Small Purchases That Make You Happy

[JHDK]

There are these candles at Walmart that cost $0.94 and I really like them. They smell nice and burn for about 20 hours and it's nice to have them by my TV. Here you can see me watching Peaky Blinders in my bedroom with them going. There is something pleasant about having a little contained fire burning.

Also, they are good for hurricane preparedness. For like $20 I can have a ton of light for a week or so.

What are small, inexpensive purchases you guys like? I'm sure I have a bunch of others but this is the one that is currently on my mind.

 

[Channel98]

We bought two little finches for $14.95 each (plus tax) and they're very entertaining. They have a huge cage and they're constantly fluttering around like Woodstock from the Peanuts comic strip. They also both sound like Woodstock. Everyone should own at least two finches.

 

[JHDK]

Wow...you bought pet birds? Where did you get them?

How long do they live?...are they hard to keep, do they poop all over?

My grandmom had a parrot for like 30 years, it outlived her. Those things live forever.

 

[JHDK]

 

[Channel98]

There are several varieties of finches. We have zebra finches, which are the least expensive. They normally live seven to ten years. We got them at our local PetSmart and they're really not messy. The bottom of their cage has a shallow pull-out tray. We keep three pages of newspaper on it and once a week we replace the newspaper. Simple! As I say, they're very entertaining. Of course sometimes their Woodstock-style squawking is so loud I can't hear what I'm watching on television, but.......

Types of Finches

 

[JHDK]

We keep three pages of newspaper on it and once a week we replace the newspaper. Simple!

Huh, that's the same thing my grandmom did. I hope you use the Peanuts comic strip as their toilet.

Do you ever put a towel or blanket over their cage to keep them calm? Grandmom did that and it would shut the parrot up for awhile. Something about it feeling enclosed made it calm.

Buying a living thing is a big responsibility. I got my cat for free as a kitten from a friend of a friend who had a litter but it's a commitment for that thing's whole life. I've had my cat for about 10 years now (it will be 10 in December) and making sure my little Athena has a good life is a major concern for me.

 

[Wolf]

I hope you use the Peanuts comic strip as their toilet.

Why it have to be Peanuts comic strip?

That sounds like a racist person would say when they put nacho cheese on there fries.

There plenty of other crappy comic strips to shit on.

 

[semipenguin]

Chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich

 

[memebag]

A pack of red 31mm festoon 6smd dome LEDs.

I have a red car, with a red key light. One day I realized it would be better if the dome light was red as well, so I looked on the web and found a pack of 4 of these for $7. Now my red car has red interior lights and that really is better. It's like driving a darkroom.

 

[HecticArt]

A pack of red 31mm festoon 6smd dome LEDs.

I have a red car, with a red key light. One day I realized it would be better if the dome light was red as well, so I looked on the web and found a pack of 4 of these for $7. Now my red car has red interior lights and that really is better. It's like driving a darkroom.

Or driving Satan's sedan.



Hey, now that's a good band name.

 

[JHDK]

I started this thread off with a pic from my bedroom and here comes 2 more. I guess a small purchase to me means under $50. I got this tree and it makes me happy.

It cost $30 at Home Depot. I like having plants in my house. My dad was big on gardening back in his day...I remember him out in the yard every summer planting flowers and vegetables and stuff like that. While condo life isn't conducive to that, I do think it's nice to have some nature in my place. I got this other tree awhile back and I think the two of them together make a nice pair.

(notice the sweet watch box in this pic)

 

[Wolf]

That plant on the left isn't small it's big.

You created this thread, you should know your own rules.

 

[Wolf]

Now this is a small purchase that should make you happy.

 

[scotchandcigar]

This will be my official 1st entry in this thread. I spent months choosing this $20 item.

It's a Gerber multi-tool. Mostly use it to crack open beers and cut cigars, and occasionally open a package. The keyfob has the valet key built-in, which is a neat design.
View attachment 4977

 

[Channel98]

I wanted to see the Gerber tool you bought so I clicked "View attachment" but I think I must have done something wrong.

 

[Aaron]

I started this thread off with a pic from my bedroom and here comes 2 more. I guess a small purchase to me means under $50. I got this tree and it makes me happy.

That looks to be a Dracaena corn plant. Good plant.

Someone gave my parents one many years ago when I was being born in the hospital. I guess someone thought giving a plant was a cool idea for new parents. Anyway it sat in my parents yard for years and got much taller.
When I was old enough to get married and buy a house, I brought the tree to my house where I now take care of it.

It's a difficult tree to mess up, not very needy, although it almost died in the freeze last year. I bring it inside my shed during the coldest nights, but January 2018 was especially cold around here, and 5 months later, the poor thing still looked completely dead, no sign of life. Then, sure enough, the plant emerged last summer with renewed life and is thriving again.

I always wonder who is going to live longer, me or the tree.​

 

[Aaron]

 

[scotchandcigar]

This one really brings me joy. You've all seen my stereo rig, which I described in Scotch Sampler. If you look at the pic below, the preamplifier (under the table) has a very rudimentary remote function (so as not to interfere with the esoteric-ness of the sound). There's an IR sensor in the middle, and the remote (on the table between the turntable and CD player) has 2 functions: 1) control the volume knob (on right of preamp), and 2) mute the output. Of course, it doesn't electronically adjust the volume, as that would add some shitty circuitry to the playback chain. It actually activates a motor to rotate the knob clockwise or counterclockwise, just as your thumb and index finger would.



The remote is - by far - the most ridiculously overbuilt thing I own. It's made of a solid block of anodized metal.



And after years of sitting around (and sometimes being packed and moved) it became corroded inside. So every time I want to tweak the volume, I have to get up and walk across the room, which is especially a pain when someone enters. But also, it's just frustrating to have to guess what the volume should be set to, because then I sit down and it's not really what I wanted.

Anyway, as a birthday gift, my stepdaughter got me a really cool rechargeable mini power screwdriver, which comes with a case that has like 100 different small bits. It's perfect for working on anything from eyeglasses, to laptops, to the tiny corroded Allen screws on this remote. I got around to trying it out, and I was finally able to take off the back of the remote. The batteries were all corroded, but also one of the wires to the circuit board was broken from corrosion. I've had a solder iron for years, but it didn't survive the last move. I could've brought it to the office, but Mrs. Scotch said "can you get a replacement"? Well I looked, and there was only one place that sold such obscure, obsolete stuff. Remote Control World, located in the Czech Republic.

To say I was skeptical is an understatement, but I did some research, and they seemed legit. I ordered the replacement 1 week ago, and here it is!



It's not an identical remote, but a replacement which performs the same functions.



The VOL +/- buttons smoothly rotate the volume knob, and the AV button does the "mute". Cost me $13 for the remote, plus $8 for shipping. It's been at least 15 years since I was last able to adjust the volume while seated. It's a great day.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Yet another addition to the listening room. As I've discussed, I couldn't put a real heating system into the basement, so I partitioned the stereo listening space with blackout curtains, and I got a Dr. Heater electric portable heater. I should probably reiterate that due to the radiant underfloor heat going across the entire first floor of the house, the builders had to fully insulate the basement rafters. That means that the basement stays at a nice 49F degrees most of the year.

The Dr. Heater thing does a pretty good job of somewhat warming the space, provided you turn it on before you want to sit down there. But it has a high-velocity blower to pump the warm air, which kinda goes against the idea of listening to a good stereo. Well, the other day a contractor friend was over, and he was saying good things about those oil-filled radiant heaters. They're also electric powered and portable, but they radiate heat like those old steam radiators (except without the sizzling and banging noises). They don't warm a space as fast as one with a blower, but they're completely silent.

So I picked up this guy


And here it is in the room, next to the chair


You can see the blower heater is in the left corner of the picture. They make a good combo; that one heats the room quickly, and then you can shut it off and let the silent one take over. It makes sitting there a more pleasant experience.

 

[Aaron]

Glad you found a solution to help keep warm.

Also I’m envious, having a basement seems cool.