• shalafi@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I’ve got 6 or 8, take one everywhere, even if I already have my purse. I’m addicted to getting them at thrift stores. Just got a sweet, black, tacticool bag with molle loops and velcro for $1.

    • Otter@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      There are a few brands that make decent backpacks/satchels in the 10L - 20L size, within that price range. They’re very helpful

  • Converting $20 to local currency, I’d probably go with this:

    This is so-called “Liubao Tea”, a kissing cousin to pu’er tea. I did a review of my first batch(es) and it has rapidly (literally with one round of brews) reached the top of my circulation in teas.

    The depicted tea is one aged from 1991 (the one I reviewed was tea stems from 2003) and is of one of the higher grades. A 100g package will set you back about $15 or so at today’s exchange rate. 100g is about 15-20 servings, and each serving can be brewed multiple times (even my tea stems can be brewed four times without loss of flavour), so it’s quite the bargain.

    Save it for a time when you really need something warm, rich, and comforting. It will last forever as long as you store it in a cool, dry, dark space. And personally I think it’s a bargain at 15 bucks.

  • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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    1 month ago

    An electric ‘coffee grinder’ just for grinding up spices / seeds. Don’t use the regular coffee grinder, or your coffee drinking housemates will get super annoyed. The flavor, and nutrition is so much better when you cook with freshly ground spices.

    • Krudler@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      May I suggest a mortar and pestle, then you don’t have build up of contaminants in the burr, and blending of particulate from past grinds

      • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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        1 month ago

        Try grinding 60ml of flax, sesame, cumin, black cumin, and fenugreek in a mortar /pestle. It’s too much work. I’m a tool using primate, and I like powertools. For 5ml, even 20ml hand power is fine. The Chinese developed a thing called a “Brass Boat” for grinding up larger quantities, “manually”, actually by foot/ leg power. Alas, I can’t seem to find an image for ya.

        • Krudler@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I have several mortar and pestles and I find them very easy, you don’t need to be condescending, I kind of stopped reading your comment after the bitchy start.

          • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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            1 month ago

            Not meaning to be condescending, that’s what I grind every morning for my breakfast. I’ve tried hand grinders, and have a mortar & pestle, but they don’t work for me in that use case. shrug

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          For sure!

          The difference is that you aren’t trying to percolate water through spices like you are with coffee, so the grind size isn’t so critical. With coffee, if the grind is uneven you end up with “channels” instead of the water flowing through evenly, so some parts of the coffee ends up over-extracted while other parts end up under-extracted, and you end up with more sour and bitter flavors than it’s supposed to have.

          Or so they say, anyway. I’m not actually a coffee snob myself – I drink instant with a bunch of cream and sugar, LOL – I just like James Hoffman YouTube videos.

      • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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        1 month ago

        Coffee drinkers, especially before morning coffee can be a tad bit intolerant of one’s spice experiments. It’s best to not goad the beast, at least until normal / optimal levels of caffienation have been reached, and beauty achieved.

        • Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk
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          1 month ago

          I love spice and I love my morning coffee. I might try combining them as an experiment and I own to coffee grinders for a reason!

          • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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            1 month ago

            So called Turkish Coffee, which I used to drink on the regular in post grad, has cardamom, which is a great place to start. I’m always game for a little extra flavor. Just a touch of chili powder? Hmm, never tried it, but maybe Nigella sativa / Kalonji/ Black Cumin Seed would be a good add. LMK!

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I mainly use mine to get the finer espresso grounds from regular coffee. Why pay premium?

      Also used it for chemistry experiments, grinding coriander, all sorts of things.

      After breaking 2, I finally got a decent one for $40.

  • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Pet jumping spider.

    Honestly 10 star pet. They eat a small bug every other day or so. They look adorable. They will recognize and react to you, and you can even train them to accept handling. They come in a wide variety of colors.

    Downsides are that you’ll probably end up getting more than one (do NOT co-hab them!), or that they only live for 1-3 years. If you enjoy having the spider though, you can look into other arthropods like tarantulas, or vinegaroons (which look scary, but are harmless and have very sweet dispositions).

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      1 month ago

      Not a pet but a couple weeks ago I had a big fly buzzing around my room and annoying the shit out of me for like 4 hours while I was working from home. Then I heard it buzzing against my window in a weird way and I turn around and there’s a big ass jumping spider just murdering the shit out of it. I’ve never been so happy to see a spider in the house. It hung out in the corner of the window for like an hour after that and then it was gone and I haven’t seen it since.

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        You can, but for ethical reasons, I would recommend not doing that. There are plenty of sellers online and at expos who sell captive bred spiders.

  • neopenguin@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    A decent pen and/or pencil. I have several nice fountain pens that I use for journaling, but I use my Zebra F-301 ballpoint daily for general notes/etc. – ~$10 for a 4 pack on Amazon. If you prefer a pencil, you can pick up a Pentel Sharp Kerry for under $20 on Amazon.

    • anon6789@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I prefer the Pilot Precise V5 as my favorite cheap and ubiquitous pen upgrade. Everyone remarks on how smooth it writes. Not the best for labels with gloss though is the only catch with it. Capped or retractable versions, and while I like the V5 (0.5mm tip) because I write smaller, they also have a V7 (0.7mm tip) for those that write larger or what bolder lines.

      After that, hop on Jetpens and there are tons of <$10 pens that are way better than anything in a store, or refills to turn your favorite cheap pen into an undercover fancy pen so you don’t need to worry about losing a fancier pen body. I stocked up on so many great pens, and now I have a job where I hardly ever have to write and I really miss getting to use my pens all day. The cheap office pens skip and are so scratchy it feels like drawing on dirt with a stick in comparison.

      • neopenguin@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        That’s a great tip about the “undercover fancy pen!” I hadn’t even thought about that, but I’ll definitely be doing it now!

        • anon6789@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I’ve got a few hybrids at this point. Some really nice pen bodies come with crap refills, or they will come in a tip size you don’t like, or you can put a more expensive refill in a cheap pen, so if you like using something like a Cross pen but worry about losing it, put a Cross refill in a cheap disposable pen body.

          Most pens use one of 2 fairly universal refill types, so swapping is easy 90% of the time and there are a number of great styles and brands in those formats, and now with 3D printing, you can buy adapters for popular pens that use oddball refills to use the common ones.

          There are so many good pens for $3-5 that you can just pick an assortment from a place like Jetpens (they list compatible refills for each pen body!) and mix and match until you create your perfect pen.

          It’s a much more affordable and practical (sorry fountain pen fans) way to get an affordable but perfected for you writing instrument that you won’t cry about if you lose it or someone walks off with it.

          Edit: If you’d ask me to make you a $20 pen that should be awesome for almost anyone…

          Zebra Sarasa Grand - metal body, good weight but not heavy, nice spring clip that shouldn’t snap off and you can clip it to things normal clips wouldn’t like, comes in a ton of unique colors ($14)

          Uni Jetstream refill ($2) - the Sarasa Grand ink isn’t bad at all, though I thought it was a little free flowing for my taste, but when I bought it they only had the bigger 0.7 tip, which is too big for how I write. It’s a gel ink, so it looks superb and bold, but it will smudge on labels. The Jetstream is a great hybrid ink blending the good qualities of oil based and water based inks, pretty smudge proof on just about any writing surface, comes in black/blue/red and 0.3/0.5/0.7/1.0 mm tips so anyone can get a size and color combo that works for them. Lasts much longer than a gel ink also.

  • anon6789@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    For me anymore, I like to get a nice bag of single origin coffee from a quality roaster.

    You can also still get zoo or museum tickets for that in many places. I got a lot of things (probably too many) so I like doing experiences when I can now to slow down the accumulation.

  • sourquincelog [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 month ago

    A usb-rechargeable battery bank that doubles as a hand warmer. Comes in handy for computer time in the cold basement and during a power outage, was extremely useful to charge cell phone

  • Frog@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    Not luxury, but I keep a small AAA flashlight with me nearly all the time.

    Easier to handle and faster to use than a phone light. Also doesn’t use phone battery. I clip it on my hat if I need both hands like taking out the trash.

    I have an Olight i3T but I would try out the i3T 2. More lumens and better battery efficency.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Few dollars over OP’s request, but an Olight Oclip is straight awesome for a multipurpose light. Simple UI, super lightweight, long lasting, quick charging (USB-C), magnetic or clip-on, extra LED for red light.

      I clip mine to the cross piece on my hiking pack to illuminate the trail. I’ve also used the red blinky light so my wife can be certain where I am, nobody think I’m a deer and shoots at me, and so 4-wheelers can spot me.

  • pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 month ago

    Fluffy stuffed animal. If I didn’t have a couple stuffed kitties to hug I probably would have killed myself already. Nice to have something to pretend loves you

  • sourquincelog [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 month ago

    Orthotic shoe inserts. The good ones (superfeet) cost more than $20 but I was able to use my HSA $ to buy another brand for $0 out of pocket. Feet not hurting is worth the money.

    Foam roller. I roll out my back 2-3 times a day.

    Can you tell I’m getting old?

  • Ashtear@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    A 10-foot USB cable. Most people use whatever’s packed in with their electronics, and it’s pretty rare to get anything longer than 6 feet. Having the extra length is really nice in many situations.

    It’s also one of my go-to inexpensive gifts or part of a care package for someone in the hospital. The extra length there is often the difference between being able to use a device while it’s charging or not.

    • Etterra@discuss.online
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      1 month ago

      Especially if it’s braided and has extra large and durable connector thingies so it won’t hard bend.

    • The Octonaut@mander.xyz
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      1 month ago

      They’re rare because 10 feet is too long for a reliable USB data transmission. But yes good for charging.

      • folkrav@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        Eh, I have audio interfaces and MIDI controllers on 10ft cables cause shorter just don’t reach my PC, works perfectly fine. Longer than that is a gamble but as far as I know 10ft is the upper bound of the USB 3.0 spec, so should be totally fine unless you have especially shitty cables.

  • r0ertel@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    The Lady we got ours from isn’t showing up at the farmer’s marker anymore, but for well under $20, you can make your own corn pillow

    This winter’s been bad for deep freezes and 4 minutes in the microwave will keep my corn pillow hot for an hour or more.

    • Frog@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      when I was younger, my family used dry rice. I wonder which works better.

      • r0ertel@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I’ve used both. The rice is lighter and contours better, the corn holds heat longer.

        I’ve seen rice “socks” advertised for neck pain since it can hang around your neck better.