I never thought Id be excited for a garbage can, but after going through multiple plastic cans and having the lid mechanism fail on cheaper metal cans, I broke down and got a more expensive one from Simple Human. I feel the quality everytime I use the step to toss something. It sounds so dumb, but I'm really blown away after years of crappy cans.

Aside from that, my python water changer for aquariums. That thing has been the goat for years at this point.

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[–] 1 point 1 minute ago

I swear by none, because I don't want to be some corporate sponsor goodie consumer who builds trust with certain companies.

I can only swear by my preferences, if it's affordable, can do what I need or want it to do, whatever it is, that's what I get.

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  • [–] 1 point 16 minutes ago (1 child)

    the SmokeBuddy is fuckin magical if you vape or smoke weed and need to keep the smell under wraps

    i could blow the biggest fuckin cloud of dank live resin cartridge vape through it and literally nothing would come out the other side

    no smell. no vapor. nothing

    they come in so many colors and a few different sizes

    absolute life saver

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  • Welcome to adulthood, where we get excited by the same household goods we thought our parents were lame for getting excited over.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago

    Bloody Farm red fife flour is for sure the tops in the red fife flour game.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago

    Arm And Hammer products. I use their toothpaste, laundry detergent and deodorant, all top notch while not having a premium price tag. Don't have a cat ATM, but I used to use their kitty litter.

    They've had the same few products for as long as I've been aware of the brand. They only do a few things, but they do them right. Praying they never enshittify or start spreading themselves thin.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 hours ago (1 child)

    A bidet with a heated seat and water. The water doesn't get very hot but at least it's not freezing in the winter. The heated seat is underrated until you go somewhere without one and remember how cold a toilet seat can get.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 hours ago

    This is why I think its important for advanced economies that the average person have actual discretionary income of a decent level. so that people can make decisions to spend more for things they believe are quality. otherwise all products become a race to the bottom.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 hours ago

    I have the two chamber simple human trash can (one recycling, one trash), and honestly have quite a few complaints...

    • the interior volume is way lower than the exterior volume that it takes up (including the top rim), it feels like it's wasting a lot of space
    • the hinge sticks further out the back limiting its ability to go flat against a wall
    • after a couple years the pedal mechanism is very loud and squeaky but hard to access
    • theres a removable recycling bin but no removable garbage bin

    Don't get me wrong, it's still better built than most and nicely designed for the most part, but to me it feels like a bunch of what you're paying for is the design and not necessarily robustness.

    Like in many ways I have more respect for those $10 white Rubbermaid kitchen trash cans with the spinning lid. They get you 90% of the way to a simple human for 10% of the cost. Toss a couple brick in the bottom and it gets hard to push over.

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  • [–] 27 points 6 hours ago (1 child)

    Not a brand, but natural fibers. 100% cotton sweats and t-shirts, cotton/hemp blend shirts, wool sweaters. I can't deal with plastic against my skin anymore, at least not when I'm trying to be comfortable.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

    Personally my preference is like 85-95% cotton, but with some kind elastane in them.

    I can't go back to non stretchy clothes, they just feel so much more limiting, but I'd take 100% cotton over 100% polyester every day of the week.

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  • [–] 15 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

    Bone conduction headphones, specifically Aftershokz.

    Running, cycling, walking whatever activity I'm doing outside I can listen to music or audiobooks and still be aware of my surroundings.

    Taking an acid trip? Now I can hear the birds and have a nice background soundtrack to the day whilst I trip in the woods!

    Working with heavy machinery, I can wear ear protection and also listen to what ever I want to pass the time. No more blasting headphones in an attempt to drown out the machine noise and fucking my ears up.

    Fucking love these things!

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  • [–] 3 points 3 hours ago

    Aftershokz were my first headphones of that type, and I loved them. A big bonus point was that they were the only type of headphones that were watertight enough for running in Irish weather.

    Then they died on me a month out of warranty. I did some research and found many others with the same experience. Since then I'm buying no-name brands of bone conducting headphones. Even if they last only half as long, their cost is much lower.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 hours ago (1 child)

    For your last one, I use just regular ANC earbuds with over ear hearing protection and it works great without cranking the piss out if them. Never tried bone induction or whatever. What's the big difference? Also sometimes I do like the block out the noise so I can hear the audio book or whatever I'm listening to...

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  • [–] 1 point 2 minutes ago

    Bone conduction headphones don't touch your ears directly. They transmit sound vibrations through your skull, so it sounds like the music is inside your head. It also leaves your ears open to hearing outside sounds normally instead of muted.. There's no noise cancellation, but it allows you to use earplugs or other ear protection and still have music.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 hours ago

    Fly swatter of the brand Plastiken. That thing fast, accurate and durable.

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  • [–] 11 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

    Laundry machines and dish washer machines. I know that Technology Connections says they’re all the same, but I disagree.

    Knipex pliers and Wera screwdrivers. Especially Pozi drive.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 hours ago (2 children)

    I’ve discovered that doing the dishes by hand is extremely economical and reliable ;-)

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  • [–] 10 points 6 hours ago* (1 child)

    Anything made by Knipex. Why cheap out and pay 10 euros for shitty waterpump pliers when you could spend 30 and get the absolute best ones money can buy. I think everyone should own at least one pair of 180mm Cobras.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 hours ago (1 child)

    Swing-a-way can openers. They work better and smoother than any other can opener and it's not close. They also last for fucking ever. I had one from before I was born and kept for most of my life until it finally rusted out a couple of years ago. The original company went out of business, but after some research, I found the EZ-DUZ-IT can opener which is the exact same design and works exactly as well. I've had this one for a few years now and it's going strong, so I think I'm good for another 20+ years.

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  • [–] 0 points 50 minutes ago

    Those can openers were my favorites until I found there are openers that don’t cut through the top but simply remove it. The one I have is from Oneida (I don’t think it’s made anymore). Once you use one it’s hard to go back to the cutting type.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 hours ago

    Dewitt D20 diamond shape scuffle hoe with the 72" pistol grip handle. If you keep the blade nice and sharp it makes controlling weeds and prepping planting areas so much easier. It slices parralllel to the soil surface so you can cut weeds at the root without a lot of effort, and it's one of the only tools I've found that can break up dense mats of vines.

    Bucket style towel warmer. No specific brand recommendation here. I got mine from the Aldi aisle of shame. You just throw your towel in before getting in the shower and 10 minutes later it's nice and warm like it just came out of the dryer.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 hours ago (4 children)

    Kobalt shovel. I had to tear up roots, rocks, dig new gardens where none had existed, and i decided to dig up a small pond (5 feet deep, 10 across) on new property and I kept breaking my old shovels, new shovels, and then I bought this kobalt. I was frustrated at the various shovels breaking in various ways and spent like 20 minutes in the shovel aisle at Lowe’s studying them all like a lunatic and begrudgingly bought this expensive one that looked the most sturdy and well built in the places all the others broke. It’s a beast. I’ll never need to buy another. It finished the jobs and has doubled the amount of work I did with all those broken ones.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 child)

    This story sounds familiar. Allow me to offer a couple suggestions.

    Water the ground about a half hour before you need to dig. Use plenty of water but don't make it muddy.

    Sharpen the edge of your shovels with a file or grindstone. It makes a world of difference for reducing the effort it takes to cut through even small roots.

    Get a mattock and a long handle ice chopper for large roots. Keep those tools sharp as well.

    I broke two wood handled shovels within 3 weeks of buying my first house that had heavy clay soils. I also resorted to buying the metal handled kobalt shovel. These days I'm back to mostly using a wood shovel with these tips and only break out the metal handled shovel for really demanding work. The wood handled shovel is much lighter and therefore less fatigueing to use.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 hours ago (1 child)

    I bought a shovel and my partner bent it the first time out. It wasn’t even hard ground. The handle is fine, but the actual shovel is made of tissue paper. it’s frustrating when a very simple tool just can’t handle standard use.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 hours ago

    My dogs can’t get into/knock over the SimpleHuman ones, so they’re what we’ve got. It took a heck of a ketchup-strewn garbage mess across the living room to justify one, but it’s been great.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 hours ago

    Scott Bonnar reel mowers. One of mine has been running every week from before I was born and I'm 45.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 hours ago*

    A swear jar, it helps me save. /S

    Honestly tho, I've had the same pair of wired Apple earpods for over a decade and they're still working perfectly and the cable sheath only has a small cut 5cm of length away from the jack, and that's with the abuse I gave it when I was younger, like swinging it into the desk or accidentally pulling it by forgetting I had them on.

    There were even pop up stores around me that basically sold earpods with official internals but coloured plastics for like $2AUD each, though the store I've seen in person closed a few years ago after having been in my local shopping centre for like 3 weeks.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 hours ago

    The EZ-DUZ-It can opener. You don't know you need a good can opener in your life until you have one.

    https://www.steuby.com/can-opener.html

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  • [–] 3 points 6 hours ago*

    I don't always swear, but when I do I swear by my Stevens 301.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 hours ago (6 children)

    I have a few. Bose noise canceling EarPods. Bosch power tools. Ford cars. Gillette Mach 6 (or is it 5?). It looks like I may consume a lot; in fact these help me to consume much less.

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  • [–] 8 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

    Ford cars feels like a hot take. Seems like they're issuing a deluge of recalls on their vehicles right now, no?

    Can I ask what specifically has you beaded in on them as the specific car brand to swear by?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 hours ago (1 child)

    I have over the years driven many company cars, Volvos, land rovers, and ford-galaxy, -focus, -transit, -and now an EV mache. Of all these cars, ford was the most reliable and best in service.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 hours ago

    I will agree I have been very impressed with the ford transit vans I have driven. I also have a buddy with a Mach-E....and he won't shut up about how great it is.

    That said my.primary experience was doing home mechanic work on a trio of 90/00's era explorers and an 80's era 3/4 ton pickup. Was definitely underwhelmed with my experience working on/with those.

    I don't think I'd want to own one (mostly since I still do my own maintenance as much as I can), but as a rental/company vehicle, yeah, I could see those being workable.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 hours ago (1 child)

    I would like to advocate for straight razors instead of any brand name proprietary razor head.

    Straight blades cost almost nothing and it takes about 5 shaves to get the hang of it, but I cannot go back to the Gillette ones now.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 hours ago

    For me it’s the other way around, perhaps it is beard dependent? Sure, the Gillette ones are more expensive, but with one unit I can shave daily for a month (so very cheap/sustainable), it is a very thorough shave and… never any cuts (important for me, as I have patient-facing role).

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  • [–] 1 point 6 hours ago (3 children)

    Perfect Aire 5000 btu window air conditioner. Its rated to work down to 18c outside.

    I had another ac that pushed warm air when the temperature dripped to 18c

    But this one keeps pushing cool air when the outside temps are as low as 13c.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

    Honest question: why would you need an air conditioner if the outside air is already 18C? Why not just bring in the outdoor air directly? How cool do you want the room? Any special purpose?

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  • [–] 3 points 4 hours ago (1 child)

    This mostly is a problem in late summer when it's still very warm in the daytime but cools down at night. I only have one window in my bedroom so the room stays warm at night even if it's cool outside.

    During the day, I can cool the room to a comfortable level but the heat builds up as the night goes on without the AC. By 2 or 3am, it's too warm to sleep.

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