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.
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!
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
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.
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.
✨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
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.
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.
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
That’s exactly what I do with my chemex yeah.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Streaming services subscription.
- 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.
Labubus
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…
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.
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.
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 don’t know if I could do a new car.
5 speed manual transmission, roll up windows, knobs for climate and radio, the key goes in the ignition. I need to keep this car running forever because i despise most new features ìn modern cars. Soon enough the fucking steering wheel is going to be touch screen.
Hook up an Xbox/PlayStation controller using Bluetooth XD
VR head set, a ton of cameras, and animated third person view. Unlock new skins the more miles you put on the car.
I feel this. My car has a super straightforward drivetrain (2003 Miata) and pretty simple electronics that I can follow and understand.
Looking under the hood of modern cars, half the time it’s so enclosed, you just see plastic and once you get past that, it’s an intertwined rats nest of complicated components.
On top of that, modern interiors are just loaded with features I don’t need. Give me driving, climate and radio controls. I don’t need anything more.
Don’t even get me started on all the assist features. I’m driving. I’ll handle the wheel, thanks.
A car. Gas/petrol for a car. A parking spot for a car. Car insurance. A driver’s license. Winter tires for cars. Anything car related.
It’s so ridiculous to pay for a mobile living room that needs to be parked everywhere people go with it.
I just moved back to a city with decent enough transit and dumped my car and god I’m so much happier. I hate driving and car ownership with a fiery passion.
Sadly, many cities are designed around cars where owning one has become more or less a necessity.
Yeah. I moved into a city and region with enough transit for my needs but my family still lives in a place where there hasn’t been a coach or trains in 30 years. There were before but not anymore. And going to other regions or cities without a car is also becoming more and more difficult, if not impossible.
Unfortunately my province and country only care about cars. I really don’t want to drive but I fear that I won’t have any other choice at some point in the future because my other options are actively deteriorating.
For me the car meant i felt like a grown up with tons of freedom. I can go anywhere, see anything.
I used to feel like you until i got one. But now, no way im ever living without one again. Its a life upgrade you cant go back from.
So I guess never by a car so you can live without one.
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
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.
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.
-
Nestle and Goya products
-
Lottery tickets
-
New phones
-
Anything from Temu or Shein
-
I try to avoid the keyboard mash sellers on Amazon but for some products it’s pretty much impossible to find anything else.
I like to get some scratchies every now and then - it’s one of the major funding sources for museums and sports in the UK, so I see it as a little donation with a dopamine hit rather than an attempt at winning big!
Do you buy used phones? How do you deal with the battery? Used phones generally have old batteries, no?
I just buy a cheap/budget (mid?) phone, 200 EUR max, every 5 years or so…
My phone is a Galaxy S9+ from 2018 that I bought used in 2020 for about $200. The battery life is diminished but it lasts through the day.
I will likely need to buy another refurbished phone soon though, as support for this device is getting cut from my banking app. I try to buy them at $300 or lower.
You can get phone batteries from Aliexpress for very cheap. They are typically not too difficult to replace (as long as the back panel is not glass). Give it a go!
-
Expensive phones
