry.
|
| - Magnet app (mac OS) to organize windows quickly with keyboard
| shortcuts.
| Dracophoenix wrote:
| What's the lamp model?
| sergiomattei wrote:
| Ex-Magnet user here, try Rectangle. It's faster than Magnet,
| doesn't cause weird bugs, free, open source AND has more
| features.
|
| It's the whole package.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Mail processor. I spend $20/month, they receive all of my mail,
| open it, and digitize it. They discard the junk mail if I want. I
| never have to visit a mailbox again. I can even register it as my
| address on my driver's license and for my vehicles.
|
| EDIT: The service I use is https://www.sbimailservice.com/.
| cranesnakecode wrote:
| I might need to do this when I start my vanlife. What service
| are you using?
| [deleted]
| lasercat wrote:
| Can you share the mail processor that you use? Or how you went
| about finding one?
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| https://www.sbimailservice.com/
|
| Found them because they cater to the RV and cruising
| (sailing/motoring around the world) folks, and that's my
| circle of friends.
|
| (no affiliation other than as a customer)
| logosmonkey wrote:
| Yeah, I use the same. Super convenient for when I work on the
| road, never have to worry about not getting my mail. For those
| who are asking I use TravelingMailbox.com, it was recommended
| by people when I moved onto my boat years ago and even now that
| I'm back on land I still keep it up.
| lloydatkinson wrote:
| Wow I'd be far too paranoid about them leaking things
| bragr wrote:
| Some people in my area use these services and I've considered
| it because mail theft is a big problem in my area. Organized
| rings doing package theft, identify theft, and all that. So
| for us at least, it seems significantly safer than having it
| delivered directly. Personally I just go paperless as much as
| possible and have the post office hold my mail (another
| popular response).
| ortusdux wrote:
| PO box?
| bragr wrote:
| The problem with PO boxes, besides being in short supply,
| is all the places that can't accept or ship to PO boxes
| (DMV, voter registration, private parcel services,
| insurance companies, ...)
| 5555624 wrote:
| While it cannot be used as an option for "your physical
| residence.... in legal documents" -- voter registration
| or the DMV -- the USPS does offer "Street Addressing
| Service." It provides a street address you can use with
| UPS, FedEx, and others. P.O. Box 59 would be 500 Main
| Street #59 (for a Post Office located at 500 Main
| Street). The service is free. (I just filled out the form
| two days ago.)
| [deleted]
| warent wrote:
| Why? That's a federal offense in the USA at least. If you're
| afraid of that, you may as well fear any mail delivery
| person.
| ASalazarMX wrote:
| The fear is understandable, as mailmen don't open and
| digitize your correspondence. It's a new risk, however
| small, that you have to consider.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| They have controls as most of these folks have to have
| (background checks, access controls, physical security, etc
| [1]). Still better than randos pulling your mail out of the
| mailbox in front of your residence imho. Its a shim until the
| last of need for paper mail gets deprecated, as I still need
| to receive correspondence of importance via snail mail
| (business filings, IRS, etc).
|
| [1] https://www.sbimailservice.com/security/
|
| (all commercial mail processors you consider should have
| similar controls in place, make sure you ask!)
| warent wrote:
| I've never heard of this kind of service. It sounds like
| something I want ASAP. Any downsides?
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| With any mail processor, you're sort of married to them once
| you start giving out the address. I spent months agonizing
| over who I was going to tie myself to (and did quite a bit of
| research from HN folks [1] [2] providing their
| recommendations). In the end, I picked the vendor I did
| because I only get a few pieces of mail a month, they're
| responsive, and I can use them for residency purposes [3] (as
| my long term plan is to bounce from the US and be an expat).
| And unlike a startup, they have some longevity track record
| and are likely to continue to exist into the future, which is
| important when everyone is going to have them as your mailing
| address.
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5822052
|
| [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19076624
|
| [3] https://theboatgalley.com/establishing-residency-at-st-
| brend...
| banana_giraffe wrote:
| I had such a service for a while. The only two issues I ran
| into was:
|
| - Getting the physical mail out of them was hard. In theory
| they kept main for some number of days if I needed it
| physical for some random reason, but the two times I needed
| to have them forward me some important document, it had
| already been shredded. All in all, this was a minor edge case
| really.
|
| - One company, All State, could not for the life of them
| realize that I did not live in some PO Box in a different
| state. They kept changing my rates to the state of the
| service, and I had a confusing call with a CSR each time
| where I tried to explain my mailing address and my
| residential addresses were unrelated. All State was the only
| company I ever encountered with this issue, everyone else
| that needed my home address had no trouble with this concept.
| I solved this by ditching All State.
|
| I only stopped using them because they got bought out and
| only kept business accounts. I should look for a replacement
| company, it was very useful.
| tmaly wrote:
| what happens when your bank sends you a new atm card when the
| old one expires?
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| They priority mail me the envelope, international mail if out
| of the country.
| TMWNN wrote:
| Amazfit Bip watch. Consistently 23 +- 1 day of battery life,
| 20,000 watch faces at `amazfitwatchfaces.com`, shows me all my
| notifications, tracks my heart rate and sleep patterns, has GPS.
| I paid $60 for Bip in 2018, and after it broke after 2.5 years
| (design flaw fixed in later production units), I bought used Bip
| Lite as replacement since I always use the GPS on my phone, not
| on the watch itself.
|
| Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. I fall asleep while reading this in
| bed. Almost every US library offers Overdrive ebook service which
| is integrated into Kindle; basically, any book I see interesting,
| I can search for it, check it out (or put myself on the hold
| list), and have it auto-sent to Kindle, all within 30 seconds. I
| can't tell you how nice it is to always have the various books
| I'm currently reading at the moment on hand, and to be able to
| switch between them as I feel like it.
| sam_lowry_ wrote:
| Amazfit Bip also does not leak your data when used with
| Gadgetbridge.
| warent wrote:
| Food scale I got at Target for like $20.
|
| Over quarantine, I started getting fluffier than I'm comfortable
| with and reached my highest weight ever. I eat healthy, so my
| only guess was that I was eating too much. Simply adding a food
| scale made me cut 15 pounds in a couple months.
| kalev wrote:
| How do you know how much you should eat?
| edanm wrote:
| (Not OP, but went through a similar process)
|
| The best way (for me at least) was to track my calories,
| using the food scale to weight things and nutritional labels
| (or looking things up in Google) to figure out the calories.
| MyFitnessPal for logging everything.
|
| If you're asking how to know how many calories you need -
| search for TDEE calculator online, which will give you an
| estimate number of calories needed for maintenance, or how
| much for weight loss, given your height, bodyweight and
| activity level. But - these are just estimates! Track food
| intake for a month, see if you went down, if not, start
| targeting fewer calories (or more if you went down too
| quickly for your needs).
| warent wrote:
| This is a great question! This was something I was stuck on
| for a long time.
|
| I used to think this would be an extremely time-consuming
| thing that would be very annoying to learn. What really
| struck me is how _easy_ this actually turned out to be. In
| fact tracking what you eat will _save you time._ Here 's how.
|
| People talk about "counting calories". But here's the problem
| with that: you can eat nothing but donuts throughout the day
| and stay within your calorie limit, yet it's still unhealthy.
| What gives? How do we know what is healthy and what isn't?
|
| Enter _macros._ Calories in food are made up of three
| "macros", which are: fat; carbs; protein.
|
| So just forget about calories. What you want to know is how
| many _macros_ you need per day; how many grams of fat, grams
| of protein, and grams of carbs. The calories will work
| themselves out.
|
| Okay, how do you find out? Super easy. You can use a
| calculator like this one: https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ma
| cronutrients_calculator.h...
|
| For me, every day I aim for:
|
| 154g Carbs
|
| 150g Protein
|
| 32g Fat
|
| Now you might be thinking "Wow that sounds like a pain in the
| ass to track. How is it even possible to track that?"
|
| There are apps that do this for you. My favorite app is
| called "Macros" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id
| =com.josmantek.... and there are a lot of other good ones out
| there.
|
| Here's how it works:
|
| 1. Look at your food nutrition label (for example, fat-free
| Greek Yogurt)
|
| 2. Find the serving size (170g) and enter that into your app.
|
| 3. Find the macros grams (0g Fat; 7g Carbs; 17g Protein) and
| enter those into your app.
|
| That's it. Your app will now have the nutrition facts of that
| food item saved forever and you only need to follow this
| process for new foods / new ingredients. Over time, you will
| gradually build a library of foods you like to eat.
|
| Whenever you're ready to eat, you select one of your saved
| food items like "Greek Yogurt", and it will simply ask you
| the weight of your food. Enter in any weight you want, and it
| will automatically calculate how many macros/calories it will
| provide you. If it's too much, adjust the weight down, and if
| it's too little then adjust the weight up.
|
| Once you decide on the perfect weight / macros, then you use
| your food scale to get exactly what you need.
|
| To wrap things up, this also saves you time because now it
| enables you to plan ahead exactly what you want to eat and
| how much you want to eat. When it's time to eat, you just
| open up your plan and follow the instructions, no more
| staring blankly into the fridge.
| tenfourwookie wrote:
| I buy high mileage Honda minivans for no more than $3000 because
| they're dependable and cheap at high mileage.
|
| I generally get 100,000 miles out of them, so 4 mostly dependable
| vans and 400,000 miles for about $12,000. You'll lose $12K in
| depreciation alone just driving a new car off a lot.
|
| I've lived in them safely and comfortably for a total of about 3
| years, living all over the western US from New Mexico to Montana.
| Rent $0. Rent saved? $40,000.
|
| (There are costs, fuel, tires, etc., but negligible compared to
| rent (i.e. paying someone else's American dream).
| honkdaddy wrote:
| Awesome! How long do you plan to live that way? Do you work out
| of your van as well?
| dTal wrote:
| This must be some rich person definition of "tiny purchase"...
| psyc wrote:
| When it's your house that you own outright, I'll allow it.
| tenfourwookie wrote:
| Fair enough, but I mean tiny relative to the purchase of a
| new car. That is, a new car is disproportionately more
| expensive than 4 used vans at 3k each. And the vans will
| collectively provide more mileage than one new car. Why are
| you making me explain this? I must dispatch George the
| Rottweiler on a contempt charge. Old Honda vans need love
| too. There.
| pchristensen wrote:
| A sous vide circulator. $100-200. Never eat dry chicken again,
| extremely consistent results, flexible (I'm making yogurt in it
| right now), and stupid easy.
|
| I got this one (https://www.chefsteps.com/joule) but Anova is
| much more popular (https://anovaculinary.com/anova-precision-
| cooker/)
| jopython wrote:
| I am not sure if cooking food inside a plastic bag is healthy.
| steve_adams_86 wrote:
| For what it's worth, you can get reusable, resealable
| silicone bags which work well and are less likely to leach
| into your food.
| ortusdux wrote:
| I got a deal on one with WIFI and I love it. I use mine in a
| insulated cooler with a hole in the lid. I usually don't know
| what time I will get home till after lunch. I can throw in
| frozen meat before I leave for work, and then start the thaw
| and cook process whenever. If its going to be a long day I will
| add ice to the water bath.
| crookshanked wrote:
| Love my Joule. Been using it for years now it feels like for an
| amazing amount of things. Also the size and waterproof aspect
| of it is unbeatable. Good customer service too now that
| breville owns em.
| fasfsafsa wrote:
| 20$ nokia 105 that replaced my smartphone.
| hdjjhhvvhga wrote:
| Why did you choose this particular model?
| crookshanked wrote:
| Light sensor outlet covers! They're pretty handy for walking
| around the house at night and not stubbing a toe.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| Seconding these. I put them in the hallway between my bedroom
| and bathroom. They automatically shut off when it gets light.
| cupcake-unicorn wrote:
| Oh man, lots of things. I have sensory processing disorder so I
| have a good kit for going out. That includes noise reducing
| headphones, both bluetooth and physical ones just to dampen the
| noise.
|
| This neurofeedback device for sleep and other issues, super
| interesting science behind it:
| https://mindalive.com/products/david-delight-pro
|
| And a PEMF device for chronic pain.
| gadnuk wrote:
| Varying length of phone charging cables.
|
| Bought a couple of bundles of iPhone charging cables from Amazon
| that were 3ft/6ft/10ft in length with charging attachment from my
| old iPhones.
|
| It's such a great feeling to use the phone from any part of my
| place without having to worry about length of the cable.
|
| I keep a couple of the longer cables in my car too just in case
| someone wants to charge on a long trip.
| Arrath wrote:
| Oh yeah. My friends really appreciated it when I upgraded to
| two 10ft cables snaking out from behind the couch. Finally they
| could charge while lounging anywhere.
| banana_giraffe wrote:
| > Varying length of phone charging cables
|
| For me it's Varying lengths of USB-C charging cables, and a
| bunch of USB-C -> Micro and USB-C -> Lightning adapters so no
| more looking for the right cable.
| jareklupinski wrote:
| I remember buying two of these
| https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12016 thinking I would
| never need to buy another cable/adapter ever again
|
| ha
| theogravity wrote:
| A dedicated tool created to cut through cardboard boxes, roughly
| $20-30. When you have gigantic boxes to break down, using a
| straightedge or knife isn't going to "cut" it. Saves a LOT of
| time for me as it's significantly faster to use.
|
| Using cooking vinegar in place of liquid softener in the clothes
| washer to remove moldy / gym sock smell from the drum and
| clothes. Only need to apply once every few washes and is less
| than $1 worth of vinegar to do the trick. I just fill the
| softener compartment with it. I've spent a lot of money on
| products that claim to remove the smell, but vinegar has
| consistently done the trick.
|
| If your car's AC also smells moldy / gym socky, you can buy a
| foam spray that's designed to remove it that you put into your AC
| vents for around $35 that will clear it up immediately. I've
| watched youtube videos suggesting lysol but it did not work out
| for me on two cars. This did.
| arkg98 wrote:
| Can you share the name of the tool for cardboard boxes? I would
| love to buy, I've damaged many surfaces trying to cut down a
| box using a box cutter.
| banana_giraffe wrote:
| I got one called "Worx ZipSnip Cordless".
|
| Pretty happy with it.
| datavirtue wrote:
| I used to be a kitchen manager and we would break down
| hundreds of boxes in addition to our regular duties. I would
| knuckle-punch (frog?) the tape, rip the flaps, and fold a box
| in one motion. These would be stacked in the recycling
| dumpster. What is the knife used for?
| taeric wrote:
| Cutting can save a bit of the space that the fold adds to
| the stack.
|
| If you don't need the extra space, probably not worth the
| effort.
|
| Is also nice if you are dealing with mixed sizes of boxes.
| Cut them to roughly the same size for stacking.
|
| (Not the op, so I could have the wrong motives...)
| tmaly wrote:
| what type of vinegar do you use on laundry?
|
| For cars, sometimes it is as easy as changing the cabin air
| filter.
| falcolas wrote:
| For voice recordings - Izotope RX8 elements. Found it for $9
| right now. Aggravating mouth noises be gone.
|
| Magnetic charging cables. Some can't take advantage of the higher
| speed charging (only connecting V+ and ground), but it's
| unreasonably nice to have cables throughout the house that can
| support all of your devices.
|
| A comfortable mouse with enough buttons. A comfortable keyboard
| that just works, even if you don't have the driver software.
| _peeley wrote:
| Any good mice you could recommend? I used to use a Razer Naga
| during my MMO days and I've really missed the side button
| array, but I found myself replacing them way too often (they'd
| wear out and start double clicking in just 6 months on
| average).
| falcolas wrote:
| I tend to prefer gaming mice, simply for their long-term
| comfort, lots of buttons, and precision. I'm still holding on
| to a Logitech G9, it's one of the best mice I've ever had.
| Discontinued, sadly.
|
| The Logitech MX series is pretty decent, though I've had to
| start fighting with uneven mousewheel acceleration. Corsair
| makes decent mice, and Razer as well.
|
| The double click issue I've had happen with a couple of
| products. A Razer opto-mechanical keyboard had this crop up,
| a previous Logitech MMO mouse did this (double left click as
| well), and even a "Topre" switch keyboard had this happen. I
| haven't had it happen with cherry switch keyboards (yet), but
| I'm sure it will.
|
| It almost seems like an industry-wide problem that combines
| less-expensive switch components and debouncing tolerances
| that are set too tightly - it's like none of the newer
| products are set up to handle aging switches. Just a guess
| though.
| tmaly wrote:
| where can I get Izotope RX8 elements for $9 ? that is a really
| good deal
| falcolas wrote:
| Well, hell. Apparently I got in on a sale. I just purchased
| it directly from Izotope's store. It's not showing the
| discounted price for me now.
|
| Sorry about that.
| tmaly wrote:
| I was able to find it for $19 now. Do you know if you can
| buy additional plugins for it?
| falcolas wrote:
| So far as I've found, they only sell the individual tools
| in the "Elements", "Standard", and "Professional"
| bundles.
|
| The other tools I use in my FX chains are all reaper
| built-ins and plugins.
| ozzythecat wrote:
| An electric toothbrush and floss. Brushing with a regular
| toothbrush doesn't give me the clean/fresh feeling my electric
| toothbrush does. The model I have was maybe $25 or $30.
|
| Using the electric toothbrush and flossing before bed every
| night, I feel like in my morning my mouth actually still feels
| fine. Of course I would never start my day without brushing, but
| my mouth doesn't feel icky when I wake up in the morning. Sorry
| if that's TMI.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| Brushing after breakfast, rather than before, is recommended
| for maximum cleanness.
|
| If you only brush once a day, brush last thing before bed.
| raspyberr wrote:
| I remember hearing a long time ago that brushing before
| eating is better. Sugar reacts with plaque to form acids and
| brushing temporarily removes plaque. So eating straight after
| brushing doesn't really do anything.
| neilsense wrote:
| It is, however, disgusting.
| cupcake-unicorn wrote:
| I was interested in a Waterpik but I thought it would be too
| difficult to maintain. I found out about both a toothbrush and
| an oral irrigator that you hook up to your shower which are
| really cool.
|
| There are also some tricks for oral hygiene that you don't get
| traditionally or when you go to the store for toothpaste. You
| can try putting a drop of Dragon's Blood on the toothbrush or
| brush with a bit of ozonated oil to help gum issues.
| mettamage wrote:
| Some that come to mind.
|
| __Health__
|
| Melatonin. There is no other way for me to go to bed and this
| knocks me right out (I use 0.2 - 0.4 milligrams).
|
| Sleep mask (no more waking up because a stray light hits my eye)
|
| I'd say sleep earplugs but I have a sound in my ear, but
| otherwise earplugs
|
| Mosquito repellent scent (for sleep as well).
|
| Silicon earplugs when going out, I never thought I'd get
| ear/hearing damage because I didn't go out a lot. I was wrong.
| They protected my ears after I noticed I got some ear damage.
|
| A dumbbell (used at times between breaks to move a bit)
|
| __Other__
|
| Fuet (another HN'er once posted this as such at some thread years
| ago I can't remember, and I agree). It's a sausage and IMO too
| good as a snack.
|
| LG 4K monitor for about $350
|
| Moving labels. Got a bunch of moving labels for a few bucks, and
| slap them whenever I need to label something. Apparently, I tend
| to label my external HD's mostly and a few boxes that have
| specific items in them (e.g. only USB cables or power cables,
| etc.).
|
| Not a purchase but a lifehack and since I see many responses are
| about cables I guess it's relevant ;-) Instead of spinning your
| cables in a circle, spin them in a figure 8 (two circles).
| Somehow it's harder for them to get weirdly tangled when you
| store them like that. See: https://youtu.be/buVUvnM_AzU?t=104 (I
| don't use the other life hacks :P)
| Arrath wrote:
| For some people, me included, melatonin can cause an uptick in
| very real feeling and (depending on mental state) very weird
| dreams. Do be mindful of that. On the other hand if you're
| practiced at lucid dreaming this can be a real trip.
| yodsanklai wrote:
| A headlamp. Allows me to hike in the evening or night. Super
| useful to hike in the winter when it gets dark early. It never
| crossed my mind that hiking in the night was a thing but it's
| pretty cool and I now do it all the time.
|
| Then maybe my commute bicycle that I bought for $200 and that
| I've been using almost daily for 15 years. So much better than a
| car or public transportation (at least where I live).
|
| Then we're getting a bit specialized, but as a guitar player, a
| Yamaha THR (amplifier for playing at home). Tried many solutions
| and settled for this many years ago.
| tmaly wrote:
| which headlamp do you use? I bought two years ago from EMS, but
| they always end up draining the battery super quick when not in
| use.
| jmartini wrote:
| not OP, but I'd recommend Black Diamond or Petzl. I use the
| Black Diamond Spot 350. Three AAA batteries, 3oz, and it has
| a button lockout so it doesn't get activated when packed or
| stored away.
| teh_matt wrote:
| I'd recommend a Zebralight one (I like the H600Fc), as
| they're small, light, and much brighter than most headlamps
| you'll find. I've also had good luck with Armytek (Wizard Pro
| Nichia), though people say their reliability is lower.
| steve_adams_86 wrote:
| I use my headlamp for so many things. I can't recommend a good
| one enough for anyone who spends much time outdoors, or even as
| a handy thing to keep in the car or shop or anywhere you might
| end up doing something with low light.
| whateveracct wrote:
| Headlamp makes life much easier when I inevitably forget to
| take the trash out in the winter.
| tmaly wrote:
| an instant thermometer I bought online for $11
|
| I don't have to cut meats open to see if they are ready.
|
| Also useful if you are making certain chocolate recipes or other
| candy recipes where temperature matters.
| throwaway134902 wrote:
| Bareroot native trees and fabric pots.
|
| A watering can.
|
| Now I collect seeds and nurse baby trees to plant out. It takes
| hardly any time from day to day, and I always have something to
| look forward to. It's the only activity I've found that perfectly
| embodies the "think global, act local" ethos.
| bmarquez wrote:
| A vacuum insulated water bottle. It reminds me to drink more
| water and it stays cold the entire day.
| falcolas wrote:
| Agreed entirely. Mine is a Yeti Rambler with the "chug cap".
| Absolutely amazing and indispensable.
| dryicerx wrote:
| Came here to post this. Also, vacuum insulated mugs and
| tumblers for hot/cold drinks as well.
| atatatat wrote:
| Thermos sells a $30-33(?) one in two different shades of silver
| -- the one with with green rubber(silicone?) grommets.
|
| After performing the research, I can confirm you'll struggle to
| find better in any category you've been disappointed in
| previously.
| fallinghawks wrote:
| I was chronically dehydrated for much of my life because I
| can't tell when I'm thirsty - my mouth doesn't send me the
| right signals. About 8 years years ago I bought a 48-oz Nalgene
| bottle which I fill up in the morning. It's big so I have a
| constant visual reminder right there on my desk in front of me,
| and I have no problems finishing it off and often refilling it
| in the early evening. It's absolutely improved my health.
| viggity wrote:
| this isn't super cheap, but relative to the competing products,
| it is very cheap - A 43" 4K monitor from TCL is ~$300 (they used
| to be like $220, but I think a new model has supports 120Hz
| instead of just 60Hz).
|
| It's the equivalent of having 4, 23" 1080p monitors, all smooshed
| together with no bezel. You can see sooo much. It's not as high
| of a dpi, but I switched to it from a 39" ultra curved widescreen
| that was over $1000 and I can see even more.
|
| Another tiny set of purchases that makes life easier - buy
| different colored and patterned cables instead of just black. I
| can actually find what I need so much quicker instead of trying
| to trace a single black cable through the rat's nest.
| nickjj wrote:
| > I can actually find what I need so much quicker instead of
| trying to trace a single black cable through the rat's nest.
|
| Another way I've solved this with standard black wires is to
| get multi-color tape and then put tape around both ends of the
| wire. You can get a 10 pack of assorted colors for like $10.
| It's handy if you have a rats nest of black computer wires.
| datavirtue wrote:
| I used to do the same thing for years until I got tired of
| Windows' horrid handling of a mixture of 4k and HD monitors (I
| thought they would fix it but things just got worse). I went
| with an AOC 2560 32" curved gaming monitor...zero issues.
| viggity wrote:
| you're talking about the DPI scaling between the TV and a
| laptop monitor? I agree it's annoying. I've solved it in two
| ways - I got a second 43" "montior", the other is I just keep
| my laptop closed. I feel you though.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I bought a little Epson label printer, and I print tags for
| both ends of a cable. Same idea, but sometimes it's hard to get
| a variety of colors, depending on the cable.
|
| Also works magnificently for trying to figure out what's
| plugged into the multi-outlet next to the entertainment center.
| "This is the TV plug. This is the amplifier. This is the NAS.
| This is the switch." It's so much easier when the switch's
| power adapter has a big "SWITCH" label on it.
| Taikonerd wrote:
| A white noise machine -- our bedroom overlooks a busy street, so
| there's constantly random noises in the middle of the night. Big
| improvement in sleep quality!
|
| We got a Dohm Classic, but you can just get an app for your phone
| if you like.
| Zababa wrote:
| Seconding the white noise machine. It helps me falling asleep
| and staying asleep.
| siva7 wrote:
| a weighted blanket. now i sleep like a baby :)
| [deleted]
| laurensr wrote:
| Custom fit earplugs that even allow sleeping on your side. They
| don't pop out by themselves and greatly reduce traffic noise (and
| fan noise during hot summer nights).
| zmp0989 wrote:
| Do you have a brand you recommend?
| in9 wrote:
| The biggest disappointment with my OnePlus Buds was the
| inability to listen to music while laying on my side. That,
| together with how buggy bluetooth is everywhere besides Apple
| products, makes me really hate the technology of wireless
| headphones/earphones.
| nicbou wrote:
| Could you recommend some? This would be very useful inside a
| motorcycle helmet.
| is0tope wrote:
| Two things:
|
| 1. Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 Bluetooth speaker.
|
| Compact and very loud, also has good battery life. Handy on hikes
| and similar. The waterproofing is excellent and I use it in the
| shower to listen to podcasts, etc.
|
| 2. Sony WH1000MX4 Bluetooth headphones.
|
| I was skeptical in getting a full set of headphones as I always
| preferred earphones. These things have amazing sound quality and
| noise cancelation which means you don't have to listen to music
| as loud when outdoors. Battery life is extremely good also.
| Pricey, but well worth it and highly recommended.
| moistly wrote:
| > Handy on hikes
|
| Are you aware that other hikers hate you for this? I suppose
| you don't care.
| sergiomattei wrote:
| Not all! On my last hike we ran upon some folks with a
| Bluetooth speaker blasting music.
|
| I started dancing and having fun with the hikers...
| Arrath wrote:
| I can see a use-case for scaring off predators, but the time
| tested 'bell on a walking stick' sure is more polite to other
| hikers.
| Scottopherson wrote:
| Do you really go hiking with a 'very loud' Wonderboom speaker?
| joshvm wrote:
| My big gripe with Sony headphones is the touch interface. It's
| just not very good, triggers accidentally and is awkward to use
| intentionally (and gloves are out). I wish I'd bought the
| equivalent Bose headset (they cost the same) with physical
| controls. Sound and NC wise they're great though, I've never
| slept better on a flight.
| dTal wrote:
| What a great question!
|
| * A very long USB-C cable from an Apple store. I get jealous
| looks when I break it out to charge my phone.
|
| * Scented candles from Aldi. It's such a quality of life boost to
| have the place smelling nice. They last ages and cost nothing.
|
| * A creme brulee hand blowtorch. Surprisingly useful! Excellent
| for lighting aforementioned candles instantly, without burning
| your knuckles.
|
| * A real P3 respirator with replaceable filters. I've seen the
| rate that people go through disposable masks. Replacing the
| filters every few months is vastly cheaper than that! And bonus,
| it's at least an order of magnitude more effective.
| falcolas wrote:
| > A creme brulee hand blowtorch.
|
| Seconded. It's absurdly nice to have a focused torch when you
| need one. And most are refillable, making them better than
| _most_ lighters.
| clumsysmurf wrote:
| > Scented candles
|
| Generally candles emit fine particulates which is unhealthy.
| beardface wrote:
| That's not a problem as long as they're wearing the P3
| respirator!
| intro-b wrote:
| If you're really concerned, just use a candle snuffer to blow
| it out and don't huff the fumes
| Already__Taken wrote:
| Often a real P3 respirator has a valve to prevent fogging with
| doesn't filter what you exhale though so you're not helping the
| pandemic.
| dTal wrote:
| It's not ideal of course, but I don't think it's fair to say
| I'm not helping. Almost nobody wears a mask that truly
| filters what they exhale - their main functions are to trap
| moisture and stop you projecting droplets with your voice. My
| mask does capture a lot of moisture, as evidenced by the
| condensation inside, and the valve redirects my exhalation
| sideways, so I think that's likely at least as good as the
| cheapy surgical-style masks which are common.
|
| Also, I tend to take the view that the best tool available to
| me to not spread Covid is to not catch Covid. It's apparent
| to me that relying on the people around me to wear masks and
| be sensible is not a viable strategy for avoiding
| transmission events. When the prevailing attitude is that the
| pandemic is over, I do not feel it is selfish to protect
| myself to the best of my ability.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Hue Ambiance light bulbs with OEM switches. Being able to dim
| without buzz, and change color temperature (Blue/white/red) is a
| game changer for my circadian rhythm and overall feel of the
| apartment.
|
| This may be prohibitively expensive for people who live in large
| places.
| kleer001 wrote:
| a phone case wallet, I love having one less thing in my pockets
|
| back in the day it used to be
|
| 1) phone
|
| 2) small digital camera
|
| 3) keys
|
| 4) wallet
|
| Now it's just phone & keys. Lovely!
| im3w1l wrote:
| On a similar note I can recommend a key case. I have a model
| that is a leather pouch with a zipper and a small key chain
| inside (I think I tried one with hooks before but the hooks
| broke quickly). Much more comfortable than having keys in my
| pocket. No more holes either.
| mettamage wrote:
| Link? I'm curious to see what yours looks like.
| neolog wrote:
| Tesla even has a key card
|
| https://shop.tesla.com/product/model-3_y-key-card
| arketyp wrote:
| An ostrich feather duster. People ridicule it for only spreading
| the dust around. That's the point! It spreads to the floor where
| it's eventually sucked up by the vacuum cleaner.
| llimos wrote:
| A Koshi chime. It makes a simply lovely sound.
| showerst wrote:
| I've used an $8 gerber shard keychain tool for over 10 years.
|
| It opens cardboard boxes, pries open covers, cuts strings, and
| drives the occasional screw. All without worrying about losing a
| Swiss army or leatherman, and it's airport and government
| building friendly which is big for me.
| ASalazarMX wrote:
| For the clueless like me, it has nothing to do with baby food
| (https://www.gerbergear.com/en-us/shop/multi-tools/all-
| multi-...)
| Ajedi32 wrote:
| > opens cardboard boxes [...] cuts strings
|
| How does that work? I looked it up and it doesn't seem like it
| has a knife. (Not that you'd want something that sharp in your
| pocket unprotected anyway.)
| showerst wrote:
| The little "v notch" that they call a wire cutter is sharp
| enough to go through packing tape. Not sharp enough to bother
| you though, any more than a house key on the same ring.
|
| It's not a tool I'd use to break down 1000 boxes a day, but
| it's fine for an Amazon box or two.
| TMWNN wrote:
| For the same reason I keep a Swiss+Tech ST53100 Multitool on my
| keys. It's as long as a key, and like your tool it doesn't have
| a blade so is airport- and government building-safe.
| amin wrote:
| My second hand Netgear Nighthawk router is the best $100 I've
| ever spend. Never had connectivity issues ever again.
| corny wrote:
| Prescription glasses optimized for the distance to my computer
| screen. I was getting eye strain after even a short time in front
| of the computer. The new glasses completely solved the eye
| strain. I highly recommend it for anyone who is near sighted and
| uses a computer.
| steve_adams_86 wrote:
| Did you go to your optometrist and ask for this specifically?
| I've been struggling with this a lot, but figured if my
| prescription and glasses are what they are, this strain is
| maybe just a fact of life. I'd love to get rid of it.
|
| I'm so near-sighted that I need my glasses to see the screen,
| but just barely. In some situations I can take my glasses off
| to work and it makes such a difference - there's no strain at
| all.
| corny wrote:
| Yes, I specifically asked the optometrist for this. I
| measured the distance to my computer screen and they were
| able to give me a custom prescription. My near-sightedness is
| not even that bad. But switching from my regular glasses to
| my computer glasses feels refreshing. Do it!
| ilamont wrote:
| Modern pressure cooker saves 50+ hours of my time per year in
| cleaning and cooking time, not to mention gas costs.
|
| Not "tiny," but the cost/benefit ratio is significant.
| jhot wrote:
| My wife and I got one this spring and use it for most dinners
| now and love it. Quick, easy to clean, and the kitchen doesn't
| get near as hot as compared to the oven.
|
| One of my favorite things we make with it is refried beans.
| Makes canned refrieds taste like dog food.
| steve_adams_86 wrote:
| I don't know what it is but I find pressure cooking brings
| out the good flavour in beans, and less of the flavour people
| describe as "beany" - like a raw bean from the pod would
| taste.
|
| They also have a smoother texture than cooking in a pot. It's
| my favourite way to cook them too.
| psyc wrote:
| The $7 lightening to headphone converter. Restores your good
| headphones to iPhone compatibility.
| nickthemagicman wrote:
| A dog.
|
| Overall for around 100 bucks a month in food/trifexis the value a
| dog brings to your life is massive.
|
| People will constantly talk to you so youre socializing.
|
| There's a creature that loves you unconditionally which is a
| really cool feeling.
|
| Theyre a ton of fun so it's hard to be bored.
|
| They're good for getting exercise as they always want to play.
|
| And more.
|
| Theres studies that say owning a dog increases your lifespan as
| well.
| CodeGlitch wrote:
| I get what you're saying but quite a few of my neighbors have
| dogs that they leave to roam the garden during the day whilst
| they're out... And said dogs will bark at everyone and
| everything, which causes me stress (noise pollution). Please
| only get a dog that you can spend a lot of time with.
| Dracophoenix wrote:
| What breed of dog? How much is the insurance?
| sergiomattei wrote:
| God, I've low-key been wanting to adopt a husky...
| asats wrote:
| Cheap massage gun - it helps relieve the muscle tension after
| sitting all day
| wolfium3 wrote:
| Blue light blocking glasses. I work on computers a lot and
| usually ended up feeling fatigue by the middle of the day. When
| wearing blue light blocking glasses, I don't feel tired anymore
| :).
|
| I've had them for about a year and a half now.
| jopython wrote:
| I use a blue light blocking screen on my monitor to get the
| same effect.
| gtirloni wrote:
| Would you mind sharing which brand?
| beardface wrote:
| A large (135cm diameter) umbrella. It cost just under PS30 and I
| love using it.
|
| I've always had a good outdoor coat but my legs and feet would
| still get wet. With the umbrella, only my toes get wet in a
| downpour. It's large enough for my two kids and I to get under!
| gordon_freeman wrote:
| Libby - I used to buy so many Kindle books and had an expensive
| Audible subscription a year ago but all that stopped when I
| discovered Libby. I can read ebooks and audiobooks right in the
| app using my local public library card for free and the entire UX
| of the app is just beyond awesome. I can now read/listen to 5-7
| books a month using Libby.
| criddell wrote:
| Does this work with the eink Kindles?
| gordon_freeman wrote:
| You can transfer your ebooks you borrowed from Libby to
| Kindle eReader for sure but you can't do that with Audiobooks
| though.
| tmaly wrote:
| I do this with the Overdrive app and my local library. I think
| they have Libby also. I prefer the audit books during my
| commute to work.
| zzt123 wrote:
| D65 bias lighting.
| fumblebee wrote:
| Ear-plugs for when I sleep. I used to wake up at the slightest
| noise, which made me extra groggy the next day. Now I can sleep
| soundly.
| ManuelKiessling wrote:
| Which ones?
| wryroybatty wrote:
| Have used industrial ear plugs for years. Great for
| traveling.
| bxparks wrote:
| A Fujitsu S1500 ScanSnap, dual-sided, document scanner (now
| discontinued, replacement might be the iX1600). Completely
| changed how I manage my personal documents (e.g. financial,
| invoices, receipts, product manuals, medical info, business docs,
| recreation and hobby stuff, etc). Anything remotely important, I
| scan to PDF, which triggers automatic OCR that is reasonably
| accurate, then I upload the PDF to Google Drive, which is
| organized into a hierarchy of folders.
|
| Google Drive's internal search is not good enough when there are
| 100s of documents with similar titles, so I try to maintain a
| consistent naming convention "{yyyy-mm-dd} {summary of
| document}". Electronic documents (e.g. bank and credit card
| statements) are downloaded as PDF and uploaded to the same Google
| Drive folder hierarchy.
|
| The originals go into a set of 12 file folders labeled "Jan" to
| "Dec". The folders become a ring buffer. Every month, I empty out
| the upcoming month, by shredding the originals from 12 months
| ago. I got rid of a 4-drawer filing cabinet by incrementally
| scanning the original paper documents over several weeks.
|
| (Edit: fix typo)
| noahjk wrote:
| Does anyone have a suggestion for a dual-sided feed scanner
| like this which can be used to semi-automate document scanning
| and which is not discontinued? I've been thinking about this
| for a while but I don't know enough about the market
| nickthemagicman wrote:
| I've used Google drives 'Save as pdf' feature where you can
| take a photo with your phone and it will be turned into a pdf.
| Prob lower resolution that yours but it's been working for me
| for a while.
|
| But other wise...follow the same process.
|
| Almost 99% paper free, no filing cabinets, no losing papers.
|
| Awesome stuff.
| quietbritishjim wrote:
| I have precisely that scanner! I totally agree, I love that
| it's double sided and comes with really good OCR (ABBYY
| FineReader). And that it's an auto sheet feeder - I have
| terrible memories of flat bed scanners from the 90's that took
| a minute to scan one page but this only takes a few seconds per
| page.
|
| Like you I put the documents in a hierarchy of folders and mix
| with downloaded "official" PDFs, and I use yyyy-mm-dd in the
| filenames and folders. But, I must admit, a big part of my
| filing system is often a pile of physical papers stacked up
| next to the scanner that I haven't got around to yet... But I'd
| still recommend it.
| hdjjhhvvhga wrote:
| How does it compare to smarthone camera + one of hundreds of
| scan+ocr apps like Adobe Scan? For me the smartphone solution
| is supereasy, basically it takes n seconds to scan a n-page
| booklet for example.
| bxparks wrote:
| I find the quality of the photos from my phone to be
| terrible: wrong brightness, wrong color balance, wrong focus,
| wrong contrast, wrong orientation, motion blur, etc. The
| quality of the documents from the Fujitsu scanner is top
| notch. And the feeder is amazingly fast, specs say 20 ppm,
| which I think means 20 sheets, or 40 pages/minute. I also
| hate typing long file names on a phone keyboard. But if it
| works for you, then it works for you.
| daneel_w wrote:
| A webcam I bought for a girl who had no money to spare and lived
| abroad, so that we could see eachother regularly. We eventually
| became a couple and moved together.
| ihumanable wrote:
| I have a similar story about buying a parking space in a garage
| near my place when I lived downtown because my then girlfriend
| was always bothered by trying to find parking. It worked pretty
| well, now she's my wife.
|
| Best $40 / month I ever spent.
| warent wrote:
| AWW
| zen_lava wrote:
| Cheap attachable toilet bidet
| cupcake-unicorn wrote:
| Squatty Potty is good too and has hilarious ads :)
| donclark wrote:
| Upvoted. It's the only way to go for me now. I got the $37
| model. You can buy direct or from amazon.
|
| https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=luxe+bidet&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
| warent wrote:
| I've had the Tushy bidet for a couple years now and it's great!
| Overall it has made me feel a lot more hygienic and I only use
| a small amount of TP to dry off now.
| jeffreyrogers wrote:
| Seconding this. I bought this one:
| https://www.amazon.com/Greenco-Non-Electric-Mechanical-Toile...
|
| Works great and doesn't require electricity. Previously had an
| expensive one that had extra features like water/seat heating,
| but honestly the cheap one is fine.
| dave333 wrote:
| (grand)kids toys especially large cumbersome play center type
| ones free off Craigslist. Also kids books cheap at garage sales
| and goodwill. And for grandpa two buck chuck and box wine :-)
| kpennell wrote:
| Eye Mask - I sleep so much better and longer with one on. I
| recommend one that doesn't sit on your eyes directly (has a bit
| of concavity).
| cranesnakecode wrote:
| I second this. I sleep so much better with it on. But I do need
| one with concavity, otherwise it hurts my eyes after a while.
| bluewalt wrote:
| May I ask why you don't manage to make your room completely
| dark instead of wearing a mask?
| fumblebee wrote:
| Eye masks are far cheaper than new black-out curtains.
| 74d-fe6-2c6 wrote:
| same here - first I used it for travelling, now I can't sleep
| without it.
|
| tried several models and the Ohropax Schlafmaske 3D is the
| best. has concave eye patches - so, maybe you already use it.
| also washable and quite sturdy.
|
| https://www.shop-apotheke.com/arzneimittel/9667846/ohropax-s...
| jonfw wrote:
| Huge water bottles- mine is 40 oz.
|
| I figured out that I pretty much always drink 2 or three bottles
| of water per day, no matter what size of bottle I use. So a big
| old water bottle doubles the amount of water I drink in a day
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