My wife and I are both working parents and we commute to London at least twice a week, leaving very little time for things like laundry and general tidying up.
We have an absolutely fantastic lady who comes in 3x a week, and rather than only doing the usual cleaning, i.e. mop the floors, clean the stove, dusting etc., she does a bit of everything. The laundry is taken care of, the expired/spoiled food in the fridge has been thrown out, kid's toy pile tidied up, my t-shirts have been folded and placed in their drawer. The bedding has been replaced, even the dog's bed has been cleaned.
I can't tell you the immense quality of life improvement this has brought us. Now, when we come home tired at 6pm, we don't have to spend the next 3 hours doing chores, we can just put little one to bed and then sit down and enjoy dinner together. It's brought us closer, made us happier and given us more time with our daughter.
If you can afford this luxury, I highly recommend it. It's the biggest quality of life improvement I've ever experienced - But you need to find a GOOD person you can trust to essentially run your house in your absence.
Needless to say, she's getting a nice Christmas bonus :)
For some people that would be ludicrous, for others it's an absolute bargain.
Right now we bring somebody in for 2.5 hours every 2 weeks to do bedding, vacuuming, kitchen and bathroom cleaning. Totally worth it, but sometimes the laundry backs up when we're busy and becomes a mission. We might up it a bit next year and get laundry included.
7am early morning ride before work, then ~ 2pm in the afternoon. Both around 1 hour, often longer.
My whole mood lifts the closer I get to ride time, and for a whole hour or so afterwards I am buzzing and I seem to write my best code. I never get stressed any more. I am fitter than ever with no sore knees or bad back or any other stuff I used to suffer when I was running. I sleep really well.
I am 54 and I live next to a dedicated bike path that goes for ~4 hours in two directions. I work almost exclusively from home in Brisbane, Australia.
I got it to replace playing games on an Intel Mac, as Mac has become a worse platform for gaming (32bit dropped, OpenGL deprecated, no Vulkan support, and now developers would have to support Apple Silicon).
The plan was to use it mainly in desktop mode, but it has been really amazing for handheld gaming, that I game more on the couch and in bed with it than as a desktop.
Also Proton works really well and it is great to be able to boot in to a full Linux desktop environment. It’s so refreshing to have control of the device and to use it how I want.
On the day I received it, I had the feeling that my Steam Deck would end up closed in its case taking dust, once the “new gadget” sensations would have worn out. In fact, something similar happened to me a couple of years ago with Stadia.
But after ~6 months I am still in love with this pocket PC, well after the usual honeymoon. I finally found the best way to play Paradox games and many indie gems right on my couch, reducing the friction that is involved in gaming while being “tied” to your desk.
Now, every 30-40-mins slot is the ideal moment for a gaming session, instead of mindlessly killing time with doomscrolling or casual activities on my phone.
Walking treadmill for my desk. Usually sit all day and would then try to get in some movement in the evening. I now walk around 7k steps during meetings and other non-focus periods of my work. Also great when playing some games in the evening.
Setup Homeassistant paired with smart wall plugs which measure usage and turn off on a timer at night. Reduced our electricity usage by ~20%.
Good pillow and mattress. Makes a worlds difference from the previous IKEA stuff. Even though Im on the heaver side I can sleep really well on the new one.
It's been so successful I know of several other people who have also made such purchases after experiencing it.
It's kind of an odd thing, but so so nice to have. It even heats water, although we turn that functionality off because we also have an electric kettle, but it's something to consider for anyone contemplating such a purchase.
ABSOLUTE LIFESAVER while traveling. I often travel to places where I can't reliably get a good cup of coffee (either because of meeting times or the town not having a decent coffee shop that's not Starbucks).
Not a problem anymore with these three things. The VSSL grinder is relatively really expensive, but highly worth it given how precise its grinders are. I bring my own heat-sealed beans (4oz coffee bags are really cheap; 1000 for like $10, and you can heat seal with a curling iron) and brew a cup 45 minutes after I get up.
Consistent coffee, all of the time, no matter where I am.
It can even make iced coffee too.
Definitely a huge enhancement to my life.
Such a massive quality of life improvement as an outside observer (and by her own account as well).
The procedure is quite fast, circa 10 minutes, and of course meetings before and after to determine suitability and post procedure care.
From a simple shower where you see your reflection, finding your glasses in the morning, falling asleep with glasses or contacts, carrying an extra bunch of things when traveling etc. to none of those being a problem at all.
In fact this is what has allowed me to save enough space to do some trips with just a backpack, instead of a backpack + small luggage.
I opted for TransPRK, took about a week to get back into my previous state, then in two weeks everything was crystal clear.
Best thing ever
Edit: it really is one of those things where you kick yourself for not having done earlier. It seems much more scary than it actually is.
It works by pouring a bit of water in the outer cup and the inner cup that holds the butter, fits upside down. Keeps it fresh without oxidation.
I love real spreadable butter on my bread and together with my bread slicer, I’m a happy man :)
For me, and 2020 not 2022, a used bread machine.
Fresh multigrain bread with only natural ingredients early in the morning, smells wonderful, and makes you want to get up. Also does pizza dough, the kids make all kinds of chocolate bread, cloud bread, etc, etc. All stuff that's really just a bit too much hassle for a busy family to do manually, requires handling a hot oven, etc.
Now I have I will buy them as a Christmas gifts for this year. Thank you.
Getting twinkle lights to add warmth to our house in the cold, cloudy winter months of Pittsburgh - noticeable change in moods for our family where it doesn't feel depressive all the time but instead conducive to reading and studying.
(No twinkling though; just steady state on)
Various desk decorations, such as an analog clock and a small whiteboard. Making my desk a pretty space makes it easier for me to respect it, and reduces the problem of crap accumulating on it just because it's a flat surface at arm height. When there's pretty stuff, crap makes it look ugly, and this bothers me so I deal with it. Otherwise, it just looks like a place where crap goes, and the crap doesn't bother me. The decorations also break up the flat surface and make it so there's less big, tempting flat space.
An analog kitchen timer. This allows me to time box things without looking at my phone, a recipe for distraction. It also has a rhythm which gently reminds me the timer is running without making me feel too rushed.
A power strip with USB outlets. It's a nice convenience at my desk, but it really shines when I pack my stuff up to work somewhere else, like when visiting family. If I can get access to 1 outlet, I'm good to go, and I don't need to use a bunch of charging bricks to charge multiple devices. I don't have to worry about having to unplug a lamp and then remember to plug it back in when I'm done, or anything like that.
In my home office room (10.5 m²/115 sq. ft), I used to have 4 neutral-white (3000K) LED bulbs of average brightness (450 lm).
I replaced them with the same number of cool-white (6000K), super bright LED bulbs (900 lm). What a difference! It took a few days to get used to it, but I am very happy with the change. I feel much more energized at work.
I sometimes work before bedtime, and I was worried that the lew light would affect my sleep quality, but I haven't noticed any difference in that respect.
A while ago, I read a blog claiming that most people have their light at home way too dim, but I cannot find it anymore. If anyone has some resources on this topic, I would be grateful for a link.
Edit: Fixed the color temperature values, added some bg info.
Definitely seconded, makes a huge difference (I also have a LED bar with 4000K + 4800 lumens in my office room)
This model was among the best air purifiers in a Stiftung Warentest comparison.
I was hesitant to get it because of Xiaomi and internet connectivity, but I've set up my cable router to block all outgoing traffic from the device.
It also integrates nicely with Home Assistant, so I have Realtime and historical particle and temperature data for my smart phone.
That being said, a few years ago, I bought noise canceling headphone, and it's very useful in noisy environment.
Also commuting by bike made a huge difference in my quality of life: a 150 euros bike served me well for almost a decade! Unfortunately, it's not possible everywhere. I recently moved to a new city with barely any cycling infrastructure and I find it too dangerous to share traffic with cars.
Energy efficiency is about the same as a kettle - the tank is super insulated, and you only use what you need rather than boiling more in a kettle (and that then cooling down), that balances out the small tank losses. If you have solar it’s more friendly for that as it’s lower peak wattage so more likely to stay within your solar generation.
Here's another brand's innards of the reservoir: https://youtu.be/Q7TV73Y5kmo?t=614 . If I had to guess they keep it under high pressure so the water can be hotter than 100 deg C but still remain liquid.
If the instructions on your tea say 100°C, it’s either not tea, or very bad quality « leaves » (more like scraps)
https://www.billi-uk.com/perfect-temperature-hot-cold-drinks...
It's actually not a gimmick at all and perfectly safe and healthy. Passive earphones that have strong isolation like the Etymotics are just not comfortable for me and the isolation doesn't work as well with bass which can be incredibly irritating in some situations.
I'm just annoyed at the disposable aspect of the object. Theses rarely last longer than a couple of years from what I understood.
https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/heart-disease/
I find this site one of the most well-referenced sources on the web. Each video has a "sources" tab that takes you to studies.
Until I stumbled upon an Amazon page (yes, that Amazon :( ) for a cheap grinder where some reviewer mentioned using it for pepper. Got a grinder, enjoyed the coffee (really good! just not enough difference to switch), then redeployed the grinder to pepper duty.
Puts a smile on my face every time I put pepper on something. My regular pepper grinder wasn't exactly bad, but also not stellar. The coffee grinder, with its dedicated crank, is so much better than any "twist knob head" pepper grinder could ever be. Feels like using a potent power tool, just without that nagging thought of "am I really too weak even to grind a few peppercorns?" that would grind my self-respect faster than the spice if I used an electric.
A portable coffee grinder. It's small and grinds enough coffee for exactly one mocha pot. I had been using a manual grinder before that, and it was like 2-3 min of tedious work every morning.
1Password for families is so helpful! I've been on it for a long time, but getting my wife organized and on it was a huge help in so many ways.
Every single book I bought :) (plug for https://shepherd.com, a book discovery project I launched on HN last year)
Patagonia boxer briefs, I ordered 21 pairs. Best underwear on the planet, and happy to re-up as the new version is even comfier.
I finally broke the shackles and moved to bitwarden. Now I’m paying 10 usd for their premium service and that’s because I want to support the product. I don’t even use or care about any of their premium features.
I use and recommend KeePassXC.
I’ve had a fair share of broken wristwatches over the years, so much that I began to “babysit” them.
It’s comforting to know that the G-Shocks can take a beating and keep working as intended. There is no need to take care of them and, if you get a model with solar power, you don’t even need to worry about the battery dying.
I’ve chosen two non-solar models because their modules display the time even in stopwatch or timer mode, and I alternate between them so as to extend battery life.
Also switched from using a hiking backpack to a $350 camera bag for my drone/camera gear. Keeps everything in order (3 drones, DSLR, 14 batteries, action cameras etc) and is much more satisfying and quick to use. Felt a bit expensive at the time but haven’t regretted it for a second.
It's silly I spend around 1/3 of my life there and hadn't thought to improve it for several years before that.
A 60W gallium nitride (GaN) dual USB charger--it's tiny and charges practically/everything I own.
Playing on the couch is hard with 2 children, and we go to bed early, so I didn't have any way to play that didn't involve sacrifice.
With the steam deck, I can play 1 hour in bed before sleep, hug my sleeping children and my wife and then sleep.
Really helps relaxing
I’ve got a third-party dock and a portable USB-C hub with HDMI port, to literally carry it everywhere.
- Synced saves with your PC if the game supports it
- Great performance for a handheld with a solid battery
- Great variety of inputs, and almost everything can be customizable (if you don't fancy the official button layouts there is a community coming up with custom ones)
- You can turn it into a regular computer if needed
- It is big enough to hold for my hands. With Switch or iPad my hands hurt after a while, not with steam deck.
- Repair-ability it is actually easy to fix
- You can download emulators for switch, gameboy and all the other older consoles
- I enjoy some games more on the deck then on the desktop
I love mine and I consider it to be the best purchase I made this year. By far.
Coffee Grinder (Niche Zero)
Gym Membership
A TRX clone (for strength training, these are very cheap!)
It's such a game changer.
