I need some holiday gift ideas (that I will probably gift to myself as well)!
- A bidet attachment.
- For me, an under-the-sink trash can that hands on the cabinet door has been a huge QoL improvement.
- A back scratcher.
- Much more situational, but our back gate has a padlock that was originally different from our house keys. Kwikset actually sells “programmable” padlocks so now it is the same key as our front door, which makes life a tad easier.
- A computer mouse that fits my hands.
- Enough phone and laptop chargers to not have to constantly go to another room to grab one.
Enough phone and laptop chargers to not have to constantly go to another room to grab one.
Yes! I had enough of this so I bought like 6 USB-C cables at once, best buy ever
What’s the current recommendation for those? Is it still Anker?
Also be sure to get a medium length one. It’s so much nicer having a 6’ cable, or 10’ if you want to get crazy with it. It makes traveling and transit much nicer (ex. University students working on campus), and it might be nice for home so you can roll all over your bed while on your phone
I’ve heard good things about Nomad Goods. I have some of their other accessories for iPhone and watch, and it’s the best quality stuff I’ve ever found. I can’t personally recommend the USB-C cables or wall adapters, but I plan to get some soon. I have a leather case, MagSafe mount stand, and a few watch bands. All are incredible, but pricey.
I do have some Anker cables and they’re perfectly fine. Much better than others I’ve tried, including Apple shit. Anker also makes some nice outlet extension/USB adapter combos that are super convenient.
If you want a fancy coiled cable, try
Ventecedit: Ventev. It’s amazing for the car - keeps it off the floor.CableMatters is my go-to when I need something I can’t find above, like a USB extension cable or high-speed HDMI. They don’t feel as premium and are a bit stiff, but they’re reliable, and they just seem to make every option you can think of.
That’s very detailed, thank you!
Personally, I don’t buy Anker products since the euphy scandal, but their chargers are still top notch so I am sure you won’t have much to complain about.
I use Ugreen right now and am satisfied. I don’t have the equipment to measure efficiency, so I can’t comment on how good it is.
Everything but Anker. They constantly make false marketing, that’s why they lost Sponsor Deals.
I’m gonna guess yall over 30 since getting up and taking 10 steps to and from another room is such a big deal lol
Oh my time will definitely come. My back is already fucked at 23 so I’m like halfway there.
Start preparing now.
I started working on my generic grunt in my 30s and use it for all kinds of things: getting out of chairs, into chairs, picking something up off the floor, the first stair up or down, lifting anything with both hands, etc.
As time goes on I’m developing specialized grunts like a go slightly deeper on the first step down a flight of stairs than up.
It’s been quite a journey.
Eh lazy or not my chargers are all plugged into outlets behind furniture.
Kwikset actually sells “programmable” padlocks
Pretty much all locks are re-keyable. Kwikset’s “smart key” system is different only in that you don’t have to buy new pins and take the lock apart to do it.
(I’m switching from Kwikset to commercial-grade Schlage because I wanted to upgrade the durability of my interior locks and wanted the exterior ones to match, so I’m about to find out how much more difficult normal re-keying is. Wish me luck!)
Normal rekeying is pretty easy, if you’re careful - push out the core (the “follower” will hold your spring pins in place), dump out the old key pins, swap to the new key, and put in the new key pins, replace the core. Even when I’ve completely screwed it up (pushed the follower too far so the springs came out, mixed all the key pins together so I had to work out which was which, and more) it’s not been more than a 10-minute job.
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
One thing to note is that many of the cheaper rechargeables do not work very well with older electronics.
This is because the nominal voltage on alkalines tend to hover around 1.6 volts when they’re fully charged whereas on rechargeables they tend to hover closer to 1.4, and that may not seem like a lot but when you’ve got something that uses six AA’s and you short it out the equivalent of nearly one full battery then things are bound to get a little wonky.
The set I have (Duracell) is at least 10 years old - the charger has “copyright 2009” on it fwiw. Not sure they hold a charge for quite as long as originally, but they work for what I need (TV remote, RGB lighting remote, beard trimmer). I can only imagine how much better they have gotten!
+1 for rechargeable batteries. I love my Panasonic Eneloops!
Nose cancelling headphones
OMFG, my fucking nose is gone!
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.
Under $50?
You can get Soundcore Life Q20 for under $50 when they’re on sale. They’re not amazing, but they’re pretty good.
For the price they are fantastic. Once you dial in a proper EQ it’s hard to beat for 3x the price. This is for non flac hi res stuff like Spotify, podcasts I must say.
I have a pair, really can’t complain, they’re pretty damn solid
Definitely. In hindsight I undersold them, because they’re a great deal and very solid headphones. I’ve been using mine for three years, and very much glad I have them.
The ANC is superb. When I travel on planes they beat my Sony Link Buds S earphones hands down. And they cost me £120. Different use cases I must admit.
Quick story, I used them while on holiday while they were doing building work next door at 5am. Loud skips and building materials. I slept like a baby for 12 hours with them on, a different story. Everyone else was complaining about being woken up.
I’m a wired headphones guy, semi or open back. Sens, Bayer, Focal etc. For the road these Q20 cans are a steal.
Highly recommend Tozo brand for cheap but effective.
I would imagine that active noise cancellation is out for under $50. You’re stuck with passive noise cancelation if you want something with halfway acceptable sound. AKA, something that basically just plugs your ears so you can’t hear anything else.
Here’s an unusual one - an M.2 SSD to USB adapter.
Most, if not all, laptops come with SSD’s nowadays, and they’re usually pretty easy to take out from a laptop. Gather some old, broken laptops, and take out their SSD’s. They’re so much faster than USB flash drives, I prefer to use SSD’s where possible. Plus, it helps with e-waste
I wish I had the money to upgrade my laptops often enough that even my previous one had an m.2 ssd
“neat ideas for $50?”
- first, throw away a $1,000 laptop
-first, reuse the functional components in a broken laptop
I help my friends and family with computer issues. I’ve gotten a number of laptops/PCs out of that.
This is it for me. I don’t go through many laptops on my own, but ask around your family? You can get quite a stack of e-waste pretty quickly. Especially if you’ve already been labeled the “tech guy” of the family
I did the same with laptop HDDs. So many cheap storages.
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Aeropress for the coffee people who want something easy to store and clean.
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Portable Bluetooth speaker. I have the Anker Soundcore 2, and use it all the time in my studio apartment.
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Deli containers for food storage.
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Electric mixer. It will save you a lot of strain if you often mix by hand.
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Water filtration system of your choice. I use ZeroWater.
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Humidifier for those dry months.
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PC gamer? Use emulators for older console games? Get an Xbox controller for those non mouse and keyboard games (Journey et. al were on sale recently).
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Canister vacuum cleaner. I use Bissell Zing (about $75), but they’re better than bagless vacuums.
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Plants for literal quality of life. https://www.thespruce.com/easy-houseplants-hard-to-kill-4141665
I cannot recommend the Aeropress enough. It makes such great coffee at its price point. Its quicker and less wasteful than a lot of other popular single cup options coughKeurigcough
Ikea has single cup french presses for like 10€.
I have had several french presses, and I can say with certainty that the Aeropress is way easier to make a great cup of coffee with than any french press I have tried.
Can you make great coffee with french press? Absolutely! But it requires the proper grind, water temp, and timing it to prevent over or under extraction. Aeropress is a lot more forgiving.
Yes, I love my aeropress!! With enough dialing in I can usually make a better cup of coffee with a pourover setup that better expresses the differences of specific beans. But the aeropress makes a darn good cup of coffee every time without going through all that hassle. I use mine almost daily.
I have been trying to decide between an aeropress or pourover. Maybe I’m ignorant of something, how is the pourover a larger hassle?
I hear everyone singing the AeroPress praises, and while I like mine I actually much prefer my Chemex. I like the taste a little more, those Chemex filters are great.
But anyways, can’t go wrong with either. Then you get them hooked on an expensive hobby 😂
Nice link! Poached it for [email protected]
Deli containers are a game changer. Never have to search for a lid that fits.
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Electric teakettle if you use an older style stovetop one. The lowest end ones I’ve seen are only like $15, and work pretty much as well as some nicer ones, just don’t look as pretty, but they’ll boil water faster than the stove will. Even if you don’t make tea or similar, if you ever eat things like pasta that are cooked in boiling water, you can heat the water in the kettle first and then transfer to the pot to make things slightly faster, and use less gas if you happen to have a gas stove.
Not only are they useful for their typical purpose, but they boil water faster in pretty much any boil water use case. Use the water for your pasta, hard boiled eggs, etc.!
Relevant Technology Connections: https://youtu.be/_yMMTVVJI4c
TC is always relevant.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/_yMMTVVJI4c
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Yay technology connections! My favorite pedantic internet nerd! Was excited to find he’s on mastodon
Haha, I am in the UK, so we all have at least 1. I have 2! One for my office desk because I am addicted to hot water bottles and nice tea. :) As a yankee transplant, I advocate an electric kettle hardcore to everyone in the US. Y’all don’t know what you are missing.
Instant Pot (on sale): There is legitimately so many things you can make in these. Many of them do sous vide too, which is one of the best ways to cook meat.
Powered ratchet: For anyone who works on their own vehicles, a cheap powered ratchet is a godsend. I bought one for oil changes and car repairs and it’s my most used tool in my bag. I’m mad I spent so much time without one. Walmart’s Hyper Tough brand powered ratchet is $40 and holds up very well. Extended reach one is often on sale for $50-55.
E-Ink reader: Another often on sale item. If you have someone who loves books, having an entire library in your pocket with a built-in backlight for night reading that’s also easy on the eyes is a great thing. Coupled with Calibre and some…sourced epub files…and you can read a lot for free.
Vacuum sealer: Never have freezer burned stuff again. And keeps things fresh in the fridge longer. Also works great for sous vide for the above-mentioned Instant Pot.
Can you share some instant pot meals/ideas? I got one and it barely gets used. Every time I look stuff up or ask peoole it’s the same “crack chicken” recepies.
Mine is essentially a big power hungry medium boiled egg maker. Really wish it got more use.
Dried beans (includes garbanzo etc). With an automatic pressure cooker like that cooking dried beans goes from an ordeal where you have to soak them overnight and watch a pot for 5 hours and probably get indigestion because they’re undercooked anyway to, spend 2 minutes throwing in the beans and water and pressing the button and then come back sometime between 1-5 hours later to perfectly cooked beans. Save money and space in your pantry getting rid of cans.
You’re not selling it too well there, beanboy 😂
When was the last time you made beans not from a can? How did it go?
Genuinely can’t remember the last time I ate beans, other than a full English
Get on my level then lmao
You should sort that out.
Fresh veg > beans of any kind
Anything sous vide (if yours has a sous vide button). You can use ziplock bags in Leiu of a vac sealer. Chicken or steak sous vide and then quick seared in a hot pan for color is the best.
Olive Garden style Chicken Gnocchi soup (dozens of copycat recipes online). You can buy pre-packaged gnocchi or make it yourself. Get a loaf of French bread to toast cheap at the grocery store and it’ll blow your mind.
Basically any Chili recipe can be made 5-10x faster pressure cooked. No need to simmer it for hours.
Use it as a rice cooker. Pressure cooked white rice tastes like Chinese restaurant sticky rice and take 10 minutes. Get a box of frozen orange chicken from Costco and you’ve got Orange chicken over rice in about 18 minutes. Or cook some refried beans, brown rice, and fried eggs for a quick breakfast. Nothing beats a salt and pepper runny yolk egg soaked into rice.
Hard boiling eggs you mentioned already, but if you like egg salad it’s a great way to make easy peal boiled eggs for mashing into egg salad in the fridge.
Those are just a few things I use mine for ranging from moderate to simple.
Hah. I think my problem might be that I have gadgets for all of these things already.
I have a sous vide, so no need to use it for that
Chili I usually make in my slow cooker because it yields larger amounts (I usually fill the whole thing up and freeze a bunch of it)
I have a Zojirushi rice cooker, but I’m willing to try the instant pot if it is faster. I will check that out.
Chicken Gnocchi soup sounds amazing though.
It’s basically a pressure cooker, so……
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pressure-cooker-chili-recipe-1942714.amp
Here’s my favorite recipes, I use it every week:
Ribs - easy to get super consistent results, pressure cooking helps keep moisture in.
Clam chowder - creamy New England style, I add a lot of different seasonings to amp it up. The clams I get in cans and bottled clam juice so the only non-shelf-stable ingredients are onions, carrots, celery, and garlic
Spaghetti carbonara - my new cook book addition. grating the cheese adds more work, but overall still very simple as far as instant pot recipes go - saute the pancetta and reserve, saute onion and garlic, pressure cook pasta in broth, stir in butter, cream, cheese, egg, and pancetta when done
Corn chowder - really similar to the clam chowder but good for if you’re not feeling seafood, like most of the recipes I favorite, the steps mostly amount to dumping all the ingredients in, pressure cooking, and stirring in something extra at the end (in this case cornstarch and half&half to thicken)
I also use the instant pot some for other recipes but I lean heavily towards 1 pot meals and stuff where I can get away with putting 90% of the ingredients in for the pressure cooking step, that does mean a lot of soups but I’m working on adding more pasta dishes to my repertoire.
Any recipes you recommend for the ribs?
The ribs are the simplest, at its most basic all you have to do is remove the membrane on the back and then curl it up on a trivet over a cup of water, pressure cook high for 25 minutes and let sit under pressure for 10-25 more minutes after it’s done (depending on how fall-off-the-bone you want, I usually like 25mins), glaze with bbq sauce and broil in the oven until it gets a bit of char.
You can also salt & pepper it before putting it in, use apple cider vinegar instead of water, and/or add a few drops of liquid smoke in the instant pot. But it turns out great even when I forget to do those things so really all you need is ribs and sauce.
I got the recipe from here: https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/easy-bbq-instant-pot-ribs/
A lot of my use for my instant pot is to make batches of chicken stock to stick in the freezer.
Other than that these are a few of my most frequent recipes:
Spicy Instant Pot Carrot Soup
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Adobo
Cilantro Lime ChickenThe last one isn’t really a pressure cooker recipe, but you can make nearly any slow cooker recipe a pressure cooker recipe by just cooking it under pressure for about 30-45 minutes.
PS: Older refurbished kindles are a steal!
Indeed
If you have decent freezer space, there’s no excuse to not use a vac sealer. I have so many friends that constantly complain about meat prices but don’t take advantage of buying meat on sale in bulk. With a vac sealer, you can really get ahead. Also processing and preparing your own meat products (burgers, sausage).
We also vac seal soups and broths!
How do you vacuum seal things with liquids? Mine says absolutely no liquids, like if it gets a single drop of moisture on it, the company will come shoot me
That’s odd, mine actually has a “moist” mode. It has a little cavity where any juice that get sucked up go. You just have to empty it often if you’re doing alot of meats that are juicy. As for soups, I do one of two methods, freeze over night in a Tupperware, then remove from Tupperware and Vac seal or ill just let it cool and vac seal, which might leave a small air gap, but I haven’t notice it effect the soup like it does meat.
Seconding the vacuum sealer.
Adding mine:
- hot water bottle
- weighted blanket
- rice cooker/steamer
- mini electric kettle for work
- ceramic mug with tea strainer insert and heavy lid shaped like a big fat cat: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ceramic-Infuser-Steeping-Holiday-Birthday/dp/B0B6DTKPFT/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3QRXCXJ0WZL7C
- mini desk wrench set
- pink sea salt
- my beloved PINETIME!!! (how could I forget) It’s an under $30 FOSS smartwatch. I haven’t even customized it lol. https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/
Didn’t know of PineTime, how is it for training?
I don’t know! :) I do not track my exercise.
Pocket knife.
Yeah. I’ve had a leatherman squirt on my key ring for years. It’s always in the same place, has a useful set of tools and has got me and quite a few others out of some minor scrapes
Gerber Dime for me.
Fun fact: the tool I use most often by far is the “retail package opener.”
Wonderful tool. I’ve had mine long enough that the black finish has given way to silver fur to my keys rubbing it off
I so want one of those!
Which of the tools in the picture is that?
Darn, I knew I should’ve gone ahead and included this picture the first time:
Thanks, homie.
I have a small knife on my key ring that’s probably been used more than any other tool I own.
[email protected] would like to know
your locationwhat is in your pocketsOi, mate, do you have a loicense for that?
Removed by mod
I’ve carried many different knives, and the one I stick with now is an opinel no 8. I find that I use it more than any other one, because it’s particularly well suited to food. Perfect size to cut an Apple or avocado, even a steak, and the wood handle and general look make it pretty non threatening.
Pocket sand is free.
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.
Key to this is identical ducts socks. No more sorting
That’s… genius.
A red nightlight or two somewhere between your bed and the bathroom. Red doesn’t wake you up as much or destroy your night vision. Ideal for trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Oh snap I need this
Kitchen scale. Baking is much better with weight measurements instead of volume. Also useful for calculating calories.
Headlamp. Having light where you don’t need to hold a phone or a flashlight is great.
Digital meat thermometer. No more guessing.
USB charging hub. Charge many devices at once.
I’ll second the meat thermometer. I bought one a little while ago and find that it prevents me from overcooking things out of an overabundance of caution.
No more dried pork chops or chicken! I probe everything I eat. I also used a “Meater” to cook our Thanksgiving turkey, came out ridiculously juicy.
They should call those thermomeaters… random thought
I bought a scale to start measuring my coffee a couple years ago and only recently realized I could be using it for cooking. Was definitely a game changer
Electric blanket.
I feel like a grandparent on the couch but fuck it’s nice and cozy when I haven’t turned the heat on and I’m watching tv.
One of the scariest home appliances I know of.
I prefer to go out of my way and buy a real wool blanket to gift or for myself.
Why? Fire risk?
And electrocution.
If you can ever manage to do so, get a rabbit pelt blanket. Even better if from a small home family farm.
I once got introduced to one of these blankets by a person that rears rabbits for food and at some point decided it was time to stop wasting the pelts.
After some experimentation with tanning at home, the person learned how to salt cure and never let another go to waste.
It’s extremely soft and heavier than what is expected but not in a cumbersome way and develops a lot of heat in a very short time.
Interesting, I’ll see if I can feel one at a store.
Warm soft socks!
Darn Tough brand. Expensive but worth it.
And they replace worn out socks forever. I’ve pairs that are 10 years old that were replaced FOC, no questions asked.
See, I’ve never tried this. How does it work? I just replaced a bunch of 5yo Darn Toughs that had developed holes in the legs. Cost a bit, but they’re such nice socks. I suppose I should’ve tried returning them.
Yes. They’ll ask where / when you bought them and where the damage is, etc. All online, last I needed to replace years ago. Give you a store credit (I believe I had to ship them back), with free shipping.
I made soup containers for my family last Christmas, went down really well! Got glass containers from IKEA, layered lentils, beans/herbs/pasta/seasonings in a decorative way. Looks pretty, throw in a pot when lazy!
Do you have any recipes? That sounded really awesome!
First time trying to add an image! Hopefully works! I did several different varieties, bought green split peas, yellow split peas, red lentils, kidney beans, pearl barley, powdered stock, dried herbs, and I added a separated bag of macaroni so it can be put in later in the cooking method. Super easy, dump it in a pot and add water, add pasta when almost done!
