I'm not the only person saying this: getting an espresso machine was the biggest QoL improvement from one purchase I've ever had. Although you do have to enjoy and be excited about manually making espresso. For me I specifically wanted to go through the process (grinding, tamping, etc) since being able to vary the result, pick the coffee, etc is part of the enjoyment, so a machine that uses Nespresso pods or the like was never a consideration.

You don't have to spend a lot of money really, but it is recommended to get a standalone grinder rather than a grinder+espresso combo because it means you can upgrade/replace the parts separately. Also most of your budget should go to the grinder, not the espresso machine, since that's the part where money gets quick returns on quality.

I bought a Gaggia Classic Pro machine (~425$), which is perfectly adequate if not the most attractive one, and a Sette 270wi grinder (~450$). They have been completely successful so I have no intention of upgrading.

Nice! I got into espresso at the start of COVID with a Silvia and really enjoyed it. This year I started roasting my own coffee. I found a hottop 2k used on Craigslist for $600, and now I spend about $10/mo on coffee!

Not a bad idea, although I guess personally I don't mind my coffee budget particularly because it goes to local cafes that I like supporting. I also don't drink all that much (2 cups a day) so it's not much money to support my 'habit'.

2 cups a day at a cafe comes out to over $3k a year? Seems fairly expensive relative to brewing at home, but I take your point about supporting businesses.

Well I meant two cups a day at home, but yes I would still pay that. Cafes are good and I like them. Way cheaper than drinking at bars, for comparison, also.

Yeah it's not really a money saver, I already upgraded my roaster, but it is really fun and satisfying. The are ways to start for like $20 if you ever become interested.

I've been roasting for about 12 years now. I still use the second roaster that I bought 10 years ago, a Behmor 1600. The unit cost under $400 new, and I get my coffee for about $8/lb max including tax and shipping. I have absolutely saved money, probably thousands of dollars over the course of this hobby. And I've become proficient enough that I can produce coffee that I prefer to anything sold commercially I've been able to find.

That being said, I am considering upgrading my roaster to the Aillio Bullet, which costs around $3k, so that would probably put me back in the red for this specific hobby.

i highly recommend the bullet! the batch size is great and the data logging and responsiveness with the induction heating is pretty amazing. i wasn't planning to upgrade but a local one went on sale for 2500 and i couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I've been drinking good espresso for many years (locally and freshly roasted beans, good grinder and espresso machine, etc), then moved to aeropress and been sticking with americano for the last year. Now, I'm trying not to drink any coffee for a month to check if it's the reason I'm getting extremely anxious lately.

I've been down that road but have more or less convinced myself the coffee wasn't the problem. Although I don't drink _all_ that much. Coffee does seem to make it a bit harder to be self-aware, though .. like your energy levels are higher but they leave less time for the kind of boredom that causes you to have thoughts about stuff you've been avoiding thinking about.

Hell yeah! Congrats on getting into the world of coffee.

Go check out https://gaggiuino.github.io/#/ if your into tinkering.

Your gaggia is about 250 to 300 bucks away from walking all over $3k+ machines. :)

That’s exactly my setup. I swapped out the pressure valve and added a temperature PID controller. It’s a great unit.

I've got a late 1990s Gaggia which is still going strong (with regular maintenance).

It's a great little machine!

I spent ~$2700 on a new mattress. I no longer wake up with hip or lower back pain. My sleeps are an order of magnitude better.

I ended up with a Tempurpedic. I spent about 2 hours trying every mattress at the store and bought the one that felt best. There’s probably a million hacks to get that mattress cheaper, but I regret nothing. One of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It also came with 2 “free” memory foam pillows, and my random neck pains are also gone.

I second this suggestion. I also spent years on crappy cheap mattresses, until I was traveling monthly and noticed that (at least after the first night) I slept better just about anywhere else than at home. So I bought a Tuft&Needle Mint, which has been pretty good. Then over the Christmas holiday I let my brother use my bed and I slept down on a crappy fold-out loveseat in the basement for a week. Much to my surprise (and a bit of deja vu) I found I was sleeping better than usual. Apparently I now need something even firmer than the Mint, so I have a Helix Twilight on order as my 2022 Christmas present to myself. I've also spent a fair bit of money on good pillows, good curtains, etc. because getting a good night's sleep is huge and increasingly hard to get at my age. Nobody I've known has ever seemed to regret getting a good mattress.

Seconded on a quality mattress. I acquired a new luxury Puffy hybrid from my parents, who bought it but didn't like it. I sleep better than I can remember, and don't wake up with random aches and pains. It's life changing, coming from a series of budget mattresses.

I did similar but had worse outcome. Thought my shoulder pain was due to 10 year old mattress. Tried them all, got Tempurpedic thinking "30 day guarantee" would be worth trying. 30 days passed and we both felt it too hard, but not so terrible we wanted the hassle of returning and picking another. Didn't fix my shoulder - that was unrelated. Still have insomnia.

7-8 years ago I got one of those Leesa online mattresses, based on checking out all the different mattresses, it seemed to be the one that was closest to a latex-like experience without being latex priced. My wife was still having some pain so we ended up putting a ~3" latex topper on it. It's been a great mattress. I'll agree that a mattress that is comfortable is a worthy investment.

Oh yeah, 100% agree this is the clear-cut best answer. If you can only upgrade one big thing, make it your mattress.

> memory foam pillows, and my random neck pains are also gone

those gave me my random neck pains in the first place :D

Getting the right pillow is a struggle, all right. It has to be just the right depth for me, which is hard to achieve in the first place and harder to maintain even as the pillow and my mattress and my body all age in different ways. It almost seems like truly quantitative pillow personalization is a business opportunity.

40" Dell U4021QW UltraSharp Curved Monitor. It's a great monitor, but what really makes it amazing is the built in KVM. My personal machine is a Linux desktop with displayport, but my employer gave me a Mac laptop which I have to use for work - lovely machine, just not my preference.

The keyboard and mouse plug in to the monitor, the Mac plugs into the monitor by USB-C (which changes it, drives the display, and routes the keyboard and mouse there), and the desktop plugs in to the monitor's USB and displayport connections. I can switch the full screen between machines, with keyboard and mouse following, or do picture-in-picture or split screen stuff with the input routing switchable through a reasonably decent on screen menu. It works really well.

Amen to that. Before owning a display with built in KVM, I kind of did the same with an button USB switch, but the integration is much more nice.

Here's a non-standard answer. I bought a pair of boots/trail hikers that I like a lot. I wore them for about a week and bought 2 more pairs. (total around $600). I alternate the pairs every day so they are always dry, and they stay in the "good" range of broken in and useful about 3x as long. I walk trails with a baby in a backpack or pushing a stroller about 3 miles / day and was in the habit of replacing shoes after 300-400miles, with the last hundred miles being noticeably worse than the first 300. By alternating shoes, it stays comfortable for a lot longer. it doesn't result in longer lasting per-pair life, but does mean I can go longer between getting to the part where it sucks, and can retire individual pairs that go bad sooner. (even identical pairs seems to have dissimilar life spans)

Powerful computer, good large monitor, quiet wireless mouse and keyboard.

We spend so much time in front of a screen, but it’s easy to stay with old tech as it still work and do the same thing, but quality and speed matter. An improvement of a few percent pay for itself many times.

Choosing the best with what you work with will push you to also be the best at what you do, it serve as a yardstick to measure your work.

Same here, my best investment last year was upgrading from a 2017 i7 laptop (with no GPU), to a 2022 desktop with a GeForce RTX 3080 GPU and my productivity difference is like night and day, wish I had upgraded sooner.

I ended up getting two Dell 30" 4K displays and a monitor stand to mount one above the other, next to my laptops (also stacked), and that's been a pretty nice work setup for the past year. I did have to end up doing two USB-C to HDMI adapters plugged into the laptop to drive them, the docking station can't do dual 4K output (older Dell XPS15, sounds like the next version they made of it does).

>quiet wireless mouse and keyboard

Which models did you buy? I am looking over 2 months now with unlimited budget and have no luck.

Keyboard:

* standard US layout

* should be really quiet for my night sessions

* available in EU

Mouse:

* big size

* standard 3 buttons and wheel

* quiet clicking and scrolling

I have currently Microsoft Sculpt Keyboard (still working but worn out) and Logitech M330 (too small).

I just bought this and I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.

The dept of the key is a bit too much (I am used to the mac keyboard) but both the keyboard and mouse it’s really quiet and smooth.

The mouse is quite small but has ergonomic shape.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B089KV4YYX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_...

Some of the hobbies

Some of the basic (power)tools, drill, driver, saws, clamps. It's increadible how cheaply you can start a woodworking, metalworking fabrication projects. Trick is to dedicate some time and have a big enough garage/basement/room. For woodworking dust is the largest limiting factor in having fun for hobby shop. For metal, its the fumes, smell. Getting into machining, with lathe/mill requires a bit more space/dedication but is suprisingly clean(er), so people have done it even in their apartments.

Also for folks in the apartment, a 3D printer (full frame based ones that could be upgraded over time) and/or laser engraver-cutter (one of the latest diode 20-30w range) assuming you can ventilate the fumes, would get you and your kids endless fun.

Other than the above, for me personally, getting a good bicycle (a cyclo-cross-road type) with good all weather gear allowed me to ride anytime, anywhere and really use free time to the max (a honest recommendation, don't bother with performanse spec and weight too much, get a wider tire bike that can go anywhere with a widest range of gears, it's so much more rewarding). No other activity you can burn calories for 3-5 hours straight, and it helps away from a screen.

Big cyclist here and I fully agree with the cyclocross (now frequently called "gravel bikes") suggestion. It's versatile, can get me around in Michigan winters, and it's really fun. Great way to get/stay fit and reduce car dependency.

I'm going to cheat because I actually bought this in late 2021, but: my own ski equipment and a weekday season pass. I used to go maybe two or three times a year with rented equipment, which was a whole production that required extra hours to go rent and return it, and I had to plan ahead. Now I can just decide last minute to head up to the mountain for the day, so last year I went about 15 times, on track for 15-20 times this year. It's great exercise and tons of fun.

Nice! I made this move a few years ago as well, $ well spent. Now there's no stressing of getting to the mountain first chair and being able to enjoy just a few hours out there. Helps that my in-laws have a place in the ski town though... :)

Same! I got mine around March 2022. I've only used it a few times, but it makes me far more likely to actually go skiing and not feel like I've just dropped too much money for a few hours of fun.

yeah, that's a great point. If you have your own gear and season pass, you can just come back down if the snow isn't good or if you just aren't feeling it. If you spent a bunch of money on rentals and day passes, you have to force it, otherwise it feels like you are wasting money.

Any suggestions for a good brand?

I bought the boots from a local ski shop, after trying on several brands I landed on the Dalbello Panterra, which I like a lot, but everyone has different feet. I've learned my lesson not to buy footwear online over and over again :)

If you wear eyeglasses, Revision Optical Snowhawk are the best integrated glasses + goggles I've used so far (but I'd be willing to believe that there are better ones out there - plus they are a PITA to order)

A professional-grade musical instrument caused me to want to get better at craft, and increased my reward curve in a way previous instruments had not. In my case it was a Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar ($1900 nowadays).

In a similar vein, years ago I decided to upgrade my soldering iron and it made soldering so much less of a pain that I ended up getting way more into electronics, simply because I didn't have to force myself through the normal frustration to getting a simple thing done. My takeaway in general was that once you're sure you're into something, upgrading your tools can really smooth the edges which can feed back into you doing it more.

At the bottom end of this effect, I first learned bass on an Ibanez sr400 (cheapest being the sr300 at the time) and couldn't do anything I wanted. Years later I tried a 2nd hand Squier JazzBass vintage edition and was shocked how easy everything was (even though the neck was thicker than the ibanez). Revived my passion for many years after that.

A good instrument (not necessarily expensive) is indeed important.

Honestly a good espresso machine. Obviously it's not the best of the best, I'm not a coffee snob/expert, but spending $800 on a mid-tier breville espresso machine is miles ahead of the $100 espresso machine I tried a couple years ago. It's just so much more convenient to be able to make a decent tasting hot or iced latte at home vs. going to get one.

Maybe some day I will really get into espresso and get $3000 machines and $1000 grinders, but who knows.

100%.

If you are even vaguely into fixing things, a degree of patience will save you a lot of money.

I’ve got an addiction to Mazzer grinders. Second hand they are cheap and the more beat up the better as it reduces the price and they are basically bulletproof. I pull them down, respray and add any parts I want.

Ex cafe equipment is cheaper as people don’t want large grinders. The Super Jolly hits a good spot between size, quality and price.

I like the Major and Robur - air cooled too. Overheating with 6-8 coffee a day will never happen, but the ventilation slots look so good!

I've had 2 Barista Express units now. They have lasted me about 12-18 months each before something went wrong. In the recent case, I bought a new group head seal and I got about 60 brews before it blew out again. It has been a good intro machine, and it allowed me to go from using auto mode, to manually weighing 18g ground in for 36g output over ~30s (nb. with a $50 external scale) which made getting reliable results so easy. But now.. I really want a Flair 58, but I can't stomach the $800AUD. I'm stuck somewhere between coffee rookie and coffee snob and can't justify it yet.

Would also recommend finding a nice decaf bean if you are one whom caffeine affects easily. Now I can (did) have 3 great coffees a day instead of 1.

Buy a gaggia, mod it or pay someone to mod it.

https://gaggiuino.github.io/#/

Spent a few months fixated on coffee machines. Went deep. Gaggiuino give you equivalent machine value of $3k machine for under $1k aud.

Coffee is ripe for disruption on a hardware end of town. So much over priced 30-50 year old tech w/ at most a pid or Arduino/esp level of grunt computer behind it. It's absurd.

If you do get upgraditis at any point, I'd definitely consider swapping that priority. I think, I'd rather use high-end grinder with a mid-tier machine than the other way around.

I spent a few hundreds dollars lining 2/4 of my office’s walls with tabletops to make one huge L-shaped desk. Lovingly deemed “mega-desk,” it greatly improves my ability to work on multiple and/or large projects. It is also the envy of every WFH person or crafter who enters my house.

I did something similar. Ikea tabletops for the desk surface and back, two legs I found on Amazon to support the very ends, and a bunch of brackets from the local hardware store.

Biggest bonus was being able to set the height of the desktop to fit my short legs. Having a desk top at 26" looks somewhat comical, but now I can sit with my feet flat on the floor, knees at right angles, thighs resting on the seat, elbows and forearms resting on the armrest and hands resting on the desktop/peripherals. Nothing bent at an odd angle and no pressure points. The difference has been way more than expected.

Second best part is having a big L shaped desk with nothing to bang my knees on from one end to the other.

My initial reason for putting my desk together was also height. Too-tall desks were giving me literally debilitating neck and back problems; my neck was so fucked up it caused constant dizziness which took months of physical therapy and daily exercises to only partially alleviate. With a lower desk and a petite-sized office chair, I can sit ergonomically and feel 100%. No dizziness and I don’t even have to do the exercises anymore! Literally life-changing.

Well that's not feasible for me, but I have been meaning to upgrade to a larger desk (I'm still on the first one I ever owned - the cheapest one from Ikea). You've inspired me to do it. Just ordered a new one.

Hope you love it! One tip I have is to spend some time before it arrives donating/disposing of old desk clutter you don’t need anymore. That’ll allow you to take even better advantage of the new space.

pics plz!!!

I don’t love putting pics of my stuff on the internet. Look up the IKEA Lagkapten desktops and Alex drawers, imagine a bunch of those lined up and you’ll have a pretty good picture :)

The Steam Deck 512GB. It gave me a realistic pathway to replay classic games I love, while bringing AAA titles to a playable state on the go. As someone who travels pretty regularly both for work and personally, having a portable way to play games like Cyberpunk 2077, Stray, etc. as well as run emulators for Skies of Arcadia, Chrono Trigger, et al was a huge step up. The ergonomics are great, it gets fair battery life, and it works exceptionally well docked in Desktop Mode. The Steam Deck made it possible for me to reasonably game again after having missed having a proper gaming PC for a number of years.

M1 Macbook Pro 14". I don't know how to entirely put it into words, but this recaptured what I loved about my MBP from 2015, and did it better in every way. I'm truly impressed with the engineering and the form factor, it just "feels right", in a way that my 2017 and 2019 MBPs do not. A big piece of this is a return to the prior keyboard design, getting rid of the unnecessary touch bar, and bringing back useful features like the SD card slot (this replaced my 2015 MBP as my carry along during travel for photography). And, maybe the surprise for me above all else, is it has EXCELLENT battery life. Realistically using it for 11-14 hours on a single charge, and it's been great at playing Mac games off Steam.

IV-Works AV3 Custom Ergonomic Keyboard (AV4 is now available). Getting ergonomics right for my home office has been literally life changing. On the previous thread I mentioned the Evoluent vertical mouse, and with this keyboard and that mouse, I was able to pretty much solve my thumb and wrist pain without requiring surgery. I bought into both after finally going to see a specialist about my hands and wrists, and after an adjustment period my typing speed is back to what it was beforehand, and I was able to avoid the recommended surgery. I essentially have no pain anymore, and I still get to use the heavy mechanical switches I'm used to.

You don't need to emulate Chrono Trigger unless you want to play the SNES version (fair enough if you do). The Steam version itself is fine nowadays. Same with a lot of Final Fantasy games. Obviously, emulating is cheaper due to not buying the games, which tend to be expensive.

I actually own all of them through Steam as well. I just find the emulated experience to be better. In the best case, many of the PC ports were simply an emulator with a wrapper anyway, in some of the worst cases they subtly broke the controls. Most of the PC ports from Square have been horrific historically, and while I do own all of them, I massively prefer playing in an emulator.

Seconding the Steam Deck - it's surprising how many games work well on it, and as a hobbyist game developer, it's great to run my own games on it. The fact that it makes a perfectly acceptable Linux desktop with zero tinkering blows my mind too.

Plus one on Deck. Fantastic product even though I was skeptical from the start. I’ve finished multiple games on it while on vacation that I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

I’ve been afraid to move on from my 2015 MBP for the reasons you stated. Good to hear they’re getting back on track

I would definitely recommend the new M1 (and maybe soon the M2) Pro/Max MBPs. Thanks to work, I've gotten to experience first hand basically each generation of MBP, and 2016-2019 are hot garbage, IMO. I opted for an M1 Max and managed to snag it through Microcenter for $800 off MSRP, and it is everything my 2015 was and more, and smaller more manageable form factor (went from the 15" 2015 MBP to a 14" M1 MBP, which is effectively the size of the 13" from 2015).

If you haven't had a chance yet, try to get your hands on one just to try it out. You'll immediately see what I mean. It has both an SD card slot and an HDMI port built-in, which I think were two things that were inexcusable to remove from a "Pro" device in the 2016-2019 generations, and yet it doesn't feel clunky or bulky.

It's a truly great machine.

While the 2016-2019 MBPs were a step back, the Apple Silicon MBPs are better than the 2015s in virtually every way.

It must be the influence of losing Jony Ive who strove for minimalism. While I'd like a world where we could only use USB-C for everything, the reality is that this is not the case in the vast majority of areas.

I bought the cheapest steam deck and a 512GB SD card.

Turns out I use my steam deck for watching movies and as a portable linux handheld. I do play some games, but it's such a great form factor for a small beefy, uh, pocketop?

What's smaller than a laptop, larger than a handheld? Is that a pocket-top?

A weight set.

I browsed Facebook Marketplace for a bit and was able to piece together a set consisting of a power rack, bench, and a couple hundred pounds of free weights for probably $600. We're in a post-pandemic glut of home fitness equipment, so with some patience you can find gently used equipment for a fraction of the new cost.

I run pretty regularly, and used to swim pretty regularly, but since having kids the latter has fallen by the wayside because it's just too difficult to coordinate between the pool's schedule, my work schedule, and my kid's daycare schedule.

While I've done a good job avoiding any parental and pandemic weight gain, I definitely noticed my body composition changing without regularly swimming anymore. It's been great to start reversing that, and I forgot how much I enjoyed the post-weight lifting endorphin rush.

It's been a bit humbling, though - I used to weight lift pretty regularly when I was in high school/college and I'm a lot weaker now than I was then!

My Miele canister vacuum. I appreciate engineering perfection even in disciplines that are not my own and this is it. There’s an inexplicable joy in using a tool that flawlessly executes its job.

We also bought a Miele canister vacuum in 2022. We moved to a larger apartment, so I thought we should have something better suited to the job. It is fantastic and vacuuming is a joy. So much nicer than the terribly heavy Dyson we have with laser and whatnot (though the Dyson is ok for quick kitchen vacuuming).

I bought a Miele canister vacuum in 2008. Still going strong after 15 years and many pet hairs. They're built very well.

A Kinesis Advantage2 (almost 500 dollar in the EU, but read on). I had a flare up of wrist pain again. Decided to invest in a good ergo keyboard. Started with a Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB (pretty good), then Kyria, Ferris Sweep (meh), and then I did what I should have done in the first place: buy a Kinesis Advantage2. It immediately felt great and after some weeks my wrist pain was gone. Concave key wells are just fantastic!

Since then, I also got an Advantage360 Pro (> 500 in the EU) and replaced the controller of the Advantage2 with a KinT [1], so that I can program it with QMK. I can now keep similar configurations between the 2 and the 360 Pro (which uses ZMK).

[1] https://github.com/kinx-project/kint

Ubiquiti Dream Router and a couple of WiFi 6 Access Points. Excellent WiFi is so underrated and not as common as we might think. It has allowed me to work comfortably in all corners of the house as well as outside when the weather is nice, all without skipping a beat during calls. Highly recommend setting up a proper WiFi network and looking into this more prosumer level hardware which has been rock-solid for me.

I feel really burned by Ubiquiti. I had ~5 cameras with their PoE switch and originally the NVR, which was flaky, and later the CloudKey G2. I was considering replacing my Google wifi 4-node setup with Ubiquiti. I regularly had problems with cameras not coming back up after a power outage or firmware updates. Then at one point a switch update caused a the Google wifi nodes to start being shut off because of loop detection and there was no way to turn it off. Then a year later most of the cameras bricked during one of their firmware updates.

The Google setup has been pretty nice, though sometimes it gets into a weird state where wireless performance goes into the toilet.

I'm currently playing with a Ruckus R620 from ebay, which seems to be some really solid Enterprise gear that you can get for around $250 on ebay, used.

I am literally researching now for a home network upgrade. Been running Dr-wrt on a linksys for years and WiFi is starting to get super unreliable. Can you say more about your ubiquiti experience?

I am looking at ubiquiti, meraki go, and aruba instant but am open to ideas.

I came across Firewalla as well. Anyone using those ...looking at the gold while wondering if gold+ is the way to future proof

Same here, the UDM Pro [1] and any of their U6 WiFi APs [2] are great. I went the extra mile and wired up each room with 2-3 ports, so had to get one of their PoE switches because you quickly run out port space on the UDM.

[1] https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-unifi-os-cons...

[2] https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-wireless

Does it still require cloud account?

A Litter Robot 4. Automated litter boxes are easy more expensive than I thought they would be, but you just can't put a price on not having to scoop

The combination I've found so far is this:

litter box: a deep stainless steel full hotel pan (like you see in a food serving line)

Litter Genie (and generic inserts)

___location: in my bathroom where I frequent enough that I can pretty much scoop after each time my cat uses the litter.

Right now I'm experimenting with a handheld cordless vacuum cleaner to pick up litter.

Pura Max owner here, we have had it for 2 months and it has quite simply changed our life: no more scooping nor smell.

Instead we now need to empty the container weekly (pull bag out, close bag, replace bag) and cleaning the machine monthly.

All parts are made of a sturdy plastic and can be disassembled them nicely to clean them, without any electronics in the parts in contact with the cats.

Pricy but well worth it

I've been using the "Omega Paw" box for years. You don't scoop. You just roll it upside down (one side is rounded for this) and when you right it, everything solid is in a long cup, which gets dumped into a garbage bag.

More work than the Litter Robot, but a lot cheaper.

The litter robot scoops automatically after the cat uses it (plus a configurable delay), so it helps with the smell, too. It also has a ton of useless features (eg, it tells you how much your cat weighs each time they poop), but overall it's great.

I know it was too expensive, but it has definitely paid for itself in reduced martial friction by removing a shared chore and making the area around the cat box more pleasant

You like it? I've been considering it. Any reservations?

I've had a little robot 3 for 5 years. It isn't the most reliable device in the world, but you learn very quickly all the little quirks of how to fix it when it breaks and it isn't too bad. I'm very, very happy with it. If you aren't handy then it might be more annoying for you.

My only complaints seemingly are fixed by the litter robot 4: better sensors (so it breaks less) and a larger poop storage. I would buy one immediately if I didn't already own the LR3.

I bought one years and years ago (when the 3 was brand new). I wouldn't recommend it, and have transitioned to a non-mechanical litter box. I would have said I liked it for the first nine months or so.

1. The mechanism is fairly finicky. Every 3 or 6 months it would jam, and require some debugging. It's mechanically not as simple as I would hope.

2. My cat developed a UTI, and it was hidden for longer than it should have been because I was not watching the litter box as closely as I would if it required more frequent cleanings.

3. After 16 months it developed a smell that was very hard to clean. I spent a week with it disassembled, washing the many bits and bobs, letting it dry and checking the results. It was broken into more than a dozen small pieces, but a few of the pieces were stubborn. Afterwards, it needed this deep cleaning about every 9-12 months. Traditional litter boxes can be cleaned very easily with hot soap and water. Traditional boxes require more frequent upkeep, but I find the task to be less stressful with very little cognitive load.

I got one about 6 weeks ago, and I've been really enjoying it so far.

We were trying to debug why one of our cats just won't poop in the box, and the LR4 hasn't fixed this entirely. She will pee in the box, but no matter the type/size/placement/robotness of any box she will almost always poop just outside of it. But our other cats use the LR4 and that's been wonderful.

I love my Litter Robot 3 but it gets stuck every once in a while which can create a mess if you don't notice it relatively quickly (occasionally the "poopie paw bandit" will strike and track litter all over the floors). I'd love to know if the Litter Robot 4 is more reliable.

I don’t own a robotic scooper, but a reservation might be your cat’s health. Since they tend to hide their illnesses well, a change in your cat’s litter appearance or habits can be one of the only signs they’ll give you that they’re sick. You could easily miss that with an automatic scooper.

I haven't had mine that long, so I can't speak to the long-term issues already reported in replies to your comment.

But overall, it seems worth it so far. My partner and I put off buying an automatic box for years because of sticker shock, and I'm glad we finally got one.

My cat has no problem going inside the robot, but he gets scared when it rotates. The result was that he clawed all the buttons (and the faceplate) off the control panel.

a hit-air motorcycle airbag vest. Cervical collar on demand, 90-100ms lag!

getting closer and closer to having the tech my HN username had by the day.

I met someone recently who had their life likely saved by one of these. I guess they had a collision that launched them off some height of an overpass. They were still messed up of course, but survived and are well now. I'm inspired to consider one for my 2023 riding.

I seriously recommend it. I put mine over my roadcrafter, and i stopped noticing that i was wearing it within 10 miles. Now "clip in!" is a reflex just like "buckle up!" is in the car.

Which one did you go for?

I went with Helite for a few reasons:

1) I trust the tether a lot more than someone else's (or my own for that matter) software 2) No battery to forget to charge 3) Uses cheap CO2 canisters making it and easy to re-arm. Many airbags have to be sent back to the manufacturer after a deployment and are quite expensive to re-arm.

hit-air does all this too; i liked being able to bring my own back protector and the improved ventilation of the bag-only system. The helite turtle doesn't breathe quite as well.

https://hitairmoto.com/shop/ols/products/mlv-c

i went with the https://hitairmoto.com/shop/ols/products/mlv-c

delivering pizzas for Uncle Enzos?

There have been a lot of tech layoffs.

12kg direct drive LG washer. 2nd biggest you can get. Washing for the house has gone from an unmanageable 7-9 loads a day to 3 tops. Life changing.

Hercules 500 mixer and an Omni turntable. Been flogging myself as a one man band MSP the last 2 years. Got this for a self bday prez last year. Been using it to wind down and have some hangouts w my stepkids. Music is great for breaking barriers and DJing im finding is a way to keep kids in touch w music as their peers fall out of the early childhood learn X instrument phase.

Simple stuff but huge returns. Next up is plumbing in and getting a dishwasher.

What in the world is going on in your house that requires 7 loads A DAY? Is everyone in your house a germaphobe? Do you run a hotel?

It just blows my mind. I run maybe 1 load/week, tops, sometimes every other week.

Lol kids + rabbits + in-laws who own dingos. All it takes is for one rabbit to piss on a doona, one kid obliterating 3 pairs of clothes in a day via mud/dirt/being bush rats (then multiply that by 3) and doing a house load of sheets or towels and blamo. 7 loads easy. Or atleast 7 small loads. Now 3 tops generally.

I bought an Ecovacs DEEBOT X1 Omni. I no longer have to care about vacuuming or mopping. It auto cleans, auto water refills and has hot air drying. It runs on a schedule and I only have to clean the dirty water tank about once a week. It never gets stuck and does a good job so overall it has been a huge time saver.

This is exactly how I feel about my Roborock. What made you go with Ecovacs?

I'm an avid runner and take recovery seriously, but was always skeptical of the price tag of compression therapy like the Normatec Legs recovery boots and similar products. Finally pulled the trigger last year during a sale ($700), and wow, I can't believe I didn't buy these much, much sooner. I use them multiple times a week. They're surprisingly super relaxing to wear while working or watching something, and definitely feel like they help with sleep and recovery.

A bit unrelated, but I've been a runner my whole life and have been injured the past few months from plantar fasciitis.

Curious if you have any recommendations there.

So sorry re: the PF. It sucks. IANAD/IANAPT (physical therapist), but based on my own experience with PF a few years ago and experiences of friends, it's usually a combination of: 1. Rest from running 2. Doing a lot of stretching/strengthening exercises 3. Potentially using orthotics like u/bilsbie suggested. Would make sure to go in an d get a custom fitted one, and it may be tough to wean off off

For #2, the exercises that seemed to help me the most were the various towel stretches, rolling with a lacrosse ball, and doing a lot of calf raises. I even briefly went to a few barre classes on a friends' recommendation, which was kind of fun (and very humbling), but probably helped because we did tons of calf raises with what I thought were tiny weights, but was super challenging.

I had chronic achilles tendonitis and ended up getting shockwave therapy from my orthopedist, who mentioned it's also frequently used for plantar fasciitis if PT does not help

Not OP but Orthotics can help. And I found rolling a tennis ball every night helped.

I also tried to flex my foot whenever I could think about it.

But it did still take a good six months to go away.

Would you recommend a casual runner (more jogger, really) take the plunge to invest in something like this? I never get seriously injured anymore, since I just take it easy nowadays, but I do get the typical aches and pains. Although, those are usually easy enough to ignore.

Sooo many folks here geeking out on their > $1k espresso machines and I'm just sitting here with a burr grinder and a pour over setup for coffee. What am I missing by not drinking espresso?

nothing. a hobby. giving a shit about 24% extraction yields. bullshit science.

i have all the stuff. i still make a french press every morning for my partner.

don't get me wrong, i love it. i love pulling a 'god shot' every now and then. i roast my own coffee and that's a fun learning curve. it's a community to engage with.

but it's not better than any other coffee prep. just very technical, and for me that's fun.

> What am I missing by not drinking espresso?

Nothing. Some weird online status signalling maybe. Just do what you like.

Personally, I like nursing a cup of hot coffee + milk for a little bit, so I don't drink espresso. It gets cold too quickly unless you chug it immediately, and then it's just disgusting.

Caffeine, flavour. Fang a light roast, fine grind, chase those oils!

Personally tho a vacuum press makes the best mix of flays and extraction density. Just takes a bit long to smash out in the morning if your time pressed.

Same here. I actually used one of the >$1k expresso machines for awhile, it wasn't for me. I enjoy holding a cup of hot coffee reading the news in the morning. Expresso doesn't cut it for me.

A Festool dust extractor and Mirka sander.

Coupled with Abranet, I can now sand indoors virtually dust free. It makes doing DIY so much more pleasant. Expensive but I wish I'd bought them both earlier.

I have a Bosch sander connected to a Dust Deputy setup with shopvac, and I recently found sanding some red oak to be a fairly miserable experience. It just takes so long. I did just get some of those fancy 3M Xtract sanding discs, which seem to be a lot faster, I'm going to have to see how well they do with the next set of sanding. It just took so long for me to get all the parts for my vanity sanded.

This morning I was watching Becky Stern showing off her shop setup, and it included this Festool dust extractor that I liked the look of. May have to look into that ffurther.

Planar magnetic headphones with large drivers, specifically Audeze LCD-2 with denser foam embouchures (ear pads). They wrap my ears in a very comfortable and isolating way; they are formidable in terms of delivering sound the way I want for the music I like; they are very responsive to EQ, hence tuneable to a lot of ears. And their downside of being heavy surprisingly aligns with pomodoro timings: if my neck is getting tired from headphones then it’s time to have a break.

(Another downdisde: these headphones are “open”, meaning they have no hard enclosed outer shell, so your coworkers will hear what you hear, but if you work from home and/or buy a closed back version then they might work for you.)

As for all the espresso machines comments, I totally get it, but folks, might I suggest you just get an Aeropress and give it a try :)

It was a gift and not all that expensive, but I love my Fostex T20RPmk3 planar driver headphones. Works really well with the quad DAC in my LG G8 phone. They also make closed (T40RPmk3) and semi-open (T50RPmk3) models with different shells.

I'm also on the lookout for replacement earphones with clear midrange/vocals and neutral but lively sound and extended but non emphasized bass/treble. I have some discontinued JVC HA-FXD80 imported from Japan but it seems to be getting a bit worn though still pretty good and I want something for when they finally give out.

A replacement phone with really good analog out would be nice too for when my discontinued LG goes.

Didn’t expect somebody here to mention LG phones regarding audio, but they are surprisingly nice indeed. Good stuff!

Don’t know about replacement for the phone, but maybe a discreet player would work for you? Some old multibit Hifiman or a small but punchy Fiio could be fun and maybe even really cheap, depending on your ___location etc.

As for the headphones, did you consider Hifiman Sundara? It’s not an upgrade too expensive (relatively speaking ofc), and I heard they can be tailored well to one’s taste with eq, so maybe that could be an option.

Thanks for the tip about the Hifiman Sundara they look very interesting. What I was immediately looking for though, were hifi isolating (non-noise cancelling) earbuds rather than full-size headphones. There are many very expensive ones but I'd rather pay for something I appreciate as much or more than they cost :-)

A new bike! And while I got it on sale for 40% off, it's sold today for ~$500. It's obviously not a high end bike, but to be able to just jump on and ride, without adjusting, tinkering, or worrying about worn parts, is a very pleasant experience.

M1 Macbook Air. I've been using a 2017 MBP that heats up easily, especially when plugged to an external monitor (apparently this requires use of the discrete GPU). The new MBA is always cool and the battery life is of course tremendous. I took it on a week-long vacation and charged it twice. It also has more ports (my MBP was a base model because I didn't want a TouchBar), which is very helpful.

I know the new MBPs are more powerful, and they have better connectivity. I'd love to have HDMI and SD slots, to be sure. But picked up my wife's new MBP, I'm happy to make the feature/weight tradeoff (and she's jealous of my featherlight MBA!).

A bit off topic, but I bought a Burmese kitten for around $600 and now I have a best mate with me all day and apparently I’m going to live longer now xD

Pretty awesome breed for someone looking for a house cat. Lots of meme worthy quirks too

Huge 900mm induction cooktop. Having lots of space for pans and 400V/16A induction was a real change from my old cooktop.

Switched also in 2022 from gas to induction. Never going back. No open fire, cook faster and also cleaning became much easier.

I went induction cooktop ~5 years ago and would never go back, it's been amazing. It's super fast but also very easy to clean.

natural gas has run a pretty effective propaganda campaign against induction. we are switching soon and i'm very excited!

climate town has a fun video about it, he's a climate policy and science grad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX2aZUav-54

Sony ZV-1, Elgato Cam Link 4K, and a few other minor accessories (eg. lighting).

A huge amount of time is spent on video calls these days, and although there are more advanced webcams out there these days - a camera which is geared towards video (the ZV-1 is aimed at vlogging) will produce significantly better video for any calls you're on.

Spending a little bit of time optimising your setup so that you're the one in the call with good quality video/audio is worth it. Get a decent camera, get a good microphone, improve your background lighting.

I have the same setup and find that I can’t use my cam link through my Caldigit element hub as the video freezes. Do you connect the cam link directly to your computer? It seems the cam link needs an entire bus bandwidth to function. :(

If you have a mac you can get most of that with continuty cam for a fraction of the price.

An AXS wireless derailleur for my mountain bike. A $600 outlay to get rid of a cable doesn’t make too much sense on its face, but I wasn’t prepared for how much it improved shifting performance.

I had not considered that this kind of technology would exist. Very cool.

But now your bike doesn’t work if it s not charged?

You only need to charge it at most every few months. It's not really a big concern.

For me there are a couple of ~1-1.5k purchases that stand out.

- Apple Watch: I now walk and exercise a LOT more

- Canon mirrorless camera. I now enjoy walking outdoors because I'm taking photos

- M1 - switching from a Windows desktop to a super-snappy macbook removed so many pain points I didn't even know I had. Huge performance, mostly cool to the touch, days-long battery life means that I'm now truly working anywhere, for the first time ever, despite owning laptops for a long time.

Without question, the Grilla Silverbac pellet smoker. With my spouse and I at home during the day, being able to slow-smoke proteins and veggies for dinner without much hassle has resulted in a remarkable increase in the quality of my cooking. In addition, with the intense recent price increases surrounding restaurants or takeaway due to inflation, being able to cook more inexpensive foods with better results has been a huge benefit to our budget.

A really, really good coffee machine for home. Price: about $1k. You can spend more but the coffee doesn’t get better - you just get more automation.

> You can spend more but the coffee doesn’t get better - you just get more automation.

Not always. I was going to restore a Faema E61 and discovered that the basic model is almost identical to the original. Parts are interchangeable. It’s manual, it’s beautiful and it’s expensive.

https://www.faema.com/int-en/product/E61

> You can spend more but the coffee doesn’t get better

I went down the espresso rabbit hole during covid, as did a good buddy of mine. We both upgraded from setups in the ~$1k range and are experiencing much better results in the cup. Obviously you'll see diminishing returns at some price point, but most of my friends/family agree that a latte from my new setup is noticeably better than one from my old setup.

can you elaborate on your current setup?

for sure!

My grinder is a Weber EG-1. It has really large (80mm) flat burrs. Very forgiving; like I don't have to be dialed in perfectly for the espresso to be very good. It's essentially a cafe quality grinder, but optimized for a single-dose flow.

My machine is an Olympia Cremina, which is a manual lever machine. I've modified it with a pressure profiler to control and track the pressure of the shot I'm pulling. All that manual control is really nice for the kind of coffees I like which are usually naturally-processed light roasts. However, manual levers are not for everyone and have a definite learning curve.

If you're curious about either of those, James Hoffmann has good reviews of them both on YT.

I really enjoy the nerdiness and tactile feedback of the manual lever, but if I didn't want go manual, I'd look at a Decent DE-1.

If I had to shave a bit off that budget, I think I'd go with a Rancilio Silvia Pro X, which is half the cost.

Thank you! I appreciate your writeup, and that's an extremely sweet home setup.

Out of curiosity, what machine was it and what justifies the price tag?

Not the parent, but I bought a Gaggia Classic espresso machine as well as a great coffee grinder. The difference is night and day between grinding your own beans and making your own espresso (or even pour overs) to prepackaged stuff, not to mention cafes. I honestly haven't tasted a better espresso drink at cafes than at home, since they usually are working with multiple patrons and have to make the drink fast, and they often have burnt beans or burnt milk.

I'm not sure if OP bought an all-in-one, but I wouldn't recommend those, they don't do any of their tasks particularly well, when you could spend the same amount and get much better coffee.

I’m looking to upgrade my espresso setup (basic delonghi dedica machine right now). My grinder is really inadequate for espresso grinds and so I mostly just buy small quantities of pre-ground lavazza qualita oro. I’m thinking that in this situation, I’d be better off investing in a good grinder first, and waiting to buy a nicer espresso machine until I feel I can justify a ~$1k outlay. Ideally I’d just splurge and buy both but I can’t quite stomach that.

> I’d be better off investing in a good grinder first

You'd be correct. Check out some recommendations on /r/coffee for a grinder, and also James Hoffman's on YouTube.

the Niche zero is a good place to start

You sound like you’ve hit the sweet spot where you pass on coffee out as it better at home.

Well, I do like the convenience of cafes so it's more that I'm now spending double the money, lol

In 2021, I went with the Breville Barista Touch. I paid the extra over the Express version for it to froth the milk without me having to do it. For me, the price tag was justified because my wife used to drink ALOT of starbucks. This thing has already paid for itself.

(I just purchased the Roborock S7+ as well. It does a very good job in our home.)

I love my Nuobell adjustable dumbbells ($745)!

There are cheaper adjustable dumbbells out there, but these ones look and feel so good: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BB8D5VTW

Going to +1 the "adjustable dumbell" purchase.

Technically mine was over 10 years ago, but its amazing to think how many more times I've "gone to the gym" (lifted) just because the full weight rack was right in my home.

Generally speaking, if there's something you don't particularly enjoy but want to do more of for some reason (health, aesthetic, etc.) then I always advocate for spending money to lower the barrier of entry.

Do $150 products count? If so: an air fryer. It really cut this household's "stove time" and electricity consumption down. They're more versatile than one may think at first glance. It's worth spending a little bit extra for one with decent capacity (e.g. 5 litres / 1.5 kg).

You can put that product here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34272687

Coming under 500(as I don't think there is need for 3rd thread) but:

Nice big refurbished sturdy motorized desk. Nice improvement. Now I have more room to pile junk and it doesn't wobble like slightly cheaper Ikea one. Should go get an other one as my home office is too small to have any hardware or multiple laptops and screens.

Anova Precision Oven, got it under 500€, but now it is certainly more than 500. Have to get more use out of it, but the steam is interesting and having app even if I hate idea of IoT is nice to see when it is at temp or even could do some programming.

Anova Chamber Vacuum sealer. So much better than side sealers, ordered some meat from online and packing it for freezing was a breeze. Probably also need to get around to toy with bit more things.

Steam Deck, nice bathroom gaming PC. Not really changed my life, but still fun toy occasionally.

~$1,500 spent on a bike, bikepacking bags, and camping equipment.

Going on 2-3 day bike camping trips in the summer is a blast!

A large Smart TV to replace a projector.

We replaced a projector in our conference room with a 65" TCL Roku 4K TV. Meetings have never been better, and text is really crisp. Even in Zoom and Google Meet Meetings, it is so much easier to see and read what's on shared screens by participants.

Electric Unicycle. For short trips and errands, it's a super fast and effective way to zip around my area. For more recreational trips, off-roading on local trails and ravines is super fun. It feels like snowboarding around the city, and has a learning curve of a few days (like skiing). Initially, I borrowed an old one from a friend and decided to stick with it by getting my own (a fairly good one). Next up was the various safety equipment. You could spend anywhere from $1500-4000 on the unit + safety gear depending on how fancy you want to go. Even a minimal base model that's a few years old would be totally fine.

Yeah, I got a powerful escooter and have really enjoyed it. It's fun zipping through town, and it makes it much faster to get to some places since I can go through parks/campuses no problem.

A couple safety tips though, for anyone considering an escooter versus ebike. On an escooter, the wheels have a very small diameter, which means that they are much less stable when you go over bumps. If you're going 15 MPH it's not a huge deal, but if you're going much faster than that things can get dicey.

On an escooter, the thrust that pulls you is coming from your hands (not seat/feet), and that's where the throttle is. As a result, if you hit a bump or divot, your hand will often end up jerking on the accelerator by accident. This can cause problems. As I have ridden more, I've learned to try to only have my hand on the throttle when I'm on obviously clear pavement, and disengage when going over any sort of bump or pavement transition. It makes things much safer.

If I had to do it again, I might get an ebike. They're much more expensive, and I'd feel like it's lazy to choose that instead of my regular bike to go most places. But it might be safer than an escooter (though the latter is more fun IMO!).

A big motivator for going the EUC route was a) the wheel is a huge 18" tire and 3" wide, so small potholes and roots/branches are no problem, thus safer, and b) having a EUC w a suspension means I'm less likely to be bounced off, even less so if you add some "power pads" that support the upper foot area. Check it out!

OneWheel feels more like snowboarding/surfing, EUC feels perhaps closer to skiing?

A good shed for about £1000 from Power Sheds (UK).

https://www.powersheds.com/

It was a very disheartening experience looking at shed reviews from all the typical garden/DIY suppliers in the UK and seeing all the negative reviews - really bad quality - bad materials, not fitting together etc.

Powersheds however had great reviews on Amazon and they proved true. A nice modular selection to get the size/door/roof/window combination that you want. Putting it together was very satisfying, looks great and the extra storage space has been wonderful.

I bought a Benjamin Marauder.177 with a Lothar Walther barrel, and some paper targets. I now have a ten meter air rifle range in the basement. I like how meditative it feels, focusing on a small point in the distance.

I made two larger purchases this year that have had significant use and brought me enjoyment:

- A good stereo (Wharfedale Linton/NAD Amp) - A simracing setup (Fanatec DD/8020 Rig/Triples)

I listen to music probably 60+ hours a month and watch a movie every couple days, and it's a lot nicer not using headphones or a soundbar.

After using an entry-level sim wheel and pedals, I decided it would be cheaper and almost as fun to build a good rig compared to going to the track. Not to mention that I can race throughout the winter and in cars I otherwise wouldn't be able to experience.

I have a similar experience as the OP. I got a vacuum robot (Roborock) and it does work like advertised. Vacuum and mop works so well that I almost never to mob my house manually anymore.

3rding the recommendation. I have an S6 and it actually cleans unlike my old shark. It sucks up all the cat hair and does a decent job at maintenance mopping. It's much smarter too. It doesn't just battering ram everything until it finishes a floor. It can operate in the dark so I have it clean the living room at night when we're all asleep. It's an incredible machine.

For privacy conscious people, you can mod these things with firmware that keeps everything local.

I bought a Sony A7R IV full frame mirrorless camera for around the top end of that range, though MSRP is higher. Completely worth it (for me) to dive deeper into photography. I absolutely love it, despite the high cost, seemed a worthwhile investment that I use frequently to provide value for myself, friends, and family. Aside from artistic expression, it's useful to create headshots for others, photograph friend's weddings, etc.

This was technically the end of 2021, but I got a new gaming/workstation desktop. I have an RTX 3080 which I can make AI images with, as well as learn more about deep learning since I have a GPU handy. It also has 16 cores that come in very handy for compiling programs, I don't have to wait anymore. Along with that, I bought an LG OLED 48 inch TV that I use as a monitor, the screen space is amazing.

Along with that, I paid for a solo 401k service as well as an accountant that saved me enormous amounts of money. Did you know that you can save ~$62,000 per year per company you work for, tax free (or deferred)? I did not, until I looked into it. That along with all my business purchases allowed me to pay a mere ~3% in taxable income from my overall income in 2021. Insane.

This is only true if your plan supports deferrals, right?

Had after-tax deferrals available through a Fidelity plan at an employer once, it was great being able to roll that over into an IRA. Hopefully I'll have it again soon - it's an underrated perk for sure.

Correct, the employer and plan must support after-tax contributions, ie a mega backdoor Roth IRA. I posted more here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34279921

mind expanding more on "per company you work for". w2 employment?

I posted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34279921

> Did you know that you can save ~$62,000 per year per company you work for, tax free (or deferred)?

Do you happen to have a link or pointers?

From the IRS: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/one-participant-401k-pl...

"""

The business owner wears two hats in a 401(k) plan: employee and employer. Contributions can be made to the plan in both capacities. The owner can contribute both:

    Elective deferrals up to 100% of compensation (“earned income” in the case of a self-employed individual) up to the annual contribution limit:
        $22,500 in 2023 ($20,500 in 2022; $19,500 in 2020 and 2021), or $30,000 in 2023 ($27,000 in 2022; $26,000 in 2020 and 2021) if age 50 or over; plus
    Employer nonelective contributions up to:
        25% of compensation as defined by the plan, or
        for self-employed individuals, see discussion below

If you’ve exceeded the limit for elective deferrals in your 401(k) plan, find out how to correct this mistake.

Total contributions to a participant’s account, not counting catch-up contributions for those age 50 and over, cannot exceed $66,000 for 2023 ($61,000 for 2022; $58,000 for 2021; $57,000 for 2020).

Example: Ben, age 51, earned $50,000 in W-2 wages from his S Corporation in 2020. He deferred $19,500 in regular elective deferrals plus $6,500 in catch-up contributions to the 401(k) plan. His business contributed 25% of his compensation to the plan, $12,500. Total contributions to the plan for 2020 were $38,500. This is the maximum that can be contributed to the plan for Ben for 2019.

A business owner who is also employed by a second company and participating in its 401(k) plan should bear in mind that his limits on elective deferrals are by person, not by plan. He must consider the limit for all elective deferrals he makes during a year.

"""

Per company means that if you contract for one company (with your own LLC) and work W2 for another (or work 2 W2s), you get ~22k total for employee contributions, but ~40k per each company you work for, ie 2 * 40k = 80k, therefore you can make 80k + 22k = 102k entirely into your 401k accounts. However, since it's a max of 25% per plan of each income, you'd have to be making very high six figures for it to get to such a maximum.

If you have your own LLC, you can set up a solo 401k easily, but for an employer, it's much harder as they must support mega backdoor Roth IRAs, ie allowing you to add your own after-tax money as part of their employer contribution.

You have my attention. Can you please give more details about tax savings?

See my sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34279921

You have to expand on your last point please!

See my sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34279921

Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens for my camera. Mostly solves the issue of being too far from whatever bird I want to take a picture of. Isn't fixed at 600mm, so it can be used for closer subjects as well (when available). Since the main area I hike in is a bunch of ponds with trails in between, I often can't back up without swimming, so being able to zoom out comes in handy.

Steam Deck, I can play videogames (my hobby) way more and I feel relaxed after work, instead of sitting on the same chair to play.

I really like having a lot of screen real-estate. So, I bought a LG 34WK95U-W, which is a 34" 21:9 monitor with a 5120x2160 resolution. It was about $1100. I also bought a very sturdy monitor arm ($100). The monitor floats above my laptop (the two screens form a squat "T" shape) and I get a lot of screen space and it looks very crisp.

Although for that price you can buy a 65" 8k TV.

For my purposes, they're not interchangeable.

I bought OneWheel XR (superseded by GT model) and my quality of life and happiness level increased tenfold.

Very good electric mobility device in-around town and on trails

https://onewheel.com/products/

For you or anyone who might be considering it, there's a safety warning on that brand: https://www.engadget.com/cpsc-onewheel-safety-warning-213555...

What do you wear in terms of safety equipment?

I dont wear any safety gear, because (1) I dont speed, (2) I know and feel my board enough to be safe, (3) monitor battery and dont ride below 10-15%, (4) I can roll/run it out if anything happens.

but newbie riders should at least wear a helmet, and install fangs to protect themselves from nosediving. These are a must, I would say

Thanks for the info! What do you mean by not speeding? How fast feels safe on well-paved residential streets, streets with traffic, etc.?

Most nosedives happen at around 19-20 mph, I usually dont drive faster than 13-15.

Also depends on the weight, if you are tall&heavy, you should drive even slower.

Also nosedives happen if you just plain accelerate on flat ground with flat stance, I prefer to “carve” and alternate weight between sides of the wheel. That way you can decrease power required to move (because of decreased contact area and decreased rolling resistance)

More like a 400€ product, but wife is really happy about her Oura ring. Apparently it's quite helpful, how the ring (via phone app) nags at you to sleep more. Or tells you to take it easy on some days when you have failed to get a proper sleep last night.

Water bottle with time markers on it. It gamifies my water drinking habit. I am always eager to beat-the-bottle by trying to catch up to the time markers on the bottle. As a result I am not dehydrated and not perpetually hungry anymore.

You spent $500-2500 on a water bottle?

lol my bad. I should read more carefully. I thought I saw $50.

I got rid of cable and the Xfinity platform. Replaced it with a Xbox series X and the streaming apps work 10x better.

I don’t watch a lot of shows, bit when I do there is almost no technology friction.

Not $500, more like $50, but a vacuum canister for oil changes. Just sucks the oil out of the dipstick tube. Great for environment and my back. Best $50 spent this year.

You should post in this thread then: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34272687

haha, didn't see that.

Smart radiator valves, hands down.

Are you in the US? I've had a hard time finding ones that will fit the ones in my victorian home water-based radiator system in US.

Aerostich R3 riding suit for touring Upstate NY :)

the helen rosner effect :D

1) Roborock S6 MaxV Ultra 2) Sony wh-1000xm4

apple macbook air m1