What are your favourite things under 50$ that make your life a bit easier or more pleasant?
I need some holiday gift ideas (that I will probably gift to myself as well)!
Rechargeable batteries. They have paid for themselves many times over by now. Less guilt about throwing away dead ones, too.
This, entirely. I remember back 10, 15 years ago, rechargeable batteries were trash. Gave them a second shot recently, and I'm genuinely surprised. They're as good, possibly even better than, non-rechargeables
One thing to note is that many of the cheaper rechargeables do not work very well with older electronics.
This is because the nominal voltage on alkalines tend to hover around 1.6 volts when they're fully charged whereas on rechargeables they tend to hover closer to 1.4, and that may not seem like a lot but when you've got something that uses six AA's and you short it out the equivalent of nearly one full battery then things are bound to get a little wonky.
The set I have (Duracell) is at least 10 years old - the charger has "copyright 2009" on it fwiw. Not sure they hold a charge for quite as long as originally, but they work for what I need (TV remote, RGB lighting remote, beard trimmer). I can only imagine how much better they have gotten!
+1 for rechargeable batteries. I love my Panasonic Eneloops!
Nose cancelling headphones
OMFG, my fucking nose is gone!
Where can I get Nose cancelling headphones? I could do with some dog is old, and his farts are a biological weapon.
I would imagine that active noise cancellation is out for under $50. You’re stuck with passive noise cancelation if you want something with halfway acceptable sound. AKA, something that basically just plugs your ears so you can’t hear anything else.
Here's an unusual one - an M.2 SSD to USB adapter.
Most, if not all, laptops come with SSD's nowadays, and they're usually pretty easy to take out from a laptop. Gather some old, broken laptops, and take out their SSD's. They're so much faster than USB flash drives, I prefer to use SSD's where possible. Plus, it helps with e-waste
I did the same with laptop HDDs. So many cheap storages.
Could even make this a little simpler - if somehow you're not using an SSD at least as the primary boot, please god change that immediately. $50 can easily get you 512gb, often even a TB.
I'd be careful with that suggestion. Some external readers will only read SATA M.2, Dube will only read NVMe M.2.
Ideally you'd want I've is each or one that will do both for maximum compatibility.
Though most drives do seem to be NVMe now.
This is stupid. But socks and underwear. All new socks and underwear.
I love throwing out all my old ragged socks and having a bunch of brand new pairs in the drawer.
Key to this is identical ducts socks. No more sorting
Bought 20 pairs of identical black socks. Best investment ever.
I have summer and winter socks, never need to sort. Its great and I throw out the holy ones and I am never left with an odd pair
That's... genius.
Adding mine:
Didn't know of PineTime, how is it for training?
I don't know! :) I do not track my exercise.
Well, you have a relatively good step counter imo (disclaimer: I haven't used other smartwatches before, can't compare) and a basically useless heartrate sensor. Other basic functionality is decent
Electric teakettle if you use an older style stovetop one. The lowest end ones I've seen are only like $15, and work pretty much as well as some nicer ones, just don't look as pretty, but they'll boil water faster than the stove will. Even if you don't make tea or similar, if you ever eat things like pasta that are cooked in boiling water, you can heat the water in the kettle first and then transfer to the pot to make things slightly faster, and use less gas if you happen to have a gas stove.
Not only are they useful for their typical purpose, but they boil water faster in pretty much any boil water use case. Use the water for your pasta, hard boiled eggs, etc.!
Relevant Technology Connections: https://youtu.be/_yMMTVVJI4c
TC is always relevant.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/_yMMTVVJI4c
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Yay technology connections! My favorite pedantic internet nerd! Was excited to find he's on mastodon
Haha, I am in the UK, so we all have at least 1. I have 2! One for my office desk because I am addicted to hot water bottles and nice tea. :) As a yankee transplant, I advocate an electric kettle hardcore to everyone in the US. Y'all don't know what you are missing.
I cannot recommend the Aeropress enough. It makes such great coffee at its price point. Its quicker and less wasteful than a lot of other popular single cup options coughKeurigcough
Yes, I love my aeropress!! With enough dialing in I can usually make a better cup of coffee with a pourover setup that better expresses the differences of specific beans. But the aeropress makes a darn good cup of coffee every time without going through all that hassle. I use mine almost daily.
Ikea has single cup french presses for like 10€.
Deli containers are a game changer. Never have to search for a lid that fits.
Nice link! Poached it for !houseplants@lemmy.ml
Instant Pot (on sale): There is legitimately so many things you can make in these. Many of them do sous vide too, which is one of the best ways to cook meat.
Powered ratchet: For anyone who works on their own vehicles, a cheap powered ratchet is a godsend. I bought one for oil changes and car repairs and it's my most used tool in my bag. I'm mad I spent so much time without one. Walmart's Hyper Tough brand powered ratchet is $40 and holds up very well. Extended reach one is often on sale for $50-55.
E-Ink reader: Another often on sale item. If you have someone who loves books, having an entire library in your pocket with a built-in backlight for night reading that's also easy on the eyes is a great thing. Coupled with Calibre and some....sourced epub files.....and you can read a lot for free.
Vacuum sealer: Never have freezer burned stuff again. And keeps things fresh in the fridge longer. Also works great for sous vide for the above-mentioned Instant Pot.
Can you share some instant pot meals/ideas? I got one and it barely gets used. Every time I look stuff up or ask peoole it's the same "crack chicken" recepies.
Mine is essentially a big power hungry medium boiled egg maker. Really wish it got more use.
Dried beans (includes garbanzo etc). With an automatic pressure cooker like that cooking dried beans goes from an ordeal where you have to soak them overnight and watch a pot for 5 hours and probably get indigestion because they're undercooked anyway to, spend 2 minutes throwing in the beans and water and pressing the button and then come back sometime between 1-5 hours later to perfectly cooked beans. Save money and space in your pantry getting rid of cans.
Anything sous vide (if yours has a sous vide button). You can use ziplock bags in Leiu of a vac sealer. Chicken or steak sous vide and then quick seared in a hot pan for color is the best.
Olive Garden style Chicken Gnocchi soup (dozens of copycat recipes online). You can buy pre-packaged gnocchi or make it yourself. Get a loaf of French bread to toast cheap at the grocery store and it'll blow your mind.
Basically any Chili recipe can be made 5-10x faster pressure cooked. No need to simmer it for hours.
Use it as a rice cooker. Pressure cooked white rice tastes like Chinese restaurant sticky rice and take 10 minutes. Get a box of frozen orange chicken from Costco and you've got Orange chicken over rice in about 18 minutes. Or cook some refried beans, brown rice, and fried eggs for a quick breakfast. Nothing beats a salt and pepper runny yolk egg soaked into rice.
Hard boiling eggs you mentioned already, but if you like egg salad it's a great way to make easy peal boiled eggs for mashing into egg salad in the fridge.
Those are just a few things I use mine for ranging from moderate to simple.
Here's my favorite recipes, I use it every week:
Ribs - easy to get super consistent results, pressure cooking helps keep moisture in. (https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/easy-bbq-instant-pot-ribs/)
Clam chowder - creamy New England style, I add extra seasonings to amp it up. The clams I get in cans and bottled clam juice so the only non-shelf-stable ingredients are onions, carrots, celery, and garlic (https://recipes.instantpot.com/recipe/new-england-clam-chowder-2/) My additions: To make it more hearty and thick I do 3 cans of clams instead of 2, 4ish strips of bacon bits, an extra stalk or 2 of celery, between 1.5 and 2 lbs of potatoes instead of 1, and parsley and paprika in the same amounts as the thyme and oregano.
Spaghetti carbonara - my new cook book addition. grating the cheese adds more work, but overall still very simple as far as instant pot recipes go - saute the pancetta and reserve, saute onion and garlic, pressure cook pasta in broth, stir in butter, cream, cheese, egg, and pancetta when done (https://pressureluckcooking.com/instant-pot-spaghetti-carbonara/)
Corn chowder - really similar to the clam chowder but good for if you're not feeling seafood, like most of the recipes I favorite, the steps mostly amount to dumping all the ingredients in, pressure cooking, and stirring in something extra at the end (in this case cornstarch and half&half to thicken) (https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/instant-pot-corn-chowder/)
I also use the instant pot some for other recipes but I lean heavily towards 1 pot meals and stuff where I can get away with putting 90% of the ingredients in for the pressure cooking step, that does mean a lot of soups but I'm working on adding more pasta dishes to my repertoire.
(Edited to add recipe links)
It’s basically a pressure cooker, so…..
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pressure-cooker-chili-recipe-1942714.amp
A lot of my use for my instant pot is to make batches of chicken stock to stick in the freezer.
Other than that these are a few of my most frequent recipes:
Spicy Instant Pot Carrot Soup
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Adobo
Cilantro Lime Chicken
The last one isn't really a pressure cooker recipe, but you can make nearly any slow cooker recipe a pressure cooker recipe by just cooking it under pressure for about 30-45 minutes.
Love making risotto in mine. Easy weeknight meal (depending on the recipe).
PS: Older refurbished kindles are a steal!
Indeed
If you have decent freezer space, there's no excuse to not use a vac sealer. I have so many friends that constantly complain about meat prices but don't take advantage of buying meat on sale in bulk. With a vac sealer, you can really get ahead. Also processing and preparing your own meat products (burgers, sausage).
We also vac seal soups and broths!
Also, on the topic of slow cookers, while not $50 and under, a ninja foodi is a pressure/slow cooker and air fryer combo. I literally use mine everyday. It gets more use than my microwave or stove.
Seconding the vacuum sealer.
Kitchen scale. Baking is much better with weight measurements instead of volume. Also useful for calculating calories.
Headlamp. Having light where you don't need to hold a phone or a flashlight is great.
Digital meat thermometer. No more guessing.
USB charging hub. Charge many devices at once.
They should call those thermomeaters.. random thought
To my brain, that sounds like what someone would call their penis while jokingly trying to get their partner to take their temperature.
"Open up for the thermomeater babe, gotta make sure you don't have a fever!"
...I was referring to taking a temperature orally, but I guess they could mean rectally, too, lmao
I call them meatmometers.
I’ll second the meat thermometer. I bought one a little while ago and find that it prevents me from overcooking things out of an overabundance of caution.
No more dried pork chops or chicken! I probe everything I eat. I also used a "Meater" to cook our Thanksgiving turkey, came out ridiculously juicy.
Wireless ones are fantastic, can BBQ and cook in the kitchen without worrying about over/under cooking
I bought a scale to start measuring my coffee a couple years ago and only recently realized I could be using it for cooking. Was definitely a game changer
Headlamp is the low key goat of tools for home improvement.
Why stop with one head lamp? I have so many flashlights and head straps.
A really great meat thermometer, like a thermapen, can be very pricey
Yep, got one. They're lovely and read in one second and are extremely accurate, but a simple 4 or 5 second reader will do the job just fine for most applications. Those can be had for around 25 USD.
Pocket knife.
Yeah. I’ve had a leatherman squirt on my key ring for years. It’s always in the same place, has a useful set of tools and has got me and quite a few others out of some minor scrapes
Gerber Dime for me.
Fun fact: the tool I use most often by far is the "retail package opener."
!edc@sopuli.xyz would like to know your location what is in your pockets
Oi, mate, do you have a loicense for that?
I have a small knife on my key ring that's probably been used more than any other tool I own.
Pocket sand is free.
I've carried many different knives, and the one I stick with now is an opinel no 8. I find that I use it more than any other one, because it's particularly well suited to food. Perfect size to cut an Apple or avocado, even a steak, and the wood handle and general look make it pretty non threatening.
So many things in your house that are probably pissing you off:
You can also soak your faucet diffusers in citric acid to remove built-up limescale.
Pro-tip for the spray foam - if blocking air from the outside, spray a little bit of foam, add a "wall" of steel wool, then spray more foam on that. Stops the mice chewing through it
There's a 100% chance the mice will find your spray foam, so this is important (unless you like mouse shit inside your insulation).
Ooof... Half that list is illegal to DIY in Australia. We have the dumbest laws for electrical and plumbing.
A red nightlight or two somewhere between your bed and the bathroom. Red doesn’t wake you up as much or destroy your night vision. Ideal for trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Oh snap I need this
Big ol' bag o' weed
Came here to say this. Happy 420 to anyone on that planet in the correct timezone
Great topic idea! Here are some of mine, I'll add links later:
- A refillable oil sprayer so that you can buy any oil you want and evenly coat a pan. Great for searing and air frying
What kind do you have? I bought one off Amazon and it was dogshit
Here you go: Mistifi Oliver Oil Sprayer for cooking, Spray bottle 6oz, Non-Aerosol Refillable Dispenser Oil Mister FS601 Green Vegetable https://www.amazon.com/Mistifi-grilling-displenser-Non-Aerosol-vegetable/dp/B088D23YJQ
A bidet
People always underestimate how awesome bidets are when they haven't tried one.
I haven't read all of the comments on here, but here are mine that are more beauty related that improve my quality of life:
That's all I can think of right now, but those are some of my favorites for smaller daily life improvements.
Ryobi Desktop Vacuum. I do a lot of small-scale craft stuff and absolutely love this thing. Good for cleaning up odd crumbs and whatnot, too. It's surprisingly powerful and fairly quiet (a LOT quieter than a standard handheld vacuum).
This looks super handy! I'm going to have to scope one out, thanks for the rec
Knife sharpener.
Your knives aren't bad, they're dull. A knife sharpener will make every knife you own good as new (and it's cheaper than any single knife as well)
Which model would you recommend?
Get a sharpening stone, brand doesn't matter imo. I have one with 1000 grid for rough sharpening and 6000 grid for making it really sharp. It does require some learning tho.
I also recommend a honing rod; a good ceramic one will run you 40 dollars or so. Takes some skill to use, but it will change your life. Your blades need to be realigned.
It differs from a sharpener in that a sharpener takes material off the knife. You should hone every few weeks; sharpening should come once or twice a year. Sharpening too frequently will a noticeable reduction in the knife's physical size relatively quickly (not that it still wont cut).
If you're willing to learn, whetstones are a lot better for your knives and remove less material!
And my knife sharpener, get a whetstone. It's kind of therapeutic and you get sharp knives
As other comments have alluded to, a sharpening stone is a far better investment and only takes a half hour to learn.
Even if you do a bad job it'll likely be a better result and better for your knives. Most sharpeners absolutely destroy knives and take far too much material off.
1000 grit is a good place to start.
Two items I don't see in anyone other people's replies:
Pop Socket, never drop your phone again.
Also never fit in your pockets again
It does occasionally catch on the inside of my pocket when I take it out, but usually it's not a problem. And the extra grip is worth far more to me. I have literally never dropped my phone since I got one, and I can use my Pixel 6 Pro with one hand easily. I would never go without one.
I wish my particular flavor of annoyance could get past this point because it does seem helpful, but I'm even further and can't really stand a case unless I'm doing something specifically that warrants it.
It's a compromise I'm willing to make. Valid critique though.
Ditto the stainless water bottle, though I have an Owala. I like the spout that you can drink/pour out of like a cup or sip out of like a straw, and it has fewer moving parts so I don't think it's going to develop leaks as quickly as the ones with squishy straws that have to fold up every time it closes.
They're pricey, though.
Situational, but mine was 50m of CAT5e cable, a bag of plugs, and a crimping tool. I finally eliminated the "but what if we move the router" spool of excess cables behind the furniture.
In a similar fashion, several 3m USB-C cables.
For anyone wondering this isn't a good idea if you're color blind.
Just buy patch cords in the equivalent length. They will be better built than and you won't waste hours of your time, and a shit ton of copper.
Source: Thought 5 years IT experience and 100ft of Ethernet would be enough to get it. After 2 weeks of frustration - I had 1 cable that worked and I had to buy a tester just to speed up the 'Did I do it right? ' bit. Complete waste of time.
Passthrough crimps are way easier, but you're absolutely right. I now get solid core to run inside the wall and connect to a keystone jack, then premade (usually Monoprice) patch cables from there. Not only is it easier and more durable, but it looks way more professional.
Activated charcoal shoe deodorizer bags
a few random things:
more niche, bunch of smart home shit:
Loved this list and just added those measuring spoons to my house's wish list. To the home automation front, for Home Assistant users I really like IKEA's line of zigbee controllers. With HA and a cheap dongle you can control any smart device with them, not just IKEA stuff.
And this isn't IKEA, but I need a colder bedroom to fall asleep, and my partner wakes up pretty early and wants it to be warm. I have a space heater connected to a smart outlet and a Bluetooth thermometer. At 4am it will start heating the room until we reach a comfortable temperature, idle until the temp drops, and turn itself completely off after I'm out of bed at 9am. If you need to buy the space heater or equipment to set up Home Assistant, this definitely breaks the $50 budget, but if you've already got those the thermometer and 15A rated smart plug will be maybe $30 total (cheaper if you can wait for longer shipping).
This is the way. Though this isn't exactly cheap to start, I have a $50 eBay thin client (including the price of throwing an ssd in there), a $30 sonoff zigbee controller, install Home Assistant, and boom you're off to the races. Ikea's stuff (as well as Phillips hue, which I was able to snag some deals on clearance for) and Lutron Caseta are all zigbee so I have complete local control over most things in my house, minus a few wifi pieces that I've been replacing over time. We do similar with the 5 button remotes, and I also have a few different button controllers from sonoff. Ikea's motion sensors have also been rock solid for me.
And yeah, heating is currently my white whale. My home has electric radiant heating which leaves my only option for thermostats down to one or two units that are $120 or so, and I have like 7-8 in total in the home so that's just going to have to stay manual for now. Space heater isn't a bad idea, though.
The FireTV is great - we added it to a circa 2008 LCD TV (of the dumb variety) we have hanging in the bedroom and got rid of the cable box. Now we just stream whatever we plan to watch. Works great!
I will note the person that originally told me about FireTVs now recommends the Roku stick instead. I haven't tried those, though.
If you have money, I would recommend AppleTV, especially if you have an iPhone. It's by far the best platform in terms of not being solely an advertising vessel and sucking up your data, and integration with the iPhone even just out of the box is pretty great. That said, they're the most expensive by 2-3x.
Runner up is def Roku, which is much worse, but still pretty good.
And then there's me with a Fire TV, mostly because I buy them when they're $25 for the max fire stick config, and you can automate through the android debug mode. So when I want to use the device, I rarely use the main interface, which is extremely garbage.
Nice list! What runs all of this? Is it all connected to a central system?
Not OP, but I use Home Assistant for this kind of stuff and love it.
My entire setup is a bit of a Frankenstein as I originally started with more wifi stuff before moving to zigbee. Anyway, what I'm running now:
The whole thing runs on Home Assistant, which tbh does take a good amount of time to understand and get setup, but it allows you to do some pretty powerful stuff. For one, I only have this as my hub, and everything works through that. I can also use this to control all of the equipment without a bunch of intermediaries like ifttt and all that. It also allows me to do things like connect my ikea remote (zigbee) to my wifi bedside lamp. All of the major smart home platforms (google, Alexa, HomeKit, aqara, etc) are also massively more limited in what you can automate. Just that simple little entry automation I posted above isn't really a thing because most of the basic smart home things don't allow simple stuff like conditionals (turn on only if it's dark) and certainly not stacked conditionals (turn on only if it's dark, and I've just arrived, and the door actually opened.) You can also hook it up pretty easily to smart tv's or plex, so you can do things like "if I pause the movie, bring the lights up." Or I have a dumb automation that I can tap one button for and it plays a random ep of TNG for when I can't sleep on a Fire TV, which is just not even close to doable on the pleb platforms.
Anyway, hope that helps.
Mine are all on wifi outlets and switches. I currently have them connected to Google Assistant, but I could easily connect them to some other smart home hub.
Up your bathroom lighting with an occupancy sensor/ dimmer. No fumbling for the switch in the dark or worrying about turning off lights.
Yeah, I explained this poorly. I do have a led strip on motion sensors that turns on with varying brightness depending on whether it's dark outside. The dimmer in this case is more for me and my wife to get ready in the morning. She's got makeup to do, so she needs to the light all the way up, I'm extremely not a morning person so I barely turn on the dimmer.
Small usb powered fan.
This. Made a huge difference in the summer for me when working at my desk.
I made soup containers for my family last Christmas, went down really well! Got glass containers from IKEA, layered lentils, beans/herbs/pasta/seasonings in a decorative way. Looks pretty, throw in a pot when lazy!
Do you have any recipes? That sounded really awesome!
This is such a cute personalized gift idea, I love it! Can the containers be put in the freezer?
Maybe? I've never heard of freezing dry ingredients before as they are usually shelf stable, shouldn't need to put in the fridge or freezer
If they don’t already have a decent kitchen knife, get that. The victorinox fibrox pro goes for around $40. There are also rosewood handle versions that feel a bit fancier for just a little over $50. You may want to pair it with a budget honing steel (can be had for around $15).
I’m gonna sound like a shill, but fuck it. This is genuinely good and I don’t mind.
My DTTO case. They make great cases for iPads and Samsung tablets (I haven’t tried their iPhone ones). Yeah, every asshole makes iPad cases, but these are high quality while still being around $20. Unlike a lot of cases, they feel like they were actually designed for practical real-world use. For something this simple, details matter, and they got it right.
I used to get a random new case every year, but after finding these people by sheer luck, I won’t buy any other brand.
Ad over.
would buy if i did tablets. good salesman.
Sawyer squeeze. Used to spend more than $100 a month on bottled water. Not anymore.
Undrinkable tapwater I suppose?
Rubber hot water bottle. It is so nice to have when you're sick or achy.
Additionally those Rubber Ice Bags from the 50s. They perform so much better than any new fancy heating/cooling pad - with wires everywhere, the battery is always dying, and just frustration at a time you don't need it.
Just pour boiling water and you're set for 4 hours.
Alternatively drop a cup full of ice, and it'll keep cold until you can't feel the injury anymore.
$35 gets me twelve bottles of soylent, which I use as twelve days I get to skip breakfast but still be well fed.
Pre bottled Soylent got me through a very rough time in grad school when I couldn't eat because I was afraid to leave my room. The powdered stuff wouldn't have worked because you have to prep it and clean up (meaning I would have to have left my room). So pre bottled practically saved my life.
I've moved past that now. It's a bit pricey to keep up with when you go pre bottled and it's not available in stores like Walgreens. Plus the best flavor (Cafe Mocha) was hurting my stomach. The only other flavor I didn't mind was the strawberry flavor. All the others kind of suck. But it really has some pretty good utility.
If I'm ever in a pinch now, I just go with whatever nutrition shake is at my local corner drug store instead. Usually it seems to be a brand like Ensure or something. I can't stand the regular chocolate or vanilla flavor that these meal shakes generally have, so I try to seek out a dark chocolate. Soylent didn't seem to have that yet when I stopped buying from them.
Rice cooker
Oh hey, I just got a $50 Amazon gift card! I'll read some suggestions in here…
A pocketable flashlight. I have recommendations over at !flashlight@lemmy.world
Walked in the dark yesterday, lights out on the sidewalk, there are cars.
Pulled out my phone and used the flashlight and it just didn't work very well, like at all, I did see the ground sliightly better but light getting everywhere (from the phone and phone-flashlight) made it worse.
Maybe it's my phone (Xiaomi 9 IIRC) though.
I don't think it makes sense to disagree with what someone else finds useful to carry. There is, of course no universal advice; not everyone will find the same things useful.
I think it’s best to have a roster of accessories for EDC tbh. You choose the loadout that makes sense for what you’re doing not bringing everything everywhere every time.
Flashlight for me comes with me when it’s evening/night or there is work where it might be handy (car repair for example). But it’s not in the starting line-up just a 6th man coming off the bench frequently.
I recently got a double puffy blanket in my endevors to stsy warm while living offgrid. Its one of ny favorite posessions now I use a lot. Feels great, Keeps you very warm when cold, and can be buttoned up as a cloak/poncho. This Halloween I drunkenly wandered around town in near freezing weather with it in and was comfy as hell. Protected me from wind and fufilled my secret dream of wearing a batman cloak.
I am the night, bitch! snuggles up into blanket cloak
bluetooth headphones. love being able to stay active without the buds yanking out of my ears all the time.
Yep. I was the first and the last to rip on Apple for getting rid of the headphone jack.... but wireless headphones are just superior in terms of what you can do. You can start a video, walk to the kitchen to check on something, walk back, do laundry
Bluetooth noise canceling headphones is where it's at. I'm particularly enjoying my Anker soundcore Q30 and they were fairly cheap.
The noise cancelling on them isn't perfect but damn if it isn't better than just regular headphones
Tongue scraper. Get a small metal one, will completely remove bad breath and stuff like garlic breath. It also removes cakes of plaque on your tongue sometimes. I've always brushed my teeth, but holy cow the tongue scraper helps. Better than mouthwash.
I've used one for the past 15 years and I can wholeheartedly agree. This thing will most likely outlive me (I don't think any future children would want it as part of an inheritance though). Your sense of taste will also improve because your tongue isn't covered in gunk.
How does it compare to just brushing your tongue?
honestly I got one of these and ended up going back to brushing my tongue. maybe I am like more thoroughly brushing my tongue than other people or something but it never was as clean from a tongue scraper as from brushing
Brushing your tongue is like using a broom to sweep leaves from a grassy lawn while this is like using a rake.
I was never able to get much off my tongue with a toothbrush. Your tongue is kinda like velcro with fuzz stuck in it. The tongue scraper kinda depresses the velcro so you can remove the fuzz (plaque). If your tongue is where tinted white, that's plaque, which can be scraped off. Also removes stuff like garlic or oregano breath pretty well.
A full size electric blanket (by full size I mean big enough to lay on it completely, like the size of a single bed mattress. I love mine
We got a heated mattress pad last year. It is so nice. Each side has its own controls and timer. Does make it even harder to get out of bed on cold mornings though!
Honestly, it levels up going to bed so much. You tale a showed and come into a prewarmed bed. It's so lovely and so much more effective than a hot water bottle. Easier too.
The key to getting out of bed in the morning is to set the timer well. I usually set it to ~1 hour after I expect to be asleep, so I don't wake up sweaty in the morning.
Probably a bit out of the $50 budget: a massage.
A half hour massage is not out of the question for that amount of money
Throw in +20 for a happy ending.
If you're not in London or NYC or something its definately doable!
A kitchen paper holder that you can mount to a wall, shelf, etc, and that has a stopping mechanism so that it allows you to rip some paper off the roll with just one hand. Absolute kitchen game changer.
Give any roll a tight tug outward to apply pressure to the tear line without yanking the whole roll down - then immediately rip across the line.
The final rip acts both as a means of stripping the paper off and a redirection of the initial tug energy.
Eventually you should be able to rip any sheets with one hand. Or get paper everywhere like a silly cat sometimes. A fun alternative though. :)
A water pik machine. An electric toothbrush.
A car phone holder. A bidet.
New kitchen towels.
And some more of the other stuff people already said.
+1 to bidets
Asia has spoiled me
A good, bright head lamp. See everything!
Tozo wireless earbuds (noise cancelling!).
Airfly pro - a little widget that allows you to Bluetooth from the seat back entertainment system on planes.
A fold up kettle.
Nanobags.
I travel a lot. These things are crucial.
Pardon me, but, how exactly does a kettle... Fold?
looks like the foldable ones are made from silicone so that the main body can collapse to what seems to be about half the size
What are nano bags?
Reusable bags that fit into a tiny pouch and fit in your pocket. I use mine for everything and they're great for laundry on trips!
These are the things I'm glad I got back then and would get again if they broke, that fit the price category:
Unicorn Beetle Pro
Tbh, their stuff used to be fire but on some phonws the cases are just too brittle. I went through three of them on my Note 20 Ultra, all cracking in the same way (in the corners), before giving up and switching to a UAG case
I ditched UBP for a Spigen case. It's the only case I've found that has a low profile built in lens cover/shutter.
Thanks for the heads up, I had no cracking issues yet, but after years of daily use the screen protector got worn out and the kickstand broke loose. Now I'm on the second one of the same model, but it's still going strong with no real issues.
Smart plugs! These outlet switches come in packs of four for about $25 dollars. Once installed and set up in the app, you can automate them with scheduled timers or turn them on or off remotely. They will also integrate with Home Assistant, Google Home, and Alexa.
We use these in conjunction with their smart bulbs all over the house.
Being able to turn on/off the lights without getting out of bed is addicting.
I almost went with the newer Matter version of those (for those unaware, "Matter" is the new open standard for this sort of thing), but decided I cared about open-source firmware more than open standards, so I bought some Sonoff S31s and flashed them with ESPHome instead.
(The 4-pack of Sonoff S31s is $28.50 right now, but cost $22.10 in August when I bought my most recent set, so it's basically the same price as the non-Matter Kasa switches. It's also basically the same functionality between them as stock, so IMO having the option to use third-party firmware lets the Sonoff edge out the win even if you don't actually avail yourself of it.)
(Edit to add: that's not to say I don't like TP-Link, by the way -- if anything, I was initially biased in favor of the Kasa switches because I'd already standardized on TP-Link networking gear.)
I have a bunch of Sonoff stuff in my house flashed with Tasmota. The flashing process isn't for casuals, but the end result is great.
This seems like a hackers wet dream 😅
That's why I picked some I could flash with open-source third-party firmware that I believe is inherently more trustworthy than any OEM stuff. It's also why I use them exclusively with Home Assistant self-hosted locally, allowing them to be entirely firewalled off from the Internet.
Snorlax squishmallow. It's our secret
I’ve had this little fellow hanging in my shower for a year or so now and it’s great. Turn it on and it connects pretty much instantly. Weirdly good sound for the size and water resistant. Keeps my phone dry too
RODE Mini USB. Might be a little more than $50 but it's completely plug and play, no drivers needed, great quality.
While not under $50, I always recommend this mic if anyone wants a budget mic with good quality: https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at2005usb
It's $63 on Audio Technica's website, and $59 on Amazon.
You can use USB, or XLR if you have an interface. It also has a direct audio jack so you can hear yourself without a delay. During my podcast / radio production / streaming days, I used a friend's, and it sounds great.
It's not bulky like the Blue Yetis / Snowballs, and it's a low profile, so if you decide to stream or whatever, it's out of the way.
a good meal or a good wine, both better with SO or friends; ticket to a good music event (not a festival)
bidet, electric water kettle, air fryer, pour over coffee, USB desk fan, portable electric heater, air purifier doubling as white noise maker, melatonin, metal tongue scraper, quality kitchen knife / sharpener, fleece Sherpa lined sweatshirt hoodie, wool socks, weekend at Bernie's type sunhat, portable water purifier, ceramic pans,
A cole n mason pepper mill & toss in a bag of tellicherry peppercorns.
Yes! I bought the small mill off Amazon during the lockdowns, and it's the only way I consume pepper at home now. And virtually every grocery store sells whole peppercorns.
Absolutely worth it.
Add to that kosher salt and any wide / semi deep container that can hold about 2 cups of salt for ease of pinching. You can get a cellar specifically made for salt if you desire, but those vary from person to person.
Body pillow. I got one off of Amazon for like $30-$40 on a whim to try out sleeping with one. Can't even imagine trying to sleep without it anymore
I have a dog-shaped teddy bear which I almost need to support my arms. It has such a novel shape as a pillow, there are so many uses compared to a rectangular/square cube or tube.
I recently got a sling bag for my EDC needs. It weights 1.2 kg loaded. the same as whole backpack that I used for years. It is quite good for if I need to go light but I want to grab some stuff and pockets are already filled to the brim with stuff.
Lanolin is a bitchin' moisturizer like for everything—particularly your chapped lips. Haven't tried it for any other of my chapped bits but the same principle extends.
Lanolin is used to protect nursing humans and farm animals, too. It's a great lip balm.
Thats the idea ;)
There's a cream called Corona cream, with lanolin as the main ingredient. It's geared to veterinary rather than human use, but it's fantastic and can be bought in gigantic tubs.
I mean, if you ignore the usual "pea size amount" they usually recommend and only use the truly minimum amount, I can't see myself having to buy more for like 6-7 years at a time. For like a $15 tube of the one for moms
I got a Swiss army knife and it has come in handy quite a bit.
I don't know if they're still under $50 but I really like my KOSS Porta Pros, they're just ridiculously good headphones for the price.
Yeah but they're super fragile. Nowadays I'd go more for some akg clones over the porta pro. Sure they'd sound worse but they'll survive longer.
You're right, they're pretty flimsy but surprisingly comfortable for on-ear headphones (in my experience at least).
I personally prefer the sound of the Koss KSC75s paired with the headband from another cheapo pair of headphones, but for some reason my one pair of Porta Pros outlasted all 3 of my KSC75s (one ear keeps going out, probably just need to replace the cable), so now I'm just using the Porta Pro drivers on the cheapo headband.
The Porta Pro headband clamps too tight for me but the cheapo ones are a great fit and it genuinely feels like I'm wearing nothing on my head. It's amazing for both work and play. Been rocking this setup for at least 5 years now.
Looking at my own purchases from the last year:
bathtub phone holder (for playing music in the shower)
If anyone wants this on the cheap, you can just put your phone in a zioloc bag. Airtight and doesn't block touchscreen (or sound)
I have a walk in shower and there is nowhere to put my phone. If I put it on the ground it's going to get pounded by water which is probably not good
This is what I've been doing, but the problem is that phone speakers are only so loud against the deafening roar of the water from the showerhead hitting the tub lol. Been thinking of picking up a waterproof Bluetooth speaker for some time now but I still have yet to pull the trigger.
Weed. Okay maybe the pocket knife is better for a general gift as it is highly practical. I have a Gerber I've used for nigh on 20 years. I miss it when I travel, so I've bought an Opinel and toss it into my checked luggage so I am able to use it on a trip. If I lose it, it was not expensive. Had I lost my Gerber, I would be sad.
Speaking of Gerber pocket knives, I once got one tjat was supposedly inspired by or based on Bear Grylls' own pocket knife for about 5 bucks off some random place. It is still kicking around somewhere. Now I want to go back to my grandma's (I think I left it there) and find it haha, not that I will eved need it.
I use mine daily! It is very useful. I’ve also begun carrying a little pocket flashlight from Olight. It is flatish and clips into my pocket adjacent to the Gerber. I use it all the time too. Back of racks at work and all sorts of opportunities at home too.
Good luck finding the Gerber! Go get it and use it! Say hi to grammy!! ;)
A sturdy backpack with good support for the back
I don't know anything about the current backpack "scene", but I feel like whenever I see people on the Internet recommending a backpack they seem to be well over $50.
Waternymph 360 Degree Swivel Sink Faucet Aerator. https://a.co/d/5GcJVli
Cut gloves
Pour over coffee maker
More if or when my back is hurting way less.
Dreamfarm cooking utensils: https://dreamfarm.com/
Squishmallows for comfort
USB-C cable tester, to tell you what a cable can actually support
Velcro cable ties
Cable labels https://a.co/d/jkEJrgl
Label printer
Victorinox kitchen knife
Sharpening stone
Leather strop for sharpening
Ruffwear dog leash
Ruffwear dog leash bag, attaches to the leash and is so useful!
Pepper gel spray with UV dye
Water filled pepper spray training aid
Door stopper security device
Karabiner with screw lock for keys
Nite Ize does all sorts of neat products. This is useful: https://a.co/d/bhSR9I7 a hook that doesn't fall off
Resqme car escape tool
Reusable shopping bags/totes
Pyrex or steel reusable food containers
https://a.co/d/5fx7YJm first in first out can dispensers
Leather strop for sharpening
I'm genuinely curious here - really? As someone who always has to mess with the old fashioned 'steel' (mind your hands cus there's no guard on it!) sharpener, are they better? Honestly, heard of them, never used but interested.
Yeah, after getting the profile on the blade correct, you finish it by polishing the edge. It really, really makes a huge difference. I could never use a steel correctly though, I always messed up.
Second the Victorinox kitchen knife. Add in their paring knife, too, and that's pretty much all you'll need.
I third both Victorinox knives (specifically the ones with the Fibrox handles, not wood).
That said, I suspect other brands of similar knives -- broadly, the good-but-cheap commercial-grade kind found in restaurant supply stores, which have stainless steel stamped blades, grippy plastic handles, and are NSF-certified to survive being sanitized by restaurant dishwashers -- would be just about as good. Think something like a Mercer Culinary or a Dexter-Russell.
Two $20 bills. In all seriousness, there are a lot of board or card games that go for less than $50 dollars.
Definitely the opposite of making life easier but I love the stone mortar and pestle I got. I'm using it regularly not only to grind up spices like pepper or basil, but I also make pesto for pasta or rice dishes.
Second on the mandolin that was on someone's list.
Caveat being don't buy a shitty one or it will have the opposite effect.
Sounds dumb, but dishwashing gloves. I don't have a dishwasher, and not getting my hands clammy when I do dishes makes the process infinitely less horrible.
I feel like I just end up with more clammy from sweat in those gloves.
No gloves gang. Warm soapy water feels sooo good
It's not that bad! I've got pretty sweaty hands, but mine do fine in the time it takes me to do dishes.
I have recommendations that depend entirely on lifestyle, so not great general stuff but amazing for the people they're for:
This flashlight is light, bright, cheap, and USB C rechargeable. It has a magnet in its ass so you can easily mount it and do whatever you're trying to do hands-free. As a power plant operator who runs around outside or climbs inside of condensers and tanks and shit, this thing was incredibly handy. Probably pretty good for hikers and campers too.
It doesn't necessarily need to be this exact pair, but Darn Tough brand wool socks are the general recommendation. They reduce impact, wick sweat/moisture, and they're comfortable. This is the only kind of socks I will wear at work or else my feet hurt and itch and stink.
It's a surprisingly good sound quality waterproof Bluetooth speaker. I take mine into the shower and listen to music. You could use it in the kitchen, outside in the yard, etc. but mine is pretty much entirely used in the shower or sometimes the bedroom 😉
Obviously not for everybody, but these are great bang for your buck if they suit somebody you know!
Out of those 3 options, I would prefer the flashlight.
Even if you already have a flashlight, you can always find another place that would benefit from one nearby.
I also just say that I don't buy in at all to Darn Tough socks. This person can't where any other brand of socks? Bullshit. You can just buy new generic socks before you get anywhere close to the price you'll pay for gourmet socks.
Also depending on the person's interests, getting them a boardgame could be nice.
I prefer smart wool, but am totally on board with nice merino wool socks from any brand. Happy feet have helped me maintain a happy life. It's like a good pillow or the right jacket for today's weather for me.
Totally agree on the boardgame suggestion if it suits their personality. You need to know what complexity they are into, first.
Regarding Darn Tough, part of why I recommend that brand in particular, which I really should've mentioned, is they come with a lifetime warranty. If they get a hole, you ship them back and they straight up just replace them. They're sturdy as fuck. I do 12 hour shifts in them on ladders, stairs, gravel, incline, etc getting thousands of steps and they are the gold standard for that. Just be wary of counterfeits, especially on Amazon.
Board games can be an incredible gift because there's also the implicit bonus gift of "I will spend time with you playing this game."
Dunno about darn tough socks, but I have some smart wool socks i've been wearing for years and years. No idea what they go for now, because I bought mine over a decade ago, but whatever the cost they are absolutely worth it.
I also knit my own, and it's the only way i've gotten near the same quality and durability, and the cost for that is pretty high, even without considering the time it takes to knit them.
If someone you know has/if you have kids: car vaccumn. It's thoughtful, useful, easier than stopping by the gas station just to clean out the family truckster, and you can find them for around $25 at Walmart.
Weed LSD Shrooms
And any meat leftovers or treats for these guys
Greenbell Nail Clippers. They're expensive, like $20 but holy ducking shirt are they amazing.
In a similar vein, Tweezerman tweezers. There is absolutely none better than those. Razor fine edge that I'm convinced could pluck an electron off an atom.
tubshroom
A stopwatch!
I can measure time used in exercising and in my challenges-considering-time-spent!
I got a Pinetime, the open-source smartwatch. It's a bit "stupid" compared to an Apple watch, but it costs under 30$ and shows my phone notifications, a stopwatch, a play pause for music, and an alarm clock. Very simple, but I love it. https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/
I've had my pine time for a few years now. It is great and it keeps getting better with each software update. Best $30 I've spent.
Does the Pinetime work decently well as a fitness tracker? I don't care about mirroring functionality to my wrist that my phone can already do, but I want to add as many new bio-sensing capabilities as I can find in an open-source device.
Cool!
I have a Fitbit smartwatch. It has a stopwatch too but it's not as convenient for me than the stand-alone stopwatch.
Depends on the person, but "nice" versions of food or beverage products that they enjoy. Things like coffee beans, chocolates, beer/wine/liquor.
Especially so if it's for a friend that lives far away and you gift them something local to you that they can't easily buy.
food
A good pair of pliers, like the Knipex Cobra.
The Cobra is on my list already. I love pretty much everything Knipex sell, but sometimes they're a bit too pricey for me for the more rare use cases.
Eco 6$ toothpaste dispenser from AliExpress. I love it every time I use it
Dispenser? You put like toothpaste from a tube and it's like those soap dispensers you push to get soap?
You put the toothpaste tube upside down in it. You insert your toothbrush from the front, it comes out with a consistent amount of toothpaste on it.
Bialetti Moka Express.
A clever tea maker / mug all-in-one. I imported it from China, it's not expensive or anything, it does use Tritan for this steeping chamber thing where it only decants at like a 45° angle. I have some food containers I use for lunch which use the same plastic and they work well, don't get stained. Hope it doesn't have some new kind of cancer or medical issue associated with it, I'll update this post in ~15 years if that's the case.
Humble Bundle. Individually they are under 50 so I count it. Humble Choice is 12/month and I have gotten some of my favorite games I play on PC through there. I also have purchased many of the book bundles to expand my knowledge on particular topics.
Wallet
Xiaomi Mi Band 6
Actually, I'm still rocking my Mi Band 2, great purchase
A youtube premium subscription
Ah, you mean Firefox and ublock origin? I love free stuff!
LOL
Yes! I had enough of this so I bought like 6 USB-C cables at once, best buy ever
What's the current recommendation for those? Is it still Anker?
Also be sure to get a medium length one. It's so much nicer having a 6' cable, or 10' if you want to get crazy with it. It makes traveling and transit much nicer (ex. University students working on campus), and it might be nice for home so you can roll all over your bed while on your phone
I'm gonna guess yall over 30 since getting up and taking 10 steps to and from another room is such a big deal lol
Pretty much all locks are re-keyable. Kwikset's "smart key" system is different only in that you don't have to buy new pins and take the lock apart to do it.
(I'm switching from Kwikset to commercial-grade Schlage because I wanted to upgrade the durability of my interior locks and wanted the exterior ones to match, so I'm about to find out how much more difficult normal re-keying is. Wish me luck!)
Normal rekeying is pretty easy, if you're careful - push out the core (the "follower" will hold your spring pins in place), dump out the old key pins, swap to the new key, and put in the new key pins, replace the core. Even when I've completely screwed it up (pushed the follower too far so the springs came out, mixed all the key pins together so I had to work out which was which, and more) it's not been more than a 10-minute job.
What's a bidet attachment do?
Washes your bum after using the toilet. Saves toilet paper. Gets your rear cleaner. This is a great suggestion. No power needed, just hooks right into the plumbing. I have this one . Bio Bidet Bidet Attachment for Toilet, White, Non Electric