- A car
- Subscriptions of any kind (except a good VPN)
- New clothes (I always buy used)
- If the app is paid or even freemium I don’t use it.
- Food delivery (Really? $40 for a fucking burger)
- Guess that leaves rent and renter’s insurance which I have to have if I want a roof over my head.
Cucumber, because fuck cucumber.
With the caveat that if it’s small and you pickle it, I’m down.
Besides that, and I can’t express this more clearly, FUCK CUCUMBER. Infects everything it touches, permeates the air, tastes like old water, smells like… Foetid moss or watery algae.
I gather the hatred some people like me carry for pukecumber has a genetic root.
This guy does not cucumber
This does not spark cucumber
With the caveat that if it’s small and you pickle it, I’m down.
Good answer.
I gather the hatred some people like me carry for pukecumber has a genetic root.
if it’s small and you pickle it, I’m down.
Sorry but you are a big fan of cucumber.
As someone who loves both pickles and cucumbers, I couldn’t disagree more.
If I’m craving one and someone hands me the other, I’ll be upset.
Right‽ I love both, but don’t you ever fucking give me one when I asked for the other. I’ll cut a bitch.
I’m a big fan of vinegar. You could pickle all kinds of awful foodstuffs and I’ll eat them.
I’m with you. I’ve tried it a bunch of times since so many people seem to like cucumbers, cucumber water, cucumber in sushi, cucumber gin, and whatever else. I don’t like pickles either. I just cannot cuke.
A car for more than like 5k. A terrifying stat is that 90% of people in my country buy their car for on finance for >10k, yet you can buy a reasonable used one for no more than 5k anywhere
There are niche circumstances where a pricey car could be worthwhile, lots of long haul journeys, need for fuel efficiency, etc, but 90% of people don’t need or benefit much from that.
I bought my current one for 1k just last year. It’s 20 years old, but it’s in perfect condition and the efficiency is not that much different from modern cars, certainly not enough to be nearly worth the extra money.
Mostly it’s to do with boycotts. Like, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t play a video game. I’m generally quite loose with my money if it’s not on any boycott list, since I can feel good about even pointless things if my money isn’t going to something evil.
Lottery tickets.
They’re basically just a tax on the dumb. But man the slogans — all you need is a dollar and a dream, you gotta be in it to win it, etc. — sheer marketing genius.
Its not about the odds. Youre temporarily renting hope in a hopeless world.
I call it the stupid tax. I pay it knowing I won’t win but it would be nice to get some fuck you money.
I don’t mind spending 10 a month to maybe pay off my house years early.
The lottery people aren’t looking for one person to buy all the tickets.
If you are buying 10 a month and a significant amount of people think like you then they are going to make bank on that.
If you win I expect a “Fuck You” reply and a picture of a ridiculous amount of cash
At least it is a crown corporation so the money goes to the province not to a private company.
If I ever win, I will track down this comment of yours and show myself posing with an incredibly large pile of loonies($1 coins with a loon on them).
I will buy one but that is it. It enhances the fantasy when there is a non zero chance something could happen even if ridiculously unlikely. That being said all the big, dreamworthy jackpots are no longer a dollar and much like fast food that has become to rich for my blood.
I buy one maybe a few times per year. Its also a very good gift to someone. You get a bit of excitement together and there is always that tiny chance of winning.
That tax goes both ways.
There are moments where the potential payout for a ticket is greater than the value of the ticket.
In that mathematical moment, buy exactly one ticket.
There are moments where the potential payout for a ticket is greater than the value of the ticket.
Has this ever happened in recent history?
In that mathematical moment, buy exactly one ticket.
I’d say buy as many as you can within the amount of money you’re ready to waste. Same as with investing, pretty much.
I’ll buy them as “gag gifts” but not for myself.
Apple anything
You must buy $1600 iphone to support failing US economy.
Please don’t look at all the alternatives that are 3 years ahead in tech and 1/3rd of the cost.
Ahhhh but those devices don’t have ‘the ecosystem’. You know, that bloated software that locks you into apple everything by making a handful of tasks marginally more convenient for the tech layperson.
TBH nowadays android is becoming just as guilty of the walled garden bullshit. We need mobile linux and we need it now.
Hard agree!
The only Apple stuff I use are phone, watch, headphones. I don’t use Google products or services and haven’t for a decade, so it’s my other good option. I don’t wanna fuck around with custom ROMs, and my last phone lasted almost six years.
Windows and Linux for computers. Unfortunately I have a game that’s extremely important to me that is impossible to run on Linux.
Even if you’re not in Apple’s ecosystem, I think iPhones are pretty great phones. Expensive yes, but they last a long time.
Yes, buy a secondhand google pixel, it’s better for privacy/security etc with grapheneOS installed. But if you like apple hardware, nothing wrong with a secondhand iphone
Streaming subscriptions. I swear the average nowadays seems to be like 4 per person because ppl don’t know how to torrent anymore
ppl don’t know how to torrent anymore
I’ll admit I was guilty of this until a few years ago, when I started learning the proper, safer ways.
Any advice? I’d love to stop paying for streaming services
I highly recommend the /c/piracy / /r/piracy wiki. Has guides, advice and links to the better public sites.
See the links on the sidebar of https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/c/piracy
Others have suggested FMHY and piracy communities, but besides the normal advice of having a trustworthy enough VPN and not g••gling something like “free movie torrent” and just clicking on the first link/links, one thing I’ve learned is just, assuming the file is somewhere around 750Mb, I think, seeing what VirusTotal has to say about it is advised.
Also, avoiding programs like BitTorrent in favor of things like Qbittorrent or Transmission is probably a good step. Last I checked, one of the communities said that at one point BitTorrent, or one of the old torrent clients, had become a virus ridden shell of its past.
Speaking of torrent clients, binding your client to your VPN is a good idea. You definitely don’t want your torrents to continue when your VPN disconnects you for any reason. Different clients may have different ways of doing it, or the setting will be in a different spot, so looking up how to do it for your client is a good idea, if you don’t know how to.
Though, I think this final part is real important for your safety when visiting certain sites to find torrents: have some form of working adblock! Because no reputable business want their ads on a piracy website, you might get caught up in a situation where you might get invisible full-screen ads that will take you to porn sites or other probably virus riddled sites just by clicking, sometimes without any way to get rid of said ads. That, or you’ll get lucky and the site just has normal ad placements, but they’re still not something you should click on.
not g••gling something
If you’re censoring because it’s a horrible company name, I just say “searching”.
✨alternative✨ streaming services are moral.
My country has a huge piracy tradition, we have counterfeit of everything and no one gives a fuck. I have this satellite decoder that let me watch any satellite-broadcasted channel in the world, and the guys who made those are so awesome that they also offer a streaming service they upload everything from all major streaming services, and it’s completely free, no subscription, you just buy their device and you have access to their private streaming
Adding to this, anything where I’d be paying a publisher middleman. Avoid whenever possible, pay directly if you’re in a position to support the creator/s of smaller projects.
This also applies to other things, like food ordering and travel accommodation. Some places offer a significant discount if you go directly to them - both of you get a bigger cut.
English speakers (and in some cases even other language speakers) can watch pretty much anything nowadays through free streaming sites. Been binging myflixer for over a year.
Yo ho
Thanks to Technology Connections - Dishwasher/Laundry pods. Soap with pretty colors, and probably more soap than you need per load. I’ve swapped to powder and literally cannot tell a difference at all, and instead of 8 dollars for 10 loads I now am getting an entire box with like, 40 loads for $8.
And if you want something convenient for laundry they have the laundry sheets that don’t release plastic into your water so that’s nice.
But personally if I want a known amount each time for each load I just use a scoop.
Is liquid detergent still a bad deal? I have no qualms against using powder instead, but my family always stuck to using bulk laundry detergent liquid (I forget the unit size of the 100 load bottle exactly), and I thought that was a good deal.
I’d say it’s better, but not great. Environmentally it still comes with a giant plastic jug that needs to be disposed of, and we all know how plastic recycling is. On your wallet, if you think bout it, you’re not just paying for the soap, but the water and the weight/shipping of that water to get to your home from the factories.
Powder is really the same thing, but you have water at home to mix it with, that happens in your washing machine. So, naturally it is going to be cheaper.
Ah that makes sense. I do reuse the jugs tho, so at least those aren’t wasted.
That’s good, reuse > recycle. We had nothing to do with them so were just recycling these giant jugs all the time. Now we have a big container we pour the detergent into and just scoop it out as we go. Containers are cardboard for the powder
When I swapped to powder it was because I could buy a jug of All free and clear (cheapest brand for hypoallergenic that I could find) for $12. I don’t recall how many loads it did, but I could get the powder online, which was at least the same number of loads but probably way more, same brand same fragrance free formula, for $4.75. They don’t carry the powder in most stores around me, I assume because it’s so much cheaper nobody would buy the overpriced liquid. Same with cheap dish powder; just not available.
I looked into it after watching the video and here dishwasher powder is just a bad deal. More expensive than the tabs. Maybe you break even if you end up using less per wash but no bargain. Tabs are also only 6 cents each so maybe not the best place to look for savings.
I don’t know where you get yours, but I get 24 loads in a box of powder for $6. https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-dishwasher-detergent-powder-lemon-scent/0001111080564
On a different continent. I’d link it but the store I last bought them from doesn’t have them on the website.
I did actually find cheaper detergent powder at other stores though. If I want to bring down my cost from 6 cents a wash to 3.5 cents.
I bought a massive box of dishwashing powder a bit over a year ago and I’m maybe halfway through it, it’s like magic. Thank you technology connections!
K-Cups. They might save you a grand total of a minute over loose grounds and a disposable paper filter, but they’re more costly per cup and create more waste.
I use the k cups and brewer with a reusable washable pod. You put little paper filters in them.
Those aren’t bad but the container is too small for my liking. Keurig brewers are a pain to clean too.
At that point you’re already putting in more work than a standard drop coffee maker would take! You literally put a filter in, pour grounds in and hit brew.
Optionally you can get a reusable filter and rinse it after each pot of coffee
they’re more costly per cup and create more waste.
Is this really true tho? because i heard they are more enviromental friendly because less coffee is wasted?
Might be less coffee but it’s not just the coffee that’s the waste; it’s all the extra plastic that each one of those K-cups uses.
Plastic often lasts centuries (at least) to biodegrade and even then animals try to eat the waste and then die horribly.
Used coffee grounds have many more uses than the plastic k-cups. Recycling the cups is difficult and usually doesn’t happen. They do make eco-friendly cups but they still contain dyes for the labels and require more energy to mass produce than simple paper filters and a bag of grounds (or beans if you grind your own).
They’re great for single people who want 1 cup before leaving for work though.
Aeropress does this for me, and way better quality. Less waste too
You can do the same with a manual coffee brewer though- just use less coffee and water
Can I leave it to pour a single measure whilst I throw on my shoes and jacket?
French presses are great for quick 1 or 2 cups
You can fine tune your process but the most basic is a funnel (I.e. V60, chemex, kalita) with a paper filter on top with grounds on it that you just pour hot water on top and wait for it to filter down. Coffee machines do all this but they generally produce worse coffee outside of shops because no one cleans them as often as they should
That’s exactly what I do with my chemex yeah.
Aeropress
Just to illustrate for anyone reading this that brewing coffee can be very easy and quick: I use one of these to very easily brew exactly one cup of coffee every morning in about 2-3 minutes - https://kalitausa.com/products/kalita-style-102-ceramic-coffee-dripper-white (mine is in the beautiful brown color, but I linked the white one because it’s much cheaper and has many more reviews)
It says 2-4 cups but I think it’s really only for 1-2 cups. It takes #2 filters that you can find at any grocery store. If you want to be even more environment-friendly, you can buy reusable cloth #2 filters online.
Procedure:
- Measure one cup of filtered water, transfer it to a pan or kettle, and start to boil it
- Set up the cone and filter on top of the cup and put one heaping tablespoon of coffee grounds in the filter
- Pour the boiling water in the filter (with a small open pan on the stove top, it takes me about 1-2 minutes to boil one cup of water)
- Optionally, flavor the coffee to taste
When I first decided that I wanted to start drinking coffee I way overthought it, spending all kinds of time and energy researching all kinds of different brewing methods, grinders, etc. It’s easy to get lost in the wilderness when it comes to coffee. But I ended up choosing the easiest option available and have been happy with it for years. Hot, fresh, easy, just about any variety and strength of coffee, and no added microplastics from sending boiling water through plastics.
I just wait until I am at work, it’s much simpler because the coffee at work is free and I just have to press a button and wait for the cup to be full.
Not hard to find single cup brewers for loose grounds (I own one) and they’re cheaper because they don’t have to work with Keurig for licensing and compatibility.
- Nestle products (I am bad at explaining why, and would just again end up researching their shit for 2 hours)
- Alcoholic drinks - kills braincells, and I’d prefer to keep both
- Cigarettes or vapes
- Closed-source software licenses (for personal use)
- Digital content that does not come on physical media
- Hardware with license-unlockable components (e.g. some networking equipment may limit throughput unless you pay more)
Agreed on all points, but especially #1. Fuck Nestle. Every time I buy a new product at the grocery store, I check to make sure they’re not made by Nestle or a subsidiarity of Nestle.
I’d also like to adhere to the feeling: Fuck Nestle. Nothing more to add.
Streaming services subscription.
Labubus
Pre-built computers. I’ve just been building PCs for so long I can’t imagine buying something that meet my specifications within a reasonable budget. And it’s fun.
I built my own because I wanted a gaming computer with a blu-ray drive. That was the only way. I also added a floppy drive for shits and giggles.
Wouldn’t a pre-built secondhand pc be cheaper, if your just starting out?
Pretty unlikely to find a second hand system with the highish specs I’d want.
But if you mean if someone just needed a computer, then yes used would be much cheaper given how quickly things advance.
I went this route. I don’t need something powerful to scroll Lemmy and watch downloaded TV/movies.
Made sure it had two display port outputs for dual monitors. Added another 16GB of RAM because why not. It is way more than I need. Probably could have gotten away with used micro PC.
I also have a NAS and micro PC “server.”
Yeah me neither. I found a charity that refurbished oldish desktops for students and pensioners, for around $35 USD. It was a 2017 lenovo with 8gb ddr4, decent inbuilt graphics, and it came with a monitor, screen, keyboard and mouse. I just put linuxmint on it, and it is working well for some low end games
CSB: Years ago when my kid was in after school care I fixed a couple of their busted PCs. Nothing major, just made sure the hardware was OK, reinstalled Windoz, and then installed some FOSS games on them. I had enough stuff from the work scrapheap and mine to make a third. Kids loved it. I was a very-local semi-celebrity.
Just because the hardware doesn’t make the cut for heavy work doesn’t mean it cannot handle the needs of others.
I have never tried building a PC myself but I have gotten into reviving old ones. I haven’t bought a computer in over a decade. I just inherit people’s old ones and bring them back to life with linux, maybe replace a dead PSU or something. I’m new to hardware stuff. I really wish I knew a way to get these computers into the hands of people who can’t afford to buy one and don’t know how to do this themselves.
A brand new car.
Buy used, let someone else take the depreciation hit.
With how complex (and unrepairable) modern cars are, in a few years the used car prices will probably shoot up because of flailing supply.
Yeah, my car is 18 years old, has almost 300k miles on it, and because it’s desirable and not made anymore, it’s still worth about half what I paid for it 14 years ago.
I doubt anyone will pay half the price of a 4 year old model if its 18 years old…!
A lot of things break on cars that old, so any buyer has to be a bit stupid to pay that price…
Want to see crazy used car prices? Look at small Toyota trucks in southern California. The prices are insane because many people want a small basic truck for work. The 22R and 22RE engines live long and if they do die it is easy to source a rebuilt engine.
Yep, and nobody makes a true equivalent to the small pickup anymore. Even the Ford Maverick is bigger than 90s Tacomas, and Rangers
Small trucks cannot be imported into the US due to the Chicken Tax. American companies will not build small trucks because they like the profits from large SUVs and trucks.
Yep. There also emissions vs weight or payload of the vehicle regulations that make it even less profitable to produce small pickups here.
It all depends on what car it is. Obviously, nobody is dumb enough to pay that on an 18 year old KIA or Hyundai.
A lot of things break on cars that old, so any buyer has to be a bit stupid to pay that price…
laughs in a 30 year old van, that gained about 40% of value since I bought it 3 years ago
If it was built well, and is simple enough, it’s not too much of a hassle and you can maintain a lot of it yourself. Most new cars are complicated garbage that breaks constantly straight out of the factory, and you have to take it to a mechanic to do anything because of their complexity and proprietary software. Compare that to my van, where I can read the OBD2 error codes on my phone over bluetooth with a $10 dongle, and can do most basic maintenance (oil, ATF, spark plugs, belts) with basic hand tools and a car pit.
Yeah I understand the value of that. We can see it also in consumer electronics, or any consumer product really, how its designed to break right after warranty.
Its fun to hear from these companies how they care about the environment while at the same time producing endless things that will end up in the trash in just a few years.
- Phones on contract payment plans
- New monitors: Maybe my eyes suck, but my set of two 21-inch LCD monitors from 2005 is still going strong
- Third-party meal delivery: I’m fine sitting down with a microwaved meal or some canned soup if I don’t feel like cooking
- A new car every x years: My car of choice is old and relatively cheap, so I could afford to pay in full in cash. Bonus of being spyware-free, so I’ll just maintain it for as long as I can.
- Stuff from Aliexpress, Temu and the like: the user experience is horrendous, customer service is nonexistent, and discount codes are pure gimmicks
I was with you up until aliexpress.
There’s definitely junk on there, but if you look for high purchase volume plus good ratings you’ll get plenty of high quality stuff (minus the middle-man markup).
Am wondering, how do you complete a transaction on Aliexpress? On Librewolf and Firefox, something always goes wrong for me at some point, usually a bogus security check failing or buttons mysteriously ceasing to work.
Huh… FF is my main browser and I’ve never had an issue. Could it be an extension issue?
This guy frugals.
To this day, I’ve never been tempted to buy a nice display, I’m right there with you. Like, I go to electronics stores for whatever and am dazzled by the bright colours on the modern ones, but not enough to need it when I’m posting on Lemmy, let alone pay an arm and a leg for it.
New monitors: Maybe my eyes suck, but my set of two 21-inch LCD monitors from 2005 is still going strong
Your eyes don’t suck. You just want to abuse them for some reason. Modern display tech is way easier on your eyes.
I got a OLED monitor and it gives me more eye strain then my old monitor. I’ve tried software and hardware setting and it still persists. Flux, dark mode, high contrast settings, brightness settings. Tried it all, unless there is something I missed.
I use it sparingly now while playing FPS games (picture is amazing by the way, wish my eyes weren’t like this)
How so? I’d expect two monitors showing the same thing at the same brightness would by physiologically identical.
The monitor my work provided me is much more recent and it touts:
- Reduced blue light emissions (thought I don’t know how that should be achieved without affecting color accuracy)
- 90 Hz refresh rate
- Potentiometric brightness control to avoid PWM flicker
Some individuals are much more sensitive to the latter two, but I don’t feel much of a downgrade when I come home to my crappy old monitors, hence I joke that my eyes suck.
My eyes would bleed at the sight of my laptop’s 1366x768 TN panel if I got used to anything better! Those are the “good” monitors haha.
A 144hz monitor has been the biggest upgrade to my computer since switching from an HDD to a SSD. It’s that big of a difference.
Yeah, cant go back from that. I have one myself, 30 inch. Everything looks super crisp and smooth on it.
Not as dramatic of a shift, but going to 4k HDR OLED has made me so spoiled in terms of movie watching experience.
I bought a 144hz 4K 32" monitor a few years ago, it wasn’t cheap (800€) but I don’t regret buying it, everything just looks better on it than it ever did on the previous monitor.
my problem is I can’t even find a car to replace my old one. been trying, but when 2012-2014 is the newest model they make of what I want… hard to find for a reasonable price
I just want a small wagon
I might end up looking at newer stuff, but… how tf am I going to avoid shitty touchscreens, spyware, LED headlights, and all that garbage?
As a fan of sedans and hatchbacks…car shopping is very interesting right now
how so? like just because nobody fucking makes them anymore?
Yup many manufactures stopped making anything other than trucks and SUVs in the US, and if that doesn’t make it enough of a challenge, many buyers (especially locally to me) prefer larger vehicles so I have fewer used options to choose from (and I’m too cheap to buy a new car)
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Slate Truck/SUV ends up being just marketing hype, but I’m keeping my eye on it since they promise a minimalist EV where you plug in the smarts in the form of your own smartphone. Otherwise, it’s just a dumb EV, which is how I’d keep it.
I am ready to be disappointed by it, but I’m not ignoring it. hope they can achieve it
I might end up looking at newer stuff, but… how tf am I going to avoid shitty touchscreens, spyware, LED headlights, and all that garbage?
And going to get harder to avoid a lot of that stuff once enough of them eventually get into the much cheaper levels of the used market. Though by then (and even currently in the higher priced used levels) most of the stuff will no longer even be supported to use (even if you for some reason did find a need to use them and be okay paying).
I got a 2015 Rogue SV that stuff like nav or whatever other stuff doesn’t even have access to the apps from Nissan to set them up. And was like one or two years behind Android Auto or even Apple’s stuff. So can’t just have the main screen just cast my phone’s maps. Really only irritates me when I need to go into settings and see stuff for features I can’t use if I wanted to do so. But the backup camera and phone pairing over blutooth for calls and music works, so that is nice to have and useful daily.
I am torn on replacing the head-unit like I did with my much older cars in the past. But those were so much more easy and “normal” to replace. I mostly worry that since it is much more integrated, that beyond just not flowing with the design, that there would be more problematic issues caused with the electrics (especially after seeing how much just replacing headlights with LEDs messed up a lot of cars when they were not a standard part) and the main computer.
Had really randomly bad issues with my last car’s computer towards the last four or five years that I never had with much older cars before. But is also possible that aside from my much more abusive driving while being younger, that I just hadn’t had something with any computer element (just the main one as it wasn’t anything built-in with lots of features.
ewwww LED headlights
Am I the only one that would never change a car? Like you buy one, shouldn’t you keep it for 60 years? Why should anyone want to change a car? I had to change my car once because I’m Canadian so it rusted. It was awful.
Yeah, my 1st car died a rust death due to its winters in Syracuse (basically a Canadian climate). I’m 40 y/o and my 2nd car is still going strong (much to my wife’s dismay)
My last car was 30 years old when I ditched it, the underside was rusted to a point of no longer being safe. Plus the exhaust kept falling off.
