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What's a small luxury under $20 that significantly improves your daily life?
(discuss.tchncs.de)
Silk pillow case. Good for skin and hair.
this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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A bamboo back scratching stick. I bought dozens back when Pier 1 existed and sold them for 75¢. Most are still around.
Platinum Preppy fountain pen. Often, it's less than 10$
No one needs a fountain pen to write, but writing with a fountain pen is a unique experience. Alas, many fountain pens will cost a little fortune and other will cost a large fortune (what about a 40k$ one?). The Preppy is an exception. It's not the best fountain pen but it's very decent, it's even incredibly good considering its price. For slightly more 25-30$, I would also suggest the Lamy Safari.
Beside that, I can't think of many luxury items under 20. I mean, I can think of a few useful luxury things but they cost more than 20.
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I carry an arch lighter everywhere. It cost me $15 but saves me a ton in lighter fuel, and you'd be surprised by the number of every day situations that a controlled burst of plasma solves. Opening packages, lighting candles, kills mosquitos in the dark, and it's a fantastic taking piece as mine slots into a zippo.
Only downside is I can't use my zippo for light on the off chance I get trapped in a dark tunnel.
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Freshly roasted coffee beans. A bag sets me back maybe $13 or so and gets me approximately 10 cups. Not what I would call outrageously expensive but I enjoy it a whole lot
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The Lady we got ours from isn't showing up at the farmer's marker anymore, but for well under $20, you can make your own corn pillow
This winter's been bad for deep freezes and 4 minutes in the microwave will keep my corn pillow hot for an hour or more.
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An electric 'coffee grinder' just for grinding up spices / seeds. Don't use the regular coffee grinder, or your coffee drinking housemates will get super annoyed. The flavor, and nutrition is so much better when you cook with freshly ground spices.
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A decent pen and/or pencil. I have several nice fountain pens that I use for journaling, but I use my Zebra F-301 ballpoint daily for general notes/etc. -- ~$10 for a 4 pack on Amazon. If you prefer a pencil, you can pick up a Pentel Sharp Kerry for under $20 on Amazon.
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A coffee cup warmer. No more getting up from my desk to nuke cold coffee.
Get a double walled cup, i can have hot coffee for 4 hrs and warm for another 2-4 hours
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A key wallet ; Keep your keys organized, stops them from jingling, can put smart cards in it too. Easier to hand off to friends to borrow. I hate jingling keys.