I need some holiday gift ideas (that I will probably gift to myself as well)!
Big ol’ bag o’ weed
Came here to say this. Happy 420 to anyone on that planet in the correct timezone
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:
-
a bottle of oil makeup remover and face cleanser, specifically the DHC Cleansing Oil that you put on your dry face, rub lightly all over and then rinse off. Gone are the days of drying out your face and creating more waste with makeup remover wipes.
-
if you prefer just water and no oil, a simple soft makeup remover towel is a dream, removes makeup with just getting the cloth wet and then gently rubbing on your face and eyes. Buy a pack of like 12 or something as you shouldn’t use the same towel more than once to clean your face - the bacteria it gets on there can actually make your skin worse if you use it multiple times before washing.
-
sunscreen! Omg if you don’t moisturize or use sunscreen you’re doing yourself a disservice. Do yourself a favor and make it easier by gettinga 2-in-1 moisturizer+SPF. Good brands being dermatologist recommended CeraVe or flight attendant/aesthetician recommended Kiehls. Honestly, throw in some lip balm from them too or their overnight lip mask where you put it on before bed and wake up with super soft and non-chapped lips - a lifesaver especially when you’re sick and end up mouth breathing all night.
-
a microfiber dedicated hair towel - immediately after your shower wrap up your hair in this for like 5-10 min and then your hair won’t be sopping wet and will be less frizzy from the lack of scratchy towel drying. Bonus, you get to look cool in a hair wrap.
-
an eyelash growth serum, my favorite is Babelash. Gone are the days of falsies or weak thin lashes that don’t keep debris out your eyes. Put this on your lid lash line religiously every night for a week then alter every other day and then after about 3 weeks you should see results and then use as-needed. Stuff is amazing and you can get a two-pack at Costco even - just don’t buy the ones off Amazon as it’s a knock off formula and you’re putting stuff near your eyes so be mindful about that.
-
nail cuticle oil, my fingertips get dry and I end up picking them. Not to mention how much healthier your nailbeds will be when you start using this. Put some on your cuticles and then rub it in - I do it mindlessly while I’m watching TV or something. Helped me get my nails back after biting them for decades.
-
a cozy pair of soleless slippers, I prefer the brand “snoozies!” I wear those all the time I’m in the house and love that I can even put them on the couch or wherever as I don’t go outside with them. Alternatively, a good pair of slippers with a sole you wear to get the mail with if you are in chill mode and don’t wanna put on actual shoes for small outdoor tasks.
That’s all I can think of right now, but those are some of my favorites for smaller daily life improvements.
-
So many things in your house that are probably pissing you off:
- it’s very easy to replace an outlet that doesn’t hold a plug or is a little off for whatever reason.
- ditto light switches
- door handles and shit. We hated the jank handle on our patio door that barely worked and required specialized training to get to lock. $12 for a new one, that was much more aesthetically from this decade. (that said, some lock lube, which is a thing, goes a long way)
- ditto for the various shitty faucets in this house (or any slightly older house.) You can get a ton of bathroom fixtures for under $30.
- hinges. Unless you’re trying to re-hang a safe door, you’re going to be under $20.
- faucet diffuser. They just screw on. Have you lived in your place for more than a few years and haven’t replace them? Just do it, it’s like $4 a faucet.
- doorbell. Smart doorbells can easily be had for under $50. A little easier often than replacing the traditional bell because you usually have a plug in chime rather than something wired.
- a can of sprayfoam. Seal that area that is letting in air. Trim it with a box knife, chances are you won’t know the hack exists.
You can also soak your faucet diffusers in citric acid to remove built-up limescale.
Ooof… Half that list is illegal to DIY in Australia. We have the dumbest laws for electrical and plumbing.
I mean, the electrical stuff makes some bit of sense; you can seriously cause damage if you don’t at least know somewhat what you’re doing. I don’t get the plumbing thing, though.
I disagree.
It’s rare to hear of someone killing or injuring themselves working on home electrical fixes. I’m pretty old and can’t even recall an incident. Most people won’t do it because they do have enough fear not to play around with it. But if you do know enough, you know how incredibly simple it is to replace an outlet or light switch and how to do it safely. Even a overhead light or fan is pretty trivial. Also the US 120v standard is less likely to cause harm with a stupid mistake than some other countries that have higher voltages. I’m thankful the states allow homeowners to do this themselves.
There are definitely things people shouldn’t do with a license, but swapping switches and outlets is more trivial than changing the oil on your car.
Swapping switches and outlets is more trivial than changing the oil on your car if you turn off the breaker first.
And to be clear, I’m not saying that the US should adopt laws like Australia. I’m saying that I understand why Australia adopted those laws.
I do know how to do the basics. I’ve installed smart switches and outlets, doorbell cameras, ceiling lights…I haven’t had cause to do an overhead fan, but I’m pretty confident I could manage it.
I’m glad I have the ability and legal right to do so. But electrical fires destroy 51,000 homes a year, and most of those are caused by faulty or poorly-installed components or wiring; and that in particular can affect not only you, but people who live with you and even neighbors as well. And the U.S. CPSC estimates 400 non-professionals die of electrocution every year.
Add to that that, as you say,
Most people won’t do it because they do have enough fear not to play around with it
…but those who don’t are split among the people who know what they’re doing and the people who are too stupid to see the risk. Is the danger caused by the idiots worth banning it for everyone? I don’t think so, but I understand and respect that decision for Australia.
Indeed. I’ve DIY’d all of that and then some, and especially in the age of YouTube in which you can find a hundred videos from electricians that have been around as long the light bulb, it’s some of the simplest home repair/upgrade you can do. And although you do need to respect the inherent danger of working on currents like this, electrical is actually pretty easy to understand for the types of home upgrade/repair like this you might attempt.
Just be mindful of what you can and cannot do based on local regulations. You definitely don’t want to have your house burn down and your home insurance tell you to kick rocks because there was a code violation somewhere, even if it didn’t cause the fire.
Australian homeowners can’t replace their own light switches?
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).
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.
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)
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).
Hrm, my sharpener has two ways to use it, one that takes material off and one that doesn’t.
I would be interested in seeing what kind it is. A lot of sharpeners have both coarse and rough whetstones.
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.
And my knife sharpener, get a whetstone. It’s kind of therapeutic and you get sharp knives
If you’re willing to learn, whetstones are a lot better for your knives and remove less material!
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.
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
a few random things:
- $5.99 magnetic measuring spoons. They stick together and nest.
- $18.99 MagSafe phone car mount. I use iPhone and my car supports Android Auto/Carplay, but there isn’t really a good place to stick your phone. This thing is basically a big magnet, I plug my phone in, throw it on this thing, and we good. Worth noting, even if you have CarPlay (guessing Android Auto as well) even though you don’t need to use your phone, some apps have some functions when you’re using them in this manner. EG: maps displays the next few turn by turn directions on the phone screen, and the overview of the map on the carplay screen.
- decent/good chef’s knife. I think the one I’m using now is about $30, but you can get the ol’ reliable Victorinox for around that price or a little cheaper.
- cabinet lighting pucks. I think Walmart has them for like $12 for two, but they are basically stick somewhere, motion activated lights that are battery powered. Paired with rechargeable batteries, I can now see the food that we push to the back of the cabinet to die.
- new streaming stick thingy. Though I greatly prefer Apple TV, it’s hard to justify the price of those compared to Roku/Fire TV. That said, if you’re hanging on to an older version of the Fire TV/Roku, upgrading helps the annoyance factor because it’s just far less slow. We just added a $24.99 4k Fire TV stick, much nicer.
- Wireless chargers for phones. You can get them for like under $10. Buy 5, put them where you generally set your phone down. Or more simply, right next to the bedside. I generally only charge at night, so much nicer to be able to just drop it on a pad/magnet, etc.
- $9 dimmer switch. Our master bath is weird. The toilet/shower area has a door. The sink area connects directly to the bedroom with no door. The sink area has large mirrors and massive amounts of lighting. Fucking sucks if you’re just getting up to pee and you now have the light of the sun on you and your partner at 3am.
more niche, bunch of smart home shit:
- just think about how $10-$20 and a little bit of thought can improve your life. I have a switch connected to my espresso maker, now I can yell in the shower to turn it on to pre-heat. If I had a regular schedule, I could automate this further just on time. I have it set so that once I tell it to turn on, it turns off after 20 minutes.
- motion sensor lights. though technically you don’t need a smart home for this, there are some lights in my house that I only want to turn on when someone is there. I have a hallway, for example, that is more or less a cave tunnel. Any time I’m in that hallway (or anyone else) I want to have some light. So I have a motion sensor that turns the light on, and based on the status of the sun, it dims accordingly. When I walk into my garage, there are a few lights that turn on in sequence and it feels like you’re walking into the bat cave.
- buttons! You can buy many different remotes for < $20. Pretty much anything you automate via voice you also need a button for. Pro-tip, use in-wall switches where you can, but in my case I didn’t have a neutral wire because it’s an older house, and my options were pretty limited/expensive.
- last example: my entryway lights. I have a door sensor ($10-15) so if I open it I can perform an action. My entry light has a smart bulb ($9.) I also have a floor standing lamp adjacent to this that has a smart bulb. What this allows me to do is check when I’ve recently arrived, and if it’s after sunset and the bigger light isn’t already on, turn on this entry light. If my TV is playing a movie, the light goes on in the dimmest setting so arriving people don’t disturb.
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.
Thanks. My wife has an iPhone, but I’m an Android person.
What interface do you use? I have two of our Fire TVs connected to home assistant and can sort of control them (play, start, pause) but is there a way to open different apps and select programs?
Home Assistant allows you to select the source, so I tend towards using that. There are other remote specific apps that allow similar.
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.
This is what I use as well.
Cheers!
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.
Nice! Definitely gave me some ideas.
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:
- Dell Wyze thin client from eBay. Was about $30, and I put a $20 ssd in it.
- Sonoff zigbee controller, think that was $30-35. YMMV, but generally as long as you watch out and buy zigbee stuff, you can avoid buying hubs for all of the different manufacturers.
- Various zigbee stuff. I have a bunch of Ikea remotes, motion sensors, and bulbs. I also have a few Lutron Caseta switches (they were the only reasonable option at the time that didn’t require a neutral wire.) I also found some Lutron Aurora dimmer switches on clearance for like $10 at home depot, so I bought the last 4 they had. Ditto for 3-4 Phillips Hue bulb. There are also a few aqara and sonoff pieces besides (buttons, bulbs, etc.)
- and I still have a handful of wifi only stuff. I couldn’t find a good fan controller for my ceiling fan that was zigbee, but I was already bought into the Tuya system, so I bought a compatible device there. There are also a small number of bulbs that I still have in use (like my porch lights, which are just off at dawn, on at dusk.)
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.
Wow that’s quite a setup! Good idea using the thin client. Love the ideas.
I think I found this in the Home Assistant forums, which are generally a great resource. I’d also warn that you might want to be careful going this route. It wasn’t quite as straightforward as just popping the SSD in and installing an OS. IIRC, and I know I don’t recall why, I had to DD a disk image to it. That said, there are lots of these thin clients all over ebay where it is literally that easy.
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.
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.
- I have one of their speaker controllers hooked up to my partner’s Google smart speakers, so I can turn down the volume and play/pause without shouting at the voice assistant.
- We have a five-button light controller on each of our nightstands so we can control our lamps and overhead lights (on/off, brightness, color) without getting out of bed. Great when my partner leaves their lamp on - I don’t have to reach over them to turn it off. (Now if only I could turn off their TikTok stream when they fall asleep watching it…)
- Their $10-$12 light switches to control the lamps and overhead lights in all of our rooms. Tap once to turn everything on or off, double tap to turn on just the lamps for some gentler lighting.
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.
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
Great topic idea! Here are some of mine, I’ll add links later:
- Heat resistant cooking gloves. These are basically oven mitts, but because they’re gloves, you can keep them on while cooking. I’ve gifted a few pairs of these and everyone loves them!
- A percussion massager is great for getting out muscle knots. Foam rollers too.
- Collapsible creates for the car and around the house - mine are made by InstaCrate
- A refillable oil sprayer so that you can buy any oil you want and evenly coat a pan. Great for searing and air frying
- Stainless steel pots are amazing. IKEA sells a set that’s around $50. Totally dishwasher safe, heat tolerant, just all around easy peasy
- Costco membership
- 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
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 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.
I’ve been looking for one of these for parchment. Any recommendations?
Have you asked the ancient Egyptians?
Dead, unfortunately, and I don’t read hieroglyph :(
Also, papyrus sucks.
I have no idea if they exist for parchment too. I got one like this:
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. :)
Rice cooker
a good meal or a good wine, both better with SO or friends; ticket to a good music event (not a festival)
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.
