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What things did you purchase that enhanced the quality of your life in 2022?

61 pointsby msahariaover 2 years ago
Would love to know things that enhanced your work or personal life.

56 comments

valdiornover 2 years ago
I didn&#x27;t &quot;purchase&quot; anything - but I upgraded from a &quot;cleaner&quot; to a &quot;housekeeper&quot;. What&#x27;s the difference, you might ask?<p>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.<p>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&#x2F;spoiled food in the fridge has been thrown out, kid&#x27;s toy pile tidied up, my t-shirts have been folded and placed in their drawer. The bedding has been replaced, even the dog&#x27;s bed has been cleaned.<p>I can&#x27;t tell you the immense quality of life improvement this has brought us. Now, when we come home tired at 6pm, we don&#x27;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&#x27;s brought us closer, made us happier and given us more time with our daughter.<p>If you can afford this luxury, I highly recommend it. It&#x27;s the biggest quality of life improvement I&#x27;ve ever experienced - But you need to find a GOOD person you can trust to essentially run your house in your absence.<p>Needless to say, she&#x27;s getting a nice Christmas bonus :)
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swiper_luxover 2 years ago
A bike. (If you really want to know - this: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.merida-bikes.com&#x2F;en-au&#x2F;bike&#x2F;3127&#x2F;speeder-100" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.merida-bikes.com&#x2F;en-au&#x2F;bike&#x2F;3127&#x2F;speeder-100</a>).<p>7am early morning ride before work, then ~ 2pm in the afternoon. Both around 1 hour, often longer.<p>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.<p>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.
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duncanc4over 2 years ago
Steam Deck.<p>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).<p>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.<p>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.
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mschildover 2 years ago
Water filter for my tea water. Our local water is quite hard and there is a stark taste difference.<p>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.<p>Setup Homeassistant paired with smart wall plugs which measure usage and turn off on a timer at night. Reduced our electricity usage by ~20%.<p>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.
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nunezover 2 years ago
AeroPress (with the Fellow Prismo attachment), VSSL grinder, collapsible water kettle.<p>ABSOLUTE LIFESAVER while traveling. I often travel to places where I can&#x27;t reliably get a good cup of coffee (either because of meeting times or the town not having a decent coffee shop that&#x27;s not Starbucks).<p>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.<p>Consistent coffee, all of the time, no matter where I am.<p>It can even make iced coffee too.<p>Definitely a huge enhancement to my life.
vertisover 2 years ago
It wasn&#x27;t 2022, but 2020 when my SO got femtolasik (of all places in Estonia). €1700 and a couple of days of discomfort. It&#x27;s not surgical so the recovery is speedy.<p>Such a massive quality of life improvement as an outside observer (and by her own account as well).<p>The procedure is quite fast, circa 10 minutes, and of course meetings before and after to determine suitability and post procedure care.
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mandelkenover 2 years ago
A french butter cup!<p>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.<p>I love real spreadable butter on my bread and together with my bread slicer, I’m a happy man :)
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nathellover 2 years ago
A GPD Micro PC: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.danieljanus.pl&#x2F;2022&#x2F;08&#x2F;18&#x2F;i-love-my-gpd-micro-pc&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.danieljanus.pl&#x2F;2022&#x2F;08&#x2F;18&#x2F;i-love-my-gpd-micro-p...</a>
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agomez314over 2 years ago
A Home Gym - got a new squat rack, a used set of bars and weight plates and an incline chair and it&#x27;s a game-changer for my physical and mental health. I can just go downstairs and go at it!<p>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&#x27;t feel depressive all the time but instead conducive to reading and studying.
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maxbondover 2 years ago
A &quot;gaming mousepad&quot;, which is basically a padded surface that goes over the entire space of your desk where your hands may be. So my hands can be anywhere I want them to be, and still be comfortable. It&#x27;s always worth paying for ergonomics in my mind, I buy high quality mice and keyboards (the Logitech MX Vertical and the Keyboard.io Atreus&#x2F;Model 10, though I didn&#x27;t but them this year), I add aftermarket padding to the arms of my chair, et cetera. You don&#x27;t have to get stuff that&#x27;s as expensive as what I listed, I have a pretty severe RSI and need top-of-the-line gear just to function as a programmer typing all day, but don&#x27;t skimp out on this stuff &amp; end up with an RSI. If you have discomfort, deal with it early. If discomfort becomes pain, stop what you&#x27;re doing and take a walk. (&#x2F;PSA)<p>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&#x27;s a flat surface at arm height. When there&#x27;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&#x27;t bother me. The decorations also break up the flat surface and make it so there&#x27;s less big, tempting flat space.<p>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.<p>A power strip with USB outlets. It&#x27;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&#x27;m good to go, and I don&#x27;t need to use a bunch of charging bricks to charge multiple devices. I don&#x27;t have to worry about having to unplug a lamp and then remember to plug it back in when I&#x27;m done, or anything like that.
warpechover 2 years ago
Home office lighting.<p>In my home office room (10.5 m²&#x2F;115 sq. ft), I used to have 4 neutral-white (3000K) LED bulbs of average brightness (450 lm).<p>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.<p>I sometimes work before bedtime, and I was worried that the lew light would affect my sleep quality, but I haven&#x27;t noticed any difference in that respect.<p>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.<p>Edit: Fixed the color temperature values, added some bg info.
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Eduardover 2 years ago
Xiaomi Mi Air Purifier Pro. Since I have it running in my sleeping room, I don&#x27;t have a clogged nose at night anymore.<p>This model was among the best air purifiers in a Stiftung Warentest comparison.<p>I was hesitant to get it because of Xiaomi and internet connectivity, but I&#x27;ve set up my cable router to block all outgoing traffic from the device.<p>It also integrates nicely with Home Assistant, so I have Realtime and historical particle and temperature data for my smart phone.
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yodsanklaiover 2 years ago
I rarely buy anything nowadays. It&#x27;s rare that I find something that really enhances my quality of life.<p>That being said, a few years ago, I bought noise canceling headphone, and it&#x27;s very useful in noisy environment.<p>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&#x27;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.
cikover 2 years ago
Books. Every year the &quot;thing&quot; that most enhances my life is culture. I read voraciously, read to calm myself, my brain, and to generally shut off technology.
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ughitsaaronover 2 years ago
My Celestron NexStar SE6. Initially, I felt nervous about such a big purchase for a hobby that I was still only exploring (especially living in NYC). Even though I have yet to capture a really good photo of Jupiter or Saturn (I’ll get there eventually), it’s really been worth it. It’s given my wife and I a really good excuse to get out of the city regularly (we were married last August, though a wedding doesn’t seem appropriate to call a “purchase”, otherwise that’d have to be my answer). During the summer I actually started looking forward to the longer winter nights.
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karaokeyogaover 2 years ago
A used manual typewriter. So far, I have written ten three-page letters to friends and family, including a few people I hadn&#x27;t written to in maybe 40 years. I love the noise, the unavoidable mistakes, the way the finished letter looks, and the low cost of sending international mail from Japan (~$1 USD).
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simonsquiffover 2 years ago
Boiling water tap. Amazing to make tea instantly without boiling the kettle, it’s also brilliant for cooking (boiling pasta or veg) and filling up hot water bottles. Amazing to have boiling water on tap (ha) cutting lots of time and no noisy kettle. Even free up worktop space by removing the kettle!
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fold3over 2 years ago
Active noise cancelling earphones.<p>It&#x27;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&#x27;t work as well with bass which can be incredibly irritating in some situations.<p>I&#x27;m just annoyed at the disposable aspect of the object. Theses rarely last longer than a couple of years from what I understood.
yannisover 2 years ago
A stent for one of my heart arteries!
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usrusrover 2 years ago
A cheap hand-cranked coffee grinder. I usually buy pre-ground coffee and have zero desire to switch, but (because reasons..) I happened upon a pack of unground beans and was convinced (still am) that it would be much less bad for the environment to dispose of the beans than getting a grinder for just one pack and then dispose of that.<p>Until I stumbled upon an Amazon page (yes, <i>that</i> 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.<p>Puts a smile on my face every time I put pepper on something. My regular pepper grinder wasn&#x27;t exactly bad, but also not stellar. The coffee grinder, with its dedicated crank, is so much better than any &quot;twist knob head&quot; pepper grinder could ever be. Feels like using a potent power tool, just without that nagging thought of &quot;am I really too weak even to grind a few peppercorns?&quot; that would grind my self-respect faster than the spice if I used an electric.
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katspaughover 2 years ago
Humidity meters. It&#x27;s crazy how humid it can be in the apartment, and how big the effect of airing for 5 minutes is.<p>A portable coffee grinder. It&#x27;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.
FiReaNG3Lover 2 years ago
CO2 meter - small appartment, both of us working from home since COVID, windows shut at all times because of air quality &#x2F; heating, found out we were living at very high average CO2 levels, instant fix for weird mental fatigue opening the windows whenever the levels are too high.
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bwbover 2 years ago
Fitbod app, I love this one as it helps me change up my workouts and stay fit (a back injury that I do a lot of rehab for). The visuals are good for knowing how to do the exercise properly. I am trying Copilot now, which brings in a trainer to help do everything. So far, so good, but only in my 3rd week.<p>1Password for families is so helpful! I&#x27;ve been on it for a long time, but getting my wife organized and on it was a huge help in so many ways.<p>Every single book I bought :) (plug for <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;shepherd.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;shepherd.com</a>, a book discovery project I launched on HN last year)<p>Patagonia boxer briefs, I ordered 21 pairs. Best underwear on the planet, and happy to re-up as the new version is even comfier.
gpetukhovover 2 years ago
1Password password manager. The single best purchase. Should&#x27;ve done it earlier.
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joeman1000over 2 years ago
A Herman Miller Embody. It was too much money for me, but I can’t go back to cheap chairs now. My back is messed up after diving off a boat many years ago. I could sit in my old chair for about ten minutes before it started giving me searing pain. I can sit in the embody for about an hour before I need to get up and stretch, but my back doesn’t hurt from sitting in it at all. It was a pain to configure, plus it needs RMA work, but I can recommend getting a nice chair if your back pain is interrupting your work.
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zasdffaaover 2 years ago
Not being flippant, but some MDMA. It makes a huge difference to my quality of life if used occasionally.
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fallinghawksover 2 years ago
I&#x27;ve been struggling with insomnia for a couple years now and discovered sleep podcasts. They&#x27;re typically people reading stories or talking for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or so. They&#x27;ve truly helped me get back to sleep easily when I wake up in the middle of the night. Also bought a pair of Bluetooth headphones in a headband. I had to add a little foam for better cushioning. Another unexpectedly helpful item was covering the top of my head with a small blanket.
thimabiover 2 years ago
Two inexpensive G-Shock watches: the DW5600 and the DW9052.<p>I’ve had a fair share of broken wristwatches over the years, so much that I began to “babysit” them.<p>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.<p>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.
prawnover 2 years ago
Cordless leaf blower. I derive a lot of personal peace from seeing my backyard in order. The corded blower I had was painful enough to use that I always put it off and spent more time than necessary looking at mess.<p>Also switched from using a hiking backpack to a $350 camera bag for my drone&#x2F;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.
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gherkinnnover 2 years ago
I don&#x27;t think I bought a &quot;thing&quot; outside of replacements or necessities. Maybe a pair of tongs to make frying steak a little more pleasurable.
0xbadc0de5over 2 years ago
A cheap 4k 50&quot; TV mounted on the wall over my desk to replace my multi-monitor setup. This was an epiphany I had not long ago when I noticed the price of these cheap 4k TV&#x27;s. I was running two 27&quot; monitors previously, but the large 4k is a game-changer because it&#x27;s large enough that I can actually take full advantage of those pixels and nearly double the usable screen space of my old monitors.
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alex503over 2 years ago
Built myself a good and proper mechanical keyboard. Took some hours and some money, but the pleasure I get from using it at work everyday is amazing.
paweladamczukover 2 years ago
A bigger bed with a harder mattress.<p>It&#x27;s silly I spend around 1&#x2F;3 of my life there and hadn&#x27;t thought to improve it for several years before that.
derwikiover 2 years ago
Guitar lessons. I’ve owned a guitar for 15 years and could play maybe 2 songs if I’m generous. Could never make myself go through Justin or Marty guitar. Being accountable to a Real instructor who had a whole lesson plan worked very well for me, and now I have a few dozen songs in my repertoire, including a few that are way harder than I ever thought I’d be able to play.
karmakazeover 2 years ago
Not driving my car has got to be the biggest improvement to my life. I walk to nearby shops and take an Uber or public transit for longer trips. This more than makes up for the passive exercise that I&#x27;d lost when started WfH.<p>A 60W gallium nitride (GaN) dual USB charger--it&#x27;s tiny and charges practically&#x2F;everything I own.
okasakiover 2 years ago
Dehumidifier. I live in the UK and keeping my space at 50% RH feels a lot better.
Fire-Dragon-DoLover 2 years ago
Steam Deck. Videogames are my hobby, but I didn&#x27;t want to sit more in the same chair after working there all day.<p>Playing on the couch is hard with 2 children, and we go to bed early, so I didn&#x27;t have any way to play that didn&#x27;t involve sacrifice.<p>With the steam deck, I can play 1 hour in bed before sleep, hug my sleeping children and my wife and then sleep.<p>Really helps relaxing
goodpointover 2 years ago
Nothing. The freedom from being sold something enhanced my life.
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hardware2winover 2 years ago
Wall&#x2F;Desk monitors holder
danukerover 2 years ago
With a bread making machine, I have reduced my bread costs by half. It will pay for itself in 50kg of bread.
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the_70xover 2 years ago
A good winter jacket. I live in a place where winter lasts for at least 4 months and always wore bad insulating jackets. Now I can stay outside with just 1 jacket and be comfortable, not sweating or freezing my a* off.
mkbknover 2 years ago
Bitwarden password manager software and a refurbished Kindle (10th gen, basic model).
piersj225over 2 years ago
A new comfortable mattress, I have a lot more energy and focus in the mornings now.
pacifikaover 2 years ago
Logitech G903 mouse. Using a responsive mouse made computing more pleasant.
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panicover 2 years ago
An induction stovetop. It really does boil water as fast as they say.
xtiansimonover 2 years ago
Aerostich R3 riding suit. I’m touring Upstate NY and the (motorcycle) riding suit is great for spring and fall when rain can find you unexpectedly.
_hzwover 2 years ago
Steam deck.
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Gualdrapoover 2 years ago
Heavy duty socks.
niklaslogrenover 2 years ago
Baby brezza. It&#x27;s like a coffee machine but for baby formula. It really improves my family&#x27;s night sleep!
Myrmornisover 2 years ago
A Google Pixel phone instead of an iPhone.
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block_daggerover 2 years ago
Sequential Prophet-6 synth, Etekcity smart scale, Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro lock, 2023 Subaru Outback
quickthrower2over 2 years ago
RO Waterfilter and chiller<p>Coffee Grinder (Niche Zero)<p>Gym Membership<p>A TRX clone (for strength training, these are very cheap!)
maddiminiover 2 years ago
Standing desk.<p>It&#x27;s such a game changer.
ZYZ64738over 2 years ago
A Yogateacher course. Very helpful for both - work and personal live -
thomover 2 years ago
I purchased a bunch of online history courses at Cambridge. I didn&#x27;t think at this point in my life and career I could wholly fall in love with a new subject from scratch, but it&#x27;s been extremely enjoyable and stimulating. This was part of a more general attempt to wean myself off social media and too much technology (I mean, online courses obviously, but slower moving subject matter at least). That&#x27;s also been coupled with reading more physical books, and subscribing to a newspaper and some magazines. I would say that this has had a very positive effect on my mental health. I&#x27;m delighted that the entire Elon Musk&#x2F;Twitter saga has largely passed me by, for example.
GoOnThenDoTellover 2 years ago
a Snoo bassinet for the child
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