Saving A Few Quid
With products like beef, coffee, and chocolate seeing double-digit price increases, I’ve been exploring other areas of my life where I can try to minimise cost after getting some inspiration from a small software studio called Hundred Rabbits who develop software while out at sea.
Mobile Phones
I have always kind of had hand me down mobile phones as I don’t trust myself to not break the screen so it has been pretty easy not being that bothered about the latest phones. They are almost on the same release trajectory as the latest copy of FIFA (now EA Sports FC) with minimal changes with each company trying to envelop you into their ecosystem permanently.
As an added bonus, I removed Amazon, Instagram and Youtube from my phone as these end up being time sinks that eat into my time. Removing the chance of same day or next day purchases has helped me reduce any impulse buys and the ability to doomscroll.
Laptops
My current machine for development is an Apple Mac M1 that I managed to get refurbished from Music Magpie. The battery life is great and there is no clear indication that this laptop was owned by anyone beforehand. It only has 250GB of storage and 8GB RAM but this has made me appreciate free, lightweight software applications that are not resource hungry (looking at you Chrome) and how to start thinking about how to write more performant code.
My next machine will likely run a Linux distribution so I can slowly start to part ways with the Apple ecosystem forever.
Homelabs
Ebay has plenty of used servers that people have used to host PiHole, Plex, Jellyfin and other services. I am exploring how to get hold of a Beelink Alder Lake NUC to be able to host my own Gitea server and start to self host a number of my day to day tools.
Clothing
I like to do a lot of walking and hiking so I need clothing that is durable and comfortable. I have recently been using EBay an awful lot to repurpose clothing too and I have been pleasantly surprised by what is available. Other than the big brands like Patagonia, most other hiking brands such as LL Bean and Eddie Bauer have a lot of items on there that are reasonably priced and in good condition. I have had a quick glimpse at Vinted too and managed to get a few decent bits off there as well!
Books
World of Books is a good shout for second hand books, local book shops are great too. A few can be picked up from £3-5 each with free delivery over £5. There is sometimes an offer on to buy 3 and get another free, making it a good alternative to Amazon.