Easily the bidet. That coupled with reusable and washable cloth wipes drastically reduced our dependency on toilet paper.
Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
351–360 of 530 posts
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#352Automated cat infrastructure: automatic USB water fountain[0], food dispenser[1], Litter Robot 3[2] (as of recently, with a homebrew controller[3]). These allow me a good four days of absence from the house - for camping or whatever else. Doesn't happen often that both the wife and I are MIA, but when it does, these things are indespensable. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WGLYV22/ [1]: https://www.amazon.c…
I wonder if you've noticed any change in your cats behaviour towards you as a result of this? People often claim that cats only like their humans because they're the ones who feed them etc
Cats are easier to deal with thanks to our auto feeder
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#353Automated cat infrastructure: automatic USB water fountain[0], food dispenser[1], Litter Robot 3[2] (as of recently, with a homebrew controller[3]). These allow me a good four days of absence from the house - for camping or whatever else. Doesn't happen often that both the wife and I are MIA, but when it does, these things are indespensable. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WGLYV22/ [1]: https://www.amazon.c…
The litter robot looks good but for 500 dollars I think I'll stick to manual scooping the litter
I was considering getting the robot until my wife got these sifting litter box trays. They come in three layers, with one being for filtration. To recycle litter, you dump the old litter into the filtration tray. This filters litter through while leading solids behind. Throw the solids away into a garbage bag. Done.
No scooping. Takes 30 seconds. $15/set.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#354Bang for the buck, my best purchase ever has been a jackhammer. Soil around here is very hard. For years I struggled to dig even the shallowest of holes for planting things, laying pipes, etc. Holes that would take me months to dig, one painful weekend at a time, I can now get done in 10 minutes. Weirdest tool I've bought, but it has saved me literally years of effort at this point. I guess the generalized message is…
> I guess the generalized message is just buy the best and most specific tool up front. The time saved by proper tools is totally worth it.
This is very true IF you know it’s the tool you’re after.
I usually preface buying something expensive with something entry-level. In Sweden, this means Biltema - I can get a fully functional 400W impact drill for ~35€. I then ride that thing like I stole it and when it eventually burns up I’ll know the use-cases I need to consider when splurging on a Hilti.
But overall, yeah, buying (or renting) professional-grade equipment making any work easier and much more pleasant.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#355Shave your dry and oily (unwashed) face with an electric shaver.
I have sensitive skin. I used disposable razors for years and had got painful and disgusting blisters on my neck. I switched to a $40 Philips 3-head shaver and the blisters reduced. Then someone told me the secret to irritation-free shaving: shave dry, before washing. The oils on the skin protect it from damage by the shaver. I started to shave before my shower and my neck blisters mostly went away. Switching to a high quality foil shaver (Braun 7 Series) helped reduce the blisters even more.
The Braun 7 series is expensive, but the it lasts a long time. The heads last a long time and are inexpensive. I bought the shaver for $160 three years ago. I replace the shaver head once a year, for $35. So over three years, I've spent ($160 + 3 x $35)/3year = $230/3year = $77/year. Two gripes: 1) the battery is too big so it's a little heavy for travel, and 2) the charging port is not USB so I have to bring the charger when I travel. The base station with "cleaning cartridges" is a scam, just throw it in the recycling bin. When my Braun 7 series shaver breaks, I will buy another one immediately.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#356The second we bought a house I started hunting for a trailer for our car. It’s a sub-€2000-investment but I’d wager it saves us on the order of 75-100 hours per year, every year. It also works as a temporary waste buffer meaning a lot of clutter is out of sight and out of mind until the next trip to Goodwill/waste disposal.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#357A robot vacuum cleaner. «I» now vacuum every day, the the flat just looks overall better. There is barley any dust on the shelfs anymore either. https://us.roborock.com/pages/roborock-s5-max
I have a complete different experience. Went from cheap robot to high end dyson standing vacuum cleaner, and the latter performs much better. Robot was getting stuck everywhere, after some time the mechanism broke due to dust getting inside the gears.
Now i just spent 10 minutes every two days for a quick vacuuming around the house and lo and behold - the dust is no more.
It might just be that the robots aren't best suited for small flats.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or just use uBlock origin which is free
It probably doesn't work on the youtube app for iPad Pro / my Android phone, so I also payed for it. And sure, it feels bad that there are lots of in-video advertisements, but I deal with it
NewPipe or Youtube Vanced for android.
Last time I saw an ad on youtube was months ago on someone elses device.
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#359I've got electric-acoustic guitar Fender + KRK rokit 8,
Laundry with dryer included is the second thing which improved my quality of life
Re: Ask HN: What did you purchase that measurably improved your quality of life?
#360Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't youtube without ads exactly the business model we should be encouraging?
YouTube Premium still requires you to create a Google account and accept their ToS & privacy policy and provide them with validated personal & billing information. I am personally not comfortable with this and would rather have absolutely no business relationship with such a company. I’m using an Invidious ( https://github.com/iv-org/invidious ) instance instead.
Would you be willing to pay extra for privacy? Seems like that could be a business model.
I wonder if the VPPA applies to Youtube?