Under $100:

1) A bidet! Got one in the pandemic when toilet paper was scarce and I wanted to be more efficient, but now I'll never go back. The Tushy ones are good.

2) A safety razor & accessories. I get a cheaper, closer, less irritating shave, and I get to customize every part of it. This can certainly be a rabbithole you spend a lot of money on, but you can get a solid customized starter kit for under $100 that will be totally solid, and from then on you're saving money over cartridges and gel unless you really want to splurge.

I'll second the electric toothbrush suggestion too, its great having my teeth fel clean and smooth.

Safety razors are amazing and life changing. Even if you have something basic it's better for your skin than a cartridge razor, plus it's better for the planet (way less plastic), plus it's way less expensive! I don't know how they are still a niche item.

For anyone who wants to get started, I recommend (no affiliation): - the henson razor for those who want something on automatic. It's less efficient (worse at cutting long hair) but it's basically impossible to cut yourself with it due to the small blade gap - the rockwell 6s for tinkerers. It has 6 different settings for blade gap so you can choose your favorite, switch it up if you skipped shaving for a day and have longer hair, etc

I abandoned safety razors because the handles are minuscule. Never found one that didn’t cramp up my big farmer hands.

Yesss bidet post upvote!

Seriously, whenever I stay somewhere without a bidet I feel like a caveman. It's just such a quality of life improvement, it's crazy.

Under $1000: My 3D printer. I just super love 3D printers.

Same for me. The bidet is absolutely a life changer.

And the BambuLab's A1 3D printer (and mini-AMS) was by far my favorite under $1000 purchase. I've already printed some fidget "tools", toys for the grandchildren, toys for the children, and even a couple of useful tools for me. As a bonus I get some more experience in CAD and other 3D design tools. It's turning into quite a hobby for me.

Hell, the A1 mini is something like $199, it's such a steal I'm thinking of buying some to gift to friends.

For me P1S hits the soft spot: it's not terribly expensive, and it just works out of the box, is closed so the temperature is well-controlled (plus a carbon filter to keep the fumes down), you can add AMS easily. With 0.2 nozzle you can basically print figurines with almost resin quality.

I love my P1S. Maybe not a great starter printer, if you don't know if you like printers or not, but definitely the best bang for buck if you know it's not going to be a "let's try 3D printing and see if I like it" purchase.

I do recommend a small length of foam tape for the left side of the door, though, the hinge is not lined and some fumes come out. Putting some foam there greatly improves that.

What do you use the 3D printer for?

I get this question a lot, and I never have a good answer. The best way to describe it is that it's a tool, so it unlocks a whole solution space that wasn't there before.

Before, I used to live with random little annoyances so much that I couldn't even see them as annoyances. After you get something that can solve all of them, your mind just unlocks.

Toilet seat won't stay up? Print a hook. Taking my glasses out of the glove compartment takes too long? Make a custom glasses holder. The cat eats too much? Print a cat feeder. My USB hub slides around too much? Print a bracket to hold it down. Too many devices on my desk? Print under-desk mounts for them.

The list just goes on and on and on, I've printed probably thousands of useful things, especially for my hobbies.

$79.95 on Amazon: RinseWorks- All Brass Aquaus 360 Handheld Bidet Sprayer for Toilet - NSF Plumbing Code Certified Legal Installation Ergonomic Dual Thumb Pressure Controls- 3”-11” Spray I just spent 6 weeks in Japan, where EVERY toilet had some version of the Toto bidet toilet seat. And while I appreciated that it was everywhere, whereas in every other country bidets can barely ever be found; I was happy to return to my Bidet Sprayer, with a MUCH stronger adjustable spray, that cleans me out, and leaves no brown on the single swipe of toilet paper.

For anyone in the UK interested in getting a bidet: most normal bidets are illegal due to our water safety backflow prevention regulations. As a minimum you need a break tank - a double check valve isn’t sufficient.

Secret bidet is secret.

I know this applies for bumguns —various water boards have published guidance— but a lot of the under-seat bidets retract [without positive water pressure].

There's no risk of the spout sitting in and siphoning dirty toilet water it back into your supply. I'm neither a lawyer or a plumber but these seem like they might be okay.

> There's no risk of the spout sitting in and siphoning dirty toilet water it back into your supply

In many places in Europe tap water is safe to drink. However, hot tap water is not.

The regulations mentioned by GP might protect safety of the cold tap water from intake of hot tap water. Which is easy to do unintentionally when mixing hot and cold water.

Oh so that's why the Brits all have this crazy setup with separate cold and hot taps! I was always wondering why - I'm from a country where you can mix water easily.

Nah, in the UK it's now fairly uncommon to still have a hot water tank. Most houses have mixer taps, and new fittings for bathrooms or kitchens will have mixer taps unless the home owner is masochist.

The separate taps thing is more because it costs to replace a sink. So even if you put a new boiler in an old houses lots of people aren't going to replace the fittings in the kitchens and bathrooms at the same time.

"Bumguns" -Lol - I love it :-)

I bought some Tushies for my house and they were awful, they were so thick that they broke my toilet seats. I then bought new toilet seats and little stick-on bumpers, but they fell off.

I then visited a friend who had an older Tushy and it was thin enough that he had no problems.

It's like they switched to a cheaper version without testing it, and then marketed the hell out of it.

I ended up replacing all my Tushies with Amazon's toilet seat with a built in bidet. It's decent.

My parents in law lived in the middle east for a long time, and we all got used to bidets over there. I've had a "mini shower head" version next to my toilet for the last 15 years or so. A bit afraid that it'll start leaking at some point, but so far it's holding up great. I would never go back to TP only.

Without meaning to get too personal, what is the technique for using those? When I took a work trip to India the office had what I think you’re talking about. In the US, it’s like a sprayer on a kitchen sink. I didn’t dare try it out, as I couldn’t think of a scenario where I tried it for the first time and didn’t soak my clothes. I didn’t want that to be my reputation at the office.

You hold it relatively close to the area that needs cleaning. Adjust the pressure as needed using the control on the handle. Then use TP (just to dry), in my experience this is optional in warmer climates.

I have seen that 'mini shower head' in multiple homes and hotels in Finland and Russia (but not in Sweden or Denmark). It is amazing!!

A side-hack for that matter is to switch from plain-TP to wet-wipes. Some time ago I visited a friend who had younglings, and treated myself to a pamper-wet-wipe and it was amazing.

The sewage system won't be happy with wet wipes. Caused huge problems in some areas as it doesn't break down.

I would asterisk the bidet suggestion just to say that higher end bidet seats that cost starting around $400 are wildly better the cheap ones, especially the unseated ones.

I’ve bought the cheap kind, got tired of it and tossed it, then years later went with a more expensive Toto (around $400) and it’s like a completely different experience.

The Toto keeps itself and the toilet cleaner for longer, it has options for gentle spray and oscillating movement, it’s entirely controlled by electronic remote rather than a crude manual knob, the water and seat are heated, it detects when you are sitting down and operates accordingly, and it even has a warm air dryer.

All bidets I've looked at including Tushy seem really complicated to install (basically having to redo the plumbing) and I don't understand how so many people can just buy and install one like it's nothing. Am I imagining things?

Edit: Not in the US and the plumbing looks a bit like this, but without the nuts so you can't easily disconnect a part of it: https://static.byggahus.se/attachments/images/large/341/3416...

If you can handle putting the nozzle on your garden hose, you should be able to handle it.

In the US, the water pipe almost always connects to the toilet through a small shutoff valve. After the valve, it connects to the toilet through a "supply." The supply is basically a short garden hose, with screw-on connections at both ends.

Shut off the water at the wall. Flush to empty the toilet tank. Unscrew the hose at the toilet, and screw that end into what amounts to a y, or splitter that comes with the bidet. From the splitter, screw one side back into the toilet connection; the other goes to the bidet itself. Turn back on the water at the wall.

(This is for a simple cold-water bidet. If you need heated water or electricity, it can be more complex.)

I mean, but don't you need warm water and/or electricity? I can't see liking a bidet if it's basically just cold tap water shooting up my bum. Not sure that's going to do it for me.

I've always thought that both hot water and electricity would be a minimal barrier to entry for a bidet. And that neither of these exist in a typical toilet closet. Am I fundamentally wrong about this??

Whether you need it probably depends on your climate and your house.

Water in pipes inside a house's "thermal envelope" is presumably around 72 deg. F. I wash my hands with "cold water" without wincing. Tap water strikes me as tepid if I drink it without ice.

If your pipes run through an outside wall in Canada, it might be a different story.

If you do need warmer water, and the bidet heats it, you probably just need an electrician to fish a wire and add a receptacle. That's not outrageously complex, usually, but I tend toward calling a professional for anything behind the walls.

> Water in pipes inside a house's "thermal envelope" is presumably around 72 deg. F.

The pipes in my house are in the crawlspace underneath the house, which is definitely nothing like 72F this time of year. Any hot water more than 10 feet or so away from the water heater runs pretty cold for several gallons.

That sounds like a good weekend project, putting split foam insulation around your pipes. 8' runs are a couple of bucks at the big box stores.

It's not quite as efficient, but I put in a recirculation pump and a timer to keep the water warm throughout the pipe during the day. The clothes washer was never getting warm water, and we wasted a lot at the shower waiting for warm water to reach it.

it's really not that cold. i can't do cold showers at all and tap water bidet feels nothing like it.

Same, I don't even like washing my hands with cold tap water, but cold bidet water is no issue.

The bidet heats up the water instantly, there is no requirement for a hot water supply. Just connect it to the existing water supply the toilet uses.

You do however need electricity. I had to run an extension cord for mine, which I tucked away in low profile conduit to keep things tidy looking.

It depends on what your toilet supply lines are like and if you use a cold water only or a cold/hot water bidet, but a cold water only one (not nearly as uncomfortable as imagined before trying it) is very easy to install as long as your supply line has a shutoff valve and is relatively flexible.

It takes 15-20 minutes and it basically consists of unscrewing a few things and screwing them back together again.

I bought a Tushy during the pandemic, it took about 10 minutes and a flathead screwdriver.

I liked it so much that when I had a new bathroom installed a year later I put in a Toto Washlet.

I feel like Toto is failing with their marketing, since people are not really aware of their products outside of Japan. No good and cheap alternatives either

Toto is failing with their prices. I know they can print money in Japan, but it looks like they don't really want to be competitive elsewhere. Sooner or later someone will persuade the right influencer to start a bidet craze and they will get 10x bigger than Toto overnight.

Yep, this is what I've been thinking!

Is Toto really that better than others? I have both (very old Toto vs Chinese no-name) and I see no difference.

You can pry my toto drake 2 from my cold dead hands.

Duravit aren’t cheap, but are much cheaper than Toto (at least in the UK) whose pricing is kinda outrageous.

I’ve got a Duravit toilet here in the US, and I'm on the hunt for a compatible cold-water bidet seat under $300 on Amazon. I originally went for a Brondell, thinking it would match the shape and dimensions. But halfway through the install, I realized it wasn’t going to fit around the seat connectors. Duravit's own bidet seats are around $1,000-- I'm tempted, but they look like a lot of work to install. I’m starting to wonder if I should just upgrade the whole toilet to a model that comes with a bidet.

Those are compression fittings which we also use in the USA for sink and toilet connections. Standard size here is 3/8 inch which is the outer diameter of the tubing. They are easy to work with as you only need a tube cutter (or hacksaw with fine tooth pitch) and a wrench. You cut the tube, slide a compression nut over, slide the ferrule(s) on, insert the tube into the fitting, finger tighten the compression nut, make sure everything is aligned then tighten nut with wrench. No solder, no fancy crimp tools. You can disassemble and reassemble without leaks. The only issue is the ferrule winds up becoming swaged to the tube after wrench tightening so you have to cut the tube end off behind the ferrule if you want to replace the nut.

However, instead of using rigid metal or plastic tubing you commonly find a flexible hose assembly[1]. Only fancy installs use custom formed polished rigid tube for the look. We also tend to leave most of the plumbing in the walls and only the shut off valve protrudes from the wall. Maybe there are flexible hoses available in your region.

When I installed my bidet all I needed was a 3/8 compression tee[2] which they make specifically to tap shutoff valves. The bidet came with a 3/8 connection hose so that went to the tee and I was up and running. The big issue was electric - no outlets in the bathroom. So having seen how Japan loves extension cords I too used one, ran a 12 AWG cord out to the hall to a GFI adapter plugged into a socket. Jank but highly unlikely to cause a fire.

[1] https://www.homedepot.com/b/Plumbing-Plumbing-Parts-Supply-L...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Breezliy-Lead-Free-Compression-Outlet...

To follow on to user infecto’s sibling comment, for most U. S. homes, it is probably fifteen minutes of work. Shut off water, connect t-line, bolt down new toilet seat, sorted. It shouldn’t be complicated for most installations.

I ended up buying a travel bidet because I couldn’t install one at our house for various reasons. It’s basically just a squeeze bottle with an angled head. Works great!

Just don't get it mixed up with your water bottle!!

Not in the US. The pipe just goes straight into the toilet. When googling around seeing articles about installing Tushy when you have rigid pipes they are still much more flexible than mine, with separate parts you can disconnect and replace.

I was in the situation you describe when I got a bidet. It's possible to replace that pipe -- a little more work of course, but it's still turn off water, replace pipe with flexi-hose, connect bidet.

I posted a picture in my original comment. Was it in the same ballpark? The difference with mine is that there are no nuts on the pipes next to the wall. It's one solid construction going from the sink through the toilet to the shower.

I’ll Third a bidet. Once you experience the exhilarating bliss of cleaning your nether regions with fresh, clean water, you’ll never willingly go back to smearing excrement around your fiddly bits with the dry paper.

Sorry if this is getting into TMI territory but how does the bidet avoid dissolving the unwanted material and spraying it all over everywhere? And how does one dry this without toilet paper?

It works under the same principle as pressure washing, as long as the water pressure is high enough the final result is completely clean. Too high pressure can lead to material flying around everywhere but there's a very large range where the pressure is high enough to clean you but not enough to spray things around.

Drying is a personal preference and isn't as important anymore as you're clean down there now. Toilet paper is one option but you don't have to do it (I don't dry for reference) as it'll dry out by itself in a few minutes once you put your underwear on to absorb the water (which is fine because you're completely clean down there so it really is just clean water left).

> And how does one dry this without toilet paper?

Normally you still use some small amount of toilet paper to dry away most of the water.

By controlling the water pressure.

I'd add a cheap hand massager to that list, just basic compression and some heat with vibration can do wonders for your hand after a day of coding, bonus if it kneads as well.

Second a bidet. Used one in Asia and bought one immediately on returning to the USA.

I've had my safety razor (a Merkur) since 2008 or 2009 and I am still working through the original pack of 1,000 razorblades that I got with it. I keep a beard year-round so I don't really shave much. Incredible value purchase, with very minimal effort it has remained practically as good as new.

I am so glad you mentioned this. My son is intellectually challenged, and teaching him to wipe himself is . . . challenging. A bidet seems like an excellent game changer. Cheers!

Is there a travel bidet that falls into the same category in terms of the quality ? I have tried many but nothing works at the same level as tushy and thought i would make one myself! Would anyone from this community buy one if I made a very strong force bidet thats portable ?

You’re looking for a culo clean:

https://www.amazon.com/CuloClean-Portable-Compatible-Discree...

I have the high-end Totos installed at home, and occasionally still revert to this. It’s the best.

Have one in my travel bag, car, backup in luggage, briefcase. All you need is a cheap water bottle.

Test it at home so you know how to use it. Keep it in a tiny ziploc with extra tp (for drying in a public WC)

I can’t live without a bidet but the Tushy ones are no good - tight knobs and awkward spray angle.

Luxe Neo bidet attachment - easy to tee into supply, fits under toilet seat, options for rear/male only, or both rear/front male/female separate spray nozzles.

Yes for a bidet! My wife wanted one, I thought I'd hate it but it really is fantastic. We have a Toto Washlet C5. Heated seat, heated spray, warm air dryer. Had to cancel the Amazon toilet paper auto-delivery.

+1 for the bidet

A bidet for under 100$?

Luxe Neo bidets are like $40-60, sturdy, easy to install and yes, rather life-changing.

Under $100:

- A dumbphone. Even if I’m not using it anymore, it has shown me what life I could be living without distractions. My anxiety and stress levels went down from about the second day using it, I became much more aware of my emotional state and the environment around me, it was a noticeable shift.

I no longer buy the arguments that we can control our smartphone addictions with will. The technology is too optimised for most of us to break free. And the addictions — too subtle for most to notice.

It may simply be a physiological addiction to checking email or for notifications every now and then. If you feel like you’d be missing out unless you check your phone several times a day, you have it. If you reach for your phone without thinking when you’re bored, you have it. It’s all about compulsive action.

I think much of the population is addicted. Certainly most of the online types.

Every interaction with your phone pulls you out of being present!

I really don't see the point of a dumbphone: it seems a lot like buying a ham radio and trying to use that for your daily life. Who am I going to talk to with a dumbphone? No one actually does "phone calls" any more using voice calling, at least in my corner of the world. (They do for work, but I'm not in a customer-facing job so I don't.)

Flip phones now have apps, but very limited. You can totally get a modern flip phone to check your email or play Spotify if you need to, but web browsing and doom scrolling are pretty tough.

There seems to be a hole in the market for a dumb phone that does sms well. Perhaps we can even get rid of phone calls entirely and just have an sms device with a camera.

I would suggest an eink phone if this is what you're looking for. I, for example have the Hisense A5. Can do everything a regular android phone can it's just less effective

Then you end up doing all kinds of android things. I don't want a toaster that is also a casino and a web browser. It needs to be a thoughtless process between the idea of having toast and eating it. "lets have toast", "ahh, nice toast"

These are a good example

https://www.tripsavvy.com/best-digital-translators-4154191

They just translate, no candy crush, no angry birds, no hero wars, no facebook, no push notifications how you've spend 123 minutes per day using your phone. You can take it to the pub and not end up playing hayday, doom scroll twiiter or hey, I can spend the night reading hn, and ohh is it closing time already? Did anyone else have a good time?

The assumption one can be strong enough to not do that isn't supported by the data.

Something like the Light Phone?

The iPhone has a mode, meant for older or less tech savvy people, but could also be used as a means to turn it into a dumber phone.

https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/welc...

That's pretty much what the Sidekick was: https://www.t-mobile.com/devices/sidekick

It was branded as a smartphone but it was from around 20 years ago and it's unlikely anyone nowadays would call it such.

In the USA -lots- of people use SMS only, and it’s their main communication. You can do that on a dumb phone, and if you tend to get into doom scrolling or TikTok dance scrolling it can allow you to recover a lot of free time back. No SM? Count me in.

>In the USA -lots- of people use SMS only, and it’s their main communication. You can do that on a dumb phone

This is unique to the US (and probably Canada); elsewhere, everyone uses various chat apps to communicate.

Regardless, if we just ignore everyplace else, the main problem I see here is that texting on a dumbphone is really painful once you're used to typing out messages on a modern smartphone's touchscreen. Sure, they had that T9 system back then, but compared to typing on a modern phone it's a huge step backwards in typing speed and usability. On top of that, the tiny screen size makes it much harder to follow a conversation.

Agreed. Only stupid thing is that my dumb phone comes with fb that cannot be deleted, but I have no data-plan. Oh and some games that apparently auto-bill your phone account if you start using them, also cannot be deleted. Still it was the best tech purchase in a long time under 100e for quality of life improvement, and helped me finally escape the depressing 'news/propaganda' streams.

under 1000e: I am still experimenting with, but a water distiller and some glass bottles to try and escape the plastic water bottle madness.

I think I like the “dumbify” apps better. You can install them on a regular smartphone and make it a bad experience for doom scrolling but still have conveniences like MFA apps, Password Managers, audio books, music streaming, etc. that are hard to come by on true dumb phones.

I switched to an iPad plus cellular Apple Watch, and I’m finding it more convenient than a straight up dumb phone. Biggest downside is no ride share apps work on it, but otherwise it has everything I need.

I’m thinking about getting a cellular apple watch and not carrying around a phone most of the time. Can still get critical messages without being able to check the news when I’m bored or anxious.

i did this for some time. I'm probably due to again as I check my phone often. Apple watch does have standalone navigation which is a win. It got annoying not being able to do things sometimes, such as checking a groupme etc.

What are the dumb phone options in the US? I want to get one.

Sunbeam is a popular one. Also a bunch of Nokias should work.

There is also the Xiaomi/Qin/Duoqin F30. It’s a T9 phone with Android 11. But the “Westernized” version with Google Play Store has tampered with software (hacks applied) as the original Chinese software doesn’t have Google stuff nor is the phone Play verified. Then there are questions about the Chinese software itself. I’ve gone deep into the rabbit hole of trying to verify it’s secure but couldn’t to a satisfactory standard.

The F30 is still considered a dumbphone for how limiting the T9 keyboard and its tiny screen are. You won’t enjoy consuming or searching for any kind of content on it. But you can install many modern Android apps if you are comfortable with the security situation. And that’s quite important sometimes to not get isolated from people, to bank, for 2FA, streaming music, and a few other things. It’s basically then a capable but highly inconvenient phone, which I think is excellent.

Still, if you want privacy and security, how many days are you willing to sink into tinkering with these Xiaomi/Qin/Duoqin devices? You will need at least a few, possibly more.

It’s much less hassle to just get whatever dumb phone with a feature OS you can get on Amazon or Walmart.

I think about this a lot! How did you overcome the compulsion? I quickly revert when I try to ween off any tech.

What do you do instead?

Delete the stuff you’re compulsively checking. Turn off notifications, so you need to make the intention to check things, rather than the phone calling for attention. Spend some time now trying to ween, but going told turkey. Go for a walk, leaving the phone at home. Leave it in another room when doing things around the house. Don’t take it with you into the bathroom. Get comfortable with boredom. Allow your mind to wander and see where it takes you.

Cal Newport’s book Digital Minimalism is pretty good for stressing the importance of spending time in thought without the influence of the internet, podcasts, audiobooks, or anything else. This used to be the norm for large sections of the day for people… now it’s rather rare.

That’s why it’s important to have tech that serves you, like a dumbphone. You throw your smartphone away (leave it in your car, leave it at work, throw it in the deep end of your attic, etc), make it really inconvenient to act in these compulsions.

And then you just suffer through it for a few days. It gets better very quickly.

I wrote about my approach here: https://sjer.red/blog/2023/screen-time/

That’s a nice compendium of methods. I tried almost all of them, they all work to an extent.

I now use a smartphone again, as practicalities of life demand it. But I am switching to an old sluggish iPhone with a 4.X inch screen to hopefully put frictions in my use of it. I will see if that helps.

You can disable Safari in iOS. Search for “Content & Privacy Restrictions” in Settings. Then turn Safari off in “Allowed Apps & Features”. The app will disappear after a few minutes.

You can also turn off the Fitness app this way, even if you have an Apple Watch, and Car Play if you don’t like it for some reason, such as your car auto-connecting.

Remember to replace the bad habit with new activities, filling the void

Mind sharing the one you bought?

I bought a rare one that I needed for a very specific reason. It was difficult to get it imported.

Try one of the mainstream ones. There is a dumbphone finder website online to see what’s generally available, though no such website is exhaustive.

Under $1000:

Voice lessons at the local community school of music. I'm a lifelong musician, but was an almost entirely solitary one. I taught myself different instruments, but I never felt like I could get to basic competency teaching myself to sing. I decided to spend ~$200 for a semester of weekly 30 minute lessons. (The community school cooperates with the local university to offer lessons taught by university students for a low rate.)

My singing improved (more work is needed), but the life-changing thing was getting involved with the local music community. It turns out they have a shortage of piano teachers--I had mistakenly assumed there would be plenty in my town! So I started teaching piano, which had long been a dream of mine. The school also connected me to local performance opportunities that are now a part of my regular music routine. And ultimately, the experience encouraged me to enroll as a (part-time) music student at the university, which itself has been extremely enriching and a tremendously positive community experience.

If I have a horrible voice for singing, do you recommend voice lessons? Just for karaoke and fun.

Not the parent, but I would definitely recommend it. A lot of voice quality has to how you pronounce vowels and where you place the resonance in your mouth. Also, avoiding singing through your nose (hold your nose closed and if there's pressure, then don't sing that way). There are vocal exercises for all of those, as well as exercises for breath support, singing in tune, phrasing, etc.

If you'd like to improve, definitely! There are all sorts of things involved in singing that some do naturally and others (like myself) do not. Having a knowledgeable teacher who's able to observe you, identify areas of improvement, and help you progress is really beneficial. There's a whole lot of "not knowing what you don't know" at play.

Plus singing is a pretty personal way of making music, and there can be a lot of social fear of doing it badly. Formally studying it can help with getting over the psychological hump from self-identifying as "someone who is attempting to sing" to "singer".

I think you should pursue anything you're interested in.

I don't have the best singing voice, but after a few years of learning how to sing, it's like I finally "get it". It used to be this very mystical thing, but now I realise how to use my body to sing properly.

I would temper your expectations. Singing lessons will improve your singing faster than practicing alone but it still may take years and years to develop.

I had always enjoyed singing and I started singing and piano lessons at the same time. With consistent practice you can improve at the piano, learn more complex pieces and see your progress. With singing the process is a lot more mysterious. You probably don't understand the things that are going on inside your body very well and the teacher can't just say "Try putting your first finger on this key and your middle finger on this key".

After three years I could play reasonably complicated pop songs on the piano and read chords. I'm still a few steps the average "someone who likes to sing level".

Under $100 Wireless cooking thermometer https://store-us.meater.com/products/meater-plus Since I'm blind this allows me to cook with out worrying I'll eat under cooked food. Under $1000 Meta Ray-ban glasses. https://www.ray-ban.com/usa/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses I find using them as headphones to be a better option then transparency mode when using my phone. The Meta AI is also pretty good at recognizing flavors of bottles and types of food in packaging.

Even for people with good eyesight, an instant read thermometer is a game changer. Completely takes the guesswork out of cooking meat perfectly, also excellent for cakes, potatoes, and more. There are very decent ones for less that $20.

I would add an immersion circulator to cook food sous vide as similarly impactful here, though getting a good thermometer is more necessary.

It's made meal prepping incredibly easy and food is always perfectly cooked. You never have to eat a dry or overcooked piece of meat again.

I have one of those but don't use it that often. I tend to cook burgers which work better on the grill. While I could cook sausage with it it's easier to do it on the grill to get a char. I do like it for chicken and stake though.

Agree; though I've gone for an instant pot with a sous vide mode. Temperature controlled cooking is something of a revolution.

The advantage of this one is that I know it works with an app on my phone. ALso it's my understanding that instant read ones can't stay in the food while it cooks? This one can handle temperatures over 500 degrees farenheight.

For oven cooking I have one with a probe and a display that's outside the oven; though I rarely use that, and just open the oven and stick the instant-read. I can't say I have any interest in stuffing around with my phone while I'm cooking.

Related to this, I bought an oven thermometer a while ago - turns out my oven claims it's done pre-heating about 15 minutes before it actually reaches the target temperature. And it's a pretty new oven so this isn't an age thing. Food has come out more consistent since I've started giving it more pre-heating time.

Recommend combustion.inc, their app is the best and they're opening up the Bluetooth based protocol they use for their hardware

Under 1000:

- Robot vacuum (with mapping+LIDAR): Major game changer. I should have bought this years ago! The tech is now good enough that it basically never gets stuck unless you leave cables lying on the floor. It costs about as much as it would to hire a cleaning crew for a day. And this will do clean your house every single day!

- Bidet Seat (Heated)

- Chest freezer: Unlike the anti-car people on Reddit, I don't consider grocery shopping to be something I want to do every day. I can now get by with 1-2 trips for a whole month for two people. It also helps reduce food wastage once you figure out how to freeze your commonly used perishables that take too long to use up (e.g. heavy cream "ice cubes", frozen bread loaves etc.)

- Noise cancelling headphones (Sony XMs): I use them everyday and love the distraction free environment it creates (combine with MyNoise.net at work).

Under 100:

- Immersion blender: surprisingly versatile. The "barrier to entry" is smaller especially since it is super easy to clean compared to a blender (chuck it in the dish-washer).

- Electric toothbrush (granted it could be slightly over 100 for the one I got)

I want to second the recommendation of MyNoise.net. It's phenomenal. Especially at work, it's perfect for getting in the zone. I pay for it even though I mostly stick to the free ones.

If you're working at a computer, I recommend opening multiple tabs at the same time. For example, one with some relaxing white noise, one with a music-adjacent one like Mr Rhodes or 88 Keys, and maybe also a crackling fire for cozy vibes.

- https://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php My favorites are: "Stormy Weather", "Fireplace", "Irish coast", "88 Keys", and "Mr. Rhodes"

You can also find myNoise sounds on YouTube and Spotify:

- https://www.youtube.com/@myNoiseDotNet/videos

- https://open.spotify.com/artist/1gRJBUyCeihBrgcCtDdEfv

I have recently discovered a combo of white-noise + music, but I must tell you crackling fire noise makes me too relaxed, making me feel I need a quick nap! Rainfall sound works better for me :-)

Haven't come across myNosie before, will check it out, thank you for sharing!

My favorite one is Gregorian Voices : - )

Wow - very cool.

Speaking of cleaning your teeth, has anyone used the Waterpik device? A dentist recommended it to me some time ago, but I could not find one online then.

I love my Sony XMs. I only ever use the noise cancelling on flights and I don't even use the bluetooth. just plugged and I love them.

Electric toothbrush on the list? And possibly over $100?

What benefits have you experienced? Just curious, asking as a lifelong boring toothbrush user.

I was always a bit put off by electric tooth brushes since the idea of having another "noisy" device was something I DID NOT WANT.

But after seeing so many recommendations from friends, family, dentists and online over the years. I felt buying one was worth a go.

And I am never going back. The quality of the clean and the massaging of the gums brought me from brushing my teeth as a chore to having a desire to brush my teeth (which I had never understood before).

Electric toothbrushes clean a lot better than hand-cranked toothbrushes

And don’t mess with your gums as much as. Learnt my lessons after having the pain of my life due to receding gums, switch with sensitive toothpaste and it’s much better now but they never really fully heal. Take care of your gums people!

I've tried OralB's $120 toothbrush, and their cheapest $30 Pro 300. Functionally, they are almost exactly the same!

Same, I replaced mine with a Suri a few months ago because while brushing my teeth I can't help thinking about the amount of plastic waste Oral B and regular toothbrushes produce. I love the Suri - https://www.trysuri.com

I've been using my Suri toothbrush for about 2 1/2 years I think (I had one on preorder before it came out). It's nice, compact, brushes well (according to my recent dentist visit), great battery life (usually over a month of twice per day brushing), and great USB-C charging case (that's the best part IMO).

What I don't like:

- Automatically turns off after 4x 30 seconds - I usually need a little more time than that.

- Proprietary replacements heads - I'm worried that they'll go out of business and I won't be able to get replacement heads anymore. (I could buy them in bulk now, but what if the toothbrush itself breaks and I can't get a new one?)

Dentists pretty much universally recommend electronic toothbrushes, in my experience.

Interesting, the dentists I have asked (4) all said it doesn't matter (Spain and Germany, maybe it's relevant) at all and it's up to personal preference.

I’d recommend to switch dentists maybe. Philips Sonicare is such an improvement for teeth hygiene - how could I live without?

Also: floss and mouthwash. Like floss is really important…

I was traveling in the EU a year ago and was in need of a toothbrush. The one I picked up at an arbitrary pharmacy in Antony, FR has nothing special about it but has lasted (I mean the bristles are not wearing hard or splaying, getting soft, whatever the usual failure mode for a toothbrush is) in 12 months of use. And I'm usually pretty hard on my brushes.

Why can't we in the US just have nice cheap things. Why is everything an electronic life-hack with a fun take on how to be eco-concious, that involves buying something I don't already own?

For what it's worth, the toothbrush was also not the cheapest I could find (that would have been Lidl or somesuch), and was made in France, so maybe that makes a difference.

Also, dentists recommend X-rays A LOT, too.

The usual problem with toothbrush bristles is they become microscopically worn down, so they don't scrape off plaque as effectively. Even if you can't see the problem, it might not be working as well as a fresh head will.

You can find electron microscope scans of fresh toothbrushes and worn ones in this[0] Applied Science YouTube video.

[0]: https://youtu.be/cwN983PnJoA

Maybe in Europe they're not all selling Sonicare on commission like they do in the US.

More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.

As your Dentist I would recommend Viceroys.

As far as the electric toothbrush all you need is a $30 braun with a 2 minute timer (30+30+30+30 seconds in each quarter of your mouth) and you will be fine. I haven’t had a cavity or issue in the 15 years since I switched, brush twice a day, switch to nano hydroxyapatite for extra credit.

I guess I’m stuck with the immersion blender with the attached cord, which makes the dishwasher impossible

I used to have a Braun. I would just immerse it in hot soapy water and turn it on for a few seconds. Occasionally it would need a bit of a scrub.

Mine also has a cord but the shaft/head is removable. I sort of assumed that that was the norm. It was some random "chinesium" brand from Amazon that cost $12. Works great so far!

>frozen bread loaves

Don't the loaves get soggy when you thaw them out?

Second on robot vacuum. Mine is half price than my stick vacuum AND you don't need to do anything. It's no brainer provided you have the right house.

Which Robot Vacuum do you recommend?

You can freeze bread?

Yes but not very long, otherwise it gets dry. But it allows to keep it for a couple of weeks instead of a single day.

Yep!

The ice crystals do change the texture though. Depending on the type of bread and how you’re using it, frozen bread can be very obvious

Under $100: A used Instantpot, ideally the Duo Crisp if you can get one. The normal one can also make yogurt though, which might also be interesting. The great thing about these is that you don’t need to babysit them. Have a call or wanna go for a walk, and then eat? Just turn it on and come back anytime after it’s done. It will keep food warm until you turn it off. Bonus tip: Buy two and/or an air fryer to get more options, eg veggies in one and protein in the other.

Under $100 #2: Get a CGM for two weeks and find out what foods spike your blood sugar the most. Or what supplements can help keep it steady (eg vitamin B1, inositol, or Chromium). Say goodbye to food coma and likely improve your long term health.

Under $1000: Get a second freezer. From that point on you can buy frozen veggies etc during sales, and prep meals during the weekend, for the whole week. I don’t know how we got by with just one tiny freezer section in the fridge.

+1 for second freezer. got a chest freezer essentially for free when a friend was moving. was ancient but couldn't go back and upgraded to something that wasn't from the 80s during COVID.

lots of meal prep, makes doing one big Costco run a month work well, and actually gave us an incentive to do lots of gardening, since it got easy to do a little processing and then throw the stuff in the fridge.

> Get a CGM for two weeks and find out what foods spike your blood sugar the most

Are you in the US, and is it possible to obtain a CGM without a prescription?

Yes! Abbott Lingo (iPhone only for now) and Dexcom Stelo. They go for about $45 per sensor that last for 2 weeks.

I second the OP's suggestion. It's completely changed my eating habits.

What habits changed?

How does the Stelo compare to the G7?

Do you have any tips for how to start with one and systematically get the most insight out of it?

I've been using the Lingo so I can't comment on that.

Also, it really important to note that I don't have diabetes or any metabolic disorders. I am mainly interested in learning more about the foods that I eat and their effects on me.

The Lingo is the same hardware as the Abbott Freestyle but the difference is in the app.

The way I've been using mine is to consistently log the foods that I eat (the app is really helpful for this) and then seeing what it does to my blood glucose level. My goal has been to minimize spikes in my blood glucose level.

Things I found interesting: 1. Instant oatmeal spikes my blood glucose level a lot. 2. A honeycrisp apple will also spike it but a granny smith apple is much much more modest. 3. Eating bread and rice will spike it. However, eating rice as part of a meal will cause a much smaller spike. 4. Gelato can cause a modest spike but much less than you would expect, smaller than instant oatmeal or a sweet apple. 5. Dark chocolate has little effect on blood glucose. 6. Running will cause a tiny rise (maybe my body is preparing me for the energy needs?) 7. I become borderline hypoglycemic when I'm sleeping.

A very notable effect from this is that minimizing these spikes has been very helpful with my dieting. My desire to snack has been much much easier to control and I've had much better success with my diet plans (I've lost 10 pounds in 3 months whereas my previous attempts only managed to lose 5 pounds before I just gave up).

Once you see what food does what to your blood glucose you sort of remember what foods or groups of good to avoid. I will also say that I'm now super wary of most processed foods. I don't want to be too cynical but I do wonder if the companies knew the connection between blood glucose level spikes and hunger signals.

Stelo is essentially a binned, feature-restricted version of the G7 that’s available OTC without a prescription. If you qualify for getting a G7, need readings more frequently than every 15 minutes, or have any need for high/low glucose alerts, then you shouldn’t consider Stelo at all, IMO —- it’s strictly an inferior version of the G7.

Dexcom Stelo is $100 for two, OTC

I asked in a sibling comment but thought I’d ask here too: how does the Stelo compare to the G7? And do you have any advice on how to start with one and systematically get the best insight out of it?

I can’t comment on the differences between the models.

As far as using it, you’ll fall into one of two camps

1. You put it on and go about your normal life. You might discover some unexpected foods that spike your blood sugar, etc.

2. You put it on, but you basically already know what’s going on. So you end up course correcting your diet to avoid seeing something bad. You should not buy a CGM :)

I was in the second group, although I learned that blood sugar can actually spike during _intense_ exercise, as your body releases glucose to fuel you.

What were your food comas were before, and how have they improved? What supplements work for you?

I don’t understand your q around food comas completely, but yes they have improved. I take all the supplements I mentioned

(lovely thread!)

Under $100

- Ember Mug, same as many folks here: 4 years of service, 2 use of their customer service, bought another one for my wife. 100% will reshop when my current mug stop working or is not replaced anymore by their amazing support.

- A memory foam pillow: Had to iterate to find the right one, but once you've it, you know it. You sleep better, less pain in the back/neck/shoulder

- A vasectomy: just taking charge of the contraception in my couple. Simple, painless and effective.

Under $1000

- A gym coach coming once a week to kick my ass and make me sweat. My best investment in nearly 10 years. I've never been so fit and in shape in my life. He's there every week, even when you really don't want to do anything and afterwards, you'll always feel better

- Airpods Pro, I use them between 2 and 6 hours a day and they've become my second pair of ears. I use them often in transparency mode to avoid screaming during meetings and when it's quiet around, it's perfect.

- A standing desk and its screen arm. I use it every day, and sometimes in upper position (yay!)

Over $1000

- A Babboe Curve e-bike to carry my kids to school. 2000km later, it's still an amazing device to move almost all the family without any of the car's downside (yes, I live somewhere in France)

For under $50 you can get “shredded memory foam” which IMO is even better than full memory foam. It’s basically recycled memory foam, shredded and stuffed into a pillow case. You can remove some of it to get the right level of firmness.

The vasectomy gives you God status IMO, and dang, for cheap!

Why? If I’m having sex with my wife she can just take birth control and if I’m single and sleeping around I have to use protection anyways.

If you've decided you don't want any (more) kids in the future, a vasectomy is the easiest way to insure that with the least likely side effects for anyone.

Why would you force your wife to be subjected to the side effects of birth control if you can get a simple out-patient procedure?

Because why would you do something essentially irreversible when the other party has a temporary solution. I’ve changed my mind about things plenty of times, why would I do something I regret 20 years from now.

Because you don’t want to give yourself the chance to change your mind.

It’s worth nothing that hormonal birth control doesn’t really agree with all women. Hormones have health complications, including mental health. I would never push a partner towards taking them.

There are reversible vasectomies.

*usually reversible

Well yeah if you don't know yourself well enough to know that you never want kids in the future, you obviously wouldn't get an irreversible procedure.

But everyone has a point after which they decide they don't want more kids and it's insane to force your partner to continue being responsible for that with all the downsides when you can just get a snip.

And if you're thinking you're gonna want kids 20 years from now as a man in his 30s or 40s or later, run that by your partner and see what she thinks about that.

Oh I don't know. Go read a single article about women's birth control and the extreme effects it has in a woman's body and often personality? Also, self empowerment? Also, casual sex and condom use is notoriously not perfect. Curing many STDs is easier than, again, the larger burden that women carry when contraception fails.

Women this and women that. I’m not going to have surgery and close off a bodily function permanently and irreversibly (essentially) when the woman can just stop birth control whenever she wants. Not to mention extreme responses happen in a small fraction of women. Around 30% have mild reactions and around 4.5% have extreme reactions.

>Women this and women that.

Ah, I see, this isn't actually a remote concern to you, for obvious reasons.

> I’m not going to have surgery and close off a bodily function permanently and irreversibly (essentially)

Oh, dear, could you be more ignorant?

> In addition, nearly eight out of ten women who used contraception said they had experienced two or more side effects.

literally first result

> Overall, one quarter of females who are using contraception are not using their preferred method. The leading reason for this is concern about side effects, a theme that comes up in many aspects of contraceptive care. Almost one-third of contraceptive users (31%) say they are experiencing side effects from their current method, and just over half (52%) say the side effects are more severe than they expected.

literally second result

> In the KFF survey, about a third of women using contraception said they currently experienced side effects such as weight gain, headaches, bloating, nausea, mood changes, and menstrual changes. While these issues are usually not severe enough to be medically concerning, they can have a significant impact on quality of life. Studies show that many women who stop using birth control do so because of side effects.

And on and on.

You have contradictory stats. Is it 8 out of 10 or 30%?

Just FYI on the Babboe line of bikes, be aware that there was a recall [0] on some them recently! (And I say this as a Babboe owner myself)

[0] https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2024/Cargo-Bicycles-Recalled-Du...

Yeah, we saw the conundrum and went through the inspection and all, and our bike's fit for biking! At that price... well, we earlier hoped it would be recalled and we would buy a competitor's version. But now everything is green, we're back on the road...

…a vasectomy is under $100? That is absolutely mind blowing. What other surgery is that cheap???

The ember mug is great; I got one as a swag item and thought it was silly, but ended up using it every day. Sadly the ember mug is now much more than $100, and the coaster on mine has broken twice, so I just gave up on it. One of these days I will solder on new pogo pins.

How long does it take you to normally drink a mug? I've been interested in it but I find that I tend to drink a coffee quickly before it gets too cold, and with tea I actually enjoy the change in taste as it cools

It greatly depends on how focused I am on what I'm doing. But if I am working on something for 20+ minutes without taking a drink, it can be nice to reach over and still have some tea at the perfect temperature.

I’ve been happy with an insulated mug

If you got the vasectomy ealier you could have saved ~$1000 on the Babboe Curve e-bike. :)

vasectomy for under 100? even with insurance that seems kinda low.

He did mention he lives in France ...

It's actually free in France.

Finally bought a rice cooker 6 months ago. No idea why I hadn’t done it sooner. Perfect rice every single time. I believe that qualifies.

Edit: I also bought an emergency jumpstart battery for my car. Saved me twice when my battery suddenly started having issues. Went from feeling “stuck” to back on the road in under 2 minutes.

I'm wondering, If I bought an emergency jumpstart battery for my car. Can I run on a failing battery for a lot longer if I just jumpstart it every time I start the car? Usually the highest current draw is for the starting right. Post that it runs just on engine generated power?

+1 to both. If you want more consistent rice, invest in a fuzzy logic rice cooker ($150-$300).

+1 to the Zojirushi neuro fuzzy. It's an unbelievably good product - I've sold four friends on it and nobody has been disappointed. They go on sale for 180 routinely

I find this comment funny. Go to your local grocery store and pick a rice cooker up for $15 and just add the rice and eyeball the water.

…that much for a rice cooker—that’s nuts!

If you’re just starting out, then sure.

But if you cook a lot of rice, it’s a noticeable step up in both quality and consistency. They are extremely common in Japan afaik.

We've used our Zojirushi almost every single day for almost 5 years now. It cooks perfect rice and keeps it warm and fresh for 12 hours. 100% worth the investment.

The thing they don't tell you about the expensive rice cookers is that they take 40 minutes to make rice, while the cheap ones make it in 20. To me it's not worth planning my day around having "perfect" rice, so I still use a cheap one every day :/.

I got a small and cheap one, thinking it would be good for 1 or 2 servings and better than getting the microwave rice. It took an hour, made a mess, and the rice was horrible. I should probably experiment more with it and try different types of rice, but it was such a bad experience I don’t want to use it again. I had a rice cooker a long time ago and it was fine, but it was really too big for my needs.

A few months ago I was looking at some of the more expensive ones people see to swear by to see if they could handle small portions and be more clean and reliable. If they are, I think it would be worth the cost.

What rice meals are you cooking that take less than 40 minutes anyway? Just start the rice first, before prep, and you should be fine.

I just have a cheap rice cooker though. I couldn't find a fancy one that avoids teflon (or other similar) coating that I liked.

Almost every family in Japan has an expensive rice cooker. They eat rice 2-3 times a day so I trust them. The end result is a lot better, and water is too important to be eyeballed.

is instant pot much more versatile device?

I haven't been able to figure out how not to burn my rice in an Instant Pot.

Took me a while but finally found a consistent way to get it perfect. I use long grain enriched white rice from Costco, wash the excess starch and dump the same amount of rice and water in the pot and let it cook on high for 4 minutes then 10 in low

Under $1,000, but just barely over $100:

Semi-recumbent stationary bike that fits under my standing desk.

I've never been coordinated enough to get the hang of walking on the treadmill and typing, but pedaling slowly all day I can do! I've lost 45 lbs so far this year, and adding up the calorie estimate for each day (I've been tracking) and dividing by the 3500 calories people say are in a pound, about 20 of them have been from the bike! (The rest have been from hard work with a dietitian who helped me solve some longstanding issues, but that was more expensive.)

What bike did you get?

> The rest have been from hard work with a dietitian who helped me solve some longstanding issues

Deficiencies or simply realizing certain intake was higher calories than expected?

This one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0789F4Z2M

The $122 price is about what I paid for it. Dunno when they have ever actually sold it for $350

And what I solved with the dietitian that led to weight loss had more to do with blood sugar balance and what I do and don't react badly to. Cutting out stuff that keeps me inflamed made a big difference as far as actually getting the nutrients from my food and not being hungry all the time. So did a target set of 40g protein, 40g fat, 10g fiber every meal, which brings me in around 1900 calories per day. The nice thing was that at first, that was a 500 calorie deficit per day, but I don't have to recalculate ever, because it's also the maintenance calorie intake for my target weight. Weight comes off slower the closer I get, but I don't really care about speed, just trajectory!

My IBD (some dispute among my doctors whether it was UC or Chrohn's) is now confirmed in remission without medication, which is terrific!

Not op but I have a cubii and I love it.

Which one?

JR1+

Interesting, do you have that thing at home? Or do you work at an office and have it there? I don’t really know how I would do that myself.

It's at home. I already had an adjustable-height desk behind my sofa (unusual setup, but it works great in my space), but like I said, not that coordinated.

I've only worked remotely since way before covid, so it works out for my situation.

> (The rest have been from hard work with a dietitian who helped me solve some longstanding issues, but that was more expensive.)

Just a heads up, if you're in the USA I believe all health insurance plans must fully cover dietitian visits if you have certain conditions, obesity being one of them. Hypertension and pre-diabetes are a couple other common ones.

Yeah, they have to cover at least some generic ones. They don't have to cover every weird little specialty.

Now that I'm in more of a maintenance mode, I'm working with one who's in-network and free. It just cost more than $1k to get to this point.

Ive got a yoyo bike desk - love it. Being able to pedal an hour or 2 while working

I just wish it had ant+ support - i keep thinking of adding a cadence meter then calibrate it to a .fit file. but then never have the time

What model do you use?

This one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0789F4Z2M

The $122 price is about what I paid for it. Dunno when they have ever actually sold it for $350.

Under $1000: A Playdate[0] for $200! It got me to finally make a game[1], which is the entire reason I got into programming yet kept putting off. The restrictions of actual hardware with a slow processor, 1 bit graphics, and 16MB of RAM forced me to scale down the decisions that gave me paralysis previously and prevented me from making anything substantial.

Plus other people’s games are downright fun to play, and it’s probably the most fun I’ve had since the Nintendo DS.

[0]: https://play.date/

[1]: https://sotix.itch.io/plight-of-the-wizard

Nice game. I've built a somewhat similar one (https://github.com/agentcooper/kolya-vs-babushkas), but yours is more advanced and has better graphics!

That’s great! There’s an even more polished version of my game made by someone else on the catalog called Core Fault.

In 2020, I bought an old broken clock on eBay for $60 on a lark. I wanted to tinker with something and see if I could figure out how it works.

Since that time, I spent literally thousands of hours immersed in horology. Everything from clock repair where I started, to learning how to use a lathe and a mill, studying the impact of clockmaking on the industrial revolution in early America and the history of maritime navigation, building an atomic NTP server from a rubidium engine bought off eBay and a raspberry Pi, becoming friends with several of the Antique Roadshow experts, volunteering to help build a pollinator meadow at a small clock museum nearby…

It’s amazing to me how much of an effect that little junky impulse buy had on how I’m living my life these days.

Say you a member of the time-nuts mailing list without saying your a member of the time-nuts mailing list ;)

You thought you spent thousands of hours, but then your clock is broken so maybe not!

I know you're joking, but actually, that is true. That original clock never got fixed. I damaged and lost enough parts that I'd have to fabricate too much for it to be worthwhile, and I have plenty of more interesting clocks to work on now.

Careful, many vintage clocks are radioactive.

I haven't done any work with radium dialed clocks and/or watches... yet.

A friend of mine had many hundreds of vintage clocks and he filled his bedroom with them on shelves and put his bed in the middle.

Until I pointed out they were radioactive.

I've got mostly antiques at my house, 1750-1880. Not a ton of vintage 20th century stuff that would have radium. I was looking a bit ago at the old W. M. Gilbert Clock Company factory building in Connecticut that was for sale (not actually to buy, just thought it was interesting) and the biggest issue for whoever was going to be the buyer was that it was quite contaminated from the radium dial painting they did there in the 1930's.

<$100: "Qudelix 5K Bluetooth DAC" Allows you to connect a pair of headphones to an audio source via Bluetooth using high quality (near lossless) codecs (also works as a USB DAC when needed). The killer feature is an onboard Parametric EQ with the ability to save profiles on the device. No more trying to manage EQ profiles on all my devices for my various headphones.

<$1000: I bought a digital piano to learn to play music. I feel that learning an instrument has had an enormous effect on my life. It's great for getting those synapses going, and find it very relaxing to play after a hard day.

Ill pay the nearly 3x markup in India just for its db meter. I enter the headphone impedance and sensitivity (dB/mW) and it shows the real time (estimated) volume. Also I converted the frequency response to V-shape so my open back headphones sounds good at lower volumnes. I moved from "25 hours a week" volume levels to "168 hours a week".

I would guess most people who listen to music while they work have the volume way too far up for that amount of exposure. Anyone on an iPhone should go into Sounds -> Headphone Safety and reduce loud audio to 75 dB. You'll probably be shocked by how quiet that is.

I wonder how they determine that? Especially with Bluetooth, you have no idea how much sound energy is being put out, and can't infer it from power draw or anything similar.

It's as simple as you'd expect: AirPods and beats have their SPLs hardcoded, everything else is estimated based on volume control.

Although Apple says there can be bad interactions between this and live listen, so maybe there is some realtime monitoring happening.

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/check-your-headphone-...

Under $100:

- Ember mug

  - Why: lets me drink tea because I hate cold tea. Bleck.

Under $1000:

- 49" ultra-wide monitor to replace my dual monitor

  - Why: I use i3-wm. It works fantastically on it.

- 5.1 Soundbar for computer

  - Why: I don't have to wear headphones constantly and also sound quality is so much better

- Mount 50" TV above my desk

  - Why: Allows others to hang out in my office with me while I work / play games. Additionally, it allows me to turn something on without interrupting my monitor space.

---

Breaking the rules:

Over $1000:

- EightSleep

  - Why: Huge huge huge change in sleep quality plus it's really nice to be able to choose whether to get into a crisp, cold bed or a warm, toasty bed. The Autopilot stuff is interesting and does seem to work to keep you asleep but sometimes it can cause you to wake up especially in the transitional periods of the year (spring and fall).

> - EightSleep

I would agree. Except that now they seem to make it so that it is pretty pointless without a subscription. Kind of sucks that you have to pay $15/month to actually use the product after paying close to $2000 for the product.

I still use mine only because I was grandfathered in to be able to set temperature set-points without a subscription.

If I were to need another one, I would look for an option without a subscription.

That's just insane. And it's not a subscription you can ever stop paying unless you get rid of the 5000EUR bed itself. Absolutely a dealbreaker.

What if they increase the fee to 30EUR a month? Or 50EUR a month? That's guaranteed to happen once main product sales start slowing down and investors still want their quarterly gains.

Yeah, am getting a little worried about that.

I am kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop because the company has been nothing but amazing when it comes to their support. It has sprung a leak three times, about once every 18 months, and they've always replaced it with no additional payment.

I have a feeling next time it's going to involve a lot of cash being exchanged and I'll be faced with a choice.

---

The subscription thing is very much a bummer. I hadn't figured out why they weren't shaking me down for it until I also put together the grandfathered in thing. It is extremely distasteful to have a required (?) subscription on a product that is this expensive.

I don't entirely get how spending $2k - $5k on a bed system (not a mattress!) isn't enough. Just pure fuckin' greed if I am being honest.

I get they need to make money and their product isn't a monthly or yearly re-purchase but it's just short-sighted.

Like let's be real honest here: their product almost certainly doesn't cost anywhere near $5k in materials. The margins on their product are likely already completely stupid. My guess-timate would be maybe $500 in parts. It's literally just a pump that heats or cools water that is app-controlled... not exactly anything crazy. If you look at something like Withings sleep tracker, it's $130 so even the fancy pants sleep tracking stuff isn't some crazy tech even if we take Withings' margins as the actual price.

(also breaking rules to concur)

EightSleep mattress cover is a GAME-CHANGER. Precise control over preferred temp, and detailed/accurate logging of sleep metrics == way better sleep, and knowledge of its relative quality (metrics for which let me measure the impact of different variables).

Never heard of them, temperature control sounds amazing. How is this product from a privacy perspective? Is the data kept local or is it some cloud service that tracks all metrics?

Not sure about the privacy but afaik you can’t use the thing without the app and being connected to the internet. That was a dealbreaker for me

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know!

How do they work thermodynamically? It should make the room hotter, but I guess you don’t notice because the surface you are touching gets colder? Is it a closed loop heat exchanger or is it evaporative?

Is it _that_ much better than a wifi-controlled two-zone electric blanket?

I've never tried a cooling electric blanket. My wife has struggled w insomnia for a long time, and the eightsleep tracking was almost as much a draw as the cooling.

This does cooling too? OK, I didn't realise that. I can see how that might be useful

For hot drinks (teas, coffee & etc) I prefer a simple 0.7l thermos and small chinese teacup. Put the hot stuff in the thermos it will stay hot for at least 6 hours, put a bit of the hot stuff in the cup, since it's small it will get to a comfortable level of hotness in 30 seconds. Drink it slowly and refill. |

Works in the park/library too and you only heat the water once and don't need electricity to keep it hot!

A cheaper alternative to EightSleep is Sleep.Me… same concept with a heated/cooled water circulator + mattress pad, and they have an “autopilot” add on. I just manually set my temp schedules based on the season since I don’t like subscriptions for stuff like that, and I don’t want my sleep data on their servers.

> 5.1 Soundbar

5.1 typically means surround sound, but a sound bar (as I know it) sits in front of the listener. How does yours do both?

I imagine most soundbars cheat since consumer protection is dead, but they're still better (and more convenient) than two simple speakers.