Ask Lemmy

I somehow managed to buy a house last year. Idk how I did it, but it's the best purchase I've ever made.

I'd say probably a Kindle and an electric toothbrush:

1. Kindle Paperwhite (~130 USD) - Was addicted to social media for a while so I decided to get into a healthier hobby, and I'd wanted to get into reading for quite some time. Instead of a tablet or an actual physical book (I have nothing against it; I actually prefer it but I have storage issues), I opted for a Kindle cuz it has no intrusive notifications, and I can bring it anywhere, at different times and lighting situations.

2. Oral-B Electric Toothbrush (~25 USD) - One of the best purchases. I like brushing my teeth in general, but having an electric toothbrush feels even better cuz it makes my mouth feel cleaner than before without having to exude much effort, and the strokes are not inconsistent.

A $100 brother laser printer (2280dw but it has been discontinued). It's like a printer from an alternative universe where printers aren't evil.

Had it for about 6 years now. Printed thousands of pages and only needed to replace the ink cartridge a few times. Had no issues with 3-rd party cartridges. Surprisingly never required any maintenance.

Other laser printer brands that can probably perform similarly, but I can only vouch for this one.

K240 studio headphones and a Samson Meteor mic. Doesn't have to be these specifically, but switching from headsets to decent studio headphones and a decent mic is a gamechanger. Sound quality is way better and good build quality makes them last longer. The only thing breaking in years has been a cable (kind of my fault as well) and they can be easily replaced, unlike most headsets.

Definitely my iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit. Cost like 70€ but I've repaired dozens of devices with it which otherwise would've gone to waste. Based on that it easily saved me more money than it cost :D

A $100 brother laser printer (2280dw but it has been discontinued). It's like a printer from an alternative universe where printers aren't evil.

Had it for about 6 years now. Printed thousands of pages and only needed to replace the ink cartridge a few times. Had no issues with 3-rd party cartridges. Surprisingly never required any maintenance.

Other laser printer brands that can probably perform similarly, but I can only vouch for this one.

1. Anbernic RG35XX handheld emulator ($70). So much fun and nostalgia playing the Sega and PS1 games I loved as a kid.

2. Hakko soldering iron ($~120). This plus good solder & flux makes anyone a soldering expert.

3. Electric leaf blower ($150). Clears the deck & patio in 2 minutes vs 30 minutes of sweeping. Also fun for cranking a campfire up to 11.

1. Kitchenaid! I bake bread every week and it makes it so much faster/easier. Also good for mixing stuff and making fancy whipped creams
2. Double full motion monitor arm. This helps me save desk space and allows me to move my screens around depending on what I'm doing. For example when I play FPS games I move the main one from the left to the center (closer to my face)
3. Battery powered air compressor and jump starter for my car. No need to be stranded waiting for a jump or have keep quarters for low tires.
4. Weber kettle and WSM, very solid grill and smoker. I use em all the time.
5. A good mattress! I bought one made locally in Texas, so comfy

The real question is 300 one dollar whores or one 300 dollar whore?

Dyson stick vacuum - vacuuming went from a chore to a simple, almost enjoyable task.

Snowcaster Snowblade - For 2-3 inches of snow max but when using it you will question reality as your back feels nothing.

• Toyota RAV 4 ($18,000)
• 2013 Apple Macbook Pro (still looks and works like new $3,700)
• Rancilio Silvia ($450)
• 2001 Chevy Prizm (at >200k miles, I actually had to scrap it even though it still ran perfectly due to sensor issues $1800)
• iPhones (absolutely flawless hardware which keeps getting better with each iteration (~$1,000)
• Canon 5D MKIII ($3,000)
• Kemper Profiler (still getting free software updates 12 years into its lifespan $1,800)
• Fluke 87V (the best meter on earth $400)
• Synology NAS (though I hear they have been enshittified $2,000)
• Airizer Argo (still going $300)
• Nvidia Shield Pro ($300)
• Aeropress ($30)
• Orphan Espresso LIDO 2 (will outlast me $195)
• Warmoth guitars ($5,000 for five guitars)

• New bed for me and fiancée. Locally made and great quality.
• My first coffee grinder. Got me into coffee and it has been amazing.
• Latest pc upgrade was great, getting so much more out of it now.
• e-reader (kobo) though I still read often from phone screen.
• Our two cats. Cost basically nothing because both are rescue cats but they give so much.
• First batch of liquid fertilisers and a bucket got me into hydroponics. So much fun to grow stuff!

Next big thing is probably going to be 3D printer. I know I'll love it (been doing some at work) but haven't pulled the plug yet.

A Zojirushi rice cooker. For years, I had been using the crappy $20-30 ones, and they just don't make rice as well. And they tend to break. The Zojirushi makes perfect rice every time and I've had it for more than a decade now.

Calf stretcher for $50. It cures my plantar fasciitis allowing me to work out, allowing me to not be depressed, allowing me to stay alive.

• Coffee grinder. Much better coffee at home
• Nintendo Switch. Hundreds of hours of entertainment.
• SwitchBot. $30 or so to remotely push a button for you. I use it to turn on my espresso machine remotely to let it heat up before I go use it.

My Italian five-ply stainless steel frying pan was a game changer for me. Mountains may crumble, but that pan will be with me forever and making cooking in a pan an absolute joy.

my sleep 8 heading/cooling bed last year. was tired of sleeping crappy, had tried just about everything from supplements to saunas, exhausted all other ideas ... out of desperation decided to throw down for it.

seriously life changing. no matter what temp the room is at the bed is always perfect. takes a while for the auto pilot to learn your likes but when it does ... oh man.

much love for my smart mattress ❤️

My 512GB Steam Deck, easily. I've used it almost every day for going on a year now, and the novelty of playing things like Witcher 3, or Mass Effect, or a fully modded Skyrim anywhere I want still hasn't worn off.

Robot vacuum. I got the Eufy Robovac on a black Friday sale and have never fucking looked back. Those things are magic, especially if you have a kid or a pet.

I used to have noisy neighbors who would party until very late at night with loud music. In addition, my apartment only had one room towards a big road.

Often, I couldn't sleep until 2 or 3 AM when parties ended and would be waking up around 6 or 7. Ear plugs didn't help since the sounds were too loud.

This lead to me constantly being tired and overall made everything else in my life more difficult. I lived like this for years.

Then, one day I saw an ear protection gear (the type that construction workers normally use) in a store for only $5. I decided to buy it, thinking that it might help me relax but that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep with them.

Well, it turned out that I was able to sleep with it and I started to consistently get 6 or 7 hours of sleep. Best purchase of my life.

TLDR Lived in a very noise environment and couldn't sleep. Bought an ear protection gear for $5 dollars and slept like an angel.

Logitech G502 for all the programmable buttons. I’m left handed and use a drawing tablet for work and having all my hotkeys accessible on my right hand keeps my work flow consistent.

i also struggled with the idea of paying for this but tbh after using it for over a year now, i don't have a problem.

we live in a place with micro climates where there temps can swing widely at night from day to day & the auto pilot does small fine tuning based on a number of things. this for me at least is worth $10 a month.

compare & contrast with the oura ring which requires a $5/mo sub to get any useful insight out of it - without the subscription you only get how long you slept witha proprietary sleep score that has no insight behind it. after spending a few hundred dollars for the ring this really started to piss me off.

at least with the 8 sleep bed the device is actually performing / working for me vs just giving me data.

the 8 bed also gives you much of the same data oura does so the subscription just hits differently for me.

finally if you're thinking about this - definitely consider the cover vs the full mattress. same tech and they way they've designed it makes it fit beautifully on your existing setup at ~ $1k less than the mattress combo 😊

OXO ice cube trays. All my life ice cube trays have been annoying to deal with.

Saw these in some absolute random YouTube videos and I had to have them.

I cycle 3 trays all year round and have perfect to pop ice cubes anytime I want. Yeehaw.