Ask Lemmy

I got a cheap office chair when I moved out after college. It was like $15+20 and it's super comfortable and still use it daily over 10 years later.

It's just foam stapled to plywood but really good support.

One of these stainless steel bars of "soap". It's for getting onion and garlic smell off your hands. I was skeptical when my partner bought it, but it totally works. Rub on your hands under cold water and it's like you never even looked at the garlic.

One way window heat shield. Reflects 85‰ of the UV back out. Sticks to the window using only water.

Noticeable difference in temperature for any sun-facing windows

Oh man, there's this German company Beurer that makes simple equipment for medical home application. They make this sort of zapper thing, which is battery oper and it just heats the shit out of a little ceramic plate. Put that on a bug bite, it heats away the irritation. No more itch, no more venom in your body, just gone.

I am no longer careful around biting bugs. Keep in mind it's not supposed to work for stingers.

I figured for 15 euros it'd be too bad if it doesn't work but I now can't imagine not having it.

I've since also bought a TENS/EMS machine of theirs and a laser hair removal tool is underway for my wife.

I completely trust this company based on just two products.

Broke single mom here. My H&M usually offers a buy one get one discount on boys’ cotton boxers, so whenever I buy a pack for my 12 year old son, I grab myself one as well and they serve pretty well as pajama shorts which I pair with a cheap oversized cotton tee.

A roll of really heavy duty velcro. The kind that can, for example, stick a sledge hammer to a wall. It's about $12 for 5 feet or so, and about a 1" piece is sufficient for most tasks, so it lasts a very long time. I use it for all kinds of stuff; it's amazing how many uses for it you find when you have it.

I bought a reusable tote for like $3 in the section at the front of Target where they stick all the cheap stuff. It looks like it's made of woven burlap. It says "Going to Market" on the sides. It's shorter than the standard reusable tote, but a reasonable width.

I bought it on a whim and thought it would sit in my trunk after I forgot about it. I use it all the time, and I've gotten a ton of compliments on it at checkouts of various stores.

$20 bread maker I found at at a thrift store. There's no telling how many hundreds of loaves of healthy, fresh baked wheat bread I've churned out of that thing over the past two years, especially now that we're grinding our own wheat too.

An Aeropress. I bought it when work removed the free coffee and was super surprised at how good it tasted vs what they were serving. Later, I found a bean hand grinder that fits right inside the Aeropress plunger and now I take it on work trips, vacation and camping.

It's not fully inclusive for $20 because you need a cup, some way to procure and heat water and beans but still, it's served me well.

Metal Chopsticks $9 https://www.amazon.com/BamLue-Stainless-Chopsticks-Dishwasher-Restaurant/dp/B07RTNWLM1 These are no longer for sale. They are not just for eating. Great for deseeding jalapenos, tomatos. Mixing small sauces. Too many uses to list. They are super durable. Very 'buy it for life' vibes. The tip texture is the most helpful. Not to be used as Ninja weapons.

A Victorinox Swiss army knife. Bought it used for 10€, and it has everything from a very good blade to screwdrivers, a bottle opener, pen and tweezers. Always in my pocket in case I need it.

Once found a whole functioning pc (minus ram and the hard drive) at a thrift store for $3. My guess is it came from an office, and when they plugged it in, and when it didn't work, they assumed it was junk. Actual value of the parts was like $300.

A swiss army knife sd classic. I have it on my keychain and use it a lot

• knife sharpening steel
• squeezing bidet (made me realize how gross using toilet paper is)
• caffeine pills (extremely cheap [15€ for 180pcs. x 200mg] compared to coffee and great if you're in a hurry)
• Raspberry Pi Zero (tiny single board computer, tbh not in use anymore, but I had fun tinkering for days)
• remote controlled power outlets
• easily cleanable drinking bottle and switching to drinking tap water

A package of blue-tack - it is basically sticky play-dough that is completely opaque and you can use wads of it to blunt the pain of stupid LEDs on on your tech shit. I am currently sitting in my living room looking at my TV and various components including router and stuff...easily 20 gobs of blue-tack masking 20 blinking LEDs.

Wool poncho. I've used it to stay warm, stay cool, as a groundcloth under my sleeping bag, as a blanket, as a pillow, as a decorative throw, as a cat bed, as a picnic blanket, as a beach blanket. It's incredibly useful and versatile.

A screwdriver kit with multiple head tips, can repair almost anything as long as I am given some schematics

Opinel carbon steel pocket knife. They're awesome. Cheap, robust and easy to keep sharp. Just need to oil the blade every now and then for corrosion resistance and you're good to go.

My pocket stun gun was $19.99. Decided I needed a defense mechanism I could conceal after an encounter with a scary aggressive homeless man.

Also has a flashlight.

A very thin piece of linen cloth for summer heat. Soak in water, press against body, when it becomes too warm, let it fly in the wind for a few seconds, then press again.

An ezel. You know, the kind that artists use to put their cavvas on.

I'm a digital artist, so I have a display drawing tablet. Eventually having the tablet completely horizontally flat got annoying to draw on. I ended up sitting cross-legged and awkwardly perching the table on the edge of my desk on my lap to get some sort of comfortable angle on it. However that was annoying too.

I went and looked what a tablet stand costed for my tablet model and... It damn near costed the same as my tablet! The. I had an idea. There's this cheap ass hardware store called Harald Nyborg in Denmark, maybe they have cheap ezel?

Lo and behold they do. Made from the crappiest cheap wood available, it serves its purpose perfectly! I've had it for a few years now and never needed to think about getting that dedicated stand for my tablet.

I got two of these squiggly window wedges. They are incredibly versatile and handy when you want to keep a window open.

One of those cocktail stirring spoons with a long, round handle. Makes stirring a glass full of ice extremely easier compared to normal spoon handles. In contrast, I found mixing glasses and cocktail shakers fairly optional (and those tend to be more expensive than $20 anyway if they're decent quality).

Electric screwdriver from Lidl (well, it was less than £20) - as a DIY novice/flat pack builder, it changed my life