• zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Bidet / washlet. Your life will forever be divided into a time before you had one, and a time after you had one. You may no longer enjoy vacations because of the lack of one.

    • zcd@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      After a bidet pick up a water flosser. It’s like a bidet for your teeth, pure hygiene comfort

      • DrRatso
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        9 months ago

        I cant fucking stand water flossers, the feeling is much worse than regular floss, it kind of tickles in a really annoying way. Besides dentists seem to prefer people use regular floss anyway.

    • Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      Unless you vacation in the countless other counties that have them. I am in Vietnam right now and they are everywhere including many public toilets.

    • PlasmaDistortion@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      It is disgusting when you realize most people just use toilet paper. It’s just one step above being a barbarian.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Your life will forever be divided into a time before you had one, and a time after you had one.

      You nailed it, this is exactly how I describe my bidet experience. My father-in-law is a convert and spontaneously began presenting it the same way.

      How did I live before?! Gross!

        • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Yeah, you can never get it fully dry without using more tp than to just wipe. Its not designed to absorb that much water.

          And consider: after you towel off from a shower you still have wet bits, that is the same with your bottom after a bidet.

          No thanks.

          • zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I mean, literally anyone who’s used a bidet before will know from daily experience that your comments are just wrong. It’s not difficult to dry off, in fact it’s pretty simple, and it uses much less toilet paper than the old way. The primary purpose of a bidet for most people also isn’t TP conservation - that’s just one of several nice side-effects.

            I’m gonna duck out of any further replies here though because, frankly, you seem more interested in pushing this weird narrative you’ve settled on (in an old / dead thread, no less) than actually discussing it, and I can think of about a hundred things I’d rather be doing with my time. You do you, clean your butt whichever way makes the most sense to you.

  • thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    Reusable zip ties, goddammit! Regular zip ties are useful once in awhile, but the fact that you need to cut them makes them impractical for many applications.

    But the reusable ones, which you can fasten and unfasten with equal ease? Holy shit. I use these bad boys ALL. THE. TIME.

    For starters, just think about the cords, ropes, cables, and wires in your life. You have a great many of them, and they are probably a mess. ZIP TIES. Wrap an extension cord or laptop charger up in a loop, pinch it together, and zip it up. And that’s just for starters.

    Sleeping bags? Blankets? Towels? ZIP. TIES. Roll and zip them and they will pack down much smaller than just rolling them alone, and they won’t come unrolled, making packing/storing way the hell easier. I can keep going.

    Most applications where you might use an elastic band are actually better with Z I P T I E S. Need something squeezed tightly, like the aforementioned sleeping bag? Zip ties ratchet down tighter than an elastic band can. Need something secured gently, like a bag of chips? An elastic will crush your delicate chips, but a zip tie can hold the bag closed with gentle pressure bespoke and delicate. With zip ties, YOU are in control. They last longer and are much more resistant to temperature and sunlight than elastic bands too, so you can use them in the freezer or outdoors or wherever and they will outlive you.

    Get yourself or a loved one a bag of 100 for like $5 right now. Hand them out to children on Halloween. Offer them as gifts to friends and acquaintances new and old. They will change your life and theirs. Reusable zip ties.

  • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    If you can’t afford fancy kitchen knives, go into your local Chinese food shop, and look for Kiwi Brand knives, made in Thailand

    It’s what 90% of chefs in Asia use

    • Benaaasaaas@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The fanciest kitchen knife you need is Victorinox for 30€. That’s what 90% of western kitchens use.

      • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Yep, victorinox Fibrox is the best knife you’ll get, bonus points if the handle is melted :)

        The difference is that the Kiwi ones are about €5, which was OP’s criteria

  • GapingGrape@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    A rice cooker. If you eat rice a lot, it just makes your life so much easier while also making better rice.

      • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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        9 months ago

        You can use them to steam vegs or make some gruels.

        Personally I don’t bother, but for people who eat rice daily it’s a game changer.

          • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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            9 months ago

            Yes? You can have it at any time without it too though, but you could leave for example some oats and milk in the cooker while you dress yourself for the morning, and when you’re ready so is your gruel. (I did this once or twice when I had a rice cooker. It was okay.)

      • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
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        9 months ago

        You can make ridiculous, impractical, cartoon sized pancakes. Google “rice cooker pancake” and it will have you searching for rice cookers to buy immediately!

        • Vej@lemm.eeOP
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          9 months ago

          Okay, I’m interested. Do they have multiple modes? Like crock pots?

          • Nighed@sffa.community
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            9 months ago

            The idea behind them is that they stay on until the bottom of the pan reaches 100C

            As this is only possible once the water has boiled away, it will always create perfectly cooked rice (if you put the right amount of water in)

            So it.should work for anything you want to stop as soon as it boils dry.

      • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I have used a cheapass no-controls except ‘on’ rice cooker to make a ton of meat and veggie dishes. All in one pot if you are cramped for space or tools.

        Rice on bottom, then veggies, then a chicken breast on top. Season, turn on, forget, come back and eat when it pops.

        The veggies end up a little overdone but using frozen veggies screws with the rice, so I just deal.

    • trainsaresexy@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Minus the spring you can accomplish the same thing with a thin bottomed stainless steel pot on the stove. I never liked the non-stick part of rice cookers.

    • Krudler@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I disagree with rice cookers, just boil your rice like pasta and strain with mesh. Way less hassle, way less clean up, extremely predictable results - its what all the top-level chefs do and I myself learned this from my buddy, a former Michelin star chef turned comic store owner.

      I completely disagree with having an additional gadget to do what you can do with standard kitchen equipment in a far superior way with just a little bit of care and skill.

  • Donjuanme@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Pill organizer. Start when you take just 1 once or twice a day, get used to filling it each week and checking on it until it becomes a routine. It’ll keep you from double dosing and save fretting if you remembered to take your meds or not. Then when you’re taking multiple pills multiple times a day you’ll prep them 1/14th as often, and open<5% the bottles you would be. For a 1 time 3 dollar investment (you can find them with logos for free quite often) save yourself a few minutes a week, hours a year, days of your life.

    A cheap digital kitchen scale, never fret with converting oz to grams again, just click the button and it’s changed it’s units, some even do liquid measurements so long as the liquid is similar density to water. And food cooks more consistently (therefore tastes better) if you use consistent ingredients, and how can you do that if you’re using a “more or less” system? Get your accuracy to half a gram really cheap, a tenth of a gram (more than enough for cooking) for not much more.

      • Thavron@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Probably because many American recipes only use cups and spoons as a measurement.

      • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Dials make it easier to visually compare weights.

        And metric makes things so much easier.

    • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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      9 months ago

      Full agree on the cheap digital kitchen scale. Eyeballing stuff often takes longer than pulling out the kitchen scale and measuring it out.

      I use mine specially when seasoning meats, souring cabbage, making simple breads, and splitting portions to freeze. It’s also handy as I’m trying to lose weight, it gives me a way to control how much potato/polenta/rice I’m eating per meal.

      • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I used to hate my digital scales, I used them so infrequently that the batteries would be flat every time I pulled it out.

        This bad boy is a game changer, and it was only a bit more expensive. You just spin the wheel to generate enough power for a few minutes -

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    This book actually changed my life.

    “Discover What You Are Best At” by Linda Gail.

    I worked all my life, and always hated every job. Then I read the book and learned that I might be well suited for a position I had never considered. Took a course and did well, passed and applied for a job.

    If you can wake up on a snowy Monday and not hate waking up, you’ve solved most of your problems.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        The book comes in two sections. The first part is a series of self administered tests in different areas, and the second part is a list of jobs that use those skills. So, some one with good dexterity and good interpersonal skills might make a good paramedic, or a good hair dresser. Two wildly different jobs, but using the same skills.

        • dingus@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Sorry, I wasn’t really interested in the book. I actually think the career I ended up falling into was well suited for me. But I was just curious about what you do, specifically!

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            It doesn’t matter what I do. Like I said, the book might list twenty different jobs a person would be good at. Each job is unique, but uses similar skills. You use the same skills working on a hear/lung machine and making fantasy dioramas.

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
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      9 months ago

      Thank you! I NEEDED this (I might be jumping the gun as I haven’t read it yet lol)

      But I’m in this exact situation. I hate myself for my failure to find “who I am” and I just suffer shit job after shit job with absolutely no idea how to figure out what I actually want. I’m pretty much miserable every single day because of it… All I know is what I don’t want from my previous experience of shit jobs, but I have no idea how to find what I’m capable of doing.

    • kalkulat@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      (I use an FM radio tuned to a spot where there are no signals. Doubles as an FM radio during the day.)

      (Use the tone controls for more or less white or brown noise.)

      • zout@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        This would also work as an occasional alarm for me, because there are a lot of pirate radio stations in my part of the world. It would go like: static noise - sudden silence - guy shouting “Hello?! Test one, two!” - horrible music.

        • Alborlin@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          When i was very young i tried to setup a small radiostation , but only could do it for small radius and never perfected it. Do you have idea how can I do this ?

          • zout@kbin.social
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            9 months ago

            You need a transmitter (oscillator + modulator) and an amplifier to get any reasonable range. Also (maybe even more important) some good antenna cable and an antenna tuned for your frequency. Without the right antenna you’ll never get a decent range.

        • kalkulat@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Good idea! Also works for shortwave stations that turn on at your wakeup time, especially if you’re annoyed by propaganda!

    • OceanSoap
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      9 months ago

      I use one to drown out the outside noise my dog picks up on and barks at in the middle of the night.

      • cheesymoonshadow@lemmings.world
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        9 months ago

        I realize you’re probably doing it for yourself, but as someone who’s had neighbors who don’t care that their dog is a noise nuisance, I appreciate you.

    • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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      9 months ago

      For someone uninitiated who enjoys silence, what is the point? What do you use it for?

      • Dr. Wesker@lemmy.sdf.org
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        9 months ago

        Sleeping usually. I have one that can be adjusted to output various fan noises, or white noise. I find I sleep deeper at night using it.

  • xyguy@startrek.website
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    9 months ago

    A full desk-size mouse pad.

    If you work at a desktop it makes a huge difference to overall ergonomics.

    Also the squatty potty. Especially if you have a high toilet.

    • Thavron@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      May I ask why the mouse pad makes a difference? I have a nice smooth desktop so I don’t see the use.

        • Thavron@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          I’ve been paperless for ages so if that’s the only reason I’m ok haha

      • xyguy@startrek.website
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        9 months ago

        I thought my desk was smooth too untill I got a mousepad. It also keeps the little feet on the bottom of the mouse from getting worn out as quickly. The effort to start and stop the mouse seems trivial, until you see just how easy it can truly be with a mousepad.

        It also helps keep crap from building up on the mouse skates since the soft mousepad is constantly “sweeping” the bottom of the mouse.

    • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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      9 months ago

      try a trackball, its hard at first but once you become accustomed to it, the ergonomics is so much better. I personally prefer the thumb ball style that Logitech makes.

      Plus you get to tell people your cleaning your balls again, like the good ol days

  • Fermion@mander.xyz
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    9 months ago

    It depends on your definition of cheap, but towel warmers. Just pop your towel into a little tub with a heater a few minutes before jumping in the shower. Then it’s as warm as if it just came out of the dryer by the time you get out.

    Staying at hotels seems so lacking in luxury when you have to dry off with a cold towel.

  • guyrocket@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    A scissors sharpener. You don’t know what your scissors can do.

    Knife sharpener. Sharp knives are safer. You can also very often buy dull knives for cheap… and make them sharp. I am pretty happy with my 3 stage sharpener.

    Costco executive membership. It will pay for itself. Also get the Costco credit card and be sure to use it to buy all your Costco gas.

    Spring assist flipper knife with deep pocket clip. Buy a cheap one first and sharpen it…with…your knife sharpener! It is incredibly useful to have a sharp knife in your hand a second after wanting it.

    Lemon/lime squeezer. Stop struggling.

    Pour over coffee setup.

    Coffee grinder. Fresh ground is so much better. I used a manual one for a long time.

    Pepper mill.

    Bamboo chopsticks. Very cheap. I prefer them to the metal ones I also have because they grip better.

    LED headlamps. Get some with red lights to take camping. Keep them all over the house and garage to light dark rooms, corners and outside.

    Paper maps. I have the USGS map of my area up on the wall by my back door. I also have many in the door of my truck. Free at state visitor centers or by mail.

    • DrRatso
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      9 months ago

      A knife sharpener is a bad idea generally. They really deepen any defects in the blade. It will make your knives sharper for a bit, but overall those ruin knives and dont sharpen all that well.

      There are some belt powered sharpeners that can in fact do a decent job for the average person.

      A well handsharpened knife will stay sharp A LOT longer than one from a sharpener appliance. It isnt that hard, a skill most people can pick up and a diamond plated sharpening stone from aliexpress will set you back 2-5 bucks only, while being a decent first stone.

  • bigboismith@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Coffee press, 20€ and you don’t have to make an entire pot of coffee without resorting to instant coffee. Also very satisfying to use.

    • Vej@lemm.eeOP
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      9 months ago

      Like a french press? Or is that a different thing?

      • theatomictruth@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I don’t know if this is what they were referring to but Aeropress is great. Been using one for years as a secondary brewer when I don’t need a whole pot and it’s easy to make consistently good coffee without much fuss.

  • BiggestBulb@kbin.run
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    9 months ago

    Really good, solid cables of varying varieties (preferably braided). I’ve had many cables for years and never had to replace them (or if I did, it was wayyy after their due date lol). HDMI and Micro USB were the big ones for me