I need some holiday gift ideas (that I will probably gift to myself as well)!
A sturdy backpack with good support for the back
My back is already fucked at 23, so as someone who often uses a backpack I probably need to buy that.
I also need to go back in time and tell 13yo me to not carry all the schoolbooks plus a laptop to school every day because that’s like half your weight and will leave you with back pain as an adult. But that’s another story.
Funny, but I see soo many kids walking to school with their worldly belongings in their back packs! Worse is they’re hanging soo low - at least get a hip strap. Life lessons I guess. In my day we had lockers in the school.
tubshroom
Ryobi Desktop Vacuum. I do a lot of small-scale craft stuff and absolutely love this thing. Good for cleaning up odd crumbs and whatnot, too. It’s surprisingly powerful and fairly quiet (a LOT quieter than a standard handheld vacuum).
I’m gonna sound like a shill, but fuck it. This is genuinely good and I don’t mind.
My DTTO case. They make great cases for iPads and Samsung tablets (I haven’t tried their iPhone ones). Yeah, every asshole makes iPad cases, but these are high quality while still being around $20. Unlike a lot of cases, they feel like they were actually designed for practical real-world use. For something this simple, details matter, and they got it right.
I used to get a random new case every year, but after finding these people by sheer luck, I won’t buy any other brand.
Ad over.
would buy if i did tablets. good salesman.
This is stupid. But socks and underwear. All new socks and underwear.
I love throwing out all my old ragged socks and having a bunch of brand new pairs in the drawer.
These are the things I’m glad I got back then and would get again if they broke, that fit the price category:
- an onion comb for dicing
- shoehorn with a long handle
- 3 stage knife sharpening station
- wireless phone charger (no more fiddling in the dark with the cable)
- magnetic keychain holder (from AntPocket tools)
- Unicorn Beetle Pro phone case and belt holster (if you’re on board with the aesthetic)
- a pair of Klim earbuds (wired, with foam tips)
Unicorn Beetle Pro
Tbh, their stuff used to be fire but on some phonws the cases are just too brittle. I went through three of them on my Note 20 Ultra, all cracking in the same way (in the corners), before giving up and switching to a UAG case
Thanks for the heads up, I had no cracking issues yet, but after years of daily use the screen protector got worn out and the kickstand broke loose. Now I’m on the second one of the same model, but it’s still going strong with no real issues.
I use a mous case. Works like a charm.
A cole n mason pepper mill & toss in a bag of tellicherry peppercorns.
Rechargeable batteries. They have paid for themselves many times over by now. Less guilt about throwing away dead ones, too.
This, entirely. I remember back 10, 15 years ago, rechargeable batteries were trash. Gave them a second shot recently, and I’m genuinely surprised. They’re as good, possibly even better than, non-rechargeables
Nose cancelling headphones
Fantastic work. Just excellent.
Not my creation. Found it on the Internet.
Where can I get Nose cancelling headphones? I could do with some dog is old, and his farts are a biological weapon.
OMFG, my fucking nose is gone!
A pocketable flashlight. I have recommendations over at [email protected]
I might get some downvotes and that’s okay, but I disagree for EDC.
I went down this road and found that
- a headlamp is nice to have when needed
- strategically placed “bright” flashlights are good (like in your car)
- my phone is always with me, and good for 99.9% of my “normal” situations
I do think flashlights are amazing, but I didn’t like the hassle of keeping up with them day-to-day (I used an olight mini baton in my keychain for years, which now just lives in my backcountry first aid kit).
Reading through again, I do think it’s a good buy to have a flashlight, just maybe not for EDC for most people.
Walked in the dark yesterday, lights out on the sidewalk, there are cars.
Pulled out my phone and used the flashlight and it just didn’t work very well, like at all, I did see the ground sliightly better but light getting everywhere (from the phone and phone-flashlight) made it worse.
Maybe it’s my phone (Xiaomi 9 IIRC) though.
I respect that, and really it’s about what works for you. For whatever reason, I’ve just found my phone light to be sufficient unless I have some real “work” to do. In that case, I’ll dig out a stashed headlamp or flashlight.
I do 100% believe in dedicated lights on bikes, because that shit is treacherous at night!
I’m also young, and maybe I’ve overlooked older people having a bigger issue with low light.
bidet, electric water kettle, air fryer, pour over coffee, USB desk fan, portable electric heater, air purifier doubling as white noise maker, melatonin, metal tongue scraper, quality kitchen knife / sharpener, fleece Sherpa lined sweatshirt hoodie, wool socks, weekend at Bernie’s type sunhat, portable water purifier, ceramic pans,
Two $20 bills. In all seriousness, there are a lot of board or card games that go for less than $50 dollars.
Rice cooker
a few random things:
- $5.99 magnetic measuring spoons. They stick together and nest.
- $18.99 MagSafe phone car mount. I use iPhone and my car supports Android Auto/Carplay, but there isn’t really a good place to stick your phone. This thing is basically a big magnet, I plug my phone in, throw it on this thing, and we good. Worth noting, even if you have CarPlay (guessing Android Auto as well) even though you don’t need to use your phone, some apps have some functions when you’re using them in this manner. EG: maps displays the next few turn by turn directions on the phone screen, and the overview of the map on the carplay screen.
- decent/good chef’s knife. I think the one I’m using now is about $30, but you can get the ol’ reliable Victorinox for around that price or a little cheaper.
- cabinet lighting pucks. I think Walmart has them for like $12 for two, but they are basically stick somewhere, motion activated lights that are battery powered. Paired with rechargeable batteries, I can now see the food that we push to the back of the cabinet to die.
- new streaming stick thingy. Though I greatly prefer Apple TV, it’s hard to justify the price of those compared to Roku/Fire TV. That said, if you’re hanging on to an older version of the Fire TV/Roku, upgrading helps the annoyance factor because it’s just far less slow. We just added a $24.99 4k Fire TV stick, much nicer.
- Wireless chargers for phones. You can get them for like under $10. Buy 5, put them where you generally set your phone down. Or more simply, right next to the bedside. I generally only charge at night, so much nicer to be able to just drop it on a pad/magnet, etc.
- $9 dimmer switch. Our master bath is weird. The toilet/shower area has a door. The sink area connects directly to the bedroom with no door. The sink area has large mirrors and massive amounts of lighting. Fucking sucks if you’re just getting up to pee and you now have the light of the sun on you and your partner at 3am.
more niche, bunch of smart home shit:
- just think about how $10-$20 and a little bit of thought can improve your life. I have a switch connected to my espresso maker, now I can yell in the shower to turn it on to pre-heat. If I had a regular schedule, I could automate this further just on time. I have it set so that once I tell it to turn on, it turns off after 20 minutes.
- motion sensor lights. though technically you don’t need a smart home for this, there are some lights in my house that I only want to turn on when someone is there. I have a hallway, for example, that is more or less a cave tunnel. Any time I’m in that hallway (or anyone else) I want to have some light. So I have a motion sensor that turns the light on, and based on the status of the sun, it dims accordingly. When I walk into my garage, there are a few lights that turn on in sequence and it feels like you’re walking into the bat cave.
- buttons! You can buy many different remotes for < $20. Pretty much anything you automate via voice you also need a button for. Pro-tip, use in-wall switches where you can, but in my case I didn’t have a neutral wire because it’s an older house, and my options were pretty limited/expensive.
- last example: my entryway lights. I have a door sensor ($10-15) so if I open it I can perform an action. My entry light has a smart bulb ($9.) I also have a floor standing lamp adjacent to this that has a smart bulb. What this allows me to do is check when I’ve recently arrived, and if it’s after sunset and the bigger light isn’t already on, turn on this entry light. If my TV is playing a movie, the light goes on in the dimmest setting so arriving people don’t disturb.
Nice list! What runs all of this? Is it all connected to a central system?
Not OP, but I use Home Assistant for this kind of stuff and love it.
This is what I use as well.
Cheers!
The FireTV is great - we added it to a circa 2008 LCD TV (of the dumb variety) we have hanging in the bedroom and got rid of the cable box. Now we just stream whatever we plan to watch. Works great!
I will note the person that originally told me about FireTVs now recommends the Roku stick instead. I haven’t tried those, though.
If you have money, I would recommend AppleTV, especially if you have an iPhone. It’s by far the best platform in terms of not being solely an advertising vessel and sucking up your data, and integration with the iPhone even just out of the box is pretty great. That said, they’re the most expensive by 2-3x.
Runner up is def Roku, which is much worse, but still pretty good.
And then there’s me with a Fire TV, mostly because I buy them when they’re $25 for the max fire stick config, and you can automate through the android debug mode. So when I want to use the device, I rarely use the main interface, which is extremely garbage.
Up your bathroom lighting with an occupancy sensor/ dimmer. No fumbling for the switch in the dark or worrying about turning off lights.
Wallet
Xiaomi Mi Band 6
