Just went down the aliexpress rabbit hole again. Theres really everythinf for some of really niche things that i wouldnt ever buy, but some things really do look appealing. I wonder what do you guys use daily thats worth lets say under $20
I’m pretty fond of these little Velcro straps I got from Amazon that are like 10cm x 30cm, you use them to push all your computer cables into them so you can neaten them up. I’ve got several of them strapped back to back and it’s a pretty decent solution (and being Velcro you can just pull it apart later on)
A place I used to work at gave us big rolls of double sided velcro for cable management purposes. Me and another guy built a jig to split them in half so it was 1/4" instead of 1/2". Worked great and I still have a ton of those rolls we made from leaving it in my pocket at the end of the day. Very handy stuff to have around.
Is “leaving it in my pocket at the end of the day” a euphemism for “I stole it”?
Sure, if you like licking boots.
Consumables like that are common to be accidentally taken home if you don’t switch to work clothes at work. Any company complaining about it is insane.
…Sort of…
Two items I can think of: a bluetooth/wifi controlled multicolored lightbulb and reusable K-cups
Rather than setting up strips of lighting along my ceiling in my apartment, just changing out the bulb in my lamp is a really simple way to have full customization of a room’s lighting. Nowadays, I find myself just lying in bed, changing the color and brightness of the bulb on my phone as I listen to music, changing it to whatever feels the best. Even for regular use, changing how bright or soft the white light is can be useful.
As for the K-cups, it makes for a really easy method of making coffee at the office. Due to a long commute, I have to wake up earlier than I would like to arrive at the office on time, and it generally leaves me little time to prepare coffee at home. During the summer I usually prepare cold brew the night before, though in fall and winter, I prefer warm coffee and I find it easiest to grind whole beans myself, prepare a K-cup the night before, and then brew once I arrive. Simple and clean with very little hassle.
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Long USB cables can be problematic, and to avoid problems may need to be inconveniently thick and stiff. I’ve taken to using an AC extension chord for most of the length when I need to charge far from an outlet.
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What are you using a barometer for so frequently?
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How would a barometer help ?
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That’s what I wanna know. I’d love a barometer but I cannot think of any reason why lol
Get one! Learn to predict the weather by keeping an eye on pressure changes. It could be a little hobby.
Alligator forceps
Snag Nab-It and an electric depiller (fabric shaver).
Miracle makers during sweater season.
Agreed. Chopsticks make it so much easier to fold up my salad greens and minimize the amount of salad dressing I get in my beard and mustache.
Use less dressing? I mean, if your salad is dripping, you might wanna look at your ratios there. 😅
Never said it was dripping. It just rubs against facial hair while eating. Ice cream, sandwiches, beverages, lots of foods have an interaction with facial hair. It’s something I live with because it’s not that big of a deal and using chopsticks makes it even less so.
You could try grooming? Tame that wilderness, tiger.
Why does this matter to you? You keep making assumptions and then trying to solve them as though it’s an issue. I’m just agreeing with OP that’s it’s easier to eat salad with chopsticks and especially for someone who has a beard. If you don’t have a beard and don’t fully understand why it would be easier, then it’s not really relevant to you, and that’s okay.
Also the best way to eat Cheetos and keep your fingers clean
Depends on your lifestyle ofc but a cheap 6’ tape measurer keychain has come in clutch more times than I can count. Within the past week I’ve used it to
measure the hatch of my car to see if a box could fit
compared a 14" pizza to a 17" to my friend group to figure what size pizza to buy
measured an entire house worth of soffit
The thing was like $5 and honestly gets more use out of anything in my EDC except maybe my earbuds and even then I barely touch them since graduating from uni
Make sure you test it against one you’re sure is accurate. My wife bought one that looks right at first blush, but it’s off by at least 5%.
That’s a funny cautionary tale.
Roughly 0.5 inches would you say?
Dude, you’ve gotta factor in way more than diameter if you’re trying to make wise pizza choices. They have calculators for that: https://www.omnicalculator.com/food/pizza-comparison
Your link is the other way around, you should put the text between [ ] and the link between ( ), i.e. text, the way you did it the text that appears is the url but when you click it it tries to go to literally the address
url.
Luftkin makes a high contrast 8’ the size of most 6’ and it is glorious. I have one as a daily driver for work, cold dead hands.
The rest of their tape measures in that same line are great.
I use the one on my leather man micra all the time. Also fans of Adam Savage know about his measuring device tattooed on his arm which is cool too.
Funny, I was just watching some lockdown-era Tested videos and was wondering what that tattoo was on Adam’s arm. Reminds me of my mechanic friends with a 10mm socket tattooed so that “they’ll never lose it”
The appeal is to have it fit on your keychain/ in your pocket so that you’ve always got it rather than having to run back to the car or wherever one might be
Thank you, now I know what tattoo to get if I pass by a walk in place. I’m always tempted but the things I want aren’t exactly walk in tattoos. Only question now is to go halfway up my forearm or to my elbow. Guess I could go all the way down my index finger, too, but I’m not sure how long a tattoo on the side of the finger would last, plus all the possible bends when including the hand could reduce measurement accuracy by quite a bit.
rice cooker. i have one that i use like a fancy crockpot so i can leave the house and come home to hot food. mandolin or a food processor is a close second, makes chopping veggies a breeze
My issue with food processors is they take more time to clean than they save.
Which one do you use?
Rinse after use, then its a matter of wiping down in hot soapy water.
Never let the debris dry in the food processor or you’re gonna have a bad time. Same with blenders.
If you can’t reach the crevices you can also run it with warm (not hot) soapy water to clean the crevices.
A bottle brush is great for those crevices, too 🤌🏼
Yeah, and if you’re really old-school, you simply use a pipe cleaner… 🤪
That’s exactly what the “straw cleaner” people wanted you to do, ya know…
Yeah, if you can’t soak it, get that food off before it dries. This is why I prefer kitchen tools that you can take apart. I replaced my Foreman grill with a griddle with removable plates and love it, even though the Foreman had a bit more cooking area. Plus I got waffle plates and also got rid of the waffle maker that I rarely used because it was such a pain to clean if you ever overestimated how much batter it needed.
i use a mini kitchenaid i got for $50 a few years ago. its easier to store n clean bc its tiny. it isnt good for big batches but is perfect for a few carrots and onion, or a handful of spinach. then i usually just swish it all with warm water and im good to go. i clean while i cook so its basically all done by the time im eating.
I guess I just don’t find it hard to chop things with a knife, which is very easy to clean. I have a food processor, but getting it out of the cupboard takes almost as much time as dicing an onion with a knife.
i think for me is im a disaster and usually will end up with veggie particles all over the counter and floor and then have to spend time cleaning that up else the cat gets his far face all over it. on top of that i have a super tiny food processor which makes getting it in and out super easy. if i only had my larger one i could not see myself bothering with it.
A metal 2mm mechanical pencil set. I use it for woodworking and absolutely love it.
I’ve been a huge fan of this Hultafors Dry Marker for carpentry and woodworking. Having that sheath with a built-in sharpener is excellent too.
Biggest thing for woodworking for me was just buying more pencils. I bought a pack of 30 or so and put all of them in a cup attached to the wall. Now I just grab a new one if I forget where I put it down.
ditto. also keep one on each side of the miter saw and at the table saw to use the eraser side as an 11th finger when needed
Hard to tuck a pencil in the ear when also wearing safety glasses and hearing protection.
Did you forget your ear? I thought all woodworkers kept their pencil on their ear.
Not the clumsy ones. Not after a little while.
I’ve got a Staedtler 2mm and sharpener that I’ve had for at least 20 years now. They both have a permanent spot of honor on my lathe stand.
A decent headlamp. Flashlights are well and good, and sometimes necessary too. But if you’ve ever had to do something intricate with both hands in the complete dark, a good headlamp can be so much better in those situations
Completely agree on this. For some reason I’ve gone through like four at this point. They seem to break for some reason. Even tried the REI route with the black diamond brand and they don’t seem to last. I need to find a better brand.
Petzl. Had mine for 14 years
And you can get such small ones now! My spouse has one she keeps in her purse where the strap is just a thin wire that retracts into the unit. It’s not even uncomfortable! Needless to say I’m jealous!
Is it the petzl zipka? Because if it isn’t I’d love to know what it is. I have one, but they’ve apparently stopped making them, and it’s so much better not having an elastic strap.
I got a Lightbar brand “lightbar pro”, so good. The only downside to it is that there is a design flaw where there is no strain relief on the main power cable so twisting it will lead to failure. I don’t know if they fixed it since I bought mine, but some glue on the power wire should sort it out.
You get a nice wide diffuse light so you can see all around you and what you are working on. It isn’t the best for distance, but most of the time I am working I need to see my surroundings and what I am working on.
I’ve done fibre optic splicing entirely under the light of a headtorch. I don’t think you could get much more intricate than that.
In most places, lights are placed on the ceiling. This is fine for generally lighting a room, but if you need to do something intricate that’s not directly under the ceiling lamp it can be hard to see. Even simple things like plugging in some cables under the desk.
100%. I found one with grooves, so you can tilt and lock on whatever angle you like. Going to use as secondary light soirce on my bike rides and camping trips
I worked with a guy who wore a headlamp nearly all the time. When people would ask about it he would always tell them “There are only two reasons NOT to wear a headlamp. Either you don’t have a head, or you don’t have a headlamp.”
I will never forget this.
Oh phew, one of those reasons applies to me. Guess I don’t need one.
A victorinox pocket knife! Really comes in handy for many purposes
I ended up buying an aftermarket belt clip that screws into the Swiss Army knife on Amazon. Best purchase ever. Always on me and used daily for random stuff.
Take my money!
I’ve carried a SAK for years. I now also have a cheap benchmade knockoff with pocket clip and flipper. So easy to pull out and open that I almost never use my SAK. Hopefully a pocket clip will change that.
Love this idea, thanks. (I know you bought a belt clip and I’m going to buy a pocket clip but you gave me the idea).
totally agree in principle. my edc of choice has been the Leatherman skeletool for the last 5 years. pliers, Phillips and flat head and blade have been the perfect combination to balance portability and utility
I also carry a Skeletool. I’ve had it for ~10 years now. I love that thing. It’s the best designed multi-tool I’ve ever had.
Magnetic USB c connectors
Those are good if you don’t work anywhere that metal shavings might be and not all of them support 10w+ charging.
I haven’t noticed a difference on my 8t for 65w charger and no notifications on my USB c laptops
I have an espresso maker. Knocking the coffee grounds into the garbage was kind of gross. So I got a cheap knock box to kick the puck out was a really nice treat.
And the espresso maker too, I guess. Being able to make a fresh, hot Americano in a couple of minutes is great.
Compost please if it’s possible.
Now that I’m using a knock box, it’s easy to compost the grounds.
What exactly is a knock box? Just any old box?
It needs to be rigid enough that the metal portafilter doesn’t destroy it, and mold proof so it can last a day or two between being emptied.
There’s a bunch here.
The worms go so fast
There are racing worms?
A decent reusable steel water bottle. Doesn’t need to cost a lot, and really cuts down on dishes at home
How does it reduce dishes? Water bottles are one of the more annoying things to wash, in my experience, because my hands aren’t small enough to fit anymore.
Edit: Yes, I have a bottle brush. It’s just that it’s a bit of a hassle to soap it from dry and then have to dry it somewhere before storing it again. I wash everything else with a rough sponge normally.
Use a bottle brush. 🤦🏼♂️
You’re not serious. 😬
It’s a brush. Shake it vigorously for 10-20 seconds and it’s dry enough. FFS. I hope you’re not serious.
I see you’ve never had a partner with ADHD! Going around collecting all the half-drank water glasses in our household used to be a full-time job.
Unfortunately we’re both the problem, so there would just be glasses EVERYWHERE. Carrying one bottle around just made more sense
It’s not necessary to wash water bottles.
I mean it’s just storing water. You do have to wash it if you store other liquid beverages like coffee or juice. But if you use it just for water, I don’t see why it would contain any bacteria or scum or whatever.
I haven’t washed my Yeti cup in like a year and I’m not dead.
Look at patient zero over here, just being all flippant to health hazards.
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It would only smell if you stick your mouth to the bottle ( the bacteria from your mouth will transfer to the bottle ). But if you drink it the other way, you don’t need to wash it ever.
That’s nasty.
Man I hate these. They make water warm up instantly (unless vacuum insulated) and I could just one a single glass the whole day, or multiple days.
Hit up the Goodwill or similar, you can find stainless bottles for dollars.
Local DI (deseret industries-a Mormon goodwill equivalent) has them for $1.50. Pick your lid, thermo flask, size, straw or naw. Get 6 for $9. Or buy 1-2 a bunch of times. My only transportation is cycling (other than busses/trains). Hydration is essential for proper functioning on all of these.
Water is life homie.
i use almost nothing but stainless steel drinking cups now
A convoy s3 flashlight with uv emitter, about $15 US.
I have a geriatric puppy who’s starting to “leak”, and this flashlight is really quick and easy to tell where needs to be cleaned up. Way easier than shining a regular light, missing and slipping on a puddle.
Please pay the dog tax. We’d love to see your senior pup!
