What things did you purchase that enhanced the quality of your life in 2022?

61 points by msaharia ↗ HN
Would love to know things that enhanced your work or personal life.

139 comments

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1Password password manager. The single best purchase. Should've done it earlier.
I've been using the old v4 "standalone" edition for a long time. About a month ago I finally allowed myself to switch to the SaaS model on a 'family' plan. Its amazing, and more importantly I can now help manage my kids security etc. Loving it.
It's probably better than the competitors, but still too often, especially on iOS, the safari extension and the share extension, and the app seem to be out of sync.
LastPass was broken into this year. I will never use an online password manager.

I use and recommend KeePassXC.

The passwords in LastPass were still kept safe and the breach could never impact that because of how it's stored.
When cloud suppliers can update the proprietary software at will, there is no guarantee they won't add a parallel sync mechanism that is not E2EE.
Just curious, is it better than keychain (for Mac users)
Yes, it's cross-platform and the app is quite polished. Keychain doesn't even have a proper app on the iPhone, never mind other platforms.
On that note: my best “purchase” was moving from 1password to bitwarden. Every interaction I had with 1password support over the years left a sour taste in my mouth. It was gaslighting in the purest corporate sense.

I finally broke the shackles and moved to bitwarden. Now I’m paying 10 usd for their premium service and that’s because I want to support the product. I don’t even use or care about any of their premium features.

An induction stovetop. It really does boil water as fast as they say.
It wasn't 2022, but 2020 when my SO got femtolasik (of all places in Estonia). €1700 and a couple of days of discomfort. It's not surgical so the recovery is speedy.

Such a massive quality of life improvement as an outside observer (and by her own account as well).

The procedure is quite fast, circa 10 minutes, and of course meetings before and after to determine suitability and post procedure care.

Is that 10 minutes for both eyes?
I had one as well this year and while the procedure takes 10 minutes for both eyes, the actual shining of a laser into your eye took about 30 sec per eye. The rest was getting you ready, getting a temporary healing contact lens in, etc.

I opted for TransPRK, took about a week to get back into my previous state, then in two weeks everything was crystal clear.

Best thing ever

Yep. She had both eyes done.

Edit: it really is one of those things where you kick yourself for not having done earlier. It seems much more scary than it actually is.

It doesn't involve any cutting into the eye, as with regular lasik, just laser?
That's correct no cutting into the eye(s).
I strongly agree with this! I expected a slight improvement of life, but it has actually been massive. You do get used to it really fast, but when you are being conscious about it a lot of the small things are an order of magnitude easier now that you can properly see without help.

From a simple shower where you see your reflection, finding your glasses in the morning, falling asleep with glasses or contacts, carrying an extra bunch of things when traveling etc. to none of those being a problem at all.

In fact this is what has allowed me to save enough space to do some trips with just a backpack, instead of a backpack + small luggage.

Cordless leaf blower. I derive a lot of personal peace from seeing my backyard in order. The corded blower I had was painful enough to use that I always put it off and spent more time than necessary looking at mess.

Also switched from using a hiking backpack to a $350 camera bag for my drone/camera gear. Keeps everything in order (3 drones, DSLR, 14 batteries, action cameras etc) and is much more satisfying and quick to use. Felt a bit expensive at the time but haven’t regretted it for a second.

U got 3 drones? I guess that is for professional use?
I have 5 but carry 3 on most shoots.
A bigger bed with a harder mattress.

It's silly I spend around 1/3 of my life there and hadn't thought to improve it for several years before that.

I've always thought about something like these. What's the battery life like on this model?
Something like 3-4 hours. Not great, but not bad either, given my usage profile (I charge it every couple of days).
I feel like I'd end up using it on the tram to/from work or at lunch, so that might work for me. I've fought the urge to get one for a while, because I can't accurately assess whether I would genuinely use it, or if my brain just wants the cool nerdy thing :)
I looked at these a while back. Really like what they've done with the mouse pad and keyboard layout. I could tolerate a slightly larger screen sacrificing some portability for readability and key spacing.
A french butter cup!

It works by pouring a bit of water in the outer cup and the inner cup that holds the butter, fits upside down. Keeps it fresh without oxidation.

I love real spreadable butter on my bread and together with my bread slicer, I’m a happy man :)

pleasae tell me about the bread slicer.

For me, and 2020 not 2022, a used bread machine.

Fresh multigrain bread with only natural ingredients early in the morning, smells wonderful, and makes you want to get up. Also does pizza dough, the kids make all kinds of chocolate bread, cloud bread, etc, etc. All stuff that's really just a bit too much hassle for a busy family to do manually, requires handling a hot oven, etc.

If you want a bread slicer and are able to find it in your location, I'd recommend Graef. They're an old German company and have produced bread slicers since the 1950s. Still super good quality and you can buy different blades to finely cut cheese and meats as well
I just got the cheap Domo MS171, it does what it’s supposed to do and folds nicely in a drawer but I’m sure there are many better options out there.
I don't think I bought a "thing" outside of replacements or necessities. Maybe a pair of tongs to make frying steak a little more pleasurable.
Steam deck.
Same. Gaming aside, it’s now also my main device for any dev stuff - that I can take anywhere.

I’ve got a third-party dock and a portable USB-C hub with HDMI port, to literally carry it everywhere.

What’s the best thing about it?
The best description I've seen is, it's not for people who want to play more games, but those who want to play games mores. With all the other things going on in life, been able to just press a button and resume where you left off in 5 seconds is such a game changer compared to the rest of the ecosystem.
- You don't have to rebuy games for a premium if you already used steam before

- Synced saves with your PC if the game supports it

- Great performance for a handheld with a solid battery

- Great variety of inputs, and almost everything can be customizable (if you don't fancy the official button layouts there is a community coming up with custom ones)

- You can turn it into a regular computer if needed

- It is big enough to hold for my hands. With Switch or iPad my hands hurt after a while, not with steam deck.

- Repair-ability it is actually easy to fix

- You can download emulators for switch, gameboy and all the other older consoles

- I enjoy some games more on the deck then on the desktop

I love mine and I consider it to be the best purchase I made this year. By far.

Wonderful - mine’s just over a week away :) Been waiting months!
Sequential Prophet-6 synth, Etekcity smart scale, Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro lock, 2023 Subaru Outback
Water filter for my tea water. Our local water is quite hard and there is a stark taste difference.

Walking treadmill for my desk. Usually sit all day and would then try to get in some movement in the evening. I now walk around 7k steps during meetings and other non-focus periods of my work. Also great when playing some games in the evening.

Setup Homeassistant paired with smart wall plugs which measure usage and turn off on a timer at night. Reduced our electricity usage by ~20%.

Good pillow and mattress. Makes a worlds difference from the previous IKEA stuff. Even though Im on the heaver side I can sleep really well on the new one.

which walking treadmill did you buy if I may ask?
Second that question, I'm seriously considering getting one as well
The Kingsmith R1. As far as I know, it's a Xiaomi brand. It'd caution against getting a foldable treadmill however. Stability doesn't seem to be an issue but you do always notice the gap between the two parts. Most walking treadmills are light enough to be moved and the reduced size doesn't make massive difference.
I purchased a water fountain (the kind you can find in an office) and 4 5 gallon drums and it's been one of my most used purchases ever. Mine is a bottom loader and I think that's important to the usefulness of it.

It's been so successful I know of several other people who have also made such purchases after experiencing it.

It's kind of an odd thing, but so so nice to have. It even heats water, although we turn that functionality off because we also have an electric kettle, but it's something to consider for anyone contemplating such a purchase.

Might make sense if you're exclusively drinking it from the fountain, but we use the filter only for tee. Our water quality is generally exceptional. Just for tee it's a bit too hard.
Beware, treadmill is harmful in the long run.
Dehumidifier. I live in the UK and keeping my space at 50% RH feels a lot better.
A Yogateacher course. Very helpful for both - work and personal live -
Xiaomi Mi Air Purifier Pro. Since I have it running in my sleeping room, I don't have a clogged nose at night anymore.

This model was among the best air purifiers in a Stiftung Warentest comparison.

I was hesitant to get it because of Xiaomi and internet connectivity, but I've set up my cable router to block all outgoing traffic from the device.

It also integrates nicely with Home Assistant, so I have Realtime and historical particle and temperature data for my smart phone.

Is there a router you use that makes this easy and isn’t just as compromised as the air filter?
Doesn’t your phone send out anyway the data that the air purifier couldn’t?
a Snoo bassinet for the child
I am always a little surprised when peers who have newborns _don’t_ go the Snoo route. It’s expensive but a) can be rented or b) resold for much of its value.
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We tried the snoo with our second kid and ended up giving it back to the friend we borrowed it from after trying to like it for two weeks. It did keep the kid asleep marginally longer but that seemed to negatively affect feeding more than provide any real quality of life improvement for us. Regular bassinet plus a standalone noise machine was almost as good for sleep, better for feeding and saved us a ton of dough.
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Built myself a good and proper mechanical keyboard. Took some hours and some money, but the pleasure I get from using it at work everyday is amazing.
Humidity meters. It's crazy how humid it can be in the apartment, and how big the effect of airing for 5 minutes is.

A portable coffee grinder. It's small and grinds enough coffee for exactly one mocha pot. I had been using a manual grinder before that, and it was like 2-3 min of tedious work every morning.

With a bread making machine, I have reduced my bread costs by half. It will pay for itself in 50kg of bread.
We make a 750g loaf every 2-3 days, and pizza dough, kids sweet breads, etc. It pays for itself in just months, and the early morning fresh bread smell is priceless.
Logitech G903 mouse. Using a responsive mouse made computing more pleasant.
This is a personal nitpick, I'm glad this mouse works well for you & that's all that matters, but I hate the light on the "G" mice. When I was using one I covered it in electrical tape because the light was really bright and hurt my eyes when my hand wasn't resting on it (eg I was typing).
Oh really, sorry to hear that! Wonder if it’s a setting in the Logitech macOS configuration app? It doesn’t bother me fortunately