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

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

#341

Post by [deleted] »

drstewart wrote: post #338
tenfourwookie wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find a spot in a national forest and make it my home for a week or seven. If it has decent cellular reception, I can stay there indefinitely, until I run out of supplies, usually water. No one messes with you in the forest. We woodsies know every Honda minivan also has 12-gauge shotgun inside, for squirrels, tasty, tasty squirrels, and errant humans crazy enough to walk up to your van at night. :) Just stay out of…

> If it has decent cellular reception How much are you paying the cell companies to live their American dream on your dime?

[deleted]

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

#342

Post by CRConrad »

Arete314159 wrote: post #318
josiahpeters wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind sharing which brand / model you went with? I spent too much time looking for a more masculine planner last year and finally settled on something that looks like it belongs to a teenager over something that belongs to my wife.

I went with an Erin Condren vertical layout coiled planner, which is very colorful and pretty, so I don't think that is what you are looking for ;-). However, the same brand has a line of neutral & undecorated planners with blue/black/grey covers. This one seems like it would raise no eyebrows at work: https://www.erincondren.com/camel-customizable-vegan-leather... . However, they offer fewer layout options in this l…

They sell "writing tools". I'm old enough to remember when those were called pens.

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

#343

Post by Spooky23 »

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #86
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.

If you’re processing volume, the scansnap is magic. 1-2 pages at a time, the phone is better.

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

#344

Post by jbotz »

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…

> Instead of spinning your cables in a circle, spin them in a figure 8

Also known as "butterfly coiling" rope, cable or hose. The alternating turns mean that every twist has a counter-twist, so you don't end up with the tension that causes cables/ropes to tangle up.

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

#345

Post by CRConrad »

brutus1213 wrote: post #221
zen_lava wrote: post #9

Cheap attachable toilet bidet

Is there some issue with the cold water? If you live in a cold climate? Asking for a friend :D

Where I live, the ubiquitous variant is attached to the faucet on your washbasin, so you get to set any temperature you want. (Most lavatories have the washbasin close enough to the throne that you only need to lean forward a bit; can get awkward in handicap toilets though.)

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

#346

Post by CRConrad »

jonfw wrote: post #42

Huge water bottles- mine is 40 oz. I figured out that I pretty much always drink 2 or three bottles of water per day, no matter what size of bottle I use. So a big old water bottle doubles the amount of water I drink in a day

I just borrow the kids' used softdrink PET bottles for a while. No need to wash them out or anything, just rinse out the few leftover drops of Coke or 7-Up first time you fill it up, and switch to a fresh one after a while, let them recycle the old one.

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

#348

Post by flycaliguy »

tenfourwookie wrote: post #181
honkdaddy wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awesome! How long do you plan to live that way? Do you work out of your van as well?

Not sure. I love the fact that I can travel with the weather. Too hot? Go where it isn't. Too dry, go to beach. Forest fire surrounding your van in Northern California? Freak out for a couple minutes, and then drive to another forest. ;) The temptations of the lifestyle are many; but, be careful. That much freedom can ruin. You might not be able to return to “normal life", where people supplicate themselves to unbeli…

I lived with that freedom and had that exact same thought. “3 weeks vacation… wait… that’s like 40 weeks of work…”

And yeah, I always miscalculate that joke to further distance the normies.

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

#349

Post by [deleted] »

drstewart wrote: post #338
tenfourwookie wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find a spot in a national forest and make it my home for a week or seven. If it has decent cellular reception, I can stay there indefinitely, until I run out of supplies, usually water. No one messes with you in the forest. We woodsies know every Honda minivan also has 12-gauge shotgun inside, for squirrels, tasty, tasty squirrels, and errant humans crazy enough to walk up to your van at night. :) Just stay out of…

> If it has decent cellular reception How much are you paying the cell companies to live their American dream on your dime?

[deleted]

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

#350

Post by aeoleonn »

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.

Nice, thanks! I’ve been using SizeUp for a few years but it has an annoying nagware pop up. I’ll definitely look into rectangle
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