Password Manager. I use Bitwarden, which is open source and free.
It’s probably the single most significant quality of life upgrade I’ve had since I started on ADHD meds 5 years ago. I wish I had started using one sooner.
+1 for Bitwarden. My Dad’s password manager actually made taking care of him in the last years of his life alot easier. I essentially had to “wind down” his life (pay bills/debts, close accounts, stop subscriptions, etc), and as his memory was going it would’ve been impossible to get that information from him. With myself too though I’ve got so many dumb accounts all over the place, having a password manager is the only thing keeping me sane half the time when having to log in to everything to pay bills and such.
Forgot this one! Using bitwarden is indeed so much easier and also more secure than tracking password. Truly makes my life easier
A longer cable for charging my phone
Linux.
My god you people are annoying.
Every single goddamn thread
standing ovation
🙄
😆
(I wasn’t really sure if I was going to be upvoted for that answer… Really, though. The whole culture and philosophy also influenced me. And gave me a lot over the years. I think it’s alright fulfilling the stereotype every now and then.)
Linux got me a job later on in life. Made my life a breeze honestly.
I know most people will talk about how Linux/Windows/Mac but one of the not often talked about benefits to learning an OS really well is that it can lead into a high paying job. And Linux allows you to see under the hood as deep as you want…so more likely.
Maybe not Linux per se, but certainly learning how to write scripts and other technical stuff, to automate boring tasks or alert me of things, or writing applications to do things I need, has been a massive time saver - but also a time waster as I enjoy it, and probably spend longer on these things than the amount of time they’ve saved.
And as footnote, it’s always easier to do this stuff on Linux than Windows… plus you can stick things on a Pi so it’s cheap and quiet.
Scripting is the closest thing to magic I’ve seen in real life. Wave your hand over the script and poof, a job is done.
I automated so much at my last job I usually never “worked” more than a half hour a day. I am not a programmer, but I slowly learned enough Excel functions and VBA, then simple batch files and some AutoHotkey. Since it was only stuff for my job I needed to learn to program for, it took much less time than learning to program for any situation. Also much of your work is going to be relatively the same as many others’ work, so there is a lot of code out there you can lift from and tweak until you learn to build it from scratch.
I stopped wearing navy blue socks.
What did you do with them all? 😳
Languages of the countries I lived in + English. I once again emigrated and am yet again at the start if my language learning journey, and it kind of pisses me off how difficult it yet again is. But I know how much easier my life will be once I master it.
How do you study languages? Any advice?
It’s for some reason very difficult and needs a lot of time and energy.
I’m trying right now https://www.lingq.com/en/ it’s going very slowly.
Corrective eye surgery
For me this meant PRK not LASIK.
I hope this is my experience as well. I’m slated for ICL surgery on Tuesday. Doc said that I qualify for the laser, but that she can get me significantly better results for my condition with the ICLs.
Kinda nervous, but excited too!
My eyes were bad. Like couldn’t see something three feet from my face bad. I’m 6 feet tall, so walking without glasses was out of the question. The first night I got up to pee and didn’t have to hunt for my glasses was magical.
I’m 6 feet tall, so walking without glasses was out of the question.
Please explain.
He can’t see past 3 feet. Hes 6 feet. So when he looks down he only sees down to his waist then nothing.
Ahh, I see, so the solution is that he needs to cut bone mass off his legs until he’s 3 feet tall. Maybe eye surgery was the better option after all.
Huh. It seems obvious now you explain it, but I never thought about it that way (as a short sighted, average height woman). Thanks for clarifying.
Definitely gym membership. Yes, there are plenty of exercises I can do at home or outside, but having a dedicated place that I go just to workout is nice.
Man I feel the opposite
It was so quick and simple to just do Murphs at home. I didn’t need to worry about packing gym bags, spending money, showering in public, needing to drive 10-15 minutes out and back, leaving work early or waking up at 5am to dodge a gym full of people.
Zero equipment Calisthenics are fucking golden if you don’t give a shit about getting big fat dudebro muscles, and just wanna be strong and hot.
I’m not a fan of going to the gym, either. Though I understand why others prefer it.
I’ve always liked having a home gym. I inherited a bunch of equipment from my parents when I was about 22, but had to sell it all when I moved into a much smaller living space when I was 25. I was only able recently, at 33, to invest in a new set of equipment and it’s been nice to get to do proper weightlifting at home again.
Yeah I was doing home workouts since the pandemic until recently and they are great. My partner still does them this way, and I occasionally join in. But for me the real joy is in the long commute to and from the gym.
It’s about an hour walk there and back, and the only time I listen to my podcasts. On the way there I feel anticipation, and on the way back, elation. Fun to walk with a buddy, but really meditative alone. I find I do a lot of good mental processing during that time.
Both my library and a grocery store are nearby too, so I often bundle my trips.
Anyway home / equipment-free workouts are totally baller, I just love my gym.
Electric wheelchair. After my 2nd heart attack, it became harder and harder to do things in the world. Grocery stores were impossible unless they had scooters of their own, which were usually in use or out of service.
Now I just bring my own.
And do you feel like a king/queen in it?
My sister made stickers for the sides so now it says “Majestic AF”
That’s the most aliexpress wheelchair I’ve ever seen
It works great! 17 mile range, automatically folds and unfolds. Has a remote control.
God damn I can walk perfectly fine but I might have to get one.
I use a wheelchair part time, and it’s unbelievable how much starting using one can help when you’re partially ambulatory. I find it funny how able bodied people use phrases like “wheelchair bound”, which perpetuates this idea of wheelchairs being like prisons, but at least for me and a few people I know, finally getting a wheelchair was hugely freeing.
Same, I hadn’t really left the house since 2018. Once a week for groceries and prescriptions and that was it.
Jesus, just being able to go to a movie theater was huge.
A roomba. (Long time ago though. Not sure I’d get one of the new models.)
Got rid of (most) social media. Even only reading about its toxicity makes me uncomfortable.
Same here, only LinkedIn is left and that is pretty boring so it doesn’t cost me much time to check. Sometimes there is a hint of FOMO, but in general I’m really glad I’m not comparing myself to fake happy people or being targeted by crappy ads. Also, there’s all the time I get back. I love it.
Two* empty cardboard boxes. One is roughly the width and length of my desktop tower; another is ~1/3 of the size of the first.
My desk used to have two drawers, right below the surface top. I was always hitting those bloody drawers with my thigh. Eventually I had enough, unscrewed them, and threw them away.
…ok, but what about the stuff that I stored there? Inside the big box, that is now over my desktop tower. The smaller one and its lid became divisions for the bigger one. It’s organised, within the reach of my hands, and far from my thigh.
*actually three. One of my cats saw it on my chair, as I was organising the stuff here, and went into “if it sits, I fits, I call dibs” mode. It’s in my living room now.
Did - Lived abroad. Cheap, fun, good healthcare/dental, great new foods
Acquired - electric toothbrush, immediate halt of dental decay
Electric wire strippers (I do a lot of electronics).
And a low power large work height microscope
Roomba.
The Lance of Longinus has its uses.
