Broke single mom here. My H&M usually offers a buy one get one discount on boys’ cotton boxers, so whenever I buy a pack for my 12 year old son, I grab myself one as well and they serve pretty well as pajama shorts which I pair with a cheap oversized cotton tee.
For some reason it makes me happy you’re on here, I thought it was all tech neckbeards. Wish your family luck in bargain hunting!
As a fellow non tech person… There are dozens of us!!
Raises hand tentatively…
Although I do feel I’m learning stuff from being on here.
Same.
I’m no programmer by any means, but I’ve always been more tech-savvy than the average bear. I finally took the plunge and added a Linux partition to my computer because I read enough posts here that piqued my curiosity.
I became a full-on programmer after joining Lemmy. Coincidence?
Nope not a coincidence at all
Excuse you. Some of us have a well kempt full beard thank you very much.
Not to mention the broke single mum tech neckbeards!
There are dozens of us! I’m a mom who works in publishing and don’t know a linux distro from a pokemon (other than Pikachu.)
I bet you there is a distro called Pikachu, just to fuck with people like us.
I’m an old lady but I also happen to use linux! You don’t have to be a tech neckbeard for that, just dislike Windows.
Very wholesome! How do you keep yours and his from getting mixed in the laundry?
The packs come in different colors so I use the white ones and he uses the grey ones.
Metal Chopsticks $9 https://www.amazon.com/BamLue-Stainless-Chopsticks-Dishwasher-Restaurant/dp/B07RTNWLM1 These are no longer for sale. They are not just for eating. Great for deseeding jalapenos, tomatos. Mixing small sauces. Too many uses to list. They are super durable. Very ‘buy it for life’ vibes. The tip texture is the most helpful. Not to be used as Ninja weapons.
I dont understand how people eat with metal or plastic chopsticks. Wood? Sure, it practically holds itself
Yeah rice is impossible for me with anything but wooden chopsticks
I always have metal chopsticks on me.
Chopsticks are also nice to mix fluids in a bottle because for some they are long enough
I also started eating potato chips with them, can reach deeper in + clean handsI do those things as well. I have some metal deep frying ones, they are about 14" long. I use them a lot when stirring deep soup pots. And when they are dirty, I use the fat end to swish the dish sponge around in deep containers that my had can’t fit in.
I’m gonna leave this right here…
SNACTIV LITE Finger Chopsticks… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXG8ZTNG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Rolling my eyes hard.
…and then I saw the pic of the PS controller. I’m now reconsidering everything I know.
eating chips with chopsticks also slows me down and some times prevent me from overeating chips
Ooh, I’ll try to remember this next time I’m having chips!
An Aeropress. I bought it when work removed the free coffee and was super surprised at how good it tasted vs what they were serving. Later, I found a bean hand grinder that fits right inside the Aeropress plunger and now I take it on work trips, vacation and camping.
It’s not fully inclusive for $20 because you need a cup, some way to procure and heat water and beans but still, it’s served me well.
I’ve found that it tastes kinda plasticky compared to my glass French press. Am I aeropressing wrong?
I have an old one, maybe they were manufactured differently. The main part is a hard plastic. I never noticed a plastic taste, but it could also be the rubber/silicone plunger stopper that imparts a taste. They do now sell a glass one, but I’ve heard that it’s overpriced.
I know people who also swear by their French press. From what I know, regardless of the brew method, the grind is the most important factor, followed by the water quality and temperature.
If its made before 2009 its likely not BPA free and you should consider upgrading to a modern one. I think the plastic was changed again around 2014. Mine is from that time period and doesnt have an after taste either.
As well as the glass one you can get one made of tritan, which would be my pick over the glass as its mostly the same look, a lot cheaper, and pretty much unbreakable.
Is it an authentic aeropress, not a cheap knockoff? There are a bunch that sell under the same name but aren’t in fact manufactured by aeropress ltd., and those can taste off since the cheap plastic is not certified for use with boiling water, and might not even be bpa free.
It’s Aeropress™ and purchased from a reputable roaster. I suppose it’s unknowable to me if some shenanigans were pulled further up the supply chain.
I’ll add that the thing I noticed is that it tastes plasticky if I use water at 205°F but not 185°. I prefer the hotter temp because I think it gives a better extraction, and I need the caffeines.
I didn’t buy an aeropress for years as I had a coffee machine and was like, surely that’s better.
But finally got one, and my god. The simplicity. The ease of cleaning. The nice coffee.
It’s basically my sole way of making coffee now, despite more pricey alternatives at my disposal.
I find a good pour over cone makes better tasting coffee with a little less fuss, but the aeropress is irreplaceable for iced coffee.
The clever dripper is pretty nice pour over cone with a shut off valve.
When I’m making just one cup of coffee I use an aero press, for 2+ cups I use the clever dripper.
+1 for the Aeropress!
Vacuum sealer.
They are always available used at thrift stores and they are simple machines but I can reseal bags of chips or other grocery items.
You can make your own bags for cheap from a roll and then individually wrap portions for the freezer that stay longer and don’t get freezer burn.
And if you get one that has a hose attachment you can seal bottles of wine, mead, or Tupperware for the fridge if you get the right lids.
I liked the other attachment that fits around mason jar lids. Creates a tight seal, the jar does not crush the contents, and you no longer need plastic bags. Also, the glass jar can go straight into the fridge.
- knife sharpening steel
- squeezing bidet (made me realize how gross using toilet paper is)
- caffeine pills (extremely cheap [15€ for 180pcs. x 200mg] compared to coffee and great if you’re in a hurry)
- Raspberry Pi Zero (tiny single board computer, tbh not in use anymore, but I had fun tinkering for days)
- remote controlled power outlets
- easily cleanable drinking bottle and switching to drinking tap water
+1 for caffeine pills, although 200mg is a bit too much for me. I prefer 100mg
A swiss army knife sd classic. I have it on my keychain and use it a lot
I have one always in my pocket, too, but I’d argue it’s not “unexpectedly useful”.
Ima be honest, I didn’t think it would be this useful. I just thought it was probably ok for a good emergency knife but I have used all of the tools in this small handy dandy tool many times over.
Yes, this. The best multi tool is the one you have on you on when you need it, and with one of these on my keys, I comes in handy more often then I thought it would.
Oh man, there’s this German company Beurer that makes simple equipment for medical home application. They make this sort of zapper thing, which is battery oper and it just heats the shit out of a little ceramic plate. Put that on a bug bite, it heats away the irritation. No more itch, no more venom in your body, just gone.
I am no longer careful around biting bugs. Keep in mind it’s not supposed to work for stingers.
I figured for 15 euros it’d be too bad if it doesn’t work but I now can’t imagine not having it.
I’ve since also bought a TENS/EMS machine of theirs and a laser hair removal tool is underway for my wife.
I completely trust this company based on just two products.
Oh wow, there’s a product out there? I’ve been heating the back of a spoon on the stove and applying it directly to the skin for a minute all these years. You gotta do it carefully, but it works very well!
Nerdage
The mechanism relies on denaturing the mosquito proteins injected with the bite. Meaning the heat causes the proteins to loosen up and deform so they no longer interact with the surrounding tissues in the same way.
I’ve just run a spoon under the hottest possible tap water. It’s hot enough to work and it’s not hot enough to actually burn you
I’ve been using a spoon and a lighter like a heroin addict all this time…
I don’t have a device for this, but I do the same thing by running water as hot as I can stand over bites and it works.
Yeah I use the hottest running water and also scrub it with soap to get as much as possible off.
I’ve also used a hair dryer to heat the bites up but you have to be careful not to hold it too close to the skin and burn yourself. I’m very reactive to bug bites and I seem to get a million bites within seconds of going outside.
BiteAway gang!
My wife swears by it. For me it does nothing. She gets wasp-sized bumps from mosquito bites.
I got a device from a competitor (the original company’s devices are >20€ nowadays). Worked great, too, but its longevity sucked - the next year, the ceramic plate didn’t get hot enough anymore, even with fresh batteries. Yet another example of “buy cheap, buy twice”.
What did beurer make in 1930-1940ish?
Not sure what you mean by this. Are you just trying to gage some reason because it’s a German company? They made heating pads, heated blankets, stuff like that.
I think they’re referring to Bayer, which was absolutely active during that time…
A roll of really heavy duty velcro. The kind that can, for example, stick a sledge hammer to a wall. It’s about $12 for 5 feet or so, and about a 1" piece is sufficient for most tasks, so it lasts a very long time. I use it for all kinds of stuff; it’s amazing how many uses for it you find when you have it.
Just in case you havent seen it: Don’t call it velcro
That’s pretty funny. Unfortunately for them, I and probably almost everyone else don’t really care about their brand identity, so I’ll keep calling it all velcro. I’ll also keep call all tissues Kleenex, and all adhesive bandages Band-Aids, and all the others that have become synonymous with their product. That’s what they get for being too successful, I guess.
Less syllables always wins.
Kleenex, tissue. Band aid, bandage. Xerox, copy. IPad, tablet (some people call their android tablets iPads) Plucker, flosser.
It’s not really that bad. Some are even shorter:
Google, search. Invisalign, retainer.
Some are iffy:
Sharpie, permanent marker. (You could just say marker, depending on if you have any other markers in the house to disambiguate from.)
And some are definitely shorter as brand names:
Q-tip, cotton swab Velcro, hook and loop Sawzall, reciprocating saw
(And if there was a shorter name for “oscillating multi tool” I would be so happy.)
I can’t think of any others.
Dual Lock!
Last time I did install work we used double sided Velcro for cable management. I snagged a roll and made a jig to split it in half with a box knife to get twice as much and I’ve still got a ton left over a decade later. It’s really handy stuff to have around and better than zip ties in most applications I use it for.
What kind of uses did you have for it?
He stuck a sledgehammer to his wall.
Something every kobold needs.
A lot of small things. I have some velcro on the wall in few rooms that I can stick a tablet to, for example. I’ve got velcro holding down a few items on my desk - a USB hub, speakers and the like, that I want to move sometimes, but that were commonly getting knocked off (by the cat). I’ve got a small whiteboard and a few places I can stick it, so I can use it to sketch something up and take it with me to our workbench, for example, and not have to precariously balance it.
All things that could be solved with other solutions, obviously, but the heavy duty velcro just happens to be a one-size-fits-all solution that leaves no permanent marks and is very convenient to set up.
I have a IKEA pergola on my backyard and I’ve been trying to come up with a way to attach some plastic paneling on top of it without drilling. This might be it.
How do you get the velcro to stick to the wall so you don’t rip it off if it’s so strong? (And no, don’t just say more velcro!)
It’s velcro all the way down!
It sticks with adhesive, and I don’t doubt it would rip wallpaper right off, but using adhesive remover before trying to pull it off lets you work it off slowly and not cause damage to paint or surfaces.
[edit: I’m rambling about a lanyard!]
I don’t know what it’s called, but I chord you put around your neck, goes down to the belly with a metal hook at the end? Used to keep backstage/security passes visible, but I keep my keys on there instead.
Keys always end up at the bottom of my bag, and it can be frustrating and even painful to dig them out. I don’t always have pockets suitable for keys. I have a place for them at home, but still misplace them constantly.
With this chord I can keep my keys around my neck when in use, like at work or going to the store, and even if I put them in my bag I can loop the keys around a handle and down through their own chord and they’ll hang there to be pulled out when I need them.
The chord is long and colourful and way easier to find than just the keys, and often hang visible out of a bag when I haven’t put the keys in their place.
It’s great. I have different colours for different sets of keys, one colour is home+bicycle, other is work. Other keys I add only when I need them. It gets annoying having too many keys on at once.
Lanyard?
What an odd little word…So unspecific; could never have guessed it. But yes, that’s it, thanks!
One of these stainless steel bars of “soap”. It’s for getting onion and garlic smell off your hands. I was skeptical when my partner bought it, but it totally works. Rub on your hands under cold water and it’s like you never even looked at the garlic.
So any stainless steel will do that. No need for a special disk. I use a stainless steel cocktail shaker to peal garlic. Then when I rinse it clean it also removes the smell from my hands.
Just drop the cloves into the shaker and shake hard for 30-45 seconds. Most of the garlic is now peeled and some just need a bit help. So much faster and easier.
Yep. Still useful for people without stainless fixtures, or cocktail shakers.
Useful for people with those things too! We have one and I love it. I hit it with hand soap and use it like a regular bar to both clean my hands and get rid of the smell.
Since it’s for that specific purpose it sits in the soap tray by the sink and is always right where I need it. No hunting for some random steel utensil.
Fyi this also works with a steel faucet or sink in a pinch
Okay so maybe I’ve grown to used to the smell of garlic but is it a common problem that people are worried about their hands smelling like garlic/onions? Maybe it’s because I wash dishes as I cook, so whatever I chopped/prepared them on I would have washed in the sink while it started to heat up in the pan, but I guess I need to sniff my fingers more after doing so.
I like when my hands smell like onions/garlic/bits. Makes for a nice lil smell-snack later!
I think it’s home cook weird shit, now sell me something to get rid of fried food smell from clothes. I’ll live with garlic and onions which smell amazing over fried oil smell that saturate you skin and leave you as a soggy French fry
You basically have to add grease lightning or something similar to your wash to get that stuff out.
I… cook in a terry cloth (“towel”) bath robe when I know I’ll go out after cooking. I guess it functions similar to a smoking jacket:
To protect their clothes, many men would wear their robes-de-chambre while smoking in private. These robes acted as a barrier against ash and smoke
Probably doesn’t help for not having your hair smell
I don’t know about worried, but onions absolutely make my hands reek. To the point where it can ruin a meal I’m eating, especially if it’s a hand food like a burrito or burger or something. I don’t mind garlic on my hands, but onions are just awful for some reason.
I don’t have one of these bars, but I’m seriously contemplating it.
Ill report back tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll end up making something with onions or garlic in it haha
That’s not gonna end well. 😅
Or the outside of a stainless mixing bowl. That’s what I use since there’s usually one drying next to the sink anyway. And it’s also useful as a bowl!
Why would I want to remove that smell 😍.
(half joking)
Same, I love the smell of garlic. Do they make bars of soap made of garlic so I can always smell that way?
It’s my favorite part of cutting onions
Does this also work for jalapenos?
No. The heat from peppers is an oil. Dry finger tips absorb the oil. So either gloves or rub a drop of neutral oil on your fingers before handling peppers.
As hugin said, the best way to wash oils off your hands is with other oils. Pour a little bit of whatever cooking oil you have on your hands and make sure to thoroughly spread it on your hands, like in between your fingers and under your nails, then wash with hot water and soap. The capsaicin oils will mix with the cooking oils, dilute, and be more noticeable to remove. This also works for poison ivy oils and pine sap
Not that I’m aware of.
I’ve had this shit in my cart for like 5 years. Lol I really should just buy it.
These are mostly a myth to my understanding.
There is some theory on how the chromium in stainless steel could help with breaking down and removing the smelly compounds from onions and garlic off your hands, but there aren’t any studies proving this.
In my experience just properly washing your hands with water for 15-20s works just as well. I think the “soap” kinda works because it tricks people to not just rinse their hands.
It’s true, I’ve never used one of these and was absolutely lying about their effectiveness.
Regarding your jib. I like the cut.
You’re saying that as if I’ve never used one. I have, and I don’t see a difference to just washing my hands with water. But to each their own ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Your understanding is incorrect.
Water plays a crucial role in this process. As you rinse your hands and rub them against stainless steel, the surface acts as a catalyst for redox reactions. Sulfur compounds on your skin are chemically altered, potentially breaking them down into less odorous forms.
“I too love to rub heavily metals into my skin”…idk if anyone has said this before lol
I bought a Rada Quick Edge at a thrift store for $2.
Was always taught my my metal-smith grandfather how to properly care for and sharpen knives, but when I tried it out on a knife I cared little for, I found it was such a shocking difference in efficiency I couldn’t help but notice.
It completely changed my relationship with knives and knife care, which was so helpful for me because I cook everything from scratch and whole ingredients. Everything, so having good knives is not kids-play for me.
It made me discover that for me, using a quick sharpening wheel and a hone gets my knives beard-shaving sharp in less than 30 seconds. I could never go back to the “right way” and I firmly joined the “dark side” of knife ownership.
Yes they destroy knives with some aggression, far more than traditional methods, but in the forensic audit it has saved me hundreds in a literal way, and hundreds of hours laboring over sharpening stones.
I no longer need to pamper knives, I buy cheap German steel chef knives on sale for $5-$20 and I throw them out in 3 or 4 years. I’ll never go back. All the hysterics from knife “gurus” on YT be damned - in my personal cooking world where I have 10,000 Km on my knives and cutting board, I could give two shits what they think. Nobody better ever give me a $300 knife for a present because it’s going back in the box.
Dual-wheel sharpener and 14" hone is all I’ll ever use from now on.
Great recommendation and knife user therapy in one post. Thanks!
What’s the point of the hone?, I thought knife sharpeners like the Rada did the same thing as a hone?
Honing doesn’t remove material. If you sharpen too often your knives wear down real fast
Honing does remove material. It shears off the ragged edge grains, and presses the other grains into alignment.
Anytime you use a hone, you can run your fingertips along the knife edge and gather the removed grains of material.
It’s a very small detail but to say that a hone does not damage a knife or remove material isn’t 100% right.
Oh I thought it just aligns the edge. I guess it does remove an amount of material. But I think it should be a lot less than sharpening
The edge is just a little rough after the removal of material with the wheel, the hone grooms the metal so the grains align roughly in the same direction. It also “peels away” ragged and folded edge grains.
The hone takes it from a sharp but rough edge, to a razor sharp edge.
The hone is also the best tool for quickly refreshing the knife edge without having to sharpen it on the wheel. Just 10 seconds before any major cutting.
I see, maybe I’ll get one as well then, got any recommendation
Victorinox 14 inch honing steel
I am begging you not to get 12 in or smaller - too small to use efficiently.
Wool poncho. I’ve used it to stay warm, stay cool, as a groundcloth under my sleeping bag, as a blanket, as a pillow, as a decorative throw, as a cat bed, as a picnic blanket, as a beach blanket. It’s incredibly useful and versatile.
Same! I always keep my emergency wool cloak in my car. Saved me tons of times
There is no way you got that for $20. I keep meaning to get one since I love my wool coat I got at a thrift store but they are never that cheap.
I mean, this was in, like, 2003. That’s probably $50 in today money.
Oh 2003? Nah $20 stretched hard back then, especially if it was a thrift store. Man even as a kid I could get so much stuff with $5 at a thrift store, I think I literally got a PC and a DVD player for like $10. Nobody was trying to maximize profit on every thing cause more was on the way.
Hasbrown at McDonald’s were .80¢, they are now $2.70. That $20 was more like $67.50 in actual purchase power.
Unexpectedly? I’m not sure. But for under $6 I got a secondhand Faberware medium and large pot. We have a glass cooktop and our current pots tend to “bow” on the bottom when heated so they don’t sit flat. Was fine when we had a gas cooktop, but now the bow makes a hotspot in the center on the flat glass. The old Faberware pots sit perfectly flat. Awesome.
I have a little fold-out rack with (I think) 24 individual clips on that hold socks and other small items. It can then be attached to the washing line, taking up a lot less space than hanging things along the length of it.
It was £3.99 and it makes putting the washing out so much easier. I much prefer to line dry things outside than using the dryer when I can.
An emergancy fm/am radio with a crank generator and solar panels.
Came in clutch when power was out, not only could I listen in on the news, I could also charge my phone.
I’d list it as unexpected because I did not expect to actually have to use it. But im really glad I had it.
The answer to infection is here
