What’s something you own that has truly paid for itself?
I’m curious, what’s an item, tool, or purchase you own that you feel has completely justified its cost over time? Could be anything from a gadget to a piece of furniture or even software. What made it worth it for you?
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Wow. Thats very cool. I'm planning on getting a solar system installed this winter too (costs less in the winter). Here power supply is not reliable but solar is fairly cheap thanks to China. Infact I'm pretty sure we have a very impressive solar system for a country of our status. (Pakistan)
I've got a 5kw battery/solar system for my little off the grid trailer home. Batteries were at $1000 a piece, at 2.5 kw a piece, last year. They are currently $800 each so prices are dropping year over year
Bit different here. You can be on grid or off grid too. But the government has limits. They don't want to buy all the power lol. Despite the fact that they don't produce enough themselves.
You are put on a waitlist first. Now we do have one side of the house under solar already for a year. But thats my uncles side, and they are on grid by now plus have have batteries. And yep batteries are the expensive part here too. But you can manage a combination too.
Batteries are quite expensive. Lead-acid batteries are readily available, but don't really work well for powering a house on a regular basis, because they don't have a very long life cycle. LiON batteries work very well, but they're fire hazards. Even worse, if you live in an area where you get freezing temperatures, they must be kept inside, because they can't be allowed to freeze if you're cycling them. LiFePO4 is the current best option. If you don't charge them above 80, 85%, and never discharge below 20%, you should have a nearly infinite lifespan. But that means that for every 30kWh of power you use, you want 50kWh of battery. And currently LiFePO4 battery banks run approx. $1000/kWh (+/- depending on band). If you heat your home with electricity, and you live in e.g. North Dakota, you're going to want more like 200kWh of batteries, because even high efficiency heat pumps can suck a lot of power when it's -20F.
I'm currently working on getting a 17.7kW system approved by the local utility. It looks like I'll need to step down what I'm feeding into the grid, because the line capacity out where I live is only 10kW, and they will only approve 75% of the line capacity for grid-tied systems.
You drink the rainwater?
I think that's a cool option for preparedness, but seems like a bit of a hassle compared to just using municipal water. But I'm guessing the municipal water is also fairly expensive where you live
Im my experience, the expensive park of the water bill is actually the sewer expenses. Are you on septic or do you use municipal sewer? Do you have a water/sewer bill at all in the months youre not using their water?
Filters, hommie.
I mean, I know, but wouldn’t those also increase the cost?
I pay $200 a month for water in the seattle suburbs, plus $180 for city drainage, and a one time $25k fee for hook up to the water system. So yeah filters might be a cost.
When you say "I close city water', sounds like you are also drinking that water? Sounds like a cool idea that I too have been thinking about. That water needs disinfection though
How did you get the tanks in your basement?
Boring answer but my hair clippers.
Ain't been to the professionals for years.
I do look like the wild man of the woods though
It takes a bit of learning and help, but you can get good at doing a gradient.
I've been doing a #1 or #0 all over for ages. Clippers work out great for me. No skill required.
Good answer - pays for itself in less than a year.
Hadn't even though of this. I don't think I've seen a barber in 2 years. I'm glad my partner had experience shaving their dad's head though, they do a nice job
My power tools. I'm not a professional but doing all the diy home repairs myself with the right tools for the job has probably saved me tens of thousands of dollars in contractors. And believe me when I say get the right tools for the job, it's worth it. You can fight with the wrong tool for hours trying to get a job done poorly or do it right in minutes with the right tools for the job. Not only is your time valuable but having the project done correctly the first time means you don't have to pay to fix it a second time. Even if you're the one doing it the second time, you still have to spend the time ripping out the garbage you put in and pay for the materials to do it right the second time.
This 100%
I do my own renovations and build some simple furniture etc.; my drill and miter saw in particular have been invaluable.
Agreed. People might balk at the cost of some tools, but generally, if you are doing a project that's within your comfort zone, you might only need 1 or 2 more tools.
Oftentimes, tools will pay for themselves in 1 job when compared to the cost of hiring someone. An example job I was thinking of is installing crown molding. It looks like based on a rough estimate of the measurements of a normal house, materials might $1000 for cheap wood. You could get a nailer and miter saw for less than $500. Compare that to an online calculator that estimates $4,000-$6000 to pay someone to do it.
Renting tools is occasionally the way to go, but renting for a week often costs more than just buying the tool. A rental tool might be a better brand, but unless you are using it every day, you don't need that level of durability.
I have a pretty good amount of tools. I think I've made every single one back by now. I've done multiple renovations, lots of repair work, build some furniture, did a lot of flooring and also did my front and back yard including fences with it.
I think if I hired a contractor to do what I did myself it would have been faster, but at least three times the cost. There are still some things I cannot do myself or am legally not allowed to work on, but the rest I will definitely do by myself.
My bike is the only thing I can say for certain has paid for itself. If I had paid $1 for each trip I’ve taken on it, I would have spent far more than it cost me.
I bought an expensive e-bike exactly 2 years ago. Here the public transport costs 70 €/month. The bike hasn't quite paid for itself yet, but it's getting close!
now add in the value of time and convenience, with that it's likely paid for itself a few times over
I'm still riding the bike my parents got me when I was a teenager, and these last couple of years I've easily put several hundred miles on it. Heck I'll probably ride it in about an hour to go pick up my kids from school. For school pickups and dropoffs over calculated a conservative $10 a week saved in gas consumption by biking instead of driving, plus I start my day envigerated rather than annoyed about school traffic
Ditched gaming chairs, got an ergonomic office chair with several adjustment points.
It's mesh seat and back, so its breathable in summer, gentle and supportive. I sit upright with no back pain. I lock it in place upright if I'm not using the armrests (eg: controller). Comfortable enough you quickly forget its even there, which is what you actually want in your practical furniture.
Every 'gaming' chair I've used cost almost as much, was a sticky pleather mess that flaked within months, pneumatics shot within a year, weird 'racecar' leaning back, fucked up my neck. But hey, at least it was in garish pointless colours? (Also, fuck those chairs that have the little 'edges', are they supposed to cup me in my seat Luke a cot? Because they get in the way).
I will never game in a gaming chair again. Quality ergonomic office chairs are DESIGNED for sitting in for hours at a time, and it shows. I've converted several others now.
Office chairs are designed to be sat in for long periods. Gaming chairs are designed to look cool on twitch.
Imagine ricing an office chair to look like a gaming chair:
"Look at my awesome gaming office chair I customized it myself" would definitely be a flex on twitch
I bought a second hand Aeron right at the start of Covid, banking on the fact I’d probably need it. I have been permanently remote work since and it’s been one of my best investments. It was very expensive and also very worth it.
Thank you, +1 to your converted list
Absolutely agreed. I got a decent office chair over a decade ago, and it's been good since. I think it has a teeny wobble that popped up in the last two years, but other than that the padding and such are still great.
Can you link the one you got please?
The thing is that this chair is so good that I've had it for years and the pneumatics still so no sign of wear. So I couldn't find a link for you, the retailer I got it from is lone gone. (Also you probably don't live on the same island as me.)
But I can see the emblem on the back indicating the brand is GTCHAIR, so I guess check their range for full mesh ergonomic? I forget how many adjustment points mine boasts, I want to say 9... also has a lumbar support piece, which goes great with the height-adjustable back
I'll try to find it. Maybe you can use Tineye or something else from alternativeto.net alternatives to Google Lens to find it using a photo taken too? If not no worries, takes for the info either way
I need to find one of those. I have a mid one my parents got somewhere years ago but I'm short and if I sit in it properly my feet dangle off the floor which is uncomfortable so I always end up slouching. It is also has the mesh stuff but I'm not a fan of it. It doesn't feel as supportive and it's not like I'm overweight or anything.
I’m not sure I’m quite there yet but I’m on my way: my sewing machine.
I sew clothes for me and my husband. I sew my kids’ Halloween costumes. I sew bags; my last two purses have been made by me. One is still in great shape aside from the handles; my kiddo said I should get (or sew) a new purse and I replied, nah, just need to re-sew the handles, no biggie.
The only reason I don’t think it’s paid for itself quite yet is because I bought a pricey machine in 2021 after struggling with a hand-me-down for a while.
I'm toying with the idea of getting a sewing machine.
Hand sewing bores the tits off me but I want to be able to fix/adjust/create my clothes
I recently picked up a sewing machine at a garage sale for $40 and it has been a game changer for me and has really upped my look. All my clothes are now tailored to fit my body, and it makes a huge difference. I'm a middle-age man, but am very fit. However, most off the rack clothing is cut for the average American male physique, which means that shirts that fit me in the shoulders generally have tons of extra fabric around the mid section. Now, every short sleeve shirt I buy gets "the treatment". I take up the sleeves to mid-bicep (because showing bicep is the male equivalent to showing cleavage), take them in to hug my biceps, and then taper the shirt to the waist to show off my trim waistline and emphasize my shoulder to waist ratio. Quite honestly, it's amazing how much more attention I get based upon that one simple change.
lol I agree! Hand sewing is so slow. I only do it when I absolutely must.
As a kid I liked cross stitch, and I think I still might (I’m also a knitter so slow processes are fine) but I don’t enjoy the end product so I never do it.
Cross stitch looks like fun, but I don't want any cross stitched stuff afterwards, I guess.
Most modern sewing machines have capability to do so much more than you probably really need.
Personally, all I really need is a machine that can do straight stitches with adjustable stitch length and reversing. I have a 1950s machine that does that, and it was free to me, and there's attachments for zigzagging if I want.
If you are just patching and altering clothes, that's probably all you need, too.
Yep, definitely.
No need to spunk loads of money on something I'll not use to its full capacity...
A second hand simple model will be sufficient.
The most exciting thing I'll end up making is probably pillowcases/cushion covers.
Or that dress from IASIP
What was your hand-me-down? I'm working with a 1950s machine, and it seems to work great for me, but i have to admit I haven't used a machine built in the past 20 years, so idk what I'm missing.
It was a 1971(? I think) Kenmore of all things. I had no idea Kenmore even made sewing machines, but apparently they did. I still have it. I couldn’t get the zipper foot to work and the proverbial straw was that not only could I find no help online, but the guy at the repair shop said “Why are you bothering?” Although that did rub me the wrong way, admittedly. I took it to a different shop and they said essentially the same thing but in a much kinder and gentler way. (I bought a new machine from them instead of the first guy.) I decided I wanted something I could at least find help for on YouTube, and in fact I have watched videos a few times when I couldn’t figure something out… or whenever I want to do a blind hem because I can never remember how to do it.
Ah, I wonder if it was new enough to not be dead simple, but not new enough to not have any documentation or spare parts?
I didn't even know what a zipper foot is, but it turns out I have one, lol. That shows what I know.
Oh yeah, I bought a cheap machine pre-2000 and it's paid for itself several times over just making boat canvas and doing sail repairs.
My sous vide, 100% I have never gotten a steak from a restaurant that was better than what I make at home with my sous vide and a good thick iron pan. It cost $100 and it probably paid for itself with one package of steaks from Costco.
Agreed! Sous vide has turned me into a steak snob! I'm looking at $50-$60 steakhouse steaks to get close to how mine come out. And my circulator is just a cheapo $25 Aldi model. Still going strong even after 12 years.
My noise cancelling headphones.
Bose QC35s and I’ve worn them until the ear cups basically fell off, then replaced those for ~$20USD and am still getting daily use out of them.
They have made public life actually livable and music is fantastic with them, plus noisy roommates are no longer as upsetting to be around, lol.
I LOVE them. Work with them a lot of my time, they signal that I want to be left alone and I also can just not listen to my colleagues yapping
Careful not to use them too loud though studies are being done and finding that hearing loud sounds consistently especially earbuds/headphones over/in ear are killing the hairs in ear that help with keeping hearing good
I appreciate it lol, I’m very careful with my hearing and actually use them as ear protection at concerts and sports events as well!
My 3d printer(s). I bought my first one used for $100 ~10 years ago and offered to print a small model for someone's college capstone project. People learned I had a printer and started coming to me for all sorts of small things. I would only charge for substantial jobs but people would end up paying me anyway. I quickly got a resin printer and started selling miniatures for friends. I eventually got contacted by one of the major manufacturers who would send me return units and replacement parts so I could repair and tell them what was broken, if anything, then I could keep or sell them.
Everything I have done with 3d printing has been subsidized by side jobs. It's a super fun hobby because 3d printing sits at the nexus point of basically every other hobby. I have done jobs for people building rat rods, model trains, cosplay, interior designers, hydroponics, brewing, architects, drones, and more.
I bought a cheap 3d printer years ago and I'm pretty sure it's paid for itself just making replacement parts for our dishwasher. Probably paid for itself several times over if I add up the price+shipping of all the other miscellaneous repair parts it's made.
I bought my first one to do exactly that! The clip that held the spring in place to gently lower the door snapped twice and I saw that someone had a beefier one modeled and decided I would buy a printer rather than pay the $17 dollar for another part that would break.
Designing exactly what you need and printing it for pocket change is amazing.
My favorite replacement part was cloning a missing window frame clip from the 80s (original was extruded aluminum).
During covid I bought a 4x4 pickup for 10 grand and it is maybe the best purchase I've ever made in my entire life. 2007 Sierra with every option except sunroof. It's been to the arctic circle and back and I've been out camping at least every second weekend since obtaining it. It's a little beat up but mechanically sound so I don't feel guilty about things breaking or putting kilometers on it and I use it way more than I ever expected to
A book. Teach yourself Perl in 30 days. (Edit - may have been 21 days)
I bought it around 25-30 years ago. I have dyslexia and autism and have had problems learning from books in the past, but something about the way that was written just clicked for me.
It allowed me to write some pretty cool software, including a huge system that ran a large animal charity for a very long time, tons of automation software and scripts, and several full webuis. Indirectly it led me to a new career where I write perl every day.
(I can write in many other languages now, but that was the keystone of everything for me)
It’s it possible the title was Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days?
Yes, I maybe misremembered the title. I couldn't find it in a quick search and it's up in the loft in a box somewhere.
Which book if you don't mind me asking?
Hair clippers. I started with a $25 cordless rechargeable one that I got on sale during the pandemic when everything closed down. I recently upgraded to a much better and more powerful corded variant. Looking at how much haircuts are these days plus tips, it definitely has paid for itself multiple times over.
Robot mower. I bought one on sale 4 months ago. It hasn’t paid for itself yet because I’ve only had it for a short while, but I believe within a year it will, with how much time and effort I save for myself. That and my knees and back are thanking it.
The corded ones really are better than the cordless ones. My bf went through several cordless ones before I bought him a corded one. Years later, it's still going strong. Don't know why the lifespan is so different. They're the same brand.
I think the battery-powered ones are simply just weaker. Making them as powerful as the corded versions means shorter working times and you have to re-charge more frequently. Mine was also getting jammed with hair clippings that I had to clean them out after every use. My corded clipper on the other hand has barely any hair on it after use and a light brushing cleans it up. It also has fewer nooks and crannies for hair to get stuck in.
Safety razor
Blades are extremely cheap and always gives a great shave.
Elliptical and dumbbells
Gym memberships add up quick so went with a cheaper elliptical and a nice set of adjustable dumbbells.
Kobo ereader
As I get more into reading I've come to appreciate that this one allows loading my own ebooks from my PC which can save a ton depending on use case.
Safety razor was a game changer for me. Although I do find that some brands of blades irritate my skin and some don't, might be worth trying multiple if you get one.
lots of online stores that specialize in that stuff sell variety packs of blades so you can find what works for you.
I bought a Kobo as well, after having a ton of DRM issues with books I've bought on kindle. I love the Kobo!
I have priced out gym equipment, because I live 100 miles from the nearest "city" (...which is, like 20,000 people).
At $30/mo for a gym membership, it would take me >15 years to pay for a decent, mid-range power rack, Olympic bars, and bench. And that's not including the weights themselves, which are usually $2-5/pound. A decent elliptical machine from eBay? Another 2 years, plus a year and a half for shipping.
If you're serious about weights, and not independently wealthy, it almost always makes more sense to have a gym membership.
Agreed. For anything beyond the simplest setup membership is the way to go especially if near enough to some of the cheaper options; we had a Planet Fitness open near us that offers $10/month for lowest tier membership (prior it was YMCA at $70/month for the family).
I have a kegerator that isn’t seeing much use as I don’t really get full kegs of beer anymore these days. We were buying cans of seltzer by the case and I figured I could just make my own. So I got a new 5 gallon keg for around $100 and some connectors and stuff. Got my co2 tank filled. Filled the keg with water and cranked the pressure up. After a day or two I had decently carbonated water. Pour a glass like you would a beer, add a little lemon or lime juice for flavor and boom. Seltzer. Been doing that a few years now. Between the co2 fills and the water from my tap it probably costs me $2-3 per 5 gallon “batch”. Compare that to $10-15 for a case of twenty four 12oz cans.
For all others who didn't own a pub before: things like sodastream do basically the same and are easy to place and handle.
I have a similar setup (keezer), and i really want to start kegging a wider variety of drinks, but I'm not going to make a whole 5 gallon batch of tepache. Putting 1 gallon of liquid into a 5 gallon keg isn't ideal cause you either have a lot of oxygen in the headspace, or have to waste a lot of co2 purging.
Unfortunately, 1 gallon kegs are way more expensive than 5 gallon kegs.
Woa.
Leatherman. Spent like $140 on a good one (Signal) and it was used nearly every day. Pliers, screwdriver, pry, cut, etc. Great to have easily available on the hip.
I got a Leatherman Wave years ago and it's almost always on my hip.
Fantastic thing.
My Skeletool is 12 years old and still going strong. I love that thing. Gets used almost every day.
I have a Leatherman Tool, as in, when they only had one model, and it was called the Tool. I dread the day when I inevitably lose it somehow.
Stainless steel cookware. Spend the extra money to avoid shitty non-stick and aluminum. Steel heats evenly and maintains temperature. My food has improved a lot just with this change
Related: a good knife. Get a good santoku and you'll be prepared for the vast majority of kitchen tasks.
Good stainless cookware can be stupid cheap, too. If you don't care about fancy tri-ply, you can get a perfectly usable pan from a restaurant supply store for $20.
A slipping torque wrench, two jack stands, and a hydraulic jack. I change the summer and winter tires on several cars twice/year and have been since the 90s
House insulation.
I live in Australia where the minimum insulation required by law is a long way below inadequate, and many cheap contractors go below the minimum because it's so hard to prosecute them.
I already had solar and a house battery, so the next obvious step was replacing the insulation. With my already very low electricity bills I cant say that it literally paid for itself (although it would have without the solar and battery), but it has made the house so much more comfortable. On some summer days, the AC would be using 7kW and barely keeping the inside temperature down to 30°C/85°F. Now it uses 3-5kW and the whole house stays comfortable.
Also, finding and patching the massive gaps from the previous "landlord special" house extension made a huge difference to the temperature of that room, and explained how lizards had managed to get inside.
My robot vacuum! My robot vacuum with the little home dock tower thing that lets it dump its load and keep vacuuming! I had the original robot vacuums that didn't have a dock to dump their garbage in and it helped some but mostly it needed to be cleaned more often than I would have vacuumed my house without it, the newer ones with big receptacles are so worth it, once a week I dump his container and change his filters and maybe give him a little wipe down with a dust rag and he's happy as a clam. I bought a set of replacement filters so that I can take the old filters out and use my big vacuum on them to get most of the dust and then chuck them in the washing machine, once they're clean they go in the filter drawer and I just rotate filters once a week.
You can clean the filters by putting them in the washing machine?! I thought they were made of paper and would not survive the washing machine cycle. Just to be sure, mine look like these (voyager is failing to upload the pic for some reason, sorry): https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSqQZcMMvdraSycQnJnIhZCuRQKP7bIE7FfPhSuvLU6Ygc8IYL33ARA5h-6&s=10
Mine is a shark and has a different looking filter than that. They probably weren't designed to be checked in the washing machine but it has worked every time I've done it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
does it use a spinning brush. how often do you need to clean that. I sorta feel it would be better for it to be like a wet/dry vac. It would not vaccum as well but might be fine enough for in between
It's a brush similar to a regular vacuum, a long thin tube with bristles. Like I said I clean the vacuum about once a week, including checking that everything spins like it's supposed to. The wet/dry versions do look like they would be much more effective at keeping your house actually clean however when I bought mine several years ago those were still well over $1,000 and not yet a well-tested enough setup but I would have trusted it to have water going around my house without supervision. If my vacuum dies and I need to buy another one I will most likely buy a wet dry vac but I don't see a reason to upgrade for now as long as mine keeps the majority of the mess away. It's definitely not perfect, but a regular vacuum isn't perfect even if you do it three times a day you still going to have dirty rugs that need to be washed and a hardwood floor that needs mopped. The dust collector being about 1-2 cups worth of dust and cat hair when I change it out each week makes me feel very confident that it helps keep my house cleaner than I would be able to on my own, and for the roughly $300 I spend on it over 4 years ago, well worth the price.
A comb binder for bookmaking.
I print off a lot of RPG books and music that would otherwise cost a fortune. Now it's basically the cost of toner and paper.
I like having an e-reader for most stuff, but some things are just better as physical objects that can be marked up and tabbed.
I just scored a comb binder from a job. I got it with that exact use in mind. Do you get front and back cover pages or just use paper?
I cut down construction paper to use as the front and back covers (I usually print a front cover, but the back is black), then use a sheet of transparency film on each side to protect the whole thing and give it a more finished look.
Edit: example
Dude, that's fab.
When Germany first came up with the idea of subsidising electric cars, we were able to snatch an electric golf for about 20k€. We're commuting a lot, making roughly 25k km per year on each car.
When we were using our regular electricity provider, we reduced our monthly gas bill from more than 300 € to less than 100 € for the golf. Since we switched to a contract that is bound to stock market prices, we lowered it to less than 40. Saving about 270 € per month now.
Factoring in about 500 € of taxes saved each year and between 1000 and 2000 Euros worth of repairs for our old combustion engine cars per year, the car already paid for itself and saves us money.
DE-razor I shave with a new blade every second shave and it's still cheaper than any other shaving method that I've tried. On top of that the shaving soap last for ages (literally years) and the shaving experience is fantastic if you get the right razor.
Don't go down the fancy road to start with though. I have some expensive stuff that I don't use and have fallen for a cheap razor from temu and proraso green soap. Also just a nylon brush works fine for me to lathe up the soap
Hell yeah. No more plastic, aerosols, costs a fraction of those 8-blade washing boards, and gives me at least as good a shave after a little practice. Zero regrets.
I bought a box of 50 blades and a case of arko soap like a decade ago for probably $20 and I haven't finished either one yet. I'm only like halfway through the soap.
That's great! Although I'd strongly recommend changing blades more often. They are so cheap that they are not worth overextending like that. Your face deserves better
I change them when they start to struggle, it's more that I usually only shave like once a week. Also they're Feather blades which seem to last quite a while.
I think that I've got very sensitive skin so I feel them tugging already after a few shaves
I also have one which hit break-even years ago compared to thouse Gillette Mach 3 etc ones. I am also using Proraso shaving soap, but for my sensitive skin the red one is the best, followed by white. Started with green and tried it again two months ago, bit it is not as good as the other ones for me.
A local NAS for storing all my files, especially if you consider all the value I deprived from Google and Microsoft by not engaging with their cloud bullshit. Even if you don't, I paid like $500 CAD one single time for a 16 TB server hard drive and $300 for a consumer hard drive I'm using as an offline emergency backup. Meanwhile just 2 TB of Google Drive costs $139.99 CAD per year. I wasn't able to find pricing for 16 TB but assuming it scales linearly (like if I had 8 2TB accounts since Google seemingly doesn't offer any higher capacity for individuals), that would be $1,119.92 per year. Even factoring in the hard drive enclosure and the server itself, they've paid for themselves in literally half a year. That's saying nothing of the kind of internet connection I would need to match the read speed of a mechanical hard drive on the local network. I could literally upgrade my entire house to 10 gigabit with the money I saved.
Do you have any guide suggestions I can use to get it setup. Seems like a great thing overall
I'm using an old thinkpad with Ubuntu Server as the OS. Almost any OS will do, but Ubuntu server has a single button to install docker during the OS install, so it's easy.
I'm using docker compose instead of docker so that I can look at and update any scripts, and don't have to remember anything. For the file sharing, I'm currently upgrading from Samba to Copyparty - the best software I have seen in a long time.
I'm also using WireGuard and Syncthing to duplicate the storage to an identical laptop in a family member's house, rsync for weekly backups, and calendar reminders to do a monthly offline backup (automated with a script except for remembering to connect and disconnect the external drive).
I doubt you need all of this, but an old laptop with docker has so many options that you might start adding more stuff just because you can. I've also added HomeAssistant, Immich, and even a Factorio server to the same laptop using docker.
I mostly just cobbled my setup together, but the main parts are a mini PC to act as a server and a USB 3 multi-bay hard drive enclosure. I bought one brand new NAS grade hard drive to store the things I can't afford to lose, and repurposed any decently sized old hard drives I had lying around for storing stuff that already exist on the internet and that I don't really mind losing if the hard drive dies. I also have an M.2 SSD for fast storage of files I'm actively using.
The specs of the server doesn't matter that much for a NAS, but my server is pretty beefy by mini PC standards because it handles all my home server related needs, not just as a NAS. If you're only using it as a NAS with maybe a PiHole (ad blocking DNS server) instance or similar in the future, you can can either get a lower end (or refurbished) mini PC or a higher end single board computer like a Raspberry Pi 5, depending on what's cheaper at the moment.
I'm running Fedora Server on it with LUKS encrypted Btrfs volumes on each drive. After each bootup I have to SSH into the server and run a bash script I wrote, where I'll enter my password and let it unlock and mount each drive. It's clunky but I trust it more than the TPM which is proprietary. If you don't care about encryption, you can just put a regular filesystem on your choice on the drives, and configure Linux to mount each drive on bootup by adding them to /etc/fstab.
For accessing the NAS, I can currently only do so from the local network which suits my needs, but in the future I could also set up a VPN server that I can tunnel into from the internet to access. I use Linux for all my personal computers so this probably won't be applicable to most people, but I mount the NAS as an SSHFS volume and simlink folders I want to offload to the server. I chose SSHFS mainly because it's an easy way to have an encrypted link to a network share that's already supported by default. I wanted an encrypted protocol since it would defeat the purpose of encrypting the drives if the data just goes over the network with no encryption, but again, if you don't care about encryption you can just use NFS or SMB (more likely SMB if you use Windows, since that's what it supports natively). This also means that my work computer, which runs Windows, can't even see the network share because it has no SSH access to my server and even if it did, Windows doesn't support SSHFS anyway.
Last but definitely not least, I have one consumer grade hard drive with enough space to backup my main server hard drive and some extra, in a basic USB C enclosure. Every month I plug it in and sync the server drives over to it. This means if the server's main hard drive dies, I accidentally rm -rf the server, I get one of the super rare Linux ransomwares, or my dog knocks the drive enclosure down, I don't lose all my data.
This is probably way overkill in some ways and desperately deficient in others. For anyone else I'd definitely recommend picking a ready made open source NAS OS, which will usually have excellent and beginner friendly community made documentation, and support for Windows clients through SMB. I can't recommend one myself because I don't use them, but I'm sure others can.
If you take data backup seriously you need an offsite backup
I know, but I don't really know how I'd practically do that without using the cloud. I guess I could rent a safe deposit box and put my hard drive there but I feel like my lazy ass would promptly not bother to spend an entire day commuting to retrieve it, commuting home, syncing my server, and then commuting back.
My solar panels have. Literally.
Bicycle for sure. I'm going to get one fitted for winter and hopefully be able to use either depending on weather all year round going forward.
Dishwasher. It might not have paid for itself in money but in peace of mind - how I hate doing dishes. It ruins my day and stresses me out, so not having to deal with it has been truly valuable.
Hiking boots. They're meant for summer hiking but I use them all season, but with studs in winter. Have saved my ankles and feet from twisting, blisters, heat and cold.
For people who rent and don't have a space for a dishwasher or you don't have one included
Desktop versions do exist but they are obviously smaller
yeah Im pretty sure every bike I have had has gotten its value worth and then some even if you use public transit cost savings instead of the more expensive car.
My Sodastream has saved me a lot of money—with some cheap syrups I just make very inexpensive nice drinks. Especially considering I got mine second-hand and refill it through a local guy who fills the cylinders for half the price. I suppose I could save even more money if I figure out how to refill the cylinders myself.
I have one and used it for a long time but the fact is it just can't generate as much carbonation as drinks you buy commercially.
Mmm, that is true. But honestly, the amount of carbonation I do get is enough, for me. Just enough to make it taste a bit fancier.
How many times are you pressing the button
I press 3 times, holding each time until the water rises near the top then I stop and press again until it's 3 times
Gets very bubbly without that unpleasant sharp taste you get from supermarket drinks
Though I've heard the drinkmate softdrink machines are better but they're only avalible online and I'm not completely sure if the sodastream c02 cans are compatible or not
Get one of those rentable food safe C02 gas cans that you keep and you just pay for C02 refills and just mod your sodastream to accept it or get an adapter
When you no longer need the tank you just return it
Not sure if you can buy the tank instead of renting it
Way more economical than the sodastream two you buy at the shop
Though YMMV depending on your location
Though if your feeling fancy get one of the more expensive carbonators ones that you can install in your countertop
Im one of the folks who has one but stopped using it. likley still got my value out of it as much as I did though. I can recommend getting an adapter cable to connect to a standard tank. It does take up more room. I had the soda stream on a counter with the cable going to the tank on the floor. Super cheap to get them filled and last forever.
What do you reckon made you stop using it? What are you drinking now?
I never found an adequate purchased syrup and I got sorta sick of making my own.
Ah, I'm lucky then, here in the Netherlands they sell all kinds of nice syrups in the supermarket! Still looking for a nice cola taste, but otherwise I have cherry, tropical fruit, orange, pear... Oh, and green iced tea, which tastes great too.
yeah I was constantly messing around trying to get mountain dew. im one of those. doctor pepper as a secondary.
Thankfully, I'm not even sure how either of those taste 😅
While it hasn't paid for itself yet literally, getting a hybrid electric/gas car has been amazing. I only fill up roughly once a month and it costs ~$20. I've already had it 6 years and the only thing I've had to do is bring it in for the occasional recall notice for system updates.
What about oil changes?
Yeah I keep up on those too. I was just mentioning unexpected things outside of normal car maintenance that I had to do.
Gaming PC'S are better than laptops in the long run if you don't need constant portability since they are entirely upgradeable
Though if you need a laptop I'd recomend the framework laptop
Okay so this is a little awkward because I'm a big advocate for using cars as little as possible and fighting to remove car dependant infrastructure. However, I have a truck that's as old as I am, its the only car I've ever owned and its stunning how well it is chugging along. It's seen around 300,000 miles, both coasts of the US, immense hail storms, a small tornado, a multi-car pileup, a few bullets, and multiple hurricanes. It leaks just about every fluid, its hood is a different color because I pulled it from a junkyard, and the trunk has a large bloodstain. Yet the fucker refuses to die, its never even broken down and left me stranded. Every major issue was cheap and fixable at home. I must be immensely lucky because I do not treat it kindly. I didn't personally buy it but its served my entire family for over 2 decades so I'd hope it had payed itself off by now.
Agreed 100%. Would give up driving daily if we had better public transit, but my 90s truck is comfy without being oversized, stupid easy to repair, and free of spying gadgets. Also paid in full with cash, so no monthly loan payments.
Oof, make and model, please
Just came to say I get your opening statement. I have a minivan as I can't 100% go without a car and minivans have the best driver/passenger seating for someone with medical issues like my wife has (you neither have to climb into nor fall onto the seat. perfect but level). I do like it the most out of motor vehicles to as its crazy multipurpose and efficiency is great for anything its size. Even competes with most cars that are not economy size.
My motorcycle has paid for itself many times over in terms of the enjoyment I get out of riding it. It's something I can recommend to anyone, and lets you see the world in a way most people never will.
What are your monthly costs? Does seem fun
Something like 1500/yr for insurance, probably 30/month for gas, assuming I don't take a long trip.
I did a refresher course two months ago, but I haven't gotten around to buy a motorcycle yet. But everything is there, I just need the bike. Really looking forward to it. Stay safe!
If you're willing to wait, you can probably get a good bike used in the spring. Otherwise, head to Craigslist or FBM to find a used bike. Cheaper and already broken in.
I guess my bike? Have saved loads of money on bus tickets and it's much more reliable too.
Sewing machine pays for itself quite quickly as paying a tailor to repair your clothes is like 1/3 the cost of a brand new sewing machine, so just repair like 3 items of clothing to get your money back.
Eufy 11S Max robot vacuum.
We had a Roomba back when they were new. It did ok, but it wasn't really that impressive. My wife had a rechargeable upright vacuum after that. When that died, I argued for going back to a robot vacuum because her health problems were both making it hard for her to use the vacuum and also leaving me too busy to do it.
She resisted because she was never happy with the job the Roomba did. However from day 1, the Eufy vacuum did a visibly good job cleaning and won her over.
We have it set to run once a day. There's one chair it occasionally gets stuck under, and we have to block the base of the fridge or it gets stuck there. Aside from that, it's very independent. It does the vacuuming and then finds its base to recharge for the next day. It needs to be emptied out every day and cleaned more thoroughly once a week.
We've been very pleased with it.
We named it Meryl Sweep.
I wouldn't trust a eufy product in my home after their security camera vulnerability controversy that they initially refused to fix
The vacuum has no capability for an Internet connection and no cameras or audio recorders.
The quality of the vacuum wouldn't lead me to choose anything else from Eufy. It's just a good robotic vacuum.
I have an Eufy named Goofy. He's an early model but works fine, except sometimes he locks himself in the bathroom.
We love Meryl.
I'm going to get a piece of wood, paint it white, and mount it under the fridge so she doesn't get caught underneath.
Leo finds her a bit frightening.
Just when he thinks he's safe, she turns around and goes on the attack.
Put 11.6 KW of solar on the roof. I'll hit break even next year. Should have 15-20 years left of use.
My Nancy pelosi stock bot has done really well
Care to share?
It's called Autopilot, I just downloaded it and it synced with my Robinhood account. Costs 100 bucks a year for the automated trading. I've been up 40% over the year
Is Nancy Pelosi the best performing?
Edit: this app really only for mobile? No desktop? Sus
I think Jim Simmons is the best performing one they have that's included with the regular subscription. It's a new one though I think, I did the Nancy Pelosi one for a year and it was the best performing for that period. And yeah it is kinda sus that it's a mobile only afaik
I thought this didn't work because by the time their purchases are disclosed, you are already buying past the rise in price?
That is true, but it's about the percentages. If you make the trades as they get released to the public, you still make money. It's within a few percent of what Pelosi is making. I switched to a different one that is reported instantly as far as I know instead of Pelosi's 14 days average. It's the Jim Simmons tracker
My tractor has more than paid for itself.
I got a hot air rework station with a soldering iron many years ago.
The things I've repaired with it are so numerous, I cannot even recount them all, but here are a few:
Even though some of that work was just replacing old capacitors, I have saved so much money by buying "broken" stuff and fixing it up. No regrets. Over the years, I paired the station with a hotplate and a solder sucker and now I could probably open up an electronics repair shop. But I mostly do these repairs for fun. Fixing things calms my mind and soothes my soul.
Can you post a gear list? I got an iron a while ago and some crappy Amazon sucker tubes but I really think I'm missing some stuff because I'm either missing stuff or using crappy solder. I like to try and just take components off boards for practice but even that is a huge struggle. I've fixed a couple things but it's rough work for sure.
I know it's probably a skill issue, but I think some other tools might make certain things a bit easier as well, but without someone I know to ask questions I don't want to just buy some random stuff.
Heat the metal, heat the PCB a little bit, then solder. I'm terrible at soldering and my friend just taught me that trick.
Have a lot of fun! Soldering get's really easy if you have the right gear. Swapping out the crappy amazon solder with the good stuff from Praud made the biggest difference, imho. You can already solder a lot of stuff with a 30W soldering iron from the hobby store, but flux and solder are what's really important.
There's a lot of really cheap solder on amazon with way too high melting points. Sometimes the sellers just lie on their datasheet, I once fell for CFH fake solder which barely melted, even when I had my iron on overdrive. It wasn't me, it was the crappy and fake product!
Thank you so much!
I have a Weller WLC 40w, I did a good bit of reading before I bought it but I might have missed the mark. I got a brass sponge that I stuck in an old metal canister, and some of those crappy plastic unpowered vacuum suckers off Amazon.
I did buy my solder on Amazon, I wonder if that's been an issue. It's this: Kester 24-6337-0010 44 Rosin Core Solder 63/37, and I don't use flux with it.
The solder you have, is it regulated because of lead content? I can go buy a hunk of pure lead without question so it's weird to me if that's the case.
You need to get in touch with your local Repair Café! It's sounds like you would make a perfect addition. :)
I love both my eBook reader (that 505 won't die) and my PS3 (which could really use a reflow).
How difficult would you say reflowing one of the OG 60GB models is?
If you need to swap the RSX out, you'll have no chance with a hot air station. You will need an infrared rework station. Reflowing the RSX is only a short-term solution, because the underfill of the chip itself has a defect. All 90nm RSX chips are bad.
There are people putting a 65nm (or 40nm) chip from the later models into the FAT PS3's. This is called the "Frankenstein mod" and some repair shops in the US are providing that service. If you want to have a FAT lady that will last forever, I'd say this is the best solution.
I was really lucky, because I got my model going by swapping out the Tokin capacitors (but I'm aware this probably won't last when the RSX finally gives up). The FAT PS3 board is very thick and sucks away a lot of the heat. I needed to put the board on the preheater and then used hotair combined with that to remove the caps.
Eventually I'll get around to fixing it, right now it will power up find and then will cut out after a few minutes... Or at least that's what it was doing last time I messed with it so it's just been unplugged and back in the box for nearly a decade now.
Thanks for all the info, definitely let's me know not to just toss it in an oven (that was the original plan, then I shelved it).
My smart car has definetly paid for itself. I got it off someone who was going to junk it for 750 bucks. They were going to junk it because a mechanic quoted them how much the car was worth to fix it. The actual fix is an hour of cleaning and 3 bolts total. I still haven't done that just cleared the code since if you drive it right it doesn't have any issues. But yeah 40 mpg if your nice to it and 38 if you're beating the crap out of it has definetly saved me a ton of money. The only real complaint I have is the wind noise is loud above 40 mph and once you get to 75 80 there's no way you are having a conversation past 90 I think earplugs are a good idea.
50ft electric plumbing snake. Cost $60 and saved me $200+ bill first time I used it. I've used it for friends and family as well, making its value well over 10x in savings, not just my own.
I finally let myself buy a 12v fridge thing for the car, and it has pretty much paid for itself on the first road trip. I wish I had done this sooner. We packed lunches vs drive thru. And it kept my road sodas sooo perfectly cold, I had no temptation to stop and get icy fountain drinks. I went for a model that I can set the temp even down to negative digits Fahrenheit, hoping that it will perform better in the summer compared to earlier units that are basically electric coolers (no temp control, basically they can only cool things 20° from ambient temp). And it's inaugural road test was daytime temps in 70s and 80s with no issues getting to 35° in the fridge.
My grandpa had one when we were little that he loved, but imo never kept stuff cold enough. Do you have a link to what you bought? I wouldn't mind looking into one for an upcoming road trip.
How big is this thing? do you access it (via passenger) while driving or do you have to pull off?
Been eyeing one myself but haven't found a good mixture of size and convenience that I feel it could replace fast food and gas station sodas.
It could fit in the passenger side footwell of my SUV, but I kept it in the way back because I'd rather have my sweetie riding up front, and I also have an extra 12V outlet back there.
They do come in different sizes. Some have wheels. Mine is 18L and about 15 pounds, so wheels not necessary. Its about a mid to large size cooler shape. Not one of the ones you'd take deep sea fishing, but maybe a small tailgate. Think side handles cooler, not one where the single bar handle locks the lid in place.
I do not recommend rooting around in it while driving, though if I put it in my pickup on a solo road trip, I probably would put it on the front passenger seat, where if I were stopped at a red light, I could quickly grab another drink.
If you want me to PM you the link to mine, I'm happy to do so.
So for example, if I wanted to minimize stopping, I would pack a wrap type sandwich for easy hand holding. I use a tall coffee travel mug in a cupholder to hold trail mix for extra snacking. And I might pre "crack" some lids on some bottles then tighten them back down, so they're easier to open one handed. If you like cans, then you have a leg up already.
My most frequent solo trip is 500 miles to my old hometown. I usually make 1 stop midway to fill up the tank (even though I can get 400+ miles out of 1 tank), hit the restroom, stretch, maybe walk around a retail store just for fun, then back at it until home. But without a way to keep cold drinks, I would be stopping probably every 100 miles, lol.
This is something I keep getting close to buying, but it seems like all the reputable brands i know are very expensive.
Then there's "6-letter, All-Caps"-brands selling for like 1/6th the price and they are app controlled which is bad to me, and I'm suspicious of those brands, anyway.
Both my 4080 and cintiq tablet. Together they cost me over $4k but it was definately worth it. Besides gaming on them, they netted me a lot of freelancing jobs so I earned more than what I spent on them by far.
What kind of freelancing? Art creation?
2d art commissions, videos, 3d sculpts, and 2d animation mainly
About 3 years I bought a mechanic set of ratchets and wrenches and some other tools for changing my own oil and some other auto repairs. All in I spent about $500. In July, I changed my own brakes and rotors and 2 vehicles I own. On that job alone I saved over $1000 dollars. Not to mention all the times I changed my oil. I also changed my spark plugs on one of my cars and found a gasket leak that I also fixed which was probably another $500.
Best investment of my life.
A lot of my work gear is sort of pricey but it keeps me safe and working. Usually pays itself off within a month or two and will last at least a few years.
If I'm understanding you correctly and you just got the DAC purely to be a volume know then I disagree with you because keyboards with volume knows exist.
That's still changing the Volume from the OS which I find changing the volume to not be as smooth compare to using a Desktop DAC and using knob on my keyboard, volume controls feels like a stair-step where it either bit too high or low and it's difficult to get it just right. That's why I like Desktop DAC and use it even over the volume knob on my keyboard.
Has ink tanks so money isn't wasted on cartridges and the printer is actually initially expensive unlike those printers that make money back on ink catriges
Makes it easier to mount shit to bricks, goes in brick like butter if you're using the right drill and bits
I recomend Ryobi Hammer Drill & Bits
I've stopped using my oven and only use it rarely for things that I don't want blown apart thst I can weigh down with a fork or spoon like Pizza for example
I recently got these to aid in Japanese study and refillable pens are more economical in the long run
And Japanese brands go hard on the quality of stationary and I got introduced into the cult of stationary obsession with this
I'll edit my comment if I can think of anything else
Make sure you use that printer once a month. I let mine sit and the ink dried on its nozzels or somewhere and now it won't work. I've attempted to fix it with no luck. Was a great printer until that happened.
I've got another one:
Long before COVID, I would go to a barber shop for haircuts.
The place I went to had one short, old guy who had arthritis. I'm tall, and long in the torso. When he was cutting my hair, he couldn't lower the chair enough to be able to cut my hair, so I'd have to scoot down in the chair so that I was sitting with my ass at the edge of the seat and my spine bent so my head was low enough.
When you entered the shop, you'd write your name on the board, and if you wanted someone specific to cut your hair, you'd put the barber's name next to yours. So, I started picking one of the taller, younger guys to cut my hair.
One day I was in a rush, and there was a line, so I figured I'd just take whoever was available and scoot down if I had to. The old guy skipped over me two times. When someone pointed out that I was there before him, the barber got pissy and said, "he doesn't want me cutting his hair"
One of the other barbers apologized and took me next. I gave that guy a $20 tip.
When I got home I went online and bought a Flowbee. I haven't been to a barber shop since. It does a great job, there's no line to wait in, it takes me about 10 minutes, leaves no mess behind, and I haven't paid for anything but electricity and shop vac bags ever since.
No barber visit for 7 years now. been clipping myself ever since.
My litter robot! I got mine refurbished so it was a little cheaper. Not only is it worth it to not have to scoop all the time and somehow still have a stinky house, it has saved me TONES on litter. I buy one 40lb bag for $20 a month and that's more than plenty, whereas before it would be at least 2.5 bags a month. All that and still I would buy all sorts of different scent absorbers and diffusers and good smelly type things to try and mask it and it never worked. So I'm saving about 30 bucks a month on cat litter and probably 40 bucks a month on good smellies and filters AND my house actually smells nice. Totally worth it, even with the almost $500 price tag for the refurbished machines. Just with the savings on litter and smellies it probably paid for itself within a year.
Camping hammock, it's what I sleep in most nights. My body complains when I have to use a mattress
$20 Cabelas fleece. I bought one in late 2014 and wore it everyday for half the days out of the year ever since. It's overdue for a good replacement, though.
I also have two DE razors and for a while was intrigued by the idea of the cheapest shave. -Pennies per shave
A bicycle. No gas to pay, no parking fees, no insurance, and I can do most of the maintenance.
A good set of small screwdrivers from iFixit. I’ve done stuff like change watch batteries. Usually a jeweller will charge you ten bucks for that, while the battery itself costs a tenth of that.
On watches like most Casios, it’s as simple as unscrewing four simple screws and popping in a new battery. Do that three times and the screwdrivers will pay for themselves.
They’re also wildly useful for everything else, of course. Highly recommended.
Ifixit, I used to trust them more but they recently burned my trust recently because of some incorrect teardown instructions that cause more potential for damage
https://youtube.com/shorts/OJLxPHG-jCg
This person enters from the top of the magic mouse gently prying the glass off which is way easier to enter
Ifixit for some reason choose to enter through the bottom and gave a lower score
https://youtu.be/BCKxAQXdTJ8
This person properly tears down the essential phone while ifixit for some god-damn reason choose to freeze the phone, yes they actually froze the phone which caused condensation between the glass and the screen if I recall correctly from looking at IFixIt's teardown
And idiotic "news" sites having a slow news day decided to report on it without factchecking ifixit
This is not to say IFixIt's product quality and customer service are bad though because I actually bought their antistatic wrist band thing when building my gaming PC and it was very good quality and their customer service was helpful and quick in cancelling an order where I realised I accidentally orded the wrong product past the point where you could cancel it online
But I'll still be wary of IFixIt I'm the future though
Personally, all I know is the tools. Which came recommended, and did not disappoint. I try to stay out of other drama beyond that :D
Any gadget/tool/product with standard AA/AAA C/D sized batteries and a bunch of rechargeable batteries. Mostly, if I leave a gadget is because it doesn't work, or because the included rechargeable battery is depleted and hard to replace.
I'm the other way around. Anything I buy i want to run off 18650 (or similar) cells, and i don't like anything that requires disposable batteries.
Im pretty sure they are talking about getting rechargable AA/AAA/C/D batteries.
If the battery is of huge capacity, that's fine too.
I'm going to say my $50 charcoal grill. I've had more propane grills fail on me in 5 years, and charcoal grill keeps going. I know its terrible for the environment.
A private jet is way worse for the environment. I think you're okay.
Your little grill is hardly terrible for the environment. Maybe for your lungs, but that's why you don't inhale the charcoal.
My Casio A 168 - I like watches and typically I would opt for more expensive ones but I still marvel at the amount of watch you get for this kind of money. The design is great, very comfortable to wear, very precise and has a very good battery lifetime and background light.
Someone else already mentioned a safety Razor.
My iron pan - much healthier, more ecological and will last longer than I will ever live.
Obviously my bike. Saved so much money on it. Although I still need to figure out what I should do with my very rusty chain. Should I replace it?
Yes replace it! It feels good to help your bike after all you've been through. Spent more than my bike is worth on repairs lol
Hair clipper. Paid for itself in two uses. It's been years.
First thing that comes to m8nd is my Pitbull head shaver. I s(h)aved several hundred euros on simple head shaves, 2 minutes a time.
How short does it cut? I use a razor, which I assume is closer? But I wonder how close they are.
razor will be definetely shorter, but the pitbull also gives a pretty clean shave (to the point of undistinguishable difference - to me at least) and it literally takes like 60-90 seconds. lemmy show you: (cat for scale ;))
Wow, thanks for that. I'd say the pic looks like what mine does after a shave with the razor. Looks like I know what I'll be buying at some point. Thanks again for the help.
I bought a big pack of eneloop rechargeable batteries a decade ago and they are just within the last year or so starting to fail.
When you are replacing a water heater, always get the biggest one possible. Nothing is worse than being the second person showering, and you run out of hot water halfway through. It used to happen to me every day.
Then we had to replace it, and a bigger one wasn't that much more. I asked myself if it was worth $100 to never have a cold shower again, and then got an even bigger one than that.
Haven't had a cold shower since.
Gas here.
Its instant, no storage.
I mean, it depends, I wouldn't say always go for the biggest one you can, because the bigger the volume, the more it will cost to heat up and keep hot. E.g. we have a 50 liter water heater that's enough for three people, and in the worst case scenario, it only takes like 20 minutes for it to go from cold to hot.
Everyone has to decide if the additional expense of buying and maintaining a larger hot water heater is worth it, but I know that I've never regretted it. I know that if my shower went cold every day, I would regret not spending the money, EVERY DAY.
Fair
My waterfront property. I live right on the Chesapeake Bay and man it is just magical.
Battery charger.
Used Wacom Cintiq 21UX I got off FB marketplace for like $300 (MSRP went for $1500+) about 5 years ago. No new drivers are being updated or released for it because it's so old, but it still works great. I've likely made back what I paid for it in art commissions since then.
A couple years ago I bought a lifetime license for Plex and it has been so wonderful. I can truly own my media that I’ve purchased, watch it from any device, and share it with Family and close friends.
Obligatory Jellyfin is better and free
Jellyfin is awesome. The only thing is getting remote access to work has been hard for me to figure out. I’m very glad that there’s multiple good options for media servers.
$80 for both), we've sold our Prius since we bought them ($5000), we're not paying for gas for trips within the city ($30/mo), we're not paying insurance or parking or maintenance or any of that crap (~$20-30/mo or so). So they have paid off within the first couple of weeks. And there's so much more: both of us lost some weight, city errands are sometimes faster, and usually more pleasant now (no being stuck in traffic ever), and we're not wasting space on a useless hunk of metal or polluting the air we breathe.I had never heard of the pinecil before, thank you! I'll keep that saved for when I want to upgrade my dinky little iron
My AF makes it hard to go poo, so I guess me having to get surgery for it means it forced me to pay something for it.... ?
Try getting a stool that raised your legs to the point where you are squatting or near squatting over the toilet
It relaxes the sphincter if I recall correctly
🙏
Two pairs of black Carhartt cotton duck overalls I bought in 2010 and 2011. One knee is blown out but they are the softest most comfortable clothes I own. I still wear them once or twice a week, wash on hot, dry on hot. These, a Dickies pocket T shirt, and 15 year old 14 eye steel toe Docs are the 'uniform of the day'. Other than a few nice suits and some shorts, I'm pretty much not interested in clothing. The suits were bought for corporate recognition and I work from home otherwise.
I'd bet that selfhosting jellyfin and running sunshine/moonlight has saved me close to $800 on comparable services since I learned to do it last year. So I'd have to say my GPU, which is used mostly for those purposes.
Only problem there for me was that it went off the rails for me, i got some 100TB of storage and I've been collecting old movies and shows that can't be found anywhere on Netflix type services. II spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours by now
a pair of PSB 50 mkII loudspeakers. I paid ~$650 Cdn for them back in 1992, and still have them cranking from my office/gaming PC.
Bought a sunrise alarn clock then felt some benefits of waking up easier
Then used it with combination of opening curtains and that energized me a lot
Now thinking the final evolution will be to have a curtain setup that auto-opens at the set time, and changeable when needed. Not sure yet if anything already exists product-wise for that but that's something that will very likely help you a lot too (Hopefully you have a window next to your bed)
It is super underrated waking up millions times easier via the sun (Pair with consistent sleep schedule of when you sleep and wake)
You sound like you'd really benefit from "Home Assistant" if you're not already using it and the addition of smart bulbs that can change colours to sync with circadian rhythm (and possibly smart switches)
Thanks for the suggestion it does sound like something I would use. I'll give it a go. Appreciate it
They absolutely make “smart” curtains rods.
My sleep schedule doesn’t always have me needing to wake up after sunrise, so I instead have two of those umbrella-looking photography lamps at each side of the foot of the bed. Works great, but hard to convince dates I’m not filming them, so sometimes I have to remove them.
Haha sounds like a good problen to have
My radar detector (Valentine V1 Gen2) literally paid for itself the first time it alerted me of a speed trap ahead. I am guessing it has since saved me 10's of thousands of dollars.