I bought a piece of 1.5 inch stiff foam to try to fix a sag in a bed. It didn’t work but having that thick piece of solid foam around has been a life saver.

Need something flat to put a laptop on? Throw it on the foam. Going to be doing something that requires you to be on your knees for a while? Get the foam!

It went from stupid purchase to something I’d gladly replace if it broke.

  • @[email protected]
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    532 years ago

    An air fryer. It was a bit of an impulse buy and I didn’t think I would use it very much but as it turns out it’s much more versatile than I initially thought. I’m actually considering getting rid of my regular oven since I’ve rarely used it since I got my airfryer.

  • AFK BRB Chocolate
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    1472 years ago

    Here’s an odd one my wife and I were just talking about. Some years ago, we were redoing our kitchen and the contractor told us to go buy the kitchen faucet we wanted. We went off, looked at several, and picked the one we thought looked the best with what we were doing.

    When the contractor went to install it, he opened the box and a battery pack fell out. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why a faucet would need batteries. It turned out that you can turn it on and off by touching it anywhere (handle, faucet itself, whatever), you just leave the physical handle open and set where you want it, then you can touch on and off. I thought it was the dumbest thing ever and we’d never use it.

    Flash Forward to now and it’s one of the most used conveniences we’ve ever bought. All those times your hands are covered in raw meat or other cooking mess? Just touch the faucet with your elbow. Rinsing a bunch of veggies one at a time? Tap on, tap off. It works flawlessly, unlike those touchless ones at the airport: no delay and works every time. We will never have a kitchen sink without it - my wife wants them for the bathroom.

  • @[email protected]
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    132 years ago

    I have an off-brand swiffer handle that I’ve actually packed up and moved several times because it’s the perfect size to unclog my vacuum.

  • @[email protected]
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    1132 years ago

    A 3D-Printer, I thought I just play around with it and get bored, but you discover so many things that you can do!

    The handle on the fridge broke? Print new ones. Need a Flowerpot? Just print one. The router needs a wallmount? I have one ready in a few Hours.

    Also I can watch it print for hours, very fascinating and calming.

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    182 years ago

    I bought a milk frother recently. I don’t even drink coffee. But I saw that it was a great way to make a protein shake without clumps and easy to clean. It does do that. But it also been great for mixing my pre workout or soap for cleaning. I love it!

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    92 years ago

    My tablet for school. I bought it because I was sick of shifting through stacks of handwritten notes while writing papers. Turns out it was the best purchase I made as a student. I haven’t bothered to write on paper since, and it’s saved me a ton of time and money (otherwise spent on printing supplies). I’ve started using it for work as well. I don’t know if I could function without one now.

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    2 years ago

    I wanted to buy a small silicone spatula for specific uses, but they were only sold in a set of 5. I was like what am I going to do with that many spatulas but they’re super useful and are amazing at scraping and I love having extras so I don’t have to constantly wash them.

  • Ada
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    622 years ago

    Maybe not stupid, but I purchased a pair of bone conducting headphones just because I thought they would be better for running, and harder for me to lose. I wasn’t expecting much, but damn, they have been so much better than I expected. Even though the sound quality isn’t quite as good, they work so much better with my sensory processing issues, and I can just leave them on all day without concern. Because I’ve got curly hair, people don’t even know I’m wearing them, and because they don’t go in my ear canal, they don’t impact my ability to hear/talk/interact with the world around me.

    • @[email protected]
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      232 years ago

      I love my bone conducting headphones. You don’t have to take them off to hear anything else. I can hear traffic and feel safer when crossing the street when out for a run

      • Ada
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        152 years ago

        I pretty much live in mine now, even when I’m not running or cycling. I just have low level music playing all day, and I can still interact with the world. And for whatever reason, it’s easy to process the music and people talking to me without my brain getting overloaded like it does when I try and do that with regular headphones (even those with sound passthrough)

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      These look amazing!! I even came across a couple of water proof ones. This will help me big time in my preps for triathlons

    • @[email protected]
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      82 years ago

      Man i had the opposite experience. Bought some great ones for running and lab work but when i set them at a volume i could hear they were basically just normal headphones and everyone else could hear them too.

      Im a skinny dude with no hearing issues, wish they worked better for me.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 years ago

        That makes me wonder if they were sitting properly on your bone. The reading I’ve been doing (mine are on the way as we speak) says that they should be silent to others at normal volume for yourself.

        Or maybe you got ripped off?

    • @[email protected]
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      112 years ago

      Uhhh I have sensory issues but am uncomfortable while wearing headphones. What’s this? Do what now? What kind of headphones? I NEED ALL THE INFORMATION WITHOUT OPENING A SECOND APP THAT IS FULL OF ADS AND NO USEFUL INFORMATION!

      • Ada
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        82 years ago

        To be clear, these don’t reduce my sensory issues. It’s more accurate to say that they enable me to wear headphones with background music etc, without adding to my sensory issues

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      Are there any that work off of Aux cable only? Couldn’t seem to find one that would be good for a desktop setup

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        There’s also USB to Bluetooth adapters if you don’t have to go through the analog audio signal.

      • Ada
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        42 years ago

        Not that I’ve seen, but aux to bluetooth adaptors are really cheap

    • Azal
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      62 years ago

      Bought mine for work. Need a second pair for around the house. I LOVE them.

    • @[email protected]
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      52 years ago

      I’m looking at getting some at the moment. Do you mind sharing which ones you have? Prices where I’m at seem to be all over the shop.

      • Ada
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        62 years ago

        Shokz “OpenRun Pro”

        I did zero research on them, so I have no idea how they compare to other options out there. I bought them after losing my 3rd set of in ear buds…

        • @[email protected]
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          12 years ago

          Sweet, I have those on the way right now. Or maybe, they are called shokz openrun pro mini and I’m not entirely clear if they are the same thing or different models.

    • Butt Pirate
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      12 years ago

      I have a boss that constantly interrupts me so it’s difficult to listed to music. This could be really useful for me!

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    422 years ago

    A reusable floss tool. I was trying to cut down on waste by ditching those single-use floss picks. It’s just a forked piece of plastic that you thread with standard floss. I bought it 5 years ago and it’s still going strong!

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    252 years ago

    More of a gift I got for Christmas than something I bought, but a rechargeable wand vacuum. Thought it was really stupid, but the dang thing is useful. I’ve used it for anything ranging from sucking up hair in the bathroom to getting the baseboards around the house so I don’t have to get a duster to do it that way. Have even taken it out to the car to remove a lot of the dirt and debris that gets into the driver-side footwell.

    Was so versatile, I persuaded my folks to get one as well. They now love it too.

  • Bali
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    152 years ago

    Local made products. In my case it’s LED lamps. It was started when i read articles on LED and in the end i was searching if there are locally made LED lamps and i found out there are some and they are quiet huge since they are doing contract making road lamps for the government.

    So i look for the brand on the popular ecommerce platform and i was surprised that the price is like a quarter of the popular imported brand such as Philips, although the Lumens per Watt is lower (110 Lumens per watt). I was skeptical and hesitated to buy it at first fearing it’ll become useless junk. But i took the chance and order it anyway.

    I received the product the next day, four 3000K color Lamp. I’m testing it first before permanently installing it and what really surprised me the Lamp does not gets hot, only lukewarm, i guess its because of the board design where the individual LED are not tightly packed.

    I gradually replaced all LED lamps at home with locally made ones, they even have 4500K color which i installed for my gf room since shes doing a lot of times doing make up and i think that requires neutral color lighting.

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    1772 years ago

    When I worked at a small startup, we were moving to a new office and I was asked to help with the buildout. I engaged with the flooring vendor, and he came by one day to drop off a carpet sample. He put it on my desk where my mouse was. It was a rectangle sample of tight knit office carpet, about 18”x22”. When I got back to my desk, I just put my mouse on top of it and started using it as a mouse pad. That was 15 years and 3 companies ago, and I still use it as my mousepad. It’s perfect for the mouse to glide on, soft enough for my wrist to rest on, absorbent of sweat or drink condensation, and large enough I never hit the edge. I will never not use it. It is my mouse carpet, and I love it.

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    212 years ago

    ANTAGEN dishbrush. I was at IKEA and saw they had dish brushes for less than a dollar a piece, so I stocked up on a few.

    They last forever as far as dish brushes are concerned. It did clean-up for 2 large meals every single day for over a year before it started getting worn out. We’d throw it in the dishwasher at night to clean and sterilize it.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      Dishbrushes are used commonly in Finland. They’re awesome. You don’t need to touch the dirty dishes and get fingers greasy. And when the brush is worn out, you can still use it to clean bathroom or outside facilities!

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        42 years ago

        I’ve never gotten mine to actually stand on its suction cup but it’s lasted me a ridiculously long time.

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    182 years ago

    Ember mug. I saw James Hoffmann’s review and went, “how good could it be?”

    It’s the only mug I can drink from now.