what are some of the best purchases you've made ?
what are some of the best purchases you've made ?
I bought cast iron pan which I think is the best ever purchase I made.
what are some of the best purchases you've made ?
I bought cast iron pan which I think is the best ever purchase I made.
The best purchase I've made this year has to be the tickets for the "Barbie" movie on opening day July 21st. As I watched the movie in theater (the best way to watch a movie), I was literally moved to tears by the performance of the lead actress, whom I might add, deserves an Oscar this year.
Fellow lemmings, I, for one, will definitely be buying "Barbie" on Blu-ray to have it in my collection.
Multiple copies, in fact.
I truly enjoy seeing you pop up all over Lemmy, especially with posts and comments like these! Rose gold effort!
Aw shucks, thanks.
Wait, no, now my cover is blown. 😭
Oh my god I loved you in that science meme!
Not to brag or anything, but I'm pretty good at both science AND memes.
Two questions for you!
1.) What is the most useful thing we in the Lemmy community can do to help you get that Oscar?
2.) I have a secret Santa this year coming up in a month that I am a part of with some friends. Would you be interested in leaving a comment for a friend of mine in response to this that I can show them a month from now for the secret santa?
“Hey Rome, this is Margot Robbie wishing you a merry Christmas and happy new year?”, or something like that?
Thanks for being cool either way and good luck getting nominated this year!
Still, hi Rome!
You are the opposite of me, I got bored in 10 minutes and I turned it off after 30 minutes.
It's cool that people can enjoy so different things.
Look at the username, it's her.
A bidet. $30, attaches under your toilet seat. Life changing.
1 for bidet; got mine after recommendation from a friend and since then my folks and son-in-law have also upgraded
Good knives. Well worth it.
I bought a really nice Benchmade pocket knife. I like the way it opens Amazon packages
For anyone reading this, do not "get into" pocket knives. You'll not know what to do with all the damn knives!
I wish I had more upvotes. Good knives make cooking easy and, more important, prevent injuries.
Couldn't agree more sharp knives don't slip. Yet some people out there are purposely blunting kitchen knives.
I've heard that, but I've only ever cut myself with the really sharp knives and yeah it's clean, but when the knife is dull it just kind of pokes my finger and that's it
I bought some knife set that cost like 1000 dollars. It was an impulsive buy when I won an award at work.
Damn I learned expensive knives are worth every penny. I’ve had them twenty years. Normally I’d buy a knife and have to throw it away after a couple of years because they couldn’t be sharpened as they were cheap.
I cook every day and it makes it so much easier.
My house. Even though we have to pay taxes and mortgage interest, it beats paying rent to a landlord. Also, we bought it in 2020 and it has appreciated it value significantly since then. However, that appreciation is kind of fictitious to me, because if we sold the house it's unlikely that we'd be able to buy a similar one in the same area for less. So, it's just a nice house.
Yeah housing gains do nothing for you if you want to stay in the same area.
Theoretically you'll have more equity so you can take out loans, but with high interest rates you'll likely avoid that.. and your property taxes will eventually go up since your home value has gone up.
Hate the fact that my house has gained so much.
At least property tax increases usually aren't as bad as rent increases, at least in my experience.
My apparently controversial take is that flat property taxes should be abolished and the imputed rent of a given property should be progressively taxed as income instead.
Whatever down payment you put into your house (+ whatever equity you build) appreciates at the rate of housing gains in your area. You protect that capital from devaluation due to inflation. Housing gains can do a hell of a lot for you if you want to trade up in your own neighborhood.
And insurance goes up now that it would be more expensive to replace.
Off the top of my head no particular order:
Edit to add, how could I forget this? I just got home and in my entryway there is an 18 unit locker like the kind you would find during a Bed Bath going out of business sale and they're getting rid of everything including the employee lockers in back, you know the ones. I'm poly so each of my partners and my nesting partner's partners get to pick their own locker to keep overnight supplies in. There are unclaimed lockers for guests to store small things, and some that are effectively house mandatory junk drawers. Also serves as a lost and found when like partners leave phone chargers or whatever else behind. Great purchase.
You seems like an interesting Person!
I've been told I'm very me. I think mostly I have too much going on to give one hot fuck about what other people are thinking of me so I end up being a top tier goblin
cannot emphasize the importance of decent quality cleaning supplies enough. it's a game changer.
Yeah I didn't realize quite how much of a difference they'd make in my life until I was like 27. Can't live without them now makes a lot of things much easier
Our air fryer. I thought it was all hype. I just didn't know. It's so convenient for so many things.
Along similar lines, our Instant Pot. So covenient for so many things. We cook rice in it, chili, stews, my dog's food, stock, etc.
Our bidet. I cringe at how dirty my asshole used to be. It's amazing.
Hell yeah. We got a 'Ninja' that is an air fryer and pressure cooker. We use it so much. We are also on team bidet. The worst thing about having a bidet is the feeling of disappointment you get whenever you take a shit somewhere else.
We've got a Ninja also. They're great! I roast veggies in it, prep my meals for the week, all kinds of stuff.
We were on vacation for a week and very much missing our bidet.
My wife and I have a big, fancy bidet. We love it, of course. We've been remodeling our house and living in air B&Bs over the last five weeks. Ugh. Missing our bidet so much!
I am the same with the bidet. Without water (or something wet) touching my chocolate starfish i feel kinda dirty as well. Crazy.
Steam Deck - I know I'm not supposed to promote a specific product (change SD to a handheld gaming device if you must), but after my son was born, moved to a different country and changed jobs my life was rather hectic. I had no time to play videogames at all, which was my go-to method to unwind since I was a little kid. As an almost 40 years old responsible adult I can now still enjoy gaming in bite sized bursts, in bed, instead of scrolling through social media or watching mindless videos. The best thing is I can be next to my SO while she does something else I can work through my backlog.
I bought a rice cooker, and it easily earns it's permanent space on the countertop. Having the ability to cook 5 (dry) cups of rice and have it stay warm for days is so convenient.
Warm for days? That's a mold incubator ...
I haven't experienced any mold in mine. It's a sealed unit (outside of it venting during cooking) and I'm no mycologist but I'm sure that mold spores wouldn't be too appreciative of the cooking process.
Mold? Not likely. Bacteria? Yes.
Per the CDC: Bacteria can multiply rapidly if left at room temperature or in the “Danger Zone” between 40°F and 140°F. Never leave perishable food out for more than 2 hours (or 1 hour if exposed to temperatures above 90°F).
It stays hot, nothing's gonna be growing.
With mine, the rice is still pretty good after about 48h on the keep warm setting. It's still edible after 72 but starts to get too dried out at that point.
An opposing viewpoint here, from a couple of rice snobs -- I've spent 30+ years (my entire life) with a rice cooker so I've never questioned not owning one.
Ours broke (the gasket did, after 10 years), and the company that made it no longer exists (Sanyo), so we tried just cooking rice on the stovetop for a year before we bought a new one. It's now been 2 years without a rice cooker, and we don't plan on buying one of those fancy Korean ones I've been eyeing.
We found the rice tastes better (a bit of burning at the bottom adds flavour), and we don't need another appliance taking up space. The only thing I miss is the keep warm functionality, but now we just freeze the leftover rice and microwave it (or make fried rice with it).
And now we have more counter and cupboard space to buy other gadgets, as we're cooking enthusiasts.
For large amounts of rice we luckily have a pressure cooker.
Thanks. I'll definitely try this.
This is one I thoroughly do not understand, maybe because I have not tried it, but cooking rice is already so easy, why would i need a separare appliance for it?
Plug n play. No overcooked rice forever
I have one and it's a little easier to prepare, keep warm, and clean. If you eat a lot of rice, it's worth it.
I thought the same thing for 20+ years. A nice rice cooker is great though. Ours has a yumcarb setting that my wife likes, which has a separate basket with holes in it. Most of the starch leaks out of the rice and pools below it.
I have a tiny kitchen so I appreciate being able to conveniently cook rice in the corner of one countertop, especially when I'm cooking with two pans on the stove.
Is it a Zojirushi?
It's a Tiger.
Wait what? It doesn't dry out or go bad?
I'm guessing it's a "keep warm" mode.
I'm paranoid about it going bad or attracting pests...or even just using energy unnecessarily. But apparently it's not bad for any of those things!
Otp got it. I have some in it right now that I made two nights ago. Texture wise, if I press down on it, it slowly springs back up. If that gives you a good sense of how it's holding up. & it's a sealed unit water can't escape once it's done cooking (it vents steam during that process)
What brand and model? I'm curious to check it out.
I've got a tiger jbv-a10u. I'd imagine there's some other good competition in this space too though.
Lasik. Being able to wake up in the morning and just see things with zero effort was life changing.
I've gotta chime in here with an opposing viewpoint. I got all laser lasik and while it mostly corrected my myopia (went from -5 to -0.5 sph), it gave me really bad astigmatism, to the point where night driving is much more dangerous for me. Glasses were a pain in the ass but at least they made things crystal clear. Post surgery everything except bright sunlight now has an annoying halo. I'm 3 years post surgery btw, and went back under the laser twice to try to get it corrected.
That scares me. I also have family members who got it decades back and for the most part they all still have to use glasses.
I have ridiculously bad vision (-9.5 contact prescription) and bad astigmatism already, thankfully every optometrist ever has told me I'm a horrible candidate for it so I've never even had the possibility in my mind.
Damn thanks for the opposing experience. You're doing a good thing letting people know the possible tradeoffs
It was shocking just how simple of a procedure it was when I got it. The actual surgery was under 3 minutes, the doctor joked about it he could complete it before a song finished at the start. Then my eyes were only recovering for like 36hrs if you don't count eyedrops.
I had PRK operation, and I confirm. Best investment in my life.
Decent quality automatic cat feeders.
We have 3 cats, and I resisted getting autofeeders for 5 years because it felt silly to buy what amounts to three $75 food bowls.
They paid for themselves the first weekend I didn't have 3 razor sharp dickheads screaming at me to feed them at 5:15 AM. I should have bought them years ago.
Avoiding 5am starvation yowls is exactly why I free feed, and I'm sure it's going to bite me in the ass when my two are older and stop maintaining their weight easily. But for now, they're active and healthy weight even with the free feeding. So we'll see
After watching a Jackson galaxy video on how to stop your cat from waking you up early, I followed the advice of never feeding immediately after getting up, and instead doing a certain activity first, like making coffee. After a month of taking a shower before feeding, my cat no longer makes any noise in the morning and only starts getting noisy when I step out of the shower. So thats a good tip for those who can't free feed. I also started collecting every toy and putting them in a secure box before bed since she has a tendency to chase toys around in the middle of the night and yelp with one in her mouth.
Seriously. My cats are so relaxed because they get their food at the exact same times every day. I still hand feed the first and last meals (canned wet food), but it gives them something to look forward to during the day, even when we are at work.
They can also apparently tell time now because they get ready within five minutes of most feedings, I like to think that makes them feel more connected to their world and existence.
wish there was one that could open wet food cans and parse it out. my old gato is on soft foods only.
We use ice cube trays to freeze wet food, then put the cubes in the automatic feeder.
Probably condoms.
A robotic vacuum cleaner. I just have to clear the dust bin weekly and manually mob some spots that the robot couldn't clean
My roborock has been revolutionary for my apartments cleanliness. I've had it about 1.5 years and I've only emptied the dock's bag twice (I live in a small apartment). I have the water change kit so it auto refills the docks clean water tank from the laundry hookup and auto empties dirty mop water down the laundry room's drain. I only have to clean the sensors and rinse the drain screen every 2-3 weeks but otherwise it's on autopilot on a schedule and my floors are spotless and free of dust and cat fur.
I second this, i haven't hooked it up tho. But vacuum cleaning everyday because of cat hair got cumbersome. I also use it as an alarm, when it starts am i done for the day (work from home).
An extra vote for the roborock here.
I had an older one, for the best part of a decade. Upgraded to the S7 Max. The difference is impressive. Even with manual fill and empty of the water, it only needs doing once a week.
The build quality also seems on par with the older one. (It's now been relegated to the upstairs carpets).
How many people do you invite to mob the spots?
lol. My bad.
Came here to say the same thing. The robot vacuum cleaner is the hardest working member of our family. We have a white dog that is part husky that has an under coat and she sheds like crazy. If it weren't for the robot vacuum we would be knee deep in fur.
I bought a nice sandwich last week
real
it was
Nice, what was on it?
Turkey and swiss cheese :)
Custom molded earplugs. As a musician and photographer who shoots bands, I can't imagine NOT having them.
That is some complex assassination backstory you have there. What do you even have against music?
Nothing, he's a musician. He's just got to free up some space in the spotlight for himself
Good musician's earplugs will make everything quieter so as not to damage your ears, but you can still hear and enjoy the music. Industrial type ones are more powerful and block out as much as possible
Edit: I finally understood the joke
Music nothing most likely.
Not wanting to have massive tinnitus. Most likely the reason. Protect the ears.
I'll second this one, and I mostly only use mine for sleep. You can get some that you mold yourself, so there's less fear of losing them. I use Radians brand.
I bought a house back in 2009 for around $290,000, sold it in 2022 for $600,000, paid off my original loan and then bought another house outright with the proceeds. No house payment is a huge stress relief. I own this place and will as long as I pay my taxes.
My house. I am constantly stressed now, but it's something I can work on, improve, and builds equity.
The medicine cabinet in my bathroom. I know it sounds stupid, but of all the improvements in my house I've made in the last year, this one has had the most impact. It looks great and gives me tons more storage. And since I use it every single day, I can appreciate it every single day.
Yeah, my girlfriend and I were telling people, it's great. We can just put holes in walls and no one can stop us. We don't have to stress about a deposit or anything like that. It's so freeing.
Which medicine cabinet did you get?
I picked this one up. It matched the sink and vanity that came with the house perfectly and was built at a much higher quality than I expected.
Home Decorators Collection Home Decorators Collection 25 in. W x 25 in. H Rectangular Medicine Cabinet with Mirror https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Decorators-Collection-Home-Decorators-Collection-25-in-W-x-25-in-H-Rectangular-Medicine-Cabinet-with-Mirror-45410/302968021 SKU# 302968021
I also got one of those cabinets that goes over the toilet too, and while it looks alright, it felt cheap when I put it together.
Zenna Home 23.25 in. W x 71 in. H x 7.88 in. D Dark Brown Over-the-Toilet Storage with Glass Windows in Espresso https://www.homedepot.com/p/Zenna-Home-23-25-in-W-x-71-in-H-x-7-88-in-D-Dark-Brown-Over-the-Toilet-Storage-with-Glass-Windows-in-Espresso-E9850CH/320104339 SKU# 320104339
I hear you there. I love almost everything about my house, but the damn mortgage is not something I enjoy paying every month.
One of my favorite purchases in terms of usefulness, cost, and fun (relative) was these frigging ceiling fan pull chains. I saw them on some "things you didn't know you needed" list or something. But for less than $10, they have made my life infinitely easier and they do give me a little joy every time I pull on them.
Because they're labelled?
Right. I never pull the wrong one anymore because fan=fan and light=light. I know it's a stupid minor thing, but it's great.
My synology NAS. It’s great being able to have a central place for all my files that’s platform agnostic.
If you got one with a decent CPU it’s also quite the little workhorse of a home server via its apps and Docker.
Mine is quite old now but has always been slow a molasses. Maybe I should upgrade.
I have a Synology NAS too but YSK they’re an absolute shit company who only does well because they’re the only game in town. They used to be great but they’ve started doing some questionable things in recent years with “official” drives and their customer service is SO bad.
Also, they’re closed source.
They aren't the only game, there is also QNAP, I've had several of them.
Bidet, easy, second choice was an AMDGPU, fuck nvidia.
Why "fuck Nvidia" ?
I'm thinking about building a PC and am debating between the 7900 or a 4070 ti
https://drewdevault.com/2017/10/26/Fuck-you-nvidia.html
short version: everybody got together and agreed on some standards, nvidia refused to show up, said fuck that, made their own shitty standard that would've caused a massive duplication of everyones effort, all so that they could keep their driver proprietary more easily, and they only recently gave up on this.
There's a ton of other shit like this.
Hard plastic pan scrapers, kinda like these.
A friend had a bunch in her kitchen when I was housesitting and I took one home. First started using it in my air fryer to get rid of gunk without scraping up the finish, but now I use a set all over my kitchen. For all I know they've been around 20 years and I never knew. Dirt cheap, too.
My dog. Easily the most value I've ever got for my money, no comparison.
My IKEA 100cm blahaj for 30€. Now I don't feel as lonely every night.
I recently bought an electric car and I'm loving it. I would recommend getting one. I charge it at night and it can go all over town. We recently took a long trip too. It definitely took more time than it would have in a gas car but we just ate while the car charged and that worked out awesome since we needed to eat anyways.
Especially for a pet lover or a parent.
My daughter fell asleep as we were reaching a destination. I could just leave the AC waiting for her to wake up on without causing any noise nor carbon dioxide.
Electrical tape, anything I don't know how to otherwise fix, electrical tape fixes it in a pinch. Haven't tried it with relationship issues yet, though.
It's probably not ideal, but if there's consent...
This gave me a chuckle
Protip, electrical tape is very frequently used to make nipple pasties (though I recommend putting a nonstick square over the nipple)
My 2nd monitor. It's some 24" curved 165Hz 1080p monitor that I bought from a guy at my university for $105. While not the best for gaming (noticable ghosting), it's been incredibly helpful for work as it gets more complicated in university. The extra screen real estate lets me fit so much more without needing to alt tab or click on another window.
You've started down a dangerous path.
I'm looking into how to squeeze in a 4th monitor now.
42" 1080p TV. Again, probably not the best for gaming, but I don't really game heavily. And for work - complete game changer.
When I get a bit more space to myself, I'm thinking of somehow wall mounting a 42"-50" 4K TV and using that as a work monitor. Or maybe I don't need a wall mount. I'd have what feels like acres of screen real estate.
Thrift store cast iron pan for $2
Craigslist 2001 honda cr-v 4wd for $3100
Craigslist specialized s-works road bike for $150
My first house in 2019 for $400k, with a loan for $280k at 4% (refinanced later to 2.8%)
Harbor freight car ramps for $30 so I can do oil changes and stuff
Specialized S-Works bike for $150? Dude, that thing definitely has to have been stolen. They retail for like $4-15K.
I live in a town with tons of pro bikers, you can buy used Quintana Roo tri bikes here for less than $700, that’s my next purchase. They cost 10k+ new. Sponsored athletes get the bikes for nothing, then basically give them away when they upgrade every year.
The specialized was a 5 year old bike, ridden in two races (she trained on a different bike!) then it sat in a garage. So I got it for nothing. It was aluminum not carbon, so I guess people weren’t super excited about it, and it’s a model before they switched to disc brakes and electronic shifters. I swapped all the components to a Chinese carbon frame from aliexpress, it’s my comp bike now lol I’m not sponsored.
Soldering Iron, the amount of money you will save from fixing your own stuff is ridiculous.
How much will I save from burning my hand... again
But genuinely, that's rad, I'm happy it's working out for you lol. Stay safe :)
Multiple computer monitors
I love being able to have chats / reference materials up on one screen while working on another
Doom (1993). I bought it once and now all I need is the iWAD and I've got unlimited maps, mods, ports, and total conversions, to play forever and ever
Ender 3 3d printer about 6 years ago. I bought it used for $100 on a whim with no knowledge on how to use one. Now it's the most useful tool in my house. Need a slightly bigger hollow wall anchor? You can print one. Custom desk organizer? Print one. Name plates for a dinner party. Stamp to impress into wax or leather. Fantasy scatter terrain.
There is certainly a learning curve but if you can get proficient you can make countless helpful things that would would not be able to buy.
I agree but having a more reliable printer you don’t have to fix is even better. It allowed me to start teaching myself CAD and now I spend time designing stuff around the house rather than fixing or upgrading the printer. I use Alibre Design, allows you to buy outright and no subscription if you don’t mind being on an older version.
Oh, I agree. I use a different printer now too for most things but I still have the original one. The technology has really advanced in the intervening years.
stand mixer. i make bread like no ones business. and a warm coat (i bought one at a hardware store lol) and nice warm boots.
Bought a cheap AU$40 pair of generic hiking poles. Use it for the entire Camino de Santiago. Friend borrowed for her Camino walk as well. I later used it for the first half of the Coast to Coasthike in UK. Earlier this year i used it for my Kumano Kodo hike. Still going strong.
Yeah hiking poles are game changers.
25 years ago I bought an IKEA printer cart to hold a computer tower and a UPS and stuff. It was like a billy line, so it was particle-board (aka beaver chow) but at least 20-odd years ago it wasn't the hollow-core shit like so much of their stuff. I could screw in a mount for a switch and stuff.
Fast forward 25 years. I've moved-house 10 times, three of them coast-to-coast moves, and this thing is festooned with old cable-tie mounts, two switches (hp1810 and er-x) some test-rig APs for a project, a work laptop on top and its 4th APC unit (movers beat the hell out of them).
Good as new. I'm amazed that the beaver-chow actually held together, but I've kept it safe from its kryptonite: water. I've rolled it out and around to work on a tower on the top as a workbench l, and I've loaded server after server into it as they lifecycle out.
Barring calamity, I could bequeath this fucker.
Union dues and used books.
Bidet
Solar Panels
VR headset (originally to socialized during covid but ended up completely renewing my interest in video games)
Electric Scooter (an adult sized one with suspension). Ended up selling my ICE car when I realized the scooter isn't just for fun.
Bidet is a total game changer. I understood its real value during covid when people where fighting for TP lol
What scooter? And are you in an urban area? I love my little taiwanese scooter, but there's no way it could replace my car.
They (I actually bought two) are some no-name chinese scooters off Amazon. I'd link them but they're no longer available.
Basically, wide deck, dual shocks for each tire, headlight, tail light, break lights, horn, twist throttle, 500W motor, folds down to easily fit in an RV storage compartment/trunk. Get around 12 miles on a charge at 20mph.
Perfect for small grocery runs, short trips, exploring areas where traffic/parking is shit.
Often times my gf and I will take the RV somewhere, use that as home base and travel the area on scooters. Great way to visit tourist traps without the hassle.
VR headset (originally to socialized during covid but ended up completely renewing my interest in video games)
Would love to hear more about this. And which headset you own.
Actually ended up meeting someone in vrchat. She moved to my state and we've been together since. Started with a Quest 2. Got a Pico 4 a year later. Looking to get a Pico 5 next year.
A bicycle with a full chain case. They're hard to find in the U.S. Bike mechanics say it's because they're a pain to work on, but the cool thing is that you hardly ever have to work on them. When riding in the winter, I'd have to clean the gears and chain every couple of weeks, and then replace the drivetrain almost every year. With the chain case, so far my maintenance has consisted of oiling the chain a handful of times in three years.
NotJustBikes has a relevant video about these kinds of bike features.
The highest end Green Pan cook set. I've had expensive cookware before, but these are unbelievable. Actually makes me want to cook more.
I've used this but prefer cast iron as they are much durable than ceramic.
I love my enameled cast iron Dutch oven
Until you try an cook anything with tomato in it aye
Bedjet. I have constant nightmares which make me soaking in sweat. This thing keeps you and your sheets dry all night. Keeps me cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And the quality is something I have never seen before
Constant nightmares? Doesn't sounds fun... Have you tried sleep pills or weed? I sleep like a baby with CBD
sometimes knocking yourself out when you have sleep issues/night terrors can just leave you trapped in the nightmare. 0/10 would not recommend. there's also a non-soporific med for nightmares that can be prescribed, but its original purpose was a blood pressure med, so it can cause fainting and dizziness :/
Never tried. I have nightmares all my life, got used to it. When I was younger I was scared to fall a sleep, I tried to stay awake as long as I could. I am still sleep deprived though. Some weekends I sleep 15hrs straight.
I've been coming across these for months, so they're as good as their marketing makes them out to be?
Do you find you need to adjust it because it's too hot/cold at different points in the night?
Yes it is good, that's why I put it in this topic. But only if you don't bother a little breeze going over you. You can set the fan very low, you won't feel it but it still works.
I occasionally have to change the temp. But that is user error, when you're cold going to bed, you tend overcompensate to warm up and fall a sleep.
There are buttons with different built in timers. Max hot only runs for 10min at 45c. That's a good thing.
They are expensive, but I would buy again.
You can also make temperature curves when it automatically changes temp over a set period of time.
cold tile or even wood floors work, in a pinch. to cool off.
Buy a stanley thermos. If you leave it on a train track, it would probably derail the train and you would still have hot/cold liquid in there.
It's not cheap but if you Cook daily a control freak induction burner. The precision not only allows for super reliable results it allows you to focus on other steps while cooking.
Sweating onions at 110c without worrying they will burn if not watched. Or getting a nice sear on meat at 163c for 3:15 on repeat is such a game changer.
SAN SERO Vented Microwave Cover. I was just thinking about this the other day. I've owned this thing for over 9 years and use it nearly every day. At the time I think I paid like $20 for it (it's $34 now). And I thought that might be silly for what is basically a piece of plastic.
But holy crap, it's got to be my highest value-to-dollar ratio item EVER.
With it, I hardly ever have to clean my microwave. It keeps splatters to the cover itself, which is trivial to wash out.
And it helps with energy efficiency too, keeping heat close to the food, instead of it being lost as waste heat.
It comes with tiny vent holes at the top, so it won't steam up much or pop off.
And it has a nice handle built into the top middle of it, so most of the time you can grab that without burning yourself.
It also fits perfectly onto your typical round dinner plate. I mean perfectly.
This thing has been with me through four different homes/house moves, and hundreds of times of cooking or re-heating items on bowls and plates.
It's easily the best thing I've bought in my life.
Am I getting this right, you paid 20 USD for a plastic cover for plates in the microwave? I mean, yes, you should have one to avoid splatters, but I once upgraded from a 2 USD one to a 5 USD one due to better usability, I can't imagine paying 20 USD for it
Yes I did. And it’s brilliant.
I can't imagine using a microwave for anything other than popcorn!
Oh, melting butter
This is why I never believe the hype about air fryers. Most of the reviews come from people who've been using a popcorn machine to cook god knows what 😂
In the last two years, its gotta be our air fryer/ convention oven. No preheating time for anything that needs to be cooked in the oven, exceptional heat distribution due to the convection and super consistent. If I cooked something at 400f for 15 minutes it will always come out the same way every time. I never use our big oven anymore. I love it.
We have the one that the Wirecutter recommends which is the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven TOB-260N1.
We just got our first one. Please share your best recipes !
TOB-260N1
how does it do on hash browns?
I don't eat hash browns so I can't say for certain but I've made fries, onion rings, calamari and chicken nuggets in it and they all came out perfectly crunchy so I'd image hash browns wouldn't be a problem.
Bidget, I'm a pretty large man (450 pounds) and I always have trouble reaching under to wipe. I would go weeks without wiping and just let it build up like fondu on my ass while I sit in my gamer chair and argue with Redditors (my karma is over 10 mill btw). My hygiene got so bad my pants were decomposing because of all the caked shit. One day as I was moderating r/mademesmile I noticed an ask reddit thread that was talking about bidgets. They were saying how great they were for blasting your butthole clean and how much you save on toilet paper so I asked my mother for some money to buy an attachment for my toilet.
I ordered it off Amazon for like $100 and I got my mom's boyfriend to install it and oh boy was this thing a life changer. First time I used it it didn't do much because my ass was full of dried shit but eventually with the help of a paint scraper my butt was cleaner than the Shinano-gawa (that is a Japanese lake) but then I noticed that when the water hits a particular spot under my balls my uuuhhh yeah. So even though I can't really see anything because it's so small I could see the semen oozing down my leg. That's when I realised I can jerk myself off useing the bidget. I would bring my gaming setup into the bathroom and play Genshin impact while the bidget sprays water under me until I cummed. I eventually had to throw it away because it rusted from constant use but I am saving up for one of those Japanese smart toilets so I can install it in my bedroom.
A jannies greatest tool chuck from formally chucks sneed and feed doesn't want you to know about!
Have you used it when you eat tendies and guzzle chokkie milk?
Literally impossible to jack off while eating
Pinecil soldering iron
Really?
I’ve heard some really mixed reviews on it.
Yes I love it!
I can use the same wall plug or portable battery for my laptop, phone, and soldering iron, and it has a bunch of nice qol features.
There's an accelerometer built-in so it can detect when you put down/pick up the iron for sleeping the heater and also for orienting the display. The new version also has Bluetooth so you can monitor/control the iron from your phone/PC.
The heating element is in the tip so you are less likely to burn your fingers and it's also far more efficient so it's able to heat up very quickly and handle large pads for its size.
It can draw up to 85W through a barrel jack or USB-PD.
I paid $25 for it and have gotten a ton of use out of it.
I put away my expensive soldering iron and use this one exclusively now because it's just more convenient to use.
I would definitely recommend it for new or experienced users, it's a great value for the price.
Doesn't help that the official one is on aliexpress with a bunch of knock offs. But the actual pinecil works really well with the same 60w charger I use with my pixel 4a.
Idk how I did it, but I bought a house a week before the market went bonkers in 2022.
I bought a countertop dishwasher for my house and it is amazing.
Which dishwasher did you get?
So I can't find it on any site other than QVC at this point lol. I ordered it from Home Depot last year. Seems like the model got upgraded at some point between then and now
Same. My wife eventually wore me down about it and we even had to borrow money for a downpayment, but now our mortgage is cheaper than rent.
I don't feel great about luck being responsible for so much of my financial stability, but I am thankful
I've heard that countertop dishwasher are a real pain to maintain ?
I haven't had bad issues. I have to clean out the holes the water comes out in occasionally, but that isn't a problem. I just use a knife that was going in the dishwasher anyway lol
Purple bed. Super expensive but the most comfortable sleep I've ever had. Prior, I've spent way more on high-end pillow tops, but they eventually get lumpy. I've had a Purple 2 King matress for 6 years, and it's as good as day one. My #1 purchase ever, period. Sleeps cool and preasure perfectly. Makes me sad when friends ask for bed recommendations, and then they get the Costco bed in a box. Had a couple of them complain, and I just shrug. Might sound like an advertisement, but I 100% love this bed. But of a pain to change the protector since the King matress weighs over 200 pounds
I have some friends that love them and only have purple mattresses now. I slept on their bed and it was okay... I think if you prefer the floating on top feeling they're probably great, I prefer the tempurpedic style of sinking in
It takes a little getting used to but its q00% consistant and cool. Zero motion getting up in the middle of the jight for your partner. Tempurpedics get hotter than the surface of the sun, Purple is actually cool all the time forever.
I’ve been thinking of buying one. Did you try it before butting or just buy it? A good bed is worth the money
Just bought it after watching a ton of reviews. If you buy from Purple online you have a certain number of trial days where you can send it back. I tried the purple foam pillow which was awesome BUT it weighed 10 pounds and as a side sleeper it put my arm to sleep. I sent it back for a full refund. Really wished it worked out because I've yet to find a good pilloow.
My self emptying roomba i7. Complete game changer for my floors when you have 2 big dogs trekking around dirt everywhere.
Although I’m not thrilled about having this device connected to the cloud and a private company. I’ve heard that are certain robot vacs that can be hacked to use a local home automation controller or something of that nature. Need to research that more and will probably try to go with something like that as an option when this thing kicks the bucket.
All that aside, it’s been an amazing product so far about 2 years in.
Valetudo. Not many are supported fully, unfortunately.
I hope it gets more momentum. I am getting sick of the IoT. I’m not connecting my new garage door opener to my fricking wifi. Nope.
Noise cancelling headphones. My work requires a lot of air travel and I have trouble with loud noises in general. I bought a pair a year or so ago for just under $70 and it's as good or better than the more expensive one ($150 refurbished) I got in 2017. It also has a mode to let the external sound through if someone is trying to talk to you.
It really does eliminate some of the annoyance of air travel.
May I ask which model you got?
Soundcore Q30.
I'm like 85% certain mine are responsible for my tinnitus, so I'd have to rate mine as worst purchase of all time.
That's awful! I've heard that tinnitus is an absolute misery.
A good quality utility knife for the kitchen
Kuru brand shoes. I'm on my feet for 12 hours shifts and I actually have zero foot pain, they're amazing. Also I have extremely high arches, and the Kuru Quantums are the first shoes I've ever owned in my entire life that I don't have to add orthotic arch supports.
I buy a new pair twice a year.
Thanks, I'll avoid them like the fuckin plague if they only last six months!
Do you routinely walk 3-4 miles a day on your feet for 12 hours in addition to full time wear outside work? I'm a nurse, dude. Yes, I replace my shoes long before they're threadbare. These feet pay my mortgage.
Do you work 12 hours on your feet constantly? That's some pretty decent life span for that aggressive wear. My old ass can't even imagine regular 12s of standing or moving all day.
Do checkout this brand "bata". I was told that these are better than kuru.
Why is every shoe brand 4 letters in the same consonant-vowel order?
Bata, Kuru, Hoka, Nike...
I definitely will check them out. Kuru were a god damned revolution in my life after years of struggling with Brooks and Hoka.
Nice. I'll look into it. I need a good pair myself. Thanks
They really named their shoe brand after the disease you get from eating human brain?
I know, right? Trust me, as a nurse it makes it very challenging to recommend this brand to my colleagues lol
Only if it's uncooked.
Kerbal Space Program 1. I bought it in early beta for like $14, have received all subsequent updates for free because I bought it so early, sunk literally thousands of hours of enjoyment into it and come out with a solid basic understanding of orbital mechanics.
I cant think of a better return on investment I've ever made.
Especially since you are the fucking commander of the space station.