$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!)
You 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 ;)
Youtube 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.
You 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.
You 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.
You're paying them to not have to see the ads. It's one of those services where it's really easy to calculate if it's worth it by just roughly summing up hrs/month you spend on ads vs content. I have never found a single service that's has "pay-to-remove-ads" as a business model ever deliver on the HN wet dream of "pay them to not track you."
- 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).
Truly 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.
"A dose of magic mushrooms is like two weeks of psychotherapy."
I forgot whose quote is that.
--
I am an hardcore atheist, and on Wikipedia I read that many people experience God on shrooms, which convinced me to try them out. I didn't see God, but I learned that my brain is doing a LOT of sensory filtering behind the scenes [1], and when you lift that screen up, the world is mind-blowing in its complexity and beauty.
The most beautiful things I've experienced with them are trees. It's like they grow a fourth dimension, and their fractal design is better than anything humans can create.
Damn, I haven't had any hallucinogen in 13 years, and I'd love to chance to peer through the curtain once again. Hallucinogens simply offer a perspective, a vantage point unreachable while sober.
1: years later I learned that we have more green cones in our eyes than red and blue, to better distinguish shapes in nature. Made me smile, because I experienced that during one of my trips: I was totally mesmerized by green things because they appeared so vibrant, with much more resolution than any other colour. I remember spotting a person with green shoes from very far away, like I grew a superpower. I always had it, but in my sober life it's filtered otherwise it would be overwhelming. Many people go through their life without having had the chance to see the unrefined, raw signal of reality.
Apparently 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 ;-)
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.
They are totally legal in Brazil, you can buy and get it shipped to anywhere in the country, or the most common, just go to some farmland and pick them by yourself.
Fresh 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.
Freshly 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.
I 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.
The 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.
V60 + 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
I 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
I 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.
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.
It'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.
It 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.
Ouch, 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.
Oh 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
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-t...