Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 428 posts

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

#271

Post by wyclif »

tmaly wrote: post #123
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…

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.

I'm a long-distance hiker, and this is the one I recommend: the NiteCore NU25 is super light (you can make it lighter with the minimalist strap option), is 360 lumens bright, has 3 LEDs including a red one, and is USB rechargeable. https://www.litesmith.com/nitecore-nu25-triple-output-usb-re...

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

#272

Post by wyclif »

sergiomattei wrote: post #161
bluewalt wrote: post #104

- A sneaker cleaner kit, to keep my sneakers clean with no effort. - A 15000 lux day lamp, because my apartment is pretty dark, why causes some sort of depressing feelings over time - A Brita Water Filter Pitcher, which replaces all the bottles of water I needed to buy and carry. - Magnet app (mac OS) to organize windows quickly with keyboard shortcuts.

Ex-Magnet user here, try Rectangle. It's faster than Magnet, doesn't cause weird bugs, free, open source AND has more features. It's the whole package.

I've never understood why Apple doesn't make the features Rectangle offers native to macOS. Snapping windows shouldn't require a third-party app, but yet here we are.

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

#273

Post by mekoka »

kaczordon wrote: post #167
mettamage wrote: post #53

Some that come to mind. __Health__ Melatonin. There is no other way for me to go to bed and this knocks me right out (I use 0.2 - 0.4 milligrams). Sleep mask (no more waking up because a stray light hits my eye) I'd say sleep earplugs but I have a sound in my ear, but otherwise earplugs Mosquito repellent scent (for sleep as well). Silicon earplugs when going out, I never thought I'd get ear/hearing damage because I…

Melatonin is not recommended for sleep. A better combo to take would be 200mg L-theanine and 500mg Magnesium Threonate. Melatonin can disrupt your natural melatonin production and those supplements are also notoriously inaccurate in terms of dosage some containing anywhere from 0.2x to 2x the amount listed. Melatonin is probably acting more as a placebo for you now.

Melatonin also works in low dose. You don't need the popular 3mg pills. After nearly 20 years as a night owl and struggling to retrain myself to sleep at night, I finally managed when I followed the advice from this article https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/10/melatonin-much-more-th.... Every night I'd take between 0.1mg and 0.3mg. It worked flawlessly for 3 weeks. I didn't experience any sort of adaptation. After 3 weeks I tried to stop. Although I could sleep well without it by then, I noticed that my night sleep was still too sensitive and prone to interruption, at the slightest disruption. I ended up taking it for 6 months. It never failed. I eventually managed a proper sleep without it and completely became a night sleeper.

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

#275

Post by nickthemagicman »

climb_stealth wrote: post #248
nickthemagicman wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got an Aussie. No insurance. I would just pay the 40 bucks for the vet visit if I need it which I haven't in two years of dog ownership so far.

Not sure what your financial situation is, but emergency procedures at the vet can get very expensive very quickly. I would very much recommend insurance even if it is hardly ever needed. Also, starting with insurance later will get you exclusions on the policy for age related issues. I'm paying USD600 a year per dog in insurance. It already paid for itself for several years with one stomach bug gone bad that needed…

Thanks for the tip. I have to think about it. I don't know anyone who has gotten it out of a handful of people. But it's def f something to think about.

Glad your pooch is ok!

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

#276

Post by smsm42 »

gordon_freeman wrote: post #35

Libby - I used to buy so many Kindle books and had an expensive Audible subscription a year ago but all that stopped when I discovered Libby. I can read ebooks and audiobooks right in the app using my local public library card for free and the entire UX of the app is just beyond awesome. I can now read/listen to 5-7 books a month using Libby.

The winning combo for me is Libby + Hoopla + Library Extension for Chrome. Anytime I see something I'm interested in on Amazon, Goodreads, etc. - I immediately see (and can store for later reading/listening) if it's available via my local library. Can't count how many books I got this way, totally free.

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

#277

Post by jobigoud »

bxparks wrote: post #117
hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I find the quality of the photos from my phone to be terrible: wrong brightness, wrong color balance, wrong focus, wrong contrast, wrong orientation, motion blur, etc. The quality of the documents from the Fujitsu scanner is top notch. And the feeder is amazingly fast, specs say 20 ppm, which I think means 20 sheets, or 40 pages/minute. I also hate typing long file names on a phone keyboard. But if it works for you,…

Have you tried these apps? It corrects for white balance, contrast, orientation, etc.

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

#278

Post by Corrado »

Yes2020 wrote: post #217

Bolt-on forks and trailer ball receiver for front loader bucket. I use these just about everyday, to lift, move, and position stuff. Would not be able to live where I live at my age without them. Wood door shim to scrape food cooked onto pans. Free and gets off stuff scrubbies won't, without scratching the s** out of a pan using a metal one. Saves ruining wooden spoons doing the same thing. Battery powered, brushless…

I agree about the battery powered lawn devices. I started with a lawn mower and a string trimmer, graduated to a chainsaw, and finally ended up with a leaf blower. I love them all!

You don't realize how much time and attention you give these small gasoline motors over the years. It's soooo much easier to slap the battery in for the first cut of the season and just go. No more winterizing. No more checking/changing spark plugs. No more pulling starter cords until my arm falls off. No more loud stinky exhaust.

These are by far the best purchase I've made in a long time.

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

#279

Post by rapjr9 »

gtirloni wrote: post #96
wolfium3 wrote: post #85

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.

Would you mind sharing which brand?

You can use an app to do this as well. f.lux was the first app in this category I think and is still a great choice. I run it on a Macbook. There are similar apps for phones as well. Some phones now include built-in functionality to do this as well.

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

#280

Post by Corrado »

cbanek wrote: post #267

I don't know if I'd call it cheap, but more a great value. My Aeron chair. Had it for 7 years now, bought it new for about $1000. Best chair ever and has helped with a lot of posture problems.

Agreed! I bought mine >10 years ago and it still looks/works great. I got it back in the "crash" of 2008 when everyone was trying to unload them so it only cost ~$750. I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it.
Post reply on HN