Created: September 25, 2021
Modified: September 25, 2021
Modified: September 25, 2021
purchases I recommend
This page is from my personal notes, and has not been specifically reviewed for public consumption. It might be incomplete, wrong, outdated, or stupid. Caveat lector.- Toilet:
- A bidet. Cold water, warm-water (if a hose from your toilet can reach your sink's plumbing), or internally heated. It saves toilet paper, gets you much cleaner than toilet paper alone, and feels a lot better to use.
- A squatty potty. How you sit really does make a difference.
- Flossing:
- Floss picks. You're much more likely to floss if you can do it one-handed.
- Clothes:
- Socks: Darn Tough, or other well-made merino+nylon brands like smartwool. Definitely a luxury, but it's just nice to have socks that are breathable, warm even when wet, and never smell or get gross so you can wear them many days in a row if need be.
- Tech pants (outlier, lululemon, etc) and merino wool shirts. Great for travel, exercise, biking in rain or bad weather. Expensive but you only need one or two.
- Fashion: occasionally allow yourself to spend money to just try stuff.
- Kitchen:
- meat thermometer
- aeropress
- dishwasher: even if you're in an apartment, you can probably make a portable dishwasher work.
- Peg board. Why hide stuff away? Your kitchen is your workbench. Set it up so that you have what you need within arm's reach.
- Pot rack: use your cabinet space for something better.
- Organization: risers and lazy susans.
- E-reader: buy books only when you're immediately ready to start reading them.
- Living space:
- Air purifier. Even small levels of air pollution (including indoor air pollution from cooking) have negative effects on your health. Investing in indoor air quality is good for you physically, and helps keep your place smelling clean and feeling like a sanctuary.
- Plants. The more the better. Standard houseplants (snake plant, pothos, succulents) are easy to care for and are all you really need to create a sense of vibrant greenery in your space. But it can be fun to experiment with edible plants, herbs, flowers, even trees (ficus/rubber trees, dwarf meyer lemon or other citrus, etc) or anything else that strikes your fancy.
- Grow lights: if you don't have enough light for plants, full-spectrum LED grow lights are relatively cheap to buy and run and also help prevent seasonal depression.
- Bike:
- Get a bike. If you live in hills or otherwise feel like you want an ebike, get an ebike; otherwise normal bikes are cheaper and
- Don't skimp on lights; being visible is the most important safety feature you can have. Get the brightest, easiest-to-charge lights you can.
- Get Pitlocks --- they're much easier and more effective than locking your wheels.
- One thing that made my bike a lot more useful was to get a pair of folding baskets attached to a rear rack. These are the perfect size to hold a couple of big grocery bags, and just fold out of the way when I don't need them.