Low risk products that people swear by.

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
      27·
      6 months ago

      In 1857, Congress eliminated the half penny because it was worthless.

      At the time the buying power of the half penny was more than a penny, a nickel, a dime, and two more pennies. 18 cents was the value when Congress said it was not worth making the coin anymore.

      We could eliminate three of our coins without affecting the economy, but doing so would draw attention to inflation.

      • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
        5·
        6 months ago

        The dollar is metric, so we already have such a system. People often use kilodollars already, e.g. writing $2k instead of $2,000, but we could start using decadollars ($10) hectodollars ($100), too.

        • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
          4·
          6 months ago

          Good point.

          I guess I would be a decanaire then!

          … I’m so broke. Send me your leftovers.

  • zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev
    34·
    6 months ago

    Foam earplugs if you’re headed to a noisy area. I know too many people that have damaged their hearing by not protecting it at concerts and other venues with amplified sounds.

    • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      9·
      6 months ago

      While having them as a backup is good. If you enjoy concerts I’d highly suggest spending the money on good earplugs that don’t distort the sound as much. They make the specifically for concert goers and they’re amazing. Putting in Regular earplugs is like listening to a 32kbps mp3.

      • triptrapper@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 months ago

        If anyone’s looking for brand names… Loops have spent a lot on marketing the last few years. I’ve worn them a few times and they’re good, but I think Flare Earshades are just one level above. I can’t believe how good they sound.

      • zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev
        2·
        6 months ago

        Agreed. I have some that just turn the volume down and I keep them on my keychain. It also helps me a lot when there’s background noise to pick out conversation. After the first part of the pandemic, it seemed like everybody had been yelling on their zoom calls and it helped with that as well until either they adjusted back to IRL volume or I readjusted to it.

    • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
      105·
      6 months ago

      Hearing damage is part of the concert experience though. If you don’t leave with mild tinnitus did you really even go?

      • prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works
        112·
        6 months ago

        Yes.

        This is a dumb mindset that needs to be changed.

        After 20 years of concerts wearing my studio plugs I can still hear.

        My friends who thought it was dumb are now deaf as fuck and frankly their hearing loss is an annoying self inflicted wound.

        Wear hearing protection ya dingus, every time.

        • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
          5·
          6 months ago

          Actually I’m also the weird friend that uses hearing protection lol all my friends tell me that. I still have tinnitus and plenty of hearing damage from not doing that when I was younger though

      • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        A friend of mine told me he went to a concert that was “so loud it physically hurt his ears.” He thought I was looking at him like he had two heads because that was such a strange experience until I told him that voices at normal conversational volume often “physically hurts my ears.”

        He never knew why I was always asking him to lower his voice, he thought it was just a weird thing I did.

    • Hikermick@lemmy.world
      4·
      6 months ago

      I pocket these whenever they’re available for free in places where I work. Recently downloaded a free app that measures decibels and was amazed.

      Hearing loss is different from other things they warn you about. Get something in my eye? Guess I’ll start wearing eye protection. Back hurts? Guess I’ll start lifting with my knees. Hearing loss is different. You won’t lose your hearing, you’ll lose the ability to understand what people are saying in a noisy environment, it hurts you socially. Having to say “huh?” repeatedly is embarrassing, it makes you withdraw.

    • YⓄ乙 English
      1·
      6 months ago

      I don’t see the benefit as i tried it once but could still hear others

      • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        6 months ago

        The same way you can wear warm clothes in freezing weather and still feel the cold, but at a level which won’t physically damage you.

      • Bob@feddit.nl
        1·
        6 months ago

        I went to see King Gizzard recently, earplugs in pocket, and I suppose I never found a moment to stick them in, but I was stood near the front the whole time and I came away with absolutely none of the usual hearing damage. I don’t know how they did it, but what a great bunch of lads.

        • RBWells@lemmy.world
          1·
          6 months ago

          Sometimes if you get ALL the way in front, you are in front of the speakers so they are pointed away from you, and it’s not nearly as loud.

          • Bob@feddit.nl
            1·
            6 months ago

            Well I take solace in the fact that I first assumed it was someone else’s doing.

  • Boomkop3@reddthat.com
    25·
    6 months ago

    Not sure if this is international, but sewing machine oil is cheap and it lasts years for all sorts of things that need lubrication (not for organisms)

  • Num10ck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    6 months ago

    i had a suoer cheap keyring that kept getting out of shape and poking my leg and dropping keys that i tolerated for years. finally i splurged and bought a thicker one for $1 and it totally solved the problem.

  • Vej@lemm.eeOP
    17·
    6 months ago

    Starting this out:

    P51 Military Can Openers: I have several of these. I have one on a tiny magnet attached to my kitchen door should I ever need it. Works about as well as any other can opener. Easy to slip in a drawer, keychain, car, exct.

    Mason Jar plastic reusable lids: great for storage as well as meal prep. I have a lot of mason jars and these are awesome.

    • HowlsSophie@lemmy.world
      4·
      6 months ago

      Can confirm. Just discovered them about a week ago and I’ll never go back to metal ones.

      Edit: will NEVER go back.

    • rem26_art@fedia.io
      3·
      6 months ago

      I like the plastic lids for fermenting food in mason jars, like sauerkraut. I find the metal ones tend to become really hard to open or corrode once the ferment has been going on for a while.

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        3·
        6 months ago

        I used to have trouble opening jars.

        I went looking for one of those “jar openers” and someone in the Amazon reviews suggested a strap wrench. They were right. They are much better. Maybe a bit overkill for jar-opening, but better to be overkill than not enough.

        These gizmos are for putting a lot of torque on something large and round, like pipes. Hardware stores have 'em. There are several types: some have a metal strap, others a nylon strap, and others a rubber strap. For jars, you want a rubber strap.

        You can even get two, use one on the lid and the other on the jar.

        One random example (not the one I have):

        https://www.amazon.com/ACOSEA-Wrench-Diameter-Adjustable-Plumbing/dp/B0C9YF82ZL

        Note that (since this is a $1 discussion) these things are more than $1.

  • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world
    16·
    6 months ago

    It’s a buck 25 now, but you can get two Inc brand R2 pens at dollar tree. They’re the only thing I’ve written with for nearly a decade now. They’re a smooth ballpoint with a slight bleed in 0.7 making your penmanship look bold, smooth, and steady. Everything my handwriting lacks. They now make a 0.5 and is equally as clean but far better for smallest script. One pen lasts me about 6 months of regular writing.

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      82·
      6 months ago

      ballpoint

      I bet they’re a “rollerball” pen rather than a ballpoint. Those move a lot more-readily than ballpoints.

      kagis

      Yeah.

      https://www.amazon.com/R-2-0-7-Roller-Ball-Pens/dp/B004B7RLWS

      They’re rollerball pens.

      Lots of different pen manufacturers make those. If you want an even smoother movement and can live with thicker lines, you can get a broader tip – those have even less resistance.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollerball_pen

      Roller ball pens or roll pens are pens which use ball point writing mechanisms with water-based liquid or gelled ink, as opposed to the oil-based viscous inks found in ballpoint pens. These less viscous inks, which tend to saturate more deeply and more widely into paper than other types of ink, give roller ball pens their distinctive writing qualities. The writing point is a tiny ball, usually 0.5 or 0.7 mm in diameter, that transfers the ink from the reservoir onto the paper as the pen moves.

      In comparison to ballpoint pens,

      • Rollerball pens have a unique ink flow system for an even, high-performance writing experience.

      • Less pressure needs to be applied to the pen to have it write cleanly. This permits holding the pen with less stress on the hand, saving energy and improving comfort. This can also translate to quicker writing speeds. This is especially true of liquid ink pens.

      • Their inks usually have a greater range of colors due to the wider choice of suitable water-soluble dyes and/or to the use of pigments.

      • They tend to write more clearly than ballpoint pens do.

      There are a number of disadvantages inherent to roller ball pens:

      • Roller ball pens with liquid-ink are more likely to “bleed” through the paper. Liquid ink is more readily absorbed into the paper due to its lower viscosity. This viscosity also causes problems when leaving the tip on the paper. The bleed-through effect is greatly increased as the ink is continually absorbed into the paper, creating a blotch. This does not affect gel-ink roller ball pens as much. This is one way through which the thickness of gel-ink gives it an advantage, in that it isn’t as prone to being absorbed. Though the bleed-through effect of a gel-ink roller ball is greater than that of a ballpoint, it is usually not too significant.

      • Roller ball pens generally run out of ink more quickly than ballpoints because roller balls use a greater amount of ink while writing. This is especially true of liquid-ink roller balls, due to gel ink having a low absorption rate as a result of its thickness. Neither lasts as long as a ballpoint.

      • Uncapped roller ball pens are more likely to leak ink when, for example, placed into a shirt pocket, but most pens include caps or other mechanisms to prevent this from happening.

      • A roller ball tip is more likely to clog and jam when writing over correction fluid that has not yet completely dried. This often renders the ink cartridge useless.

      • NaoPb@eviltoast.orgEnglish
        0·
        6 months ago

        I had a pen once that I could press on paper and wait to make a circle of ink. I never tought about how or what that was but your comment made me remember that.

  • Mars2k21@sh.itjust.works
    10·
    6 months ago

    Cheap scissors for your car. You never know when you need to open something that would be difficult to do with your hands for whatever reason.

  • huquad@lemmy.mlEnglish
    111·
    6 months ago

    I don’t know if they still exist. But there were these machines in casinos that took dollar bills, and always seem to pay out really well. 1 of paper equals 4 of coin everytime.

  • riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    9·
    6 months ago

    A few things you could probably get for $1, but would be better if bought in bulk:

    A permanent marker, a package of labels. Combined, you can reuse your Amazon boxes as storage boxes. Labels aren’t necessary, but black text on a white background is easier to read from a distance.

    Box cutter knife/utility knife. Can be used to cut holes in Amazon boxes for pets to play in. Or, simply keep them but the front door so you can open packages right away.

    Hook-and-loop (Velcro) ties for wires. Can be used to tidy up the wires behind your desk, or for charging cables when traveling.

    Dish soap (without degreaser)/baby shampoo. Aside from their original purposes, these can both be used to clean glass before applying a permanent tint (or just to clean glass normally) or to wash your car (degreasers can wear away at your clear coat over time.) Both can be found at the dollar store.

    Colgate regular toothpaste. (If you don’t have tooth sensitivity) You don’t need colgate total. You should still use an electric toothbrush. You should not use the cheap off-brand toothpaste. You should also floss.

    Jellyfin/Subsonic/Plex Server If you have a digital library (movies, shows, music) and an old computer/laptop/raspberry pi, you can put one of these three programs on it and host your own, personal, Netflix/Spotify for free with no ads. You only need to pay for electricity. You need to learn a bit to set it all up, but once it’s done it’s very set-and-forget. You’ll also need to buy or find your new media online (or rip it from a disk), which can be a big change for some.

    Something else that has a low barrier to entry: origami. Learn how to make a square from any sheet of paper, then learn how to make the traditional paper crane. All you need is any piece of paper and scissors (to cut it into a square). If you enjoy making the crane, there’s an endless amount of models to fold. The craft has exponentially taken off in the last few decades, just do a little searching.

  • morphballganon@lemmy.world
    9·
    6 months ago

    The spicy potato soft taco from taco bell

    Also the bean burrito

    If I want a cheap, quick dinner I’ll get a few of those in some combination

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
    8·
    6 months ago

    Watching the sun rise every once and a while is free. You could probably get a pen and a few sheets of paper to write or draw your experiences. By volume a daily vitamin is well below $1 per day and could have significant benefits if you’re not always eating healthy.

    • Vej@lemm.eeOP
      0·
      6 months ago

      Well I can tell you I need B12, Iron, and Niacin. So I definitely do take those if I remember.