For me it was “buy high quality pillow” because you sleep for one thrid of a day etc. I needed a new pillow anyway so I came to the store and bought the best they had. And it was … ok. Like it’s a fine pillow but my sleeping haven’t improved really, it’s basically the same. So I was disapointed :(
So, which life pro tip disappointed you?
because you sleep for one third of a day
Today I learned: Day is 12 hours long
Edit: Come on, it’s a joke. I have to wake up at 3AM. Best I can do is stare at ceiling until around 11PM.
Also, although I agree with the sentiment, I only need a mattress that’s just good enough to not cause issues, because when I’m asleep, I can’t care about the mattress quality.
I think you replied to wrong comment, mate.
Oops, thanks.
I’m confused. Most people are supposed to sleep for eight hours a day, which is indeed a third of a day. Do you only sleep four hours?
Unfortunately, yes.
___________________ < It is what it is. > ------------------- \ ^__^ \ (--)\_______ (__)\ )\/\ ||----w | || ||Oof. That sounds awful I’m sorry.
Do one even need pillows? I have been pillowless for more than a decade now
Depends on your neck.
Also whether you were born with shoulders or not.
Like if you want to keep it?
For sleeping on your side you do, unless you’re a fan of sore necks
Bro pillow quality is going down hill lately.
Yeah even with the expensive ones it’s hard to find a good one. Last time I got a pillow, I just ordered like 6 from Amazon, and tried each for a night before deciding which to keep - only one ended up being remotely good, and they were all “nice” pillows (highly rated, over $100)
Love the one I ended with though
Speaking of pillows. I forget what brand I have, but I’m sure there are a bunch that make the same general thing. I was annoyed that I had to fight with every pillow I had to keep it from becoming a flat piece of cardboard. 8 years ago I bought pillows filled with shredded memory foam. They came with the stuffing separately so that I could fill my pillow up myself. It’s the best pillow I’ve ever had, and it hasn’t gone flat at all after many years.
So, shredded memory foam is the way to go.
I have a solid memory foam pillow and it fucking sucks. It’s like right in the middle of not being firm enough and not being soft enough. Maybe I’ll try to find one like yours.
My solution to this is to stack a soft pillow on top of a firm pillow.
Doesn’t that make your neck sore? I’ve used thin pillows all my life, whenever I use a pillow when travelling (hotel, someone else’s house etc) it’s ALWAYS to thick. I can’t imagine stacking two pillows on top of each other.
Ah but if both pillows are old enough to vote it’s like just having one!
Nah. I’m mostly a side sleeper but even on my back, my head normally compresses the pillows enough that it’s comfortable. I occasionally wake up having tossed a pillow off to the side, but that’s rare.
Yeah, I’ve had a normal memory foam pillow, that’s how I felt about it too. It was designed for people who sleep still on their back like a corpse.
The sredded kind seems to be soft enough where I can mash it into a shape I want, but it doesn’t go flat over time. Or stab you with feathers.
That’s the thing though. I do sleep on my back …
I have one of these as well and also got it years ago! Yeah it’s the best I think, but needs a few days to stop outgassing lol.
I purchased this one: Xtreme Comforts Pillows for Sleeping
It’s like $30 or something.
I’ve tried a couple and they give me the worst migraines. I just can’t do them. :(
The shredded kind, or the kind where it’s just a block of memory foam? Because the block kind is terrible.
Shredded kind. I was pretty disappointed since they weren’t exactly cheap. Worked really well for my ex wife though.
Interesting. Well, I hope you find what works for you. Good sleep is hard to come by.
“Never buy a new car” - the argument being they depreciate quickly, and newer used models are “just as good”.
Nope, got burned twice in a row and wasted more money than if I’d bought a new one immediately.Always take a vehicle to a mechanic for an inspection before buying it.
Every car I’ve owned has been used. Some are better than others. In general, I’ve had really good luck and have bought some great cars, but some have been money pits. You get better at spotting a good buy, but it’s still possible to get a bad one, it does come down do luck.
Just buy a Honda or Toyota, and all you have to do is change the oil.
I’ve replaced the engine in an '06 Civic Si after the timing chain lifter tensioner failed, the timing skipped, and the valves kissed the pistons.
It also ended up having some pretty gnarly electrical issues.
I know just enough about engines for “valves kissed the pistons” to make me laugh in horror.
law of large numbers, maybe
And brake pads please change your brake pads occasionally
and brake fluid. And Transmission fluid. And refresh your suspension once it’s a goner.
You can definitely take a Toyota to like 250k miles w/o changing transmission fluid. I think they call it a lifetime fluid, as in it’s meant to last the whole designed-for lifespan of the car.
But if you want it running it’s best, for as long as possible, then of course, change those fluids too.
one of the biggest lies from manufacturers, tbh
They’ve had to roll back that “lifetime fluid” claim for some cars before due to early transmission failures. It’s not a lot of money to change it out.
Any transmission will take damage from not changing out the fluid, you’re just reducing the lifespan of it, and that’s exactly what they want.
Nor is it particularly difficult, ended up doing my own a few years back when I was still in school and penny pinching.
Found a place that rented out a lift and use of their tools for like $25 for an hour. Bought some fluid, watched some videos ahead of time, and got it done in like ~30 minutes.
You def should change transmission fluid, I was just saying that these vehicles are engineered well enough to hold up for quite a while with little to no care.
Next time buy a Subaru and have the guy meet you at a dealership. They do a free inspection for you
Ironically that’s exactly what I did.
Dealership inspection was crap didn’t catch obvious issues, and 2. I live in a country where Subaru is only a minor player so not a large service networkI raised the possibility of buying a Subaru with my local mechanic and he described me as “brave”. He mentioned that the ridiculously high prices for fixing up my Merc (like £600 for a hosepipe) would be peanuts compared to Subaru repairs, and that’s assuming he could even get the parts. So I got another Volvo.
weird. i love my subie and it’s had basically no problems in 4 years, even though it was already 8 or so when i got it. i made sure to get the year where they’d fixed the gaskets, though.
Having watched so many subarus break down (belonged to neighbours and friends, and I was the person called to rescue them) some of which were brand new, buy any vehicle other than the rubbish sold with a subaru logo on it. Subaru breaks down on dirt roads constantly. Those things can only cope with flat perfect tarmac without hills in a city where public transport is available for emergencies.
A few days ago my brother saw a car on the side of the road at an odd angle, and thought it was for sale. It was not, it was yet another subaru broken down waiting for the flatbed. They just can’t hack it.
I used to stick to that rule and get a sensible mid sized Toyota Corolla or Honda Accord that’s a few years old as needed. But in 2013 (the last time I needed to get a new car) the cost savings were really low compared to new. I think the used market was particularly hot so you’d save less that 10% of the cost, so I ended up getting my 1st and only (so far) brand new car ever.
I’ve never understood the people who insist on only buying used, particularly when they have the money for new. Why spend $5-15k on a used beater if you could get a new car for $30k that won’t have mystery problems, and if they do then it’s covered by warranty? I’ve only ever had real problems in my used cars. I don’t think I ever had a used that made it more than like 4 years before dying on me. Meanwhile, I’ve had my 2016 RAV4 since January 2016, and I’ve only had to deal with a few things that just wear out naturally over time like tires and brake pads. Nearly 8 years with this car so far, and it’s been a fucking dream. My used 2002 Hyundai XG350L however was a fucking nightmare to the point that I’ve sworn off Kia-Hyundai entirely. Which is a shame because the Ioniq whatever EV seems like a pretty solid product, but I feel the need to do extensive research before getting too excited because of how badly Hyundai burned me.
I can’t get a car I would like for just £24K. The cars I buy 2nd hand for £5K would have cost north of £40K when they were new. Sure I could get some shitty half litre shoebox on wheels for £24K that needs three weeks’ written notice for acceleration to 60mph but I’d absolutely hate it. Plus when the engine goes boom replacing the whole car is a lot easier to stomach when it only cost 5K as opposed to 40K.
Weeks written notice :-). They are all over the show.
In my country if you buy used from a dealer you get 1 year warranty by law. Makes it pretty safe, especially if you have the car checked by s trustworthy mechanic (finding one is the hard part!)
You’ve been sold a bill of goods, or whoever tried to tell you this doesn’t understand leasing.
ex-lease cars are just as good as new, come with a new car warranty, and don’t come with the absurd depreciation.
look at cars that where released 3 years ago, that’s the used cars we’re talking about not a 1990s civic or whatever.Poor people buy new cars, rich people lease them, smart people buy ex-lease cars.
ex-lease cars are just as good as new
They literally aren’t. If the car is going to last 200k miles then getting a car with 36k miles on it already means you’re that much closer to it failing.
It’s also going to be that much closer to needing more expensive maintenance to be done.
A three year old car will often have a lesser feature set than the current year’s models. Stepping up to the higher trim that had those features 3 years ago can negate the cost savings of buying used in the first place.
Ex-lease cars are frequently well-maintained and driven responsibly, but that doesn’t mean they’re “as good as new.”
come with a new car warranty
Do you mean “comes with what’s left of the original warranty?” Because that’s generally true but doesn’t mean you benefit from it the same amount. If it has a 5 year, 60k mile warranty (Mitsubishi) and you only get the warranty for 2 years and 24k miles, that’s not the same.
With CPO cars you also get the CPO warranty but that doesn’t usually make the total warranty you get as good or better than what you would have gotten new.
Kia and Lexus both have very competitive CPO warranty programs. Kia has a 1 year / 12k miles bumper-to-bumper warranty. Lexus extends their 4 year/50k miles new car warranty by 2 years/unlimited miles after your purchase date or after the original warranty expired, whichever happens first. If you buy a CPO Lexus at the 2 year mark then you’ll get a full warranty out of it, but that’s not true for most other manufacturers.
And I don’t know of a single manufacturer that completely refreshes their warranty term for CPO cars.
and don’t come with the absurd depreciation.
The cars that make the most sense to buy used have the least depreciation, though. For example, looking at CPO Toyota RAV4s, for the ones that aren’t former rentals/didn’t have accidents/multiple owners, the 3+ year old models are very comparable in price, like 26k for a RAV4 with nearly 50k miles vs 30k new, or 27-28k for one with under 30k miles.
If the lifespan of the car for you is 10 years then a 3 year old car is 30% less valuable - so a 13% discount is hardly a bargain. You’d need to keep it for 20 years - until it was 23 years old - for your 13% savings to be more valuable than the extra lifespan of the car.
You also frequently get a worse interest rate on CPO cars than on new.
There are many times when it makes sense to buy a CPO vehicle but also many where it makes more sense to buy new. Do the math in your specific case rather than acting like there’s a one size fits all solution.
ex-lease cars are just as good as new
They literally aren’t. If the car is going to last 200k miles then getting a car with 36k miles on it already means you’re that much closer to it failing.
It’s also going to be that much closer to needing more expensive maintenance to be done.
A three year old car will often have a lesser feature set than the current year’s models. Stepping up to the higher trim that had those features 3 years ago can negate the cost savings of buying used in the first place.
Ex-lease cars are frequently well-maintained and driven responsibly, but that doesn’t mean they’re “as good as new.”
come with a new car warranty
Do you mean “comes with what’s left of the original warranty?” Because that’s generally true but doesn’t mean you benefit from it the same amount. If it has a 5 year, 60k mile warranty (Mitsubishi) and you only get the warranty for 2 years and 24k miles, that’s not the same.
With CPO cars you also get the CPO warranty but that doesn’t usually make the total warranty you get as good or better than what you would have gotten new.
Kia and Lexus both have very competitive CPO warranty programs. Kia has a 1 year / 12k miles bumper-to-bumper warranty. Lexus extends their 4 year/50k miles new car warranty by 2 years/unlimited miles after your purchase date or after the original warranty expired, whichever happens first. If you buy a CPO Lexus at the 2 year mark then you’ll get a full warranty out of it, but that’s not true for most other manufacturers.
And I don’t know of a single manufacturer that completely refreshes their warranty term for CPO cars.
and don’t come with the absurd depreciation.
The cars that make the most sense to buy used have the least depreciation, though. For example, looking at CPO Toyota RAV4s, for the ones that aren’t former rentals/didn’t have accidents/multiple owners, the 3+ year old models are very comparable in price, like 26k for a RAV4 with nearly 50k miles vs 30k new, or 27-28k for one with under 30k miles.
If the lifespan of the car for you is 10 years then a 3 year old car is 30% less valuable - so a 13% discount is hardly a bargain. You’d need to keep it for 20 years - until it was 23 years old - for your 13% savings to be more valuable than the extra lifespan of the car.
You also frequently get a worse interest rate on CPO cars than on new.
There are many times when it makes sense to buy a CPO vehicle but also many where it makes more sense to buy new. Do the math in your specific case rather than acting like there’s a one size fits all solution.
And even poorer people just buy $1000 beaters and deal with it because we literally can’t afford anything better.
I am a member of the 10mm socket + Hammer club too, but if I had money I know how not to blow it
This is great advice for anyone looking to buy used and not new. Don’t buy someone else’s problems from Craigslist. If you can, buy something from a reputable source that includes a warranty.
Yep. NRMA inspections for the win. There has got to be a similar service in the US.
ex-lease cars are just as good as new
They literally aren’t. If the car is going to last 200k miles then getting a car with 36k miles on it already means you’re that much closer to it failing.
It’s also going to be that much closer to needing more expensive maintenance to be done.
A three year old car will often have a lesser feature set than the current year’s models. Stepping up to the higher trim that had those features 3 years ago can negate the cost savings of buying used in the first place.
Ex-lease cars are frequently well-maintained and driven responsibly, but that doesn’t mean they’re “as good as new.”
come with a new car warranty
Do you mean “comes with what’s left of the original warranty?” Because that’s generally true but doesn’t mean you benefit from it the same amount. If it has a 5 year, 60k mile warranty (Mitsubishi) and you only get the warranty for 2 years and 24k miles, that’s not the same.
With CPO cars you also get the CPO warranty but that doesn’t usually make the total warranty you get as good or better than what you would have gotten new.
Kia and Lexus both have very competitive CPO warranty programs. Kia has a 1 year / 12k miles bumper-to-bumper warranty. Lexus extends their 4 year/50k miles new car warranty by 2 years/unlimited miles after your purchase date or after the original warranty expired, whichever happens first. If you buy a CPO Lexus at the 2 year mark then you’ll get a full warranty out of it, but that’s not true for most other manufacturers.
And I don’t know of a single manufacturer that completely refreshes their warranty term for CPO cars.
and don’t come with the absurd depreciation.
The cars that make the most sense to buy used have the least depreciation, though. For example, looking at CPO Toyota RAV4s, for the ones that aren’t former rentals/didn’t have accidents/multiple owners, the 3+ year old models are very comparable in price, like 26k for a RAV4 with nearly 50k miles vs 30k new, or 27-28k for one with under 30k miles.
If the lifespan of the car for you is 10 years then a 3 year old car is 30% less valuable - so a 13% discount is hardly a bargain. You’d need to keep it for 20 years - until it was 23 years old - for your 13% savings to be more valuable than the extra lifespan of the car.
You also frequently get a worse interest rate on CPO cars than on new.
There are many times when it makes sense to buy a CPO vehicle but also many where it makes more sense to buy new. Do the math in your specific case rather than acting like there’s a one size fits all solution.
Yeah, my girlfriend recently needed a new car since her ancient Ford Fiesta finally kicked the bucket. She decided to limit her budget solidly to shitbox territory because she’d just had some major expenses and didn’t want to owe someone money.
I offered to lend her some money to help her get better offers. She refused – and ended up buying a car that immediately needed a transmission rebuild that cost as much as the car itself. For which I lent her some of the money.
By Grabthar’s hammer, what a savings!
what shitbox did she buy?
A 2007 Opel Agila that might’ve been a decent car four owners ago. But seriously, her price limit was 2500 € and she got the car for a bit over 2000; it’s hardly a surprise that she didn’t exactly get premium quality.
Well, once all repairs are factored in the total cost is closer to 4500, which could’ve bought her a much nicer car. Or at least a much healthier one.
Opel was at least as big of a mistake, imho
I’ve seen quite serviceable Toyotas and Hondas in that price range not too long before Covid. When did this all happen? I know post Covid used car prices have been absolutely insane much of the time
She just got the car back last week so very recently.
I think when people say to but high quality items, they mean to spend what they’re worth. Getting the most expensive thing doesn’t really guarantee a quality item, but cheaping out makes it much more likely that you’ll end up with something lackluster. Plus, something like sleep can be fairly complicated and is connected to your habits, what you’ve eaten, or schedule, etc., so expecting a single change (pillow) to make a huge difference may not be realistic.
You also get diminishing returns.
If you spend £400 on a bike instead of £200, it might actually be nearly twice as good, but spending £2000 doesn’t mean it will be ten times as good, when you’re in to bikes that cost £10k+ you’re talking about fractions of a percent better than the one that costs many percent less.
The top of the range items are good for enthusiasts, but almost always not worth it for casual consumers.
Very true for bikes in my experience. Guitars as well.
£500 - £1000 is the sweet spot for electric guitars. Anything much higher than that is the exact same guitar, just with extra bling.
Acoustic/classical guitars are a bit different and even though they still suffer diminishing returns, a higher price can be more easily justified.
For a $200 bike, it’s never going to work the way it’s intended to work. ANY bike you buy at a department store–and many that you buy at general sporting goods stores–will be garbage. In 1995, the rule of thumb was to spend at least $500 on a bike to get something that you could realistically ride every single day; that’s about $1000 today.
I’m saying this as someone that worked at bike stores as a mechanic off and one over about 15 years; the cheap dept. store bikes someply can’t be fixed and adjusted to work the way that their owners expect.
(PS - yes, fixies are cheap and light. No, you should not under any circumstances ride them on public streets or trails. If you do, sooner or later you will have a serious accident that will involve stitches, broken bones, possibly surgery, and probably rehab.)
I concur with you, but I’d phrase it in a different way: if your budget is $200 for a bike, you should be shopping for a used bike-shop/reputable-brand bike on Craigslist or whatever.
Also, agreed about fixies, except that switching the flip-flop hub to single-speed mode and adding brakes makes it fine.
You’re usually fine using a cheap item. If you use it enough to break it, then you need a quality item.
I am a larger man with broad shoulders. I have trained myself to only sleep on my side due to breathing issues arising from my oversized uvula and the tendency for my tongue to join it at the back of my throat when on my back. Even when I’m awake, breathing on my back - much less speaking - is difficult due to my uvula in particular, as I can’t consciously control how it drapes back against my throat.
So I built my own pillow, so that my head doesn’t hang from my shoulders like an afterthought – no normal pillow is tall enough to support my head while I am on my side. It looks kinda like a particularly narrow and deep parking curb, vaguely saddle shaped, only it’s not made out of concrete. It’s literally a tiny showroom-demo mattress on top of a very stable wooden base, with an actual pillow secured on top of it and everything wrapped up in a custom pillow case.
Looks strange AF, but it keeps my spine straight and the crinks out of my neck.
I have sleep apnea and I have found a bumper belt works wonders. It’s a belt you attach to your back with several air bladders that keep you on your side, even if your body is included towards back sleeping. It travels very nicely. Just deflate the bladders and roll up the belt.
Not quite the same, but I switched to buckwheat pillows. This way you can shape it to fit however you like no matter the position. Takes some getting used to but solved my issues with most pillows. Sadly it also means no more pillow fights…
I’m inordinately interested in your solution here. For all of our sakes, make a post about it.
I need to see a photo or shitty MS paint drawing STAT.
Something something OREILLER
I agree that pillows are very individualized, but I’m going to add my pillow choice out there since everyone else seems to be!
I’m very hot natured, so I found the GhostBed Pillow that stays cool during the night. Add to it that it’s just the right amount of firmness for me, and I love it.
Which one of the three do you have?
Looks like I ordered the GhostBed Medium Firm Memory Foam Pillow. I actually got it from Amazon.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a good recommend in those “What sub-$100 purchase changed your life?” threads. No, I don’t need a garlic smasher or a water pick.
With the right deal a Snowcaster can go sub-100 dollars and is a life changer for sure. Granted, you need snow and only a certain amount - but when that happens this guy is fucking amazing.
Where I live, I’ve had to shovel snow precisely once in the past four years. Last year, we had almost none at all.
My wife and I have taken to naming our pillows. There’s Flat Agnes, Lumpy Rutherford and The Rock, off the top of my head. I would have to consult my wife for the others.
Just to respond to your need for better sleep… For me, good sleep is far more about temperature, darkness, and a nice weight. So I use a weighted blanket, eye covers, and the expensive but awesome chilipad so I don’t try to sleep in a pool of sweat.
Same for me, minus the weight. I hate weight on me when I’m sleeping. Makes me feel trapped and claustrophobic. I use the thinnest blanket the temperature will allow, and I always have fans (and if possible an AC) going. Anything above 63f/17c and I sweat like a pig. :(
Does the chillpad work? I’ve heard mixed reviews.
Most of them are downright dogshit
Really, pillows? That’s all we got
If your sleep issues are stress-related, like mine, no pillow will do any good. The only solution is to cut the source of stress…
Finding the source of stress isn’t normally easy. It could be compounded or masked with addiction or anything really. For me, large doses of psilocybin open the wounds to be viewed as symbolic representations. This is normally a bad trip and it’s not fun, but has positive life altering consequences.
