Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#81

Post by falcolas » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 6:47 PM UTC

dTal wrote: post #6

What a great question! * A very long USB-C cable from an Apple store. I get jealous looks when I break it out to charge my phone. * Scented candles from Aldi. It's such a quality of life boost to have the place smelling nice. They last ages and cost nothing. * A creme brulee hand blowtorch. Surprisingly useful! Excellent for lighting aforementioned candles instantly, without burning your knuckles. * A real P3 respira…

> A creme brulee hand blowtorch.

Seconded. It's absurdly nice to have a focused torch when you need one. And most are refillable, making them better than most lighters.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#82

Post by ortusdux » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 6:48 PM UTC

pchristensen wrote: post #45

A sous vide circulator. $100-200. Never eat dry chicken again, extremely consistent results, flexible (I'm making yogurt in it right now), and stupid easy. I got this one ( https://www.chefsteps.com/joule ) but Anova is much more popular ( https://anovaculinary.com/anova-precision-cooker/ )

I got a deal on one with WIFI and I love it. I use mine in a insulated cooler with a hole in the lid. I usually don't know what time I will get home till after lunch. I can throw in frozen meat before I leave for work, and then start the thaw and cook process whenever. If its going to be a long day I will add ice to the water bath.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#83

Post by bragr » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 6:49 PM UTC

ortusdux wrote: post #75

bragr wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people in my area use these services and I've considered it because mail theft is a big problem in my area. Organized rings doing package theft, identify theft, and all that. So for us at least, it seems significantly safer than having it delivered directly. Personally I just go paperless as much as possible and have the post office hold my mail (another popular response).

PO box?

The problem with PO boxes, besides being in short supply, is all the places that can't accept or ship to PO boxes (DMV, voter registration, private parcel services, insurance companies, ...)

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#84

Post by jhot » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 6:52 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #25

Modern pressure cooker saves 50+ hours of my time per year in cleaning and cooking time, not to mention gas costs. Not "tiny," but the cost/benefit ratio is significant.

My wife and I got one this spring and use it for most dinners now and love it. Quick, easy to clean, and the kitchen doesn't get near as hot as compared to the oven.

One of my favorite things we make with it is refried beans. Makes canned refrieds taste like dog food.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#85

Post by wolfium3 » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

Blue light blocking glasses. I work on computers a lot and usually ended up feeling fatigue by the middle of the day. When wearing blue light blocking glasses, I don't feel tired anymore :).

I've had them for about a year and a half now.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#86

Post by hdjjhhvvhga » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

bxparks wrote: post #71

A Fujitsu S1500 ScanSnap, dual-sided, document scanner (now discontinued, replacement might be the iX1600). Completely changed how I manage my personal documents (e.g. financial, invoices, receipts, product manuals, medical info, business docs, recreation and hobby stuff, etc). Anything remotely important, I scan to PDF, which triggers automatic OCR that is reasonably accurate, then I upload the PDF to Google Drive,…

How does it compare to smarthone camera + one of hundreds of scan+ocr apps like Adobe Scan? For me the smartphone solution is supereasy, basically it takes n seconds to scan a n-page booklet for example.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#87

Post by kalev » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 6:56 PM UTC

warent wrote: post #44

Food scale I got at Target for like $20. Over quarantine, I started getting fluffier than I'm comfortable with and reached my highest weight ever. I eat healthy, so my only guess was that I was eating too much. Simply adding a food scale made me cut 15 pounds in a couple months.

How do you know how much you should eat?

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#88

Post by noahjk » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 7:00 PM UTC

bxparks wrote: post #71

A Fujitsu S1500 ScanSnap, dual-sided, document scanner (now discontinued, replacement might be the iX1600). Completely changed how I manage my personal documents (e.g. financial, invoices, receipts, product manuals, medical info, business docs, recreation and hobby stuff, etc). Anything remotely important, I scan to PDF, which triggers automatic OCR that is reasonably accurate, then I upload the PDF to Google Drive,…

Does anyone have a suggestion for a dual-sided feed scanner like this which can be used to semi-automate document scanning and which is not discontinued? I've been thinking about this for a while but I don't know enough about the market

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#89

Post by steve_adams_86 » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 7:00 PM UTC

yodsanklai wrote: post #55

A headlamp. Allows me to hike in the evening or night. Super useful to hike in the winter when it gets dark early. It never crossed my mind that hiking in the night was a thing but it's pretty cool and I now do it all the time. Then maybe my commute bicycle that I bought for $200 and that I've been using almost daily for 15 years. So much better than a car or public transportation (at least where I live). Then we're…

I use my headlamp for so many things. I can't recommend a good one enough for anyone who spends much time outdoors, or even as a handy thing to keep in the car or shop or anywhere you might end up doing something with low light.

Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?

#90

Post by crookshanked » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 7:06 PM UTC

pchristensen wrote: post #45

A sous vide circulator. $100-200. Never eat dry chicken again, extremely consistent results, flexible (I'm making yogurt in it right now), and stupid easy. I got this one ( https://www.chefsteps.com/joule ) but Anova is much more popular ( https://anovaculinary.com/anova-precision-cooker/ )

Love my Joule. Been using it for years now it feels like for an amazing amount of things. Also the size and waterproof aspect of it is unbeatable. Good customer service too now that breville owns em.