Asklemmy

Glerups. Greatest slippers I have ever worn.

Wheelchair :)

That and medication. The two changed my life completely.

Baby Brezza formula machine.

Pre-heats the water and has a hopper for the powder. You can have a bottle of formula ready to go in about 10 seconds. Wifi with an app too.

A knee pillow. I have always struggled with the occasional back pain because I would sometimes twist my legs/back at night and be in pain the next day(s). A knee pillow has massively changed that for me. I pretty much never have issues with my back caused by sleeping weird now.

In a similar vein, nasal strips. My nose often gets obstructed at night and it caused a ton of sleepless nights because I had a hard time breathing. Finding the strong nasal strips I'm now using pretty much eliminated that problem.

Bone conducting earphones, my stupid tiny ear canals mean I can't get any ear buds, to stay in my ears, the bone conducters have changed my life....

• my custom made silicon ear plugs are a close second, sweet sleep when I'm on night shifts

If we're talking about obvious things, getting a washing machine and kitchen with all that comes with it is a tremendous improvement in a new apartment.

If I had to pick something less obvious, I'd say for me it was an e-book. It's hard to measure the effect, but I mostly read non-fiction and knowledge creates a lot opportunities over time in private and work life.

A foam/gel pillow that allows me to sleep with my neck at the proper angle so my degenerating disks don't keep me up all night. A literal lifesaver.

Chef's knife. Mountain bike (a "real" mountainbike) Gaming Laptop

A replacement screen for my 2012 Samsung laptop. I fell on it, slipping on the ice and the screen was totally fucked. So woe is me, time to go to a technician and someone on the bus overheard me and suggested I buy the screen and fix it myself. Tech quoted me 300 bucks and 2 months wait.

So I bought it for under 100 bucks, took just a week and followed a how-to guide on Youtube. It was an improvement because it meant I was finally developing a job skill in computer maintenance and could do something to at least survive in capitalism.

Blundstones. I live in a coastal city that's wet (but rarely snowy) the vast majority of the year. Having rain-resistant shoes that are comfortable AND durable has been a game changer.

And if I can mention a second: A proper, long raincoat. Combined with good shoes, I'm able to tolerate the weather here much better than when I'd first moved to this city and relied on sneakers + regular jackets.

Two things together allowed me to sleep soundly for the fist time in my life:

-Melatonin

-A sleep mask

I take melatonin an hour before I want to sleep and the eye mask ensures that no light bothers me.

Slip-on shoes, these specific ones are so well designed I can put them on in a few seconds while standing. They basically have loops for fingers on the tongue and pull/heel tab, I wish there were better quality shoes with the same design though as these have very specific cleaning instructions.

Welder a number of years back. Led to a whole ass career change lol

64 ounce Stanley water jug. I throw ice in it and I have something cold to drink all day. It's beautiful.

Bidet has been good though now it feels gross to shit at work and my politics demand I shit at work.

Contact grill, ie a GE brand George Foreman. I can't fuck up flippimg shit if I'm frying both sides simultaneously. And a food thermometer so my colorblind ass isn't relying on mom's shit advice to just cook it until it's brown.

This battery car starter / tire infator / phone charger. I have used it with some frequency, but more often I can just roll up and fix someone's car problem super quick. I even get out of work with it a lot when a customer needs someone to jump their car or fix a flat (also keep a tire patch kit obv).

All of this is bought from thrift stores. I can only assume most of my shit was originally shoplifted, it's fantastic. There is just so much good shit being sold for almost nothing, I am the KING of expired Chips Ahoy.

I bought a low sided frying pan for when I make pancakes. It makes getting them out so much easier

Crocs. Technically two items but you need a pair to get the benefits.

I used to have very bad plantar fasciitis from my time in the military. For years I suffered every step of every day. I researched possible solutions and found out zero drop shoes help it. I bought some Xero shoes and after about three months it all just went away. Now I just wear zero drop shoes.

I don't really know for sure. Best bet is probably a ball pen when I was like 11. I've used only fountain pens until then.
It just doesn't leak and I don't have to wait for ink to dry up.

Espresso machine, best present ever.

Lots of comments already but I’ll contribute too. So I have a few:

• A water flosser. Normal floss is okay but wasteful imo, water flossers work wonderfully
• A flip belt for running. It’s much better then keeping stuff in your pockets
• An instapot, I use it every time I cook. Either for rice or for actual meat

A wok. It sounds insane that a simple and small carbon steel wok would reduce the time needed to cook and clean in my kitchen. It even makes my meal costs cheaper. Just make fried rice or udon noodle dishes or just cook what we get from everyplate in it and it's the best way to cook on the stove.

A Linux USB (Linux was not included but it's the key thing)

chatgpt. it's the perfect workaround for my weaknesses.

An hdmi to composite converter. It allows me to connect my pc to my old crt, I can play games, watch YouTube, stream everything, it made me realize I don't really need a new TV

An 18 button mouse for my PC. 12 buttons on the side which I've mapped my function keys to. It's excellent for gaming, so many things you can do without even using your left hand on the keyboard.

Knitting needles.

Not only have they been essential in breaking the habit of reaching for my phone while I'm meant to be watching my TV/monitor, but I also end up with a practical, useful, personalised product at the end