Glass Tupperware, if you look all your plastic ones I bet they are scratched - melted or otherwise damaged. All those missing parts end up in the food.
The glass ones are so nice and you can use them to heat things in the oven (without the lid) in a pinch as well
Absolutely, almost the best upgrade of anything in the kitchen.
A bidet
I should really get one. Blasting my ass with water sounds cool.
It’s refreshing on a hot day in the summer
A portable power bank.
My work gave me one a few years ago, and while I only end up using it a few times a year, when you’re in an airport or on the road somewhere and you need to charge a device, it is glorious to have. Cheap and exceedingly useful.
I’m actually planning to get a bigger portable generator, just as planning for climate change, as I expect more outages in the future and want to have access to power regardless.
I have one with 65W USB-PD and it’s a lifesaver for work travel. But lately I’m hesitant to take it anywhere outside of the US even though it’s under 100Wh, airlines are cracking down significantly on power banks particularly in Asia.
Last time I was in China I noticed many power banks have integrated video game systems on one side (a basic NES/GBC emulator). I wonder if that’s to get around the difficulty of travelling with them?
I have one with a solar panel on the side, very useful to keep in the bag if you need a charge. I’ve found out that some lights will also charge it, having a power bank you can borrow juice from a plant light is quite handy
I also got one of these recently, and I also charge it with my plant light. It’s great.
Cooking thermometer probe. Take the guesswork out of cooking and never overcook and dry out your meats again.
Cheap plastic bowl scrapers. Like these:
I use these every time I cook. I use them every time I clean the kitchen.
You can probably make this for free from some plastic packaging. I have some cut out from the lids of ice cream boxes.
Yes, man!
An oil sprayer. I was looking for gift ideas and came across a “misto” brand oil sprayer and now I use it all the time! No more spray cans of oil and God knows what else, you just fill it half way with whatever oil you want (except coconut oil for some reason) and you pump it to pressurize the oil so you can spray whatever you want.
Coconut oil is solid at room temperature.
Depends where ya live mate.
Yeah it’s only liquid at my house, never seen it solid haha
Well that certainly sounds like a good reason for it to cause issues lol good to know
I’ve always had these fail within months, just using olive oil.
Thats not good to hear lol hopefully mine holds out!
I’ve had it for almost a year now, but I’ve only used vegetable oil, only fill it half way, and I depressurize it when I’m done. Not sure if there is much of a difference between the two oils or if I just got lucky.
I inherited one of those but stopped using it because I had no idea how to clean it. I also don’t often run into situations where I need to spray oil.
Why do you need to spray oil? Just seems like another way to make a mess.
I use those basic restaurant supply squeeze bottles that you can fill with anything. I squeeze a few dabs to a few tsp of oil depending on what I’m cooking and away I go. I’ve never needed to spray a fine oil mist to cook anything.
No coconut oil because it will solidify at room temp.
Silk pillowcase. Absolute game changer for my hair and face.
Quality dust mite pillow case and bed covers, was a game changer too for people allergic to it, and unable to entirely avoid dust mites. allegedly it helps /reduces bed bugs from hiding
Two things, maybe together over 100, but 1) a German made quality safety razor holder, and 2) a good badger bristle shaving brush. You can use and bar soap, or a little shampoo and a drop of conditioner in your palm to make shaving cream. Drastically lowers your plastic footprint from Big Soap disposable. I buy Japanese razors blades (Feather brand) = 1 week of shaves = about seven cents per shave. (Yes, I know about electric razors. Nothing like a blade for closeness.)
As a man I’ve no idea what a shaving brush is for.
I used to just shave with a safety razor and warm water.
Now I have a beard so I just shave my neck and cheeks along with my head,
I’ll also use the same razor for like 2 months before I change it.
Never understood all the steps
Actually, warm soapy water is a lubricant. There is a barber theory about the shaving brush: The bristles push water against the beard which keeps it wet and therefore the hairs stay softer and easier to cut. Can’t swear there’s any science to this theory, LOL. Just do what works, eh?
The brush is for working up a lather with the bar soap. You can achieve the texture of shaving cream just using bar soap and a brush (and water obviously).
But what’s the soap for?
The soap is the source of the lather. Shaving cream is literally a soap lather/foam. Loads and loads of microscopic bubbles.
But why, what’s its purpose? I’ve never used anything like that. Just water and haven’t had any issues
It lubricates the skin for a smoother shave!
…or else it gets the hose again!
Quick Release garden hose fittings.
You can get them for about $8 at harbor freight and it makes switching hose attachments easy!
Attachments? I just vary the position of my thumb like a pleb
Adjusting the thumb to vary spray type is an essential part of learning basic hose operation.
Hahahahah, enjoy the upvote.
zinc oxide paste(diaper rash), . they are used for baby rashes, and also adult rash. but they are also useful for certain kinds of dermatitis, weeping atopic dermatitis rash it stops it from weeping and dries it out in between topical medication regimens so you dont get too used to a topical medication, this can help extend that.
and helps with sweating in areas with alot of friction too from getting irritated like your crotch (aka swampballs or boob sweat rash)area. allegedly people have used it on perioral dermatitis, but it works on some but not others, because the highest percentage is very drying so dont use when your skin is already dry, also the brand name ones or equilvalent has Talc, get the non-talc versions instead.
originally i never considered buying sonic or electric toothbrush until it was reccommended by a dentist, and i was super excited how well it clean without aggressive or inefficient brushing of a manual toothbrush, i opted for generic toothbrushes since the brand names were quite expensive, generic toothbrush head replacements over brand name replacements which are fraction of the cost, any electric or sonic toothbrush over 100 is just pure marketing holds no real benefit over the cheaper ones, especially the “smart” ones.
For swamp crotch, Gold Bond is the GOAT.
If you use an electric toothbrush, every two or three brushing, use a manual one. Both brush differently, so you will reach more nooks and crannies by alternating.
the newer formula kinda sucks, hence the paste is useful, i found you can use the powder and the paste to make it more efficient.
I think they banned Gold Bond and they had to replace the formula with some corn derivative shit
its basically corn starch, its just body powder thats scented. talc had some abestose derivatives, its in the original formula.
Various I²C compatible chips from Adafruit + a raspberry pi zero. Endless possibilities.
I’ve bought a number of raspberry pico chips abs a pack of generic esp32s over the last few years and every time I think I have enough as backups I suddenly find more uses for them! I have an old floor radio converted to act as a light/dimmer control, makeshift hvac control, and flip a night light (also made from a pico w) in the bedroom, another one in the living room in a little coffee table box using home assistants api over WiFi. I also have 3, soon to be four (adding some really fun electromagnet parts) to convert an old electric organ to a full virtual pipe organ. This project was what got me started, the “off the shelf” conversion kits looked like they were running off an esp32 ish and mcp23017’s and cost $1,500-2,000 for just the pcbs, no wiring and no speakers etc. doing it with the picos and a crap loads of doorbell wire $160+$600 for high quality speakers, and $260 for a touch screen and vesa arm. So complete project cost me $600 less than just the pcbs. The fourth one I was waiting for cheap used parts to appear on eBay, they are insanely expensive new ($30-50 each) and I need 56 of them. It’ll be a similar price saving at the end of the day!
Long ramble to say these chips are cheap and don’t take long to help make life more convenient, and sometimes way cheaper if the project was niche.
Got ex-lease pc workstation and rebuilt it into a Linux media centre/MAME box
Where
Off eBay many moons ago…just search for ex-lease pc
French press. Didn’t even know what one was until I was around 50, thought it was some fancy, complicated thing I wouldn’t care about.
My wife drinks coffee day and night so we have 4 methods of making it. The cheapo French press is the best IMHO. Use whatever coffee grounds you like, make it as strong or light as you like.
Mine was $11 on Amazon. Finish wore off, looks like shit, works fine.
I used to have a thing for coffee brewers. Would try out so many different options and spend a lot of money on getting them (second hand)
I eventually settled on my Moccamaster. Tis the best coffee brewers I’ve had and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else by now
I have a French press but a stovetop espresso maker is my favorite
Hell yeah, 100x better than a drip.
IMO Aeropress males a better coffee than a French press. Have you tried that?
That’s a lot of work to aeropress as much coffee as a french press. I love my aeropress, but it can only do one cup at a time
This one is way below $100, but about ten years ago I bought a roll of twist tie wire at a dollar store. It’s fifty or a hundred feet, with a little guillotine cutter. It’s still just a bunch of twist tie, but it punches WAY above its weight with quality of life improvement. No more hunting for the one you dropped, or wondering how you’ll close up a veggie bag. Also good for (fairly light) pictures that use wire instead of sawtooth hardware, and I’ve used it in a pinch when I didn’t have cable ties. I dunno. It’s just an oddly useful substance to have lying in your junk drawer.
If you double it up and twist it together, it’s way stronger.
I’ve used it forever for the garden.
I’ve just been hoarding all the twist ties that come with other purchases. Only costs me a little bit of sanity every time I look in that drawer.
Another one in the theme: Fishing line or nylon string. A transparent fishing line can hang pretty much everything and supports 10kg or more.
Need to cut a cake into top and bottom halves? Fishing line can do that too. Do a hitman choke thingy around the cake.
Keychain? Can be done, why not.
Nail is too far to hang stuff? Just tie a fishing line between the things
Cracked plastic needs extra support? Fishing line.
Out of zip ties? Fishing line.
In this theme, you can get so many rubber bands for cheap.
Just be careful of the material you get. There are some that degrade over time. That said, I loved playing with bags of rubber bands when I was a kid. I’d stick my hands all the way in the bag and just squish them around. It feels great!
Baby wipes are really useful to just have sitting in your car, and next to your bed for those lucky enough to have nocturnal company.
Just don’t flush them. Even if they say they’re “flushable”, they most certainly are not.
Sounds like words of experience
To anyone wondering why: they’re more akin to large cotton pads than toilet paper. They don’t break down.
Over time it’s like flushing a bag of t-shirts and wondering why your pipes get clogged. Draino ain’t fixing that.
Learned this shortly after our first kid. Baby wipes have a million uses. For generic cleaning, cheaper is better, as they won’t cover your car in lotion.
Just make sure they’re disposed of properly.
