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/ )
Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
131–140 of 428 posts
Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
#132Prescription glasses optimized for the distance to my computer screen. I was getting eye strain after even a short time in front of the computer. The new glasses completely solved the eye strain. I highly recommend it for anyone who is near sighted and uses a computer.
I'm so near-sighted that I need my glasses to see the screen, but just barely. In some situations I can take my glasses off to work and it makes such a difference - there's no strain at all.
Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
#133A 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 am not sure if cooking food inside a plastic bag is healthy.
Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
#134Blue 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?
#135Modern 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.
They also have a smoother texture than cooking in a pot. It's my favourite way to cook them too.
Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
#136A 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…
which headlamp do you use? I bought two years ago from EMS, but they always end up draining the battery super quick when not in use.
Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
#137An electric toothbrush and floss. Brushing with a regular toothbrush doesn’t give me the clean/fresh feeling my electric toothbrush does. The model I have was maybe $25 or $30. Using the electric toothbrush and flossing before bed every night, I feel like in my morning my mouth actually still feels fine. Of course I would never start my day without brushing, but my mouth doesn’t feel icky when I wake up in the mornin…
Brushing after breakfast, rather than before, is recommended for maximum cleanness. If you only brush once a day, brush last thing before bed.
Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
#138Prescription glasses optimized for the distance to my computer screen. I was getting eye strain after even a short time in front of the computer. The new glasses completely solved the eye strain. I highly recommend it for anyone who is near sighted and uses a computer.
Did you go to your optometrist and ask for this specifically? I've been struggling with this a lot, but figured if my prescription and glasses are what they are, this strain is maybe just a fact of life. I'd love to get rid of it. I'm so near-sighted that I need my glasses to see the screen, but just barely. In some situations I can take my glasses off to work and it makes such a difference - there's no strain at all…
Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
#139Varying length of phone charging cables. Bought a couple of bundles of iPhone charging cables from Amazon that were 3ft/6ft/10ft in length with charging attachment from my old iPhones. It's such a great feeling to use the phone from any part of my place without having to worry about length of the cable. I keep a couple of the longer cables in my car too just in case someone wants to charge on a long trip.
Re: Ask HN: What tiny purchases have disproportionately improved your life?
#140I buy high mileage Honda minivans for no more than $3000 because they're dependable and cheap at high mileage. I generally get 100,000 miles out of them, so 4 mostly dependable vans and 400,000 miles for about $12,000. You'll lose $12K in depreciation alone just driving a new car off a lot. I've lived in them safely and comfortably for a total of about 3 years, living all over the western US from New Mexico to Montan…