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What lesser-known alternative would you recommend as a substitute for something more popular?
Anything goes: foods, software, products, bands, websites, appliances, movies, programming languages, travel destinations, etc.
The point of this topic is twofold:
- To surface some interesting alternatives that could use more exposure.
- To highlight some of the issues with the currently popular option(s).
Let us know your best “more people should know about this!” swaps, and sell us on why they’re better than the well-known option.
Photoshop and Illustrator are not very good apps with a bad track record and are only standard because - if I may adjust my tinfoil hat - their student plans are essentially free so new creatives get used to that workflow as quickly as possible.
Serif Labs makes a suite of tools named Affinity - Designer, Photo and Publisher are currently on offer, they're very polished, much nicer to use than their Adobe counterparts even if they're not as fully featured, but mainly only cost you fifty quid once, forever. They also have a quite generous free trial.
I feel like we should mention that
With that said I also use them and like them, it's still a good deal (especially when compared to Adobe). Adobe applications have more features overall and they'll always have the advantage of cloud features like AI fill (Serif only plans to add neural net features that can be run locally at this moment), adobe fonts, creative cloud as a whole etc.
But Affinity has the advantage of not having 3 decades of developmental baggage and as a result it's faster, more intuitive, the three applications are fully interconnected and share GUI axioms, hotkeys etc. Plus they're not exactly reinventing the wheel here, so they seem to choose well on what features to prioritize. I recently had to work in InDesign and I was shocked by how slow it was in the most basic features like switching between standard select tool and text tool or pdf export, and by how aggressively it had to optimize (reduce visual quality and accuracy) just when scrolling around the document, plus by the fact that they couldn't unite some GUI basics with Photoshop.
I think this is way more fair than expecting people to pay a constant subscription to use a software. Not to mention I'm a grouch who hates software updates anyway. (I got that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality bad.)
I also hate features like "the cloud" and tech companies shoving AI into everything. (It's just more justification for them to charge subscriptions for their software.)
Affinity sounds perfect for me.
Guess I should go buy their software before the Canva enshittification begins.
I agree 100%, I hate Adobe (and Autodesk), but I think it's important to know what to expect from this.
I use GIMP and Inkscape as my alternatives to Photoshop and Illustrator, respectively. I'm not a professional graphic designer or artist, but for my casual use they fit the bill just fine.
Important thing: GIMP very recently released the 3.0 version, which finally adds some non-destructive editing, a feature that has been requested for something like 22 years now.
This means two things: firstly if you haven't tried it in some years, you may want to try it again, it added some critical features that were missing for the longest time. Secondly it's still at least 15 years behind state of the art and many common workflows, professional and hobbyist, are still very impractical or impossible in it. It's not a Photoshop alternative in any shape or form, but it's still a big application that can do a lot of things.
Photopea is an actual alternative to Photoshop and it's honestly amazing. Freeware, ad-supported. But it's a javascript application which only works in a browser, something that I personally really dislike. But feature-wise it's so much closer to Photoshop than GIMP.
Inkscape I just can't really stand for some reason. Apart from Affinity another cheaper and very interesting alternative to Illustrator that benefits from being a new piece of software based on new paradigms instead of carrying 90s baggage is VectorStyler. They offer a 42-day trial so that people can get used to it and really find out if it works for them.
edit: corrected beer language
With regards to GIMP, does the non-distructive editing feature make a huge difference to your workflow? I've been using the undo command for years, and while I imagine this might make it so that you have to undo less often it seems to be not entirely different. Or am I missing the whole concept?
I have not tried it in GIMP specifically yet since it's so recent, so I don't know how many filters it supports and how useful it is, but yes, for any photo editing I could not live without it, whether in Affinity, Darktable or commercial programs like Lightroom and DxO. It is the very basis of my editing workflow.
After all this is the most basic feature in raw photo developing applications - you have tens of different sliders and filters like exposure, curves, various forms of color manipulation, detail enhancement, sharpening... that you can change in any order for however long you want and the image updates in realtime. This is necessary because one affects each other - a standard contrast slider and curves do a similar thing (but not the same), local contrast does a different thing but may need to be set differently based on those previous two as well etc.
And then, with general non-destructive editing, you can have various layer masks that each only affects parts of your image but uses multiple filters, and as you look at the whole image you can go back to each of those layers and tweak both their masks and the settings of their filters. I used to do landscape photography as a hobby and that's where this is incredibly common - you might want to slightly manipulate lighting and add color or contrast to the area of focus and do the opposite to some overly busy element that you couldn't get out of your photo just by framing it differently. But you don't do it right immediately, you need to tweak those edit layers as you go depending on how the whole image looks.
As a casual artist, I use Krita. I grew up using GIMP, but the layout of the controls and windows was annoying. I actually tried a couple free options when I was nearing the end of my degree (and thus my access to Adobe, which I had to use for some of my classes), and I liked Krita best.
I've also heard good things about Clip Studio over the years, though I have no experience with it and cannot speak to its present state. It is a paid one, though not nearly as pricey as Adobe. Checking the site, it has multiple options for both subscriptions and perpetual licenses and they're all pretty fair compared to Adobe.
I’ve not seriously used Krita, but in my dabbling with it, even if it’s more geared towards painting than general image manipulation I find its UI considerably more approachable than GIMP’s is. It feels more or less like any “studio” type app where GIMP has a quirky design that doesn’t really share conventions with anything.
Photoshop elements is also a great option if you aren't a professional. Does everything a casual user would ever need and still offers perpetual licenses for ~60$ when on sale.
I second Affinity as a great alternative to photoshop and illustrator. InDesign as well - designer from affinity is a great tool.
I use Affinity Designer. It’s very nice. Strongly recommend and worth the price. I do believe they have discounted upgrades between major releases.
They also have iPad versions of Photo and Designer (not publisher that I'm aware of) and they're close enough to the desktop apps in terms of functionality that I'm happy.
Drop loofahs and wash cloths
Get an African Net Sponge
Real ones are not just the plastic mesh of a loofah but stretched out, they're actually knotted nets and real good ones are African made because we love a responsible company.
Why are they good?
I've personally purchased from Cee Cee's closet, and I trust Bellanomi, but there are a lot of knock offs out there. So I wouldn't order the cheapest option on Amazon. Key is the knotted strings.
That's quite similar to what I use in Japan! Here they're called ゴシゴシタオル (goshi-goshi towel, or scrub towel), come in various levels of softness, from ones you barely feel on your skin to ones that will make you turn red from scrubbing, and are fantastic - never going back to a sponger loofah!
Can't really find much about them in English, but they're cheap, durable and available everywhere - I had no idea they were used in Africa too!
The term you want to look for in English is "salux cloth", I think. They're named after the Japanese brand Salux and have gotten popular in the skincare crowds (I first heard of them on r/SkincareAddiction). I have one from that brand that I ordered from Amazon, but a lot of beauty shops will sell their own-brand versions as well. I've tended to have issues with ingrown hairs on my inner thighs in the past, which get very annoying and painful, and scrubbing with a salux cloth every time I shower has been the number one way to prevent them from cropping up.
Ahh, thank you, that's why I couldn't find anything, I just wasn't familiar with that name!
I've been using cheap ones that I get in 100-yen stores here, because they still work well and they last quite a bit, dry instantly, and pack really small too, so I always bring one along when going on a trip somewhere. I love how easy it is to clean my back with them too, even with mild shoulder pain I developed after turning 40 :)
I found them on Amazon as a Japanese exfoliating shower towel (originally I used goshi-goshi)
It was really easy to find options! (Of course I have no idea what's good)
Very interesting! It seems like a much tighter weave where the nets are more like fishing net (and that's where they came from.) I've never used these or a Korean washcloth or anything for comparison. But I'm intrigued. The nets drying fully is key for me, my washclothes become absolute rock solid after one use, I can reuse nets multiple days.
I found some Japanese towels on Amazon and I may give them a try next time I'm ordering. I did just get a 4 pack though so it may be a while
If you're ordering the same type as I use, they're made of nylon, so they dry pretty quickly without any change in the cloth's texture or flexibility.
Yeah that's also what the nets I use are made of. I am very intrigued!
I have switched to this silicone scrubber which works well with bar soap, dries completely, and is very compact for travel.
I am intrigued by the back scrubbing aspect of this. Do you use it with body wash or bar soap?
I've used it with both, I don't currently have a soap dish in the shower so I've got one of those giant Dr Bronner's bottles.
But at my last place I used a lot of "fancy" bar soaps. And I'll probably switch back when I get something that fits comfortably in my little phone booth shaped shower now. Because I have a whole bin of soap gifts 😂
I use something like yours for my scalp.
Oh and you can get under the butt cheeks, back of the legs and the bottoms of your feet without as much bending over too. Genuinely it feels really good, there are ones with smaller knots for sensitive skin but I have had no issues adjusting the pressure.
I finally managed to sit down and order one. Thanks for recommending some good places to purchase from. I got it from Cee Cee's. It was effortless. I'm excited to try it!
I hope you enjoy! My new ones from Bellanomi just arrived, and they have a gathering string on each end so I'm going to see how I like them (they had a four pack (with a color theme) deal so it was worth switching to try another brand.)
I'm real partial to a simple safety razor. I bought a pack of 100 or 590 blades like six years ago. I'll grant my clean-shave routine went downhill during the pandemic, but boy do I love not buying cartridges or futzing with my rotary shaver.
Speaking of blades in particular, I've found Feathers to be the absolute best ones I've tried, and I've tried a lot. And like you said one's supply of even 'expensive' safety razors last forever with a single purchase!
I did this about 5 years back and totally agree.
I also rock a beard so I'm not doing a LOT of trimming, makes the blades go a ridiculous long way
While I like feather, i'll also throw out wilkinson sword. I seem to get about as good a shave and have to be less careful with it. It's a great "dipping your toe in it" blade.
I also recommend still having some normal disposable razors. It's nice to use the safety razor for 90% of the cleanup work, and then you can quickly use the disposable for the final pass to smooth things out and get tricky spots. It'll last FOREVER because you're barely using it. I buy one bulk pack maybe every other year at costco at this point.
FOREVER you say?‽︎!
So, ~40 razors per ‘bulk pack’ every other year = 20 per year.
365 days divided by 20 razors ≈ 18.25; so a razor every 18 days, let’s say.
Great job and all, but 18 days is far from FOREVER. 😜
I’m probably underestimating because I know my current disposable is on month 2
I tried safeties for most of a decade before giving up. The threaded rod holding the handle, blade, and top cover wears out over time and gets infiltrated by shavings and soap, and one time one of mine came spectacularly apart in the shower and bit a cut in the side of my face - not dangerous, but it was right before work and left a huge trail of blood from the top of my sideburns all down the side of my face.
After that I decided I was done experimenting with different models, and bought a cheap Gilette two-blade cartridge which despite containing some plastic per blade, consumes them at about the same rate and can move with the contours of my face.
For what it's worth that shouldn't be happening if you get a decent model. I've got a Henson that's been rock solid for years, and had a more normal model before that. I DID have a cheap one that started to have the failures you describe first, but they don't all do that.
I've always been on the fence about trying a safety razor but...
Sold.
Then I may go back to it in the future. But for now, not having to worry about finding a razor that suits me and of quality workmanship is good enough.
Oh, another thing - safety razors' metal body means they're all heavier than plastic ones, and unfortunately I moved into an apartment with a little shelf thingy in the corner of the shower with metal bars instead of solid trays so the water can go through it. Anyway, whenever I put my razor on it, it always contrived to slip through the bars, its weight giving it quite a bit of force in squeezing them apart. Then it would hang by the flat blade holder, its handle pointing straight down - then the handle would catch on something and lurch forward or back, getting one end of the blade holder through and soon followed by the rest, clattering on the ceramic tile and giving me a fright as I now have a floor hazard to avoid.
Well for what it's worth the one I linked you to is usually made from aluminum and extremely light (there's a MUCH more expensive titanium version but I'd only recommend that if you love it), but I get it if you're not feeling trying to get back into it.
If you want the absolute lightest weight you should stick with aluminum anyway, titanium is heavier. I think a lot of people assume Ti is both the lightest and strongest common metal, but that's not true. The reason we use it so much in aerospace is because it's much stronger than Al, but not nearly as heavy as stainless.
There's really no reason for a safety razor to be made from Ti-6Al-4V other than marketing hype...
It was more concerns about lightness vs fragility, as aluminum is a little weaker.
And I actually have the Ti version but only because:
To add another anecdote, but I got a shaveology razor a looooooong time ago and still use it to this day. When mine screws together, there's kind of a buffer point where an extra turn seems to seal/set it into the razor. Nothing is getting in that groove spot at all. To bolster the idea, this thread's OP may have a model issue.
I don’t clean shave every day, mainly just when I travel and need to buy myself more time before needing to trim, but I’ve been using a stainless steel Feather razor and the thing is a tank. Zero problems and I don’t foresee needing to replace it for a long, long time. Don’t know that I’d use it in the shower but it works great at the sink.
Even though I haven’t touched my Switch in some time (hopefully the summer is more free!), gaming has been on my mind because of the Nintendo Direct today.
I’d strongly recommend third-party controllers, specifically 8bitdo instead of proprietary controllers. I bought these because of the Hall Effect joysticks originally, but the build quality and battery life blows the Pro Controller out of the water, and it isn’t that much more expensive.
Yup, can confirm, 8bitdo makes the good stuff! I bought an 8bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth edition fairly recently to replace my Switch Pro since the left stick has started to fail me. Great controller.
My one wish would have been something like it but with digital, tactile triggers. I've had some issues in fighting games because of the analog triggers.
Can second this. Bought a controller for playing on the pc, then loved it so much that I also bought the little adapter/dongle that lets me use older console controllers I have on the pc flawlessly. Everything just works as expected out of the box without any futzing around.
I'm so glad I saw your comment when I did. I'm literally about to buy a new xbox/pc controller because my current one is pretty much falling apart. I had a little SNES style Bluetooth 8bitdo controller I used with my phone years ago so I was aware of them, but I had no idea they make controllers for everything.
As I've been making my switch to Linux, LibreOffice has become my main workflow for writing and data management. Specifically in being able to save in MO file types is nice. It had been a bit since I had tried any alternatives to Microsoft Word/Office.
Also in general, a fair amount of Kirkland brand stuff is great. Their underwear is comfy for me. :^)
edit: wirk to work. mobile typing got me
You mentioned Kirkland, so here's a specific recommendation from me: Kirkland popcorn. It is hands down the best popcorn we've gotten. It tastes great and practically melts in my mouth. When I made Orville Redenbacher movie theater butter popcorn (my original go-to) after we ran out of Kirkland, I was blown away by how strong the smell was in comparison.
My mom actually got me a giant box for Christmas this year. We'd let our Costco membership lapse because there's just two of us, so I've been talking about getting a relative to grab me a box. Even joked about holding a harmonica hostage in exchange for a box. She got a new membership to potentially buy appliances for our new house, and got a box of popcorn and wrapped it with a note to open it last. Definitely the highlight of my Christmas!
It's so good. Absolutely cosign Kirkland popcorn.
libreoffice is the only text related tool that compels me leave my emacs every once in a while
Collabora is really good to altho I can't remember if its free or not (or maybe is for certain devices but costs like $10 for some platforms).
Its good tho and I believe it is free of data collection
When making a pot of pasta sauce, ditch the tomato paste and throw in a big glob of gochujang instead. It brings more umami and more depth per gram than tomato paste (according to my extremely scientific tongue-bassd studies).
Sure, Italian grandmothers everywhere will try to fight you, but it will be only out of jealousy that they did not have gochujang when they were learning their recipes.
On a similar note, mango chutney in sauces (particularly for chillis and the like) also works really well.
I am very intrigued by this.
I’m curious to see how a relatively sweet chili paste (to my tongue buds) behaves compared to a relatively bitter tomato paste.
Any specific sauce recipes you’d recommend ?
I will always approve of gochujang being used, but the flavour profile is quite different than tomato paste and it's also very spicy. I like that, but maybe not everyone in your house will. I also recommend doenjang or miso paste in sauces, and fish sauce for that extra umami kick. I use all of those a lot in my Italian inspired meals.
Adding on, if you cook for people with a fish/seafood allergy like I do, mushroom ketchup fills the umami-shaped hole from the loss of fish sauce. I won't say it's an exact replacement, but it's genuinely good all on its own, and the mushroom powder left over after its manufacture is a spice in and of itself. Super easy to make, too.
I don’t know if this fits your criteria, but the store brand (Walmart) pizza rolls are literally 5 times better than the Tostino’s brand. The biggest difference is in the dough. They are crispier. Their dough seems to be made of something that resembles real dough, the Tostinos brand really seems like some sort of overlooked paste ? Like Pringle consistency (exaggeration). You can even see visually that the store-brand pizza roll has actual bubbles in its crust like it’s been fried or otherwise pre-baked. They are also significantly cheaper, of course. I don’t know if this holds true for all store-brand pizza rolls, I’d be curious to know.
One of the winners of the Boston Marathon won wearing Skechers, this was unexpected due to Skechers not being considered a performance shoe and because he was an American. So just goes to show you, the skill matters more than the equipment (usually). Meb. I have never actually used Skechers shoes tho, full disclosure.
I can fully recommend Skechers shoes. I've had multiple makes of their shoes and they've by far been the most comfortable brand for me while being relatively inexpensive.
Comfortable yes, but after a few weeks/months of use mine seem to absorb water like there is no tomorrow. Happened with the previous Skechers pair I owned as well where it looks like there is plenty of sole left, but the shoes feel soaked if the ground look even slightly humid.
It started happening after using them for about a month or two, and a year on they're still fine and comfortable shoes (if you ignore the whole feeling wet part)
I have bought one pair previously that completely fell apart from water, and then I bought my current pair during a stressful period when I just needed new shoes quick.
My new skechers pair I've been wearing have been doing amazingly well. I think its hugely dependant on the make/model shoe, but I happened to land a good pair this time.
I think this is true. One out of three so far for me seemed more prone to the problem than the other two
Even in a work environment where I was standing and walking a number of times per day, I've had my pairs last well over a year. While I am doing much less of that these days my current pair is on track to last a long time as well.
Out of three pairs I've had (I currently have two, both of which are fine), I've had the water issue with one particular pair, but I got a good year out of it before it was a problem, and the reason mine had an issue was a hole began forming in the sole, it wasn't like a "phantom" water issue where I couldn't tell where the source was
And none of these shoes from Skechers I have purchased have advertised themselves as any kind of water-resistant or whatnot, as far as I know. Anytime I've gotten water in them it seems to be from water splashing up against the material (or the seam where the material meets the sole), but I just figured it was because I was buying shoes that weren't really made to avoid water ingress
For like $50, a year is a perfectly fine lasting amount of time for a shoe for me. Sure I'd love it to be better, but I count that as a relatively inexpensive win, and I can just re-buy when they wear out.
The comfort wins out for me. I don't care if my shoes last forever if they feel awful that entire time
I'm flat-footed on one foot too, and for whatever reason, Skechers have always felt better for that than any others.
As someone who is daily driving sketchers right now, Sketchers are astonishingly cheap for the price they ask for them. Which isn't a whole lot, but more than I feel they are worth, generally speaking. The outer soles are made of very low density material. They're very, very lightweight because they are basically made of air; everything is foam and netting with them.
But to be fair, that's kind of the appeal of them. The soft lightweightness is the thing that people seem to like about them. It's what makes them comfortable. But it's also what makes them disposable. They are not meant to last long. And really, that's pretty much the entire shoe market now. Shoes meant to be repaired are almost extinct.
I suppose, but I guess I rarely have ever owned anything "high quality" to compare to. My entire life has been me wearing $30-$60 shoes, none of which last a super long time (even decades ago I was wearing shoes that lasted a year and cost about what Skechers cost today), and to be honest, compared to many I've worn in the past, most of the Skechers I have worn and do wear feel better quality to me than the others I've worn (Vans, Converse, Champion, no-names from Payless Shoe Source, etc).
Well, like I said, pretty much the entire shoe market is made with subpar quality these days. I honestly don’t know if I would be able to find a good quality shoe for less than $100 these days. At one point I was wearing a specific style of Dockers consistently, and I think it would probably be $150 today. It’s also a problem that local shoe stores don’t tend to sell too many of the higher quality options unless they’re high end sport-related ones (Nike, Puma, etc.), which would clash with my style.
I also recommend Skechers. The hands-free slip on line is super convenient, and the ArchFit products are very nice if you suspect you might have plantar fasciitis.
Oh my god! I was just talking about this the other day. I think it's Select brand? I was blown away by how much better they were than classic pizza rolls. And it's exactly as you described it.
I use Filen.io for E2EE cloud storage and file syncing between all my devices. They occasionally do sales on various subscription levels (Black Friday, etc) and if you sign up then, you retain that price for the life of the subscription. Subs, both lifetime and ongoing, are stackable also. I sync between macOS, Linux, and iOS pretty seamlessly.
I will say their desktop apps have come a long way but still aren't perfect. So occasionally you can run into a bit of bugginess but most of that they have fixed over time and it's night and day compared to when I first signed up.
Thanks for the rec! I need to set up backup for my home server, and this looks perfect. Annual plans look like a worthwhile savings. Have you used the chat or notes features at all? Signal and iMessage cover most of my needs, but I figure it's not a bad idea to have alternatives.
I haven't really used anything but the file storage so far. Mostly because I already have other note setups (Joplin), though I have considered trying it out. Haven't used the chat at all either.
They have small free tier available to try everything out too, which is nice
Normally "lifetime subscriptions" would make me worry about the solvency of the company, but they've answered questions about that already, saying they won't offer them forever or an unlimited amount, and they may remove the option in the future so it doesn't hurt them financially past what they're willing to accept. I was glad to hear that transparency at least.
Amazing. Now I seriously need to think about a lifetime sub! Thanks so much for the rec. This thread reminds me of how great the internet can be when it isn't blogspam and botted to irrelevance.
This is a good opportunity to plug the following site: https://www.goeuropean.org/
It provides European alternatives for the big American brands, something I'd like to focus on for the foreseeable future.
Get yourself a peshtimal bath towel instead of one from terrycloth. I’m kinda pairing the Wikipedia article, but they are more absorbent, dry faster, and overall far better. And terrycloth gets worse as you use it more. Every peshtimal I have had gets far better after a handful of washes. Also they are thinner, so packing them for travel is way simpler.
You lost me at "terrycloth gets worse as you use it more" - what gives you that idea?
I have never had that experience. I always go for the oldest towels in the house because they suck up water so much better than a newer one.
Do you use fabric softener when you wash your towels? I think fabric softener affects the texture and 'absorbability' of terry cloth towels.
I don't use fabric softener, which I assume is why mine have no worsening qualities over time.
That might explain it yeah
I was fortunate enough to have stumbled upon this nugget of knowledge somewhere (reddit probably) years ago, and it’s true. Stopped using fabric softener after that and my cotton terrycloth towels absorb great.
It makes sense if you think about it. The softener coats the surface of the fabric and curbs its porosity, so of course that’s going to reduce the towel’s ability to absorb.
I will say though that I prefer high quality but less-shaggy towels like this one because they’re just as effective but air dry much more quickly than shaggier towels do.
Does it improve it or lower it ? Sometimes hotels will have those terrycloth towels that are super soft and pillowy and heavy. They feel really nice, but they are absolutely useless at absorbing water. Like to the point where I doubt they could hold half a cup total. Is that because of excess water softener ?
It makes it worse, and hard water doesn't help either.
Dunno, but that’s always been my experience. Maybe it has something to do with water hardness ? Where I grew up, the water wasn’t hard, but it was pretty much the highest it could be without being called hard. I’ve never had a water softener, and never used any in laundry machines. Even after I found peshtimals, I still bought terrycloth kitchen towels and had the same experience with them. I even had an old towel that I cut into rags for cleaning. They eventually became so useless for even cleaning that I threw them out and bought a Costco pack of microfiber cloths.
Do you use fabric softener though? Fabric softeners used in laundry behave like liquified wax that coats fabric fibers and lessens their absorbency (dryer sheets are the same thing, but they rely on heat from dryers to liquify). Terry cloth does degrade over time and use, but you should be able to get a couple good years out of a quality towel with proper handling.
Never used fabric softener. Honestly I wouldn’t know how to. I would say I get maybe 1 good year and then one mediocre year before my terrycloth started to get really bad.
This is pretty much my experience as well. Down to seeking out the old towels lol. I love little quirks like these.
I know I have hoarding tendencies, but it seems undeniable that my older towels are better than my new ones, and thus I need to cling to the old ones until they evaporate into thin air. Many of the new ones look fluffy and are bulky, but they do not act like a towel in any meaningful way.
I do wonder how much of this is due to an inferior product or my water sources. I bought new towels around the same time that I moved across the country and that is when I noticed the stark contrast. But I also hadn’t bought towels for a long time at that point, either.
Could be a little of column A, a little of column B.
Suggestions where to shop for one (especially of any quality) in the US?
So far, I’ve just bought them at Macy’s. And the ones I get are decently cheap, so no need to break the bank. Just a heads up though, give it a couple of wash cycles before you make a decision. When my mom first got me one, I was unimpressed. It was fine, but only fine. Then after 2-3 washes, it became great. Now my first one has probably been washed hundreds of times and is fantastic.
Ha I don't have a Macy's around anymore I don't think but it gives me a starting point. Thanks!
Yes! I have two of these towels (bought for travel, but they're just so good), and I love them so much, I'm considering changing all the towels in the house to these. They're absorbent, dry so quickly, and are large enough to wrap around my body comfortably without being too bulky, and I can tie it without too much effort, and the towel stays on.
They have indeed gotten softer with each wash, and they're not that much more expensive compared to terrycloth towels. Then again, all my towels have gotten softer with each wash since I don't use fabric softener - I use a combination of wool balls and spiky plastic balls to keep the clothes in the dryer from getting staticky. The only thing I've noticed is that my regular towels have started falling apart after about 10 years of use - so we will see how long the peshtimal towels hold up.
I’ve tried many different types of towels, including these. My favorite remain waffle towels.
They dry quickly no matter how humid it is, they absorb water wonderfully, and it’s incredibly comfortable to wrap one around you and walk around.
Lanolin is a fantastic and inexpensvie moisturizer and balm for wherever on your body is chapped and needs to be protected and have its moisture restored. It doesn't make your body addicted to it and it just works as long as you wet the area with water and apply immediatey after.
My lips used to be a warzone, particularly in the winter but not anymore with lanolin. Its seriously better than chapstick, Burts Bees, Nivea, Carmex, whatever other stuff that needs to advertise or rely on its ubiquity to persuade you its what you should use for your body
I adore lanolin, but it is a pretty common allergen.
I thought it was purified and isolated to the point it was basically hypoallergenic. Will have to read more about it
I agree, I've tried a lot of other stuff for my dry lips but nothing works better than lanolin! Plus it doesn't really have a smell/taste.
I also like that pretty much any brand works as long as it's lanolin, I've tried a few different brands and they all work well for my lips even if they are commonly marketed as "nipple cream" and not as lip balm :)
Visit the international/asian aisle for a better variety of all kinds of your regular grocery items.
Between the canned meats, the hot sauces and the spices in general, you should really be shopping in there more often for everything. 3 Billion people can't be wrong.
Rooster brand SPAM > SPAM.
Another step up (for Americans), if you have one, even if it's small, go to an Asian (or other international) grocery store for cheaper prices on spices and vegetables that are used more often in that country's/region's cuisine.
Even some random produce like tomatoes or apples are occasionally way cheaper at my nearby H-Mart than HEB (my grocery store of choice in Texas)
Korean ones in particular seem to be best. H Mart in particular has a produce game that can’t be beat, at least where I live. Price for domestically popular produce is pretty competitive too.
It's very location and population dependent. In central Illinois one city has a HUGE SE Asian grocery store and a super tiny East Asian one (nominally Chinese) and a really good Hispanic grocery or two. The next city might have H Mart or a bunch of East Asian stores and much smaller other options. One will have an African store, etc.
You can guess which cities have more East Asian vs SE Asian (and sometimes even more specific) vs Latino populations based on it. (The difference in what is stocked in Costcos in each area is pretty telling too. It's neat to get to pop around and see the variety)
Everything I've heard about H Mart is good, but I haven't been.
Replace your coffee with Folger's Crystals. (If you're old enough to know what I'm referring to, please reply. Yea, I'm probably older than most people at this site. lol)
Time for me to post: TheStoryGraph as an alternative to Goodreads. It has so many features that I love. I found the navigation to be a lot more friendly, along with tracking progress and leaving reviews. I love that I can generate little graphics of what I've been reading in a month. I like seeing relatively matchy and also out-of-the-box recommendations for what to read next and for what to add to my TBR. I've won a ton of giveaways so far. It's super fun. It's a small company. It's free and there are no ads.
Out of curiousity, any recently? It seems the odds have gotten much worse the last several months.
Yes, I won 2 or 3 last month. They say that if you don't claim a prize, your odds of winning go down for a while... if you remember something like that, it could be the reason? But I also mostly enter for digital books, which often give away 250 copies at once, so much better odds when there are more copies. I basically never enter for print copies because they only give away like 5 copies or less usually, and more people seem to enter for print, so the odds seem to be the worst for that category.
I"m an open source aficionado and my recommendations are very based:
Project Runway Junior(season 1) is like a breath of fresh air compared to late stage Adult Project Runway. Less gratuitous drama/ads, more interesting designs and designer identity. More sportsmanship.
In the same vein, Master Chef Australia is quite good compared to Master Chef USA. My friend also recommends Master Chef Junior (though I have not watched).
In general, I recommend a lot of the non-USA version of reality TV shows, less yelling, less poorly edited stuff for the sake of ads (less ad breaks).
If I may use this moment to recommend more "cozy" reality TV, if that's a phrase:
If there are any more people can recommend, I'd be interested !
Great Pottery Throwdown - British pottery competition
Glow Up - British makeup artist competition (I know nothing about makeup but it's fun, there's retail makeup and special effects and big "art" style makeup)
Both of these have judging but the vibe is mostly supportive similar to, if not quite as cozy as GBBO
School of Chocolate is so good too!
I'd add Dropout's- Make Some Noise, Game changer, and Um Actually have their moments, but they take great care of their employees (and that includes the other guests) and the harassment that does occur as part of the show is done in good spirits.
I do also really like British Panel shows, I wouldn't call them cozy but the competition doesn't matter it's just friends and comedians fucking around for laughs. (Taskmaster (and the AU and NZ versions), Would I lie to you, QI, etc
In regards to baking shows, my mom and I enjoyed the Kids' Baking Championship on Food Network. We only started getting into baking shows this Christmas, and while the ones we watched didn't have yelling or anything, it was nice to see how supportive the kids are to each other.
They give each other tips and sometimes even help each other if one of them was struggling to finish by the deadline, and the judges were so patient and supportive. They're competing, but they're not quite so desperate to win and are just enjoying the experience. The atmosphere is just super friendly and nice. Also, this past season had an animal theme and it was funny seeing how distracted the kids could get when they brought in actual puppies and a miniature horse.
Hey @kfwyre! This isn't an answer to the question; I just wanna thank you for these banger questions you've been posting recently. They make for great threads!
Awww, thank you! I appreciate it.
That actually ties in nicely to my recommendation, believe it or not:
I highly recommend
starting interesting discussion topicsas an alternative to the much more popular
perseverating in despair on the current state of thingsThese topics have been helping me out a lot in keeping a clearer, calmer mind, and I’m hoping they’re helpful for others too. A big thanks to everyone who participates in them. I love reading everyone’s responses and conversations.
Not me considering making a "how do you perseverate in despair" thread
Genuinely: if you need the space to do that, then go for it, and don’t feel bad about it at all!
I need some space AWAY from that for myself, which is why I’ve been posting topics like these pretty regularly, but I don’t want to begrudge anyone for needing to sit in those feelings either.
Also, a big hug to you Fae. If you do need to perseverate in despair, at least know you don’t have to do it alone. 🫂
Oh I won't because I think it is too much of a downer as a topic, but ya know. Sometimes I'm just impulsively contrary.
But I appreciate it. The despair perseverates on its own tbh
Now there's an interesting question! Does like 70% of the time count as "sometimes"? ;)
Now I am trying to recall who got cursed with a perpetually damp sock, and wondering whether I need to review my list.
Yup. The recommendations in threads like these are what make this platform more than “just” a cool link aggregator: Genuine, real-track-record experienced recommendations, if not reviews.
Feels like what I used Reddit for in the past :P