• TauZero@mander.xyz
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    19 days ago

    Bidet - don’t need any fancy standalone appliance, just a $50 nozzle that goes under the toilet seat and plugs into the water hose. Haven’t paid a penny for toilet paper in 6 years.

      • TauZero@mander.xyz
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        19 days ago

        You’d think so! right? But instead it is the idea of smearing shit on your ass with your fingers and a piece of paper that now sounds uncomfortable to me. This is the “completely changed your life” element of it. I’ve been using paper for decades no problem, but now I hate pooping outside of home because there is no bidet there. Beware!

      • BurgerBaron@piefed.social
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        17 days ago

        I use a small amount of toilet paper to pat dry myself.

        Wiping shitty ass with dry paper leads to micro tears and hemorrhoids.

        • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          One further benefit is that it allows you to optimize what little toilet paper you do buy towards strength. Normally there’s a tradeoff. Softer and less abrasive toilet paper is nicer on the bum, but it comes apart more easily. It can leave bits of toilet paper dust around and even tear at the most inopportune time. But if you’re only using a little to dry off, you can buy the strongest stuff you can find, regardless of how harsh it might be to use as regular dry wiping paper. Who cares if it feels like sandpaper if you’re just using it to pat yourself dry?

      • bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        19 days ago

        Maybe they have a fancy bidet with a blower? Or they horded toilet paper during COVID and are working through the surplus? You do pretty much have to dry somehow, but the amount of TP needed to dry a wet asshole is significantly less than cleaning a shitty asshole.

    • FaceDeer@fedia.io
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      19 days ago

      Heh, thirding bidet. I’m still working through the stock of toilet paper I bought as a joke when Covid first hit and everyone was panicking about toilet paper, I bought the bidet right after that and realized I’d be taking a looong time getting through that.

      It’s handy for lots of other stuff too, if I ever need to quickly rinse something the bathtub’s right next to the toilet so I can hold it there and give it a blast.

      • datavoid@sh.itjust.works
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        19 days ago

        I remember back when people were posting pictures to shame the idiots at Costco who were panicking and buying all the toilet paper before anyone else could…

        What I’m trying to say is that’s a “hilarious” joke!

    • MotoAsh@piefed.social
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      18 days ago

      You definitely still need to wipe to be properly clean. Not only is it possible to miss spots with a bidet for uh … messier movements, but the water retains some particles. You’re not using soap, and water will not perfectly remove everything.

      The tell is in the smell. If your ass still smells like an ass, it’s not fully clean.

      • TauZero@mander.xyz
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        18 days ago

        Yes, the water perfectly removes everything and does not splash. I refused to believe it myself. TMI warning: for the first year in my disbelief I would test it personally, for science, by sticking a finger in for “first-hand” comparison. When using paper, no matter how much you wipe, afterwards, even if the finger looks clean, it still has a whiff of ass. Only a full shower after use would remove the whiff entirely. But after using the bidet, the finger looks clean and smells clean, so much so as if there isn’t even a need to wash the finger afterwards (though of course I did anyway). In summary: paper = never fully clean, bidet = fully clean.

        I think the difference in our bidet experiences is the water pressure. Mine is plugged directly into the water supply, and I have good water pressure, so the pressurized stream coming out is tight and powerful like a water pik. It took some getting used to. But it’s easy now and it scours everything. I fear a gabo-style bidet that pours instead of powerwashes (or a spraybottle like the one linked in this thread) would not be as thorough and might indeed require a follow-up wipe. But mine doesn’t.

        • MotoAsh@piefed.social
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          18 days ago

          Nope, mine is also directly hooked up and not one of those stupid misting types. Frigging power washer.

          Maybe you have way less hair down there, or you somehow manage to eat enough fiber, or maybe you just don’t know what a truly clean asshole is, but let me tell you, water is NOT enough for many, many kinds of less than perfectly healthy movements.

          Also, the tell isn’t necessarily in the immediate smell. I should’ve specified a lot better: Water can trap particles that otherwise would get in the air. The real tell is later, after everything’s dry and your ass has been rubbing on your underpants for a while. If you can peel off your underpants and only smell normal sweat smell, that’s clean.

          As an analogy, think of how scientists test for the presence of bacteria. It’s not sampling a surface and taking a whiff. They let that shit grow in a petri dish first. That’s what you’re doing with your ass at all times. Sniffing it right after is akin to sniffing the raw sample, when your ass is going to be the petri dish either way.

          • KombatWombat@lemmy.world
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            17 days ago

            Yeah, a bidet alone isn’t enough to get you clean. It does most of the work, but it’s going to leave remnants that need to be wiped. It’s not a matter of water pressure either. Mine has a stream that will reach the other side of the bathroom at full power, but there’s still going to be debris.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      17 days ago

      Mine was less than $30, installed easily in 20 minutes with a single wrench, and has worked flawlessly for years. Changes your life for the better every single day.

  • glibg@lemmy.ca
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    19 days ago

    A racket ball. I carry it around and bounce it to myself and play catch when I’m bored or walking somewhere. Way more fun than a fidget spinner and I’m building hand-eye coordination.

    • Corngood@lemmy.ml
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      19 days ago

      This is what I needed from this thread. I already know I need a bidet, but the ball sounds way more fun.

  • EponymousBosh@awful.systems
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    18 days ago

    Fitness Adventure Pro for the Switch. Is it an amazing game? No. But it is a fitness game, which means I can get a workout without any equipment to set up and break down, and without having to leave my house. I’ve only been using it a few weeks and I can already feel a difference.

  • RegularJoe@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    Knee pillow. I’m a side sleeper and my hips began to hurt. It was about $10. It’s amazing to think how much a little knee separation can relieve your hips and lower back.

  • ctry21@sh.itjust.works
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    18 days ago

    A garlic press. I avoided them for years because of a mixture of guidance saying it’s just as easy to chop it or it tastes worse from a press. I don’t have the tastebuds to notice it being any worse and it’s certainly a lot easier than chopping since you don’t even have to peel it.

    • EponymousBosh@awful.systems
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      18 days ago

      The “tastes worse from a press” is entirely dependent on the material of the press you’re using. Garlic reacts with stainless steel, hence those stainless steel “soap bars” they make to remove garlic smell from your hands. I got a zinc press for this exact reason.

    • baller_w@lemmy.zip
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      18 days ago

      Oh man, a great hack is to microwave your garlic for about 5 seconds and the peel comes right off.

      • stringere@sh.itjust.works
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        18 days ago

        Take two bowls, toss the garlic cloves in, put the bowls together like clamshells and shake. Peels come right off.

      • CatZoomies@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Never tried that, but I use the press and roll method. Simply press the garlic clove into a cutting board and roll it around a bit while pressing down on it. The peels mostly come off straightaway. I combination with my cheap garlic press, it’s been so nice dealing with garlic such that I use it more.

    • Canopyflyer@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      How you prep garlic depends on what you are doing with it, or what the recipe calls for.

      What it comes down to, the more garlic flavor you want out of a clove, then the more you need to damage the garlic’s cellular walls.

      So this means if you want some garlic flavor, then a rough chop would be fine. If you want a good amount of flavor, then mincing is necessary. If you want a metric f#$k ton of garlic flavor then you run it through a press.

      Why wouldn’t you just use fewer garlic cloves and just use the press all the time? There are many reasons, but mainly because a pressed clove may be too over powering for the recipe. Also, if you are doing a slow cook, then larger pieces of garlic will enfuse the recipe better over the longer cook time than pressed garlic.

      I hope the above makes sense. On the surface it appears that it’s just better to press garlic cloves and just adjust the amount you put in the recipe. However, there are real differences to the final product based upon how the garlic is prepped and added to the recipe.

      • No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        You’re right. But it has never been an issue in my house nor ever someone ever composed a phrase conveying the feeling that there was too much garlic on the food.

        • Canopyflyer@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          Oh, we have at my house and it was completely my fault.

          I was making marinara sauce in bulk for a specific recipe that we make often. At the last minute I decided to press the garlic, but not reduce the amount and the results were not pleasing. It was way too much and none of us are vampires.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      17 days ago

      It’s definitely better than cutting with a knife, but TBH I’ve gone a step further and just started buying it pre-mashed in jar.

    • Taleya@aussie.zone
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      17 days ago

      The more you smoosh garlic, the more allions exposed and the more intense the flavour. That’s how you can range from whole roasted = mild to minced = asshole burning.

      So a chopper is not a replacement for a press or a grater and vice-versa

    • lb_o@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      Try a tiny grate for garlic.

      Press is too hard to wash after use, but swapping to grate made wonders. I have two now.

  • rem26_art@fedia.io
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    19 days ago

    A cheap Jeweler’s loupe from Amazon. It’s like a high magnification magnifying glass with a LED light built into it. I initially bought it to inspect my kitchen knives when I sharpen them, but it’s been useful for inspecting soldering work and other random little things.

    Others have mentioned a powerbank and one of those multiport USB chargers. I’d second those as well, tho I guess they both can climb in price depending on if you need a lot of power capacity.

  • MuttMutt@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    A multi port charger with a replaceable cord. Went from multiple little power bricks to charge each device or play the swap everything game. Plus I can leave the short cord plugged in at home on the headboard and use another cord while traveling.

    A nice fluffy robe with a hood. Get out of the shower when it’s chilly and stay nice and warm.

    Buying two identical pairs of shoes at the same time. Got this trick from a roofer. You can wear one pair on one day and the other the next. If a shoe gets wet you just swap to the other pair. Eventually when they start to get worn you will often have one shoe be in worse condition first but still have a pair with a spare in case the other goes bad. Plus swapping the shoes out allows them to fully dry from sweat and keeps foot odor down.

    A desk mat. Think mouse pad but large enough for the keyboard too. Never run out of room while gaming and it stays put unlike the tiny little pads.

    • Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk
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      18 days ago

      The shoes thing works with expensive dress shoes as well. I knew a guy who wore fairly high end suits and handmade shoes to work. His cobbler told him to always get two pairs and they’ll last a lot longer if you alternate them so they get a rest day than if you buy one pair at a time and use them daily.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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    17 days ago

    I don’t see shoehorn yet, so shoehorn. But, I thought the one I got was more expensive than a plastic thing really should be.

    I got it after reading one of these threads.

              • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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                17 days ago

                Cheap thrills? I’m trying to think of other fun little things I’ve nabbed. I always stock up on paper towels for the car from the gas station, but those are “free”. Oh! In the gun section of the hardware store there’s a parts drawer cabinet just like the ones for nuts and bolts just gun hardware. There’s a pile of “complimentary” tweezers, I have quite a few.

  • I got a Groove Life belt because they had a lifetime warranty and heard they were good quality. Every belt I had before would fall apart after a few months, even expensive genuine leather ones. The GL belt was $60, and it is the best belt I have ever had. I have had it for years now, it is pretty much indestructible, it is slightly elastic, the buckle mechanism is easy as fuck to do and undo, and it doesn’t roll or bind up in the belt loops. And they come in so many colors and buckle styles. Plus with the lifetime warranty, I could literally send it back and get a different style if I really wanted to (the warranty paper literally gives that as an example).

    • thermal_shock@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Adding extra cables/chargers. One at each desk and each bag, no hunting and losing a single charger and being SOL.

  • hawgietonight@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    Going to rugged phones for me and kids. You get used to the heft but they handle accidental falls like champs. Also can have neat features like 3 day battery, headphone jack, SD card, and fm radio! Ulefone Armor series.

    • Eh… I mean the physical phone itself might be great… but software security for these phones are… um… awful… (IMO)

      Late security updates and only like 2 years of security updates in total

      I mean even if you do manage to unlock the bootloader, last I checked, Lineage OS does not support these phones…

      Might be better to just slap a rugged case on a “mainstream” phone

  • azimir@lemmy.ml
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    19 days ago

    A pair of simple latching straps from IKEA. They cost €5 and we use them constantly:

    • hauling furniture
    • tying up garbage bags for carrying bundles
    • holding packages together for transit
    • strapping blankets up for trips

    They’re incredibly important to being able to easily haul/carry things around.

  • mesa@piefed.social
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    19 days ago

    Usb c headphones. Plugs right into usb c devices. Its almost as good as the audio jack of old.

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      This felt life changing at first. I don’t really know why. Maybe it was just the bulkier plug head that makes it feel more durable and the straight head style is more agreeable with today’s device/pocket arrangements.

      However, it means I can’t charge and listen to my phone at the same time. This is more of a flaw of the phone design than headphone design and only really comes up during 2h+ phone calls. I suppose my laptop is also older, which is why it only has one C port. I can get a splitter, though it’s harder to find dual-c than c+3.5mm. I can’t plug it into non-C devices, since there are still 3.5mm jacks out there such as on planes and older phones (I carry my older phone as a dedicated movie/music device on said planes/travels). I carry Bluetooth headphones as well, but the latency is unbearable for movies. Probably a headphone issue more than a sole BT issue.

      In summary of all my gripes, just review your devices for intended use. I still carry them when I travel and still use them for longer calls. It beats charge anxiety in most situations.

  • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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    18 days ago

    Not exactly cheapest but I have been an absolute fan of Gallium charging bricks. They can do much higher wattage in a smaller size and with a long USB C cable and 4 ports actually replaces a laptop charger, phone charger, and more.

    And specifically Anker makes a 65w charger that also doubles as a battery bank for about $80 that means I can charge everything from just that one and then take it with me and use it as a battery and plug I to the wall to recharge itself and my devices again.