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Ask HN: What item/service can you buy for less than $50 that is life changing?
$50 because currently for most working folks $50 is something they can most likely immediately spend on and is equivalent to a meal for 2 (at least in a restaurant Singapore!)
- mPReDiToR 3y agoHuel. Better than shovelling sugar down your neck all day, full of nutrients, saves money over snacking, saves time over making a pack up. It's a small change that makes a big difference, or has to me. I could put my referral code here, but I'm not shilling or trying to make money, I genuinely eat "hot and savoury" or "Instant Meals" as they rebranded to recently, most days. https://huel.com https://huel.com or for me uk.huel.com.
- wojciii 3y agoIs this a new kind of soylent (food stuff and not something made from people .. from a Harry Harrison novel). I really want to understand the value of this product.
- yetihehe 3y agoYes, it's alternative for soylent. With some flavour additives it's palatable, but I couldn't stick to the monotony for long.
- OJFord 3y agoIt's not new, I used to have it for lunch in the office circa 2017. I'd never have it at home (ultimately threw away a lot I was left with) but it's good when you just want cheap nourishment, when the alternative isn't something good anyway - beats a supermarket sandwich on both price and nutrition.
- leros 3y agoIt just a bunch of grains or grainlike ingredients (you could honestly convince me it's bird seed + deer feed) with some tasty flavorings. It's literally gruel, hence the name Heul. It's not bad. I keep some around for emergencies and when I totally run out of food.
- quickthrower2 3y agoThe per meal price is attractive. But could I get the same with just good old whey protein and a multivitamin? They say one meal a day which is fine, if you only ate this product you would miss out on leafy stuff and various micronutrients for sure.
- muzani 3y agoOuch, shipping fees are £34 for 1-5 kg. It would be nice if it were clear up front. The price is still not too bad if it delivers as promised but most of these kinds of these instant meals are low fibre, low calorie, and not satisfying.
- dimitrisnl 3y agoIt's stupid, but a simple shoe horn made my lifer easier. I used to just squeeze my feet in my sneakers.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- digitalsushi 3y agoI joked about my shoe horn to my team, and one woman told me they make a shoe horn on a telescoping rod, so you can use it while being completely vertical. I got one and now I use it every single time I put my shoes on. And since I smash the heels of my shoes putting them on, I am fairly sure this has already paid for itself.
- anujmehta 3y agoCycle
- chiefalchemist 3y agoBooks! You can buy plenty of life-changing books for $50. https://ThriftBooks.com https://ThriftBooks.com Based on experience, stick to conditions: New, Like-New, and Very Good. I've had mixed experience with Good, and never tried anything below. The Wish List's ability to target format and condition is great. There are other posts / threads on NH for book suggestions. I would recommend "The War of Art". It's not just for artists. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-war-of-art-break-through-the-blocks-and-win-your-inner-creative-battles_steven-pressfield/247932/?resultid=936e3408-b62d-4006-afc4-d51842a88cdb#edition=6601327&idiq=3859678 https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-war-of-art-break-through-t...
- replwoacause 3y agoBidet
- neallindsay 3y agoYoutube Premium or whatever they call it now. In general, paying to not have ads is great. If you spend even a moderate amount of time on YouTube, this will quickly pay for itself.
- muzani 3y agoYou get YouTube Music along with it too, which is higher quality than Spotify IMHO. I got tired of Spotify raising their fees without much quality improvement. YouTube had a really good algorithm for music discovery, to the point I was discovering music on YouTube and copying it over to Spotify, which often didn't have the same covers I liked. At some point, it made more sense to switch over. Being ad free was just a side feature. Also there's some preview stuff that only Premium subscribers get. It's not worth getting for itself, but it's a nice touch.
- GoToRO 3y agoIt sounds more like Mafia: pay us or else.
- wholien 3y agoAh yes, I remember how Tony Soprano would always threaten small business owners with endless stream of ads if they did not pay protection fees
- LUmBULtERA 3y agoAt $14/month, $50 gets you about 3 months. I'm not sure I'd qualify that as life changing.
- wenebego 3y agoAd blockers are free. On mobile you can patch the applications as well
- wintermutestwin 3y agoYou were already paying by letting them track you and now they are tracking you while knowing you are willing to pay and having your PII. I don't know about you, but my data privacy is worth a lot more to me.
- DarrenDev 3y agoGo into a pharmacy a couple of times a year and get your blood pressure checked. Twice a year, should cost less than $50.
- hestefisk 3y agoEven better, buy one of the Omron devices and check it every day!
- jharohit 3y agoOP here. My list below: - ikea desk lamp Tertial (one you can clamp) - moleskine pocket soft cover blank notebook - Grab Eats/Deliveroo Plus for free delivery - A discounted top game from 2-3 years ago (which usually is discounted below $50 on epic gog or steam) - Youtube premium - 2-3 casio f91w watches (one in home, in office and in backpack) - adopting a kitten (been 5 years and best investment for emotional support!)
- AnimalMuppet 3y agoThe kitten is not like the other purchases. It may start at $50, but it doesn't stop there. Cat food. Litter box. Yearly trip to the vet. Replacing your furniture after it has all been destroyed. Don't get me wrong, cats are great. (Work from home, getting paid, with a cat on your lap... that's just amazing.) But they aren't as cheap as $50.
- justinram11 3y agoFresh Coffee -- I had bought an expensive latte machine but was still using typical store-bough coffee. My latte's were "good" but not "great". Ordered fresh light roast coffee from Happy Mug and it's like a whole new world. I'm getting Cherry, Blueberry, Coconut, Raspberry flavors in my latte every morning that I didn't even know were possible.
- Exuma 3y agoDefinitely. For anyone wanting a constant supply, Fellow Drops is incredible.
- noman-land 3y agoFreshly ground light roast blew my mind the first time I drank it. It's so fruity and interesting. Totally different drink from medium and dark roast, pre-ground, generic beans.
- snyena 3y agoSlightly more expensive than $50, but IKEA's WiFi bookshelf speaker Symfonisk (in collaboration with Sonos). I have been listening to foreign radio stations and my language skills have gone up considerably.
- ActorNightly 3y agoTruly life changing in general would probably be 3.5 grams of psychedelic mushrooms, especially if you have never experienced psychedelics before. Massive amount of reports of positive lasting experiences just from one trip.
- quickthrower2 3y agoApparently decriminalised (fineable only) in ACT australia next month (along with the usual slew of recreational substances in small quantities), might be worth a trip, so to speak ;-)
- wintermutestwin 3y ago>ACT Australia Au is hilarious - most of the country is under harsh drug warrior laws except for ACT (Australian Capital Territory), which is where the bulk of the politicians are.
- seanw444 3y agoOnce a prison colony, always a prison colony. Still seems like one to me.
- jharohit 3y agohavent! also not legal in singapore
- quickthrower2 3y agoBad: Crystal Meth Good: Eyemask for sleeping
- rashkov 3y agoOh yeah. The Manta sleep mask is incredible if you’re a back sleeper. One of my favorite recent purchases. Truly a blackout sleep mask and very comfortable. Great for travel in addition to getting deeper sleep at home
- mistrial9 3y agoextra bonus - documented cases of psychosis, incidents of addictive behavior after just one dose! .. (not the eyemask)
- digitalsushi 3y agoI bought a venetian blind cleaner, like 8 bucks. A plastic set of fingers that perfectly match my blinds. This one came with about eight cloth sleeves I can toss in the laundry. As I pace on my many work calls from my home office, I absent mindedly use this to wipe dust off the blinds, off the tops of paintings, books, clocks, webcams etc. My office is perpetually dust free because I married a doodad with an obsessive behavior and I couldnt be more pleased. A second doodad is a wooden knobby foot roller for under my desk. It helped me with my blood pressure. I can be on a call, barefoot, and grinding my stress into this wooden knob thing, and a 12 dollar carpet square underneath it, and conduit all of my negative energy into the floor instead of onto the call. It's just a stress relief toy but one that none of my coworkers or customers can see. It makes me feel like a four limbed creature instead of two limbed and gives me more sense of control. I dunno. I like it
- mkbkn 3y agoCan you post a picture of the foot roller & the mat underneath it? Or a link.
- mstaoru 3y agoV60 + Porlex + paper filters + some nice light roasted coffee? Should be $50-ish. Be warned, this is rabbit hole. In the same vein, a simple pin cha set (porcelain gaiwan with a few tiny cups) and some Fenghuang Dancong "Duck poop" tea (鸭屎香). This can be expensive, but $20 for gaiwan and $30 for tea should be enough to taste it. Singapore? A one-way flight to Thailand! :-) What else you can buy in Singapore for $50, a subway ticket? :D
- jharohit 3y agonot a bad idea! i have been enjoying pour overs way more than normal lattes anyway recently
- circlefavshape 3y agoA ukulele. You can learn to play it in 20 hours, and then you are a musician
- Spivak 3y agoI would throw used acoustic guitar in there as well if you have the hand largeness for it. If you just want to play songs around a campfire it's around the same number of hours. A weird artifact of many musicians getting their start when they were [1] teenagers / early twenties is that the songs can be played by novices at guitar since well... they were novices when they wrote them. [1] Or still are, Gayle is 19, playing stadium shows, and can't play guitar for shit -- her voice is the showstopper. It's kinda inspiring seeing her just playing chords and being like wow that's so attainable.
- tacoman 3y agoA simple bidet like a Neo 120. It simply baffles me that North Americans haven’t caught on to how life changing this is.
- gizmo 3y ago- French press. With a bit of practice you can make very good coffee with it in just a few minutes. Machine washable. - Glass tea pot with filter for loose tea leaves. Also machine washable. - Tower fan. Cools and provides white noise. - Gym membership (50 a month) - Earplugs (Tinnitus is life-changing, and not a good way) - Running shoes - Pillow The items are not by themselves life-changing, but they can be life changing if they make you change your habits, like they did for me. For instance, by replacing sugary drinks with tea. If I'm allowed to up the budget a little bit I would include noise-cancelling headphones. Dual 4k monitors. Mechanical keyboard. Countless books. Prescription eyeglasses (+ sunglasses).
- jharohit 3y agotower fan absolutely agree!
- neonnoodle 3y agoAeropress
- babyeater9000 3y agoYou can get books from the internet archive or another library for free and in infinite quantity. In general, good information has incredible utility value. Remember that copying isn't stealing. As far as a physical items: A nice insulated drink container A water filter that doubles as a pitcher for your fridge Used book stores and thrift stores often have awesome, sometimes new, non-fiction books for literally 2 dollars each. I found a bunch of programming books at one, once A good small kitchen knife A jump rope ($12) and basketball ($35)to use at the park Maybe a used bike at a pawn shop Flea markets and other places that deal in cash have nice deals on retro games, electronics, and DVDs. You might be able to get 8 movies on DVD or 1-2 8-16 bit games. You might be able to get one wii, but not a snes or nes.Once again, if you're strapped for cash: information is free and is now infinitely replicable at virtually no cost, really. Infinite walks and meditation Mp3 player/recorder that can record fm radio Rubik's cubes of maybe two different sizes An eyeshadow pallette A used laptop at a pawn shop Maybe a single board computer A little outside grill to cook burgers on A big fuckin' hammer A 20 pound single dumbbell Pepper spray Rock climbing gym membership for one When you're hungry, nothing is more valuable than food. Maybe a dinner for two ;)
- sourcecodeplz 3y agoLamps. The house feels soo cozy at night when I turn off the overhead lights and switch to lamps.