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People Break Down The Best Purchases They've Ever Made For Under $5

People Break Down The Best Purchases They've Ever Made For Under $5
Image by Horst Tinnes from Pixabay

Who doesn't love a good deal?


Life-changing decisions don't have to come with a life-changing price tag. Sometimes, the thing that will alter your life for the better is available for under $5. And isn't that the best feeling in the world? Knowing you're getting something great for a great price? (Suddenly this is sounding like a car insurance commercial.)
Also, we're not sponsored and there's no affiliate links. Sorry.

Reddit user, u/wiisportscow, wanted to know where to redirect their money when they asked:

What thing did you buy because "it's just $5" that turned out to be great?

You wouldn't think these items would make an impact, but if you take a moment to think about how often stuff falls in-between the seats of your car, you'll realize how items like these can make your life better.

Keep Your Stuff Where It Belongs

"I absolutely hate it when I'm driving and something falls between the seat and the center console. So I bought this little foam thing that's suppose to prevent that from happening."

"I didnt realize how much of a life saver it has been, until recently when I started borrowing my bfs truck."

miltf

"What?!!! I need that? What is it? Where can I get one?"

TimeTraveler3056

"I think they're called "drop stop".

"I got mine in automotive at Walmart, but you could probably try Amazon."

"I hope you find one. Might just be the best small investment I've ever made lol"

miltf

A Stuffed, Comfy Heaven

"Bought a gigantic dog bed at a thrift store. It was like $5, still had the tags on, looked like the previous dog laid in it like once based on how much hair there was (not much). We have chihuahua mixes, this bed is over 8 times as large as either dog. It's basically the favorite place in the whole apartment for the older dog now. She stretches out in it and then just bakes in the sun for hours."

"It's also really comfortable for me, a human, to sit in it, so that's cool."

OneGoodRib

Keeping The Elements At Bay

"An umbrella from a street vendor in Manchester UK was £5. Started raining heavily hence the purchase and didn't expect the umbrella to last the day assuming it was junk for tourists. Brolly still going strong after 5 years, use it regularly and strong wind doesn't faze it. Fairly large too so both my wife and I fit under it. The spring loaded release is very satisfying too."

dbe14

Your Burnt Fingers Will Thank You

"Mini wooden tongs to pluck the toast out of a hot toaster."

blackhaloangel

Look Where You're Shooting

"The toilet light."

"It runs off batteries, has a motion and light sensor, and hooks over your toilet bowl"

"Now I can pee at night and see without blinding myself!"

glorycomeslast

Who doesn't love the odd, impulse purchase? Especially when it's cheap? A buy like this might not seem like a game changer at the time, but with the power of hindsight, you can see positive results.

Live By A Lot Of Caves?

"A tiny LED flashlight on a keyring."

"It was so tiny that I could just put it on my middle finger when exploring narrow passages in caves. And the light was good either - though in several months it started to slowly die out."

Odin_Allfathir

People Break Down The Creepiest Research Holes They've Ever Fallen Down | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Bringing The Family Together In Competitive Glory

"A game for the Nintendo Switch called "Ultimate Chicken Horse". The description was very vague, but my family said "F-ck it. It's got local multiplayer and might be fun" and it turned into probably our favorite game on the console."

NewtTheWizard

"This is an incredible party game."

"For those who haven't heard of it, it's a competitive platformer where the participants build the stage as they go. Tons of fun, with plenty of customizable rules. Well worth picking up if you regularly host events with friends."

"It has online play, but there's probably some lag issues that can make it annoying."

lifelongfreshman

Altered Life's Course For Free

"I purchased my favourite video game of all time (Baldur's Gate) for literally $0.00. My grandmother found it on a shelf in a department store, brought it to me and was like "the price tag says $0.00, does that mean it's free?" I had no idea what the game was, but I figured if it was free, why not take it? So we took it to the counter and it turned out they had been giving copies of the game away back with some Windows 98 promotion they'd been running, but one copy had been left over, so they put a $0.00 price tag on it and hid it in a section of the store it didn't belong so that the first person to find it and ask if it was free could have it. They still had to put it through the register and give us a receipt and everything though, so I'm still counting it as a purchase."

"When I got it home and played it, it was easily the greatest game I'd ever played in my life. It got me into RPGs, Dungeons and Dragons, and board gaming (my biggest hobbies to this day), and it remains my favourite video game ever. And I bought it for $0.00."

Ordinary-Reaction519

Getting A Buddy On The Cheap

"I've always kinda struggled with depression/anxiety on some level, but it was pretty bad in college because I had the extra stress of classes and perfectionism constantly looming. One uneventful day in May, my girlfriend (now wife) and I were looking through PetSmart getting food for our rabbit and just looking around, because that's just what broke college students do. I'd always wanted a cat to show mutual unconditional love and just never pulled the trigger because it never felt right. Well, this little calico, ~two months old, reached out from her cage to grab my finger without her claws while sadly looking up at me with the most beautiful green eyes. I fell in love."

"As luck would have it, they were running a promotion called, "Cinco de Gato" (a play on Cinco de Mayo) where adoption fee was $5 as long as you bought the typical "I just got a cat" stuff (carrier, food, toys, etc), which I did gladly. While the other stuff obviously cost more than $5, adopting Sushi was one of the best $5 impulse purchases of my life. I still have depression/anxiety, and Sushi clearly knows because she'll rub against me whenever I'm particularly stressed, which actually does help most of the time!"

SDG80HD

You'll Never Go Back To The Old Way Of Eating Pizza

"Back around 2003 when I was in university, I got a cheapo pizza-stone that was on sale. I figured it might help make the even-more-cheapo frozen pizzas come out a little better."

"Well it did do that, and I still have it and use it regularly all these years later. I've even perfected my own pizza dough recipe and make homemade pizzas from scratch now. Using a pizza stone completely levels-up the pizza-making experience."

unittwentyfive

And then there's these.

Not sure what would push a person to buy any of the items below, but they did, and here they are.

You Got Your Own Bugout Bag!

"I bought a hiking backpack at an auction for $5 and it turned out to be a great purchase. It was being sold by someone's ex wife along with a bunch of other stuff. I also bought a 3-person tent for $1 at the same auction. When I picked it up it felt a bit heavier than I expected. When I got it home I found several packs of fire starters, waterproof matches, and an emergency shelter/tarp inside. The tent is gone but 12 years later I still have and use the backpack. It's been with me across half the country."

SirPatrickofMichigan

Can You Really Put A Price On Emotion?

"I once went to a local auction of old stuff in my city. I had nothing to do really and i thought maybe id find some records or something. I checked through the place but basically all of them were junk. However there was a guy selling cds. We talked a little and he was really chill and a fellow music lover. I sweeped through his stuff and saw a used copy of Björks debut. I have heard about the artist but never bothered to check her out. I thought it's 5 dollars and i doubt ill find something like this here again so i bought it. It became on of my favorite albums since. It's amazing especially Anchor song. Check it out if you have a spare 40 minutes."

DANKKrish

Gaming The School System

"When I was in early high school I stopped at a garage sale with my mom. I saw a green hard baked book titled "CRC Mathematical Tables". I knew about the CRC Chemistry Handbook from my chemistry class but had never heard of this book. It didn't have a price and the woman running the sale sold it to me for $0.25. I had no idea if the book would be useful, but it was only a quarter."

"I used that book as a reference for all of my upper level math classes, many of my engineering classes when I forgot the math from my upper level math classes and still use it as a reference at work from time to time. My college study group called it my "magic green book" because it always seemed to have all the answers we needed when we were stuck on a homework problem. Best $0.25 I ever spent."

gt0163c

Something To Show Off At Parties?

"A $10,000,000,000,000 bill from Zimbawe's hyperinflation period off of eBay."

"People seem to love it, although it's like a 50/50 split on people believing it was actually manufactured to be real currency and not just a novelty joke item. "Weimar Republic" doesn't seem to ring any bells with folks that didn't pay attention in history class."

stickyWithWhiskey

A...Good Smelling...Foot?

"I went to one of those party places with arcade games and prizes you can buy when you exchange tickets, probably happened when I was 11 or 12. I bought a foot that smelled like cherries for 15 tickets. It probably only cost them a nickel or something like that, but even 20 damn years later that thing still smells good."

"It helps me relax when I'm stressed. It's gotten a lot of use over the years."

TheTrueGoldenboy

Keep your eyes and ears open for any great deals. Think critically about how something like it could help your life. You never know what oddities will make things better.

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

But with a taste for luxuries like housing and food, they keep plugging away, year after year.

However not everyone feels that way about their job.

So what are these compelling careers?

Keep reading... Show less
Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?