what's some stuff that costs around 1$ that you would recommend?

Ngl I can't even think of anything that only costs a dollar nowadays

In 1857, Congress eliminated the half penny because it was worthless.

At the time the buying power of the half penny was more than a penny, a nickel, a dime, and two more pennies. 18 cents was the value when Congress said it was not worth making the coin anymore.

We could eliminate three of our coins without affecting the economy, but doing so would draw attention to inflation.
- Okay but now we have a zinc lobby so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Yeah but a dime works great as a carb cap for my q7 I dropped
Well, it could be around a dollar.
Yeah it’s time to do away with ¢ and have something above $s
- The dollar is metric, so we already have such a system. People often use kilodollars already, e.g. writing $2k instead of $2,000, but we could start using decadollars ($10) hectodollars ($100), too.

Foam earplugs if you're headed to a noisy area. I know too many people that have damaged their hearing by not protecting it at concerts and other venues with amplified sounds.

While having them as a backup is good. If you enjoy concerts I’d highly suggest spending the money on good earplugs that don’t distort the sound as much. They make the specifically for concert goers and they’re amazing. Putting in Regular earplugs is like listening to a 32kbps mp3.
- If anyone's looking for brand names... Loops have spent a lot on marketing the last few years. I've worn them a few times and they're good, but I think Flare Earshades are just one level above. I can't believe how good they sound.
- Agreed. I have some that just turn the volume down and I keep them on my keychain. It also helps me a lot when there's background noise to pick out conversation. After the first part of the pandemic, it seemed like everybody had been yelling on their zoom calls and it helped with that as well until either they adjusted back to IRL volume or I readjusted to it.
I pocket these whenever they're available for free in places where I work. Recently downloaded a free app that measures decibels and was amazed.

Hearing loss is different from other things they warn you about. Get something in my eye? Guess I'll start wearing eye protection. Back hurts? Guess I'll start lifting with my knees. Hearing loss is different. You won't lose your hearing, you'll lose the ability to understand what people are saying in a noisy environment, it hurts you socially. Having to say "huh?" repeatedly is embarrassing, it makes you withdraw.
- I'm already like that and I don't have hearing loss
raises hand That's me. Now I have tinnitus. Not worth it.
- mawp
- I went to see King Gizzard recently, earplugs in pocket, and I suppose I never found a moment to stick them in, but I was stood near the front the whole time and I came away with absolutely none of the usual hearing damage. I don't know how they did it, but what a great bunch of lads.
I once forgot my ear protection while going to the club and had tinnitus for 2 days straight. Devinetively not worth it.
Hearing damage is part of the concert experience though. If you don't leave with mild tinnitus did you really even go?
- What? Can you try typing that again in all caps? I went to a text concert last night.
- Yes.
  
  This is a dumb mindset that needs to be changed.
  
  After 20 years of concerts wearing my studio plugs I can still hear.
  
  My friends who thought it was dumb are now deaf as fuck and frankly their hearing loss is an annoying self inflicted wound.
  
  Wear hearing protection ya dingus, every time.
- I get that people think that but it's a stupid take really. Hearing loss is a big contributor to senility.
- A friend of mine told me he went to a concert that was “so loud it physically hurt his ears.” He thought I was looking at him like he had two heads because that was such a strange experience until I told him that voices at normal conversational volume often “physically hurts my ears.”
  
  He never knew why I was always asking him to lower his voice, he thought it was just a weird thing I did.
What? Can you speak up I can't hear you!
I don't see the benefit as i tried it once but could still hear others
- The same way you can wear warm clothes in freezing weather and still feel the cold, but at a level which won't physically damage you.

Not sure if this is international, but sewing machine oil is cheap and it lasts years for all sorts of things that need lubrication (not for organisms)

You lost me at the end
- Don't jerk off with sewing machine oil

i had a suoer cheap keyring that kept getting out of shape and poking my leg and dropping keys that i tolerated for years. finally i splurged and bought a thicker one for $1 and it totally solved the problem.

Condom

The spicy potato soft taco from taco bell

Also the bean burrito

If I want a cheap, quick dinner I'll get a few of those in some combination

I second this, mother of god those spicy potato tacos are so delicious.
Yep taco bell dollar menu ftw. I can feed a family of 4 for $12.
I love those tacos. I make them supreme. Worth it.
You know, I've never eaten taco bell. One even opened up two blocks from me about ten years ago.
- I do know that, it's prominently featured in the extensive dossier my superiors issued me about you. But perhaps I've said too much...
- Oh man. If I had one that close I'd eat there twice a week and get fat.
- I never ate at one until I got desperate on a family trip. Downloaded the app, put in the order, and I'm hooked. Delicious food and didn't have to talk to people. It's great.

It's a buck 25 now, but you can get two Inc brand R2 pens at dollar tree. They're the only thing I've written with for nearly a decade now. They're a smooth ballpoint with a slight bleed in 0.7 making your penmanship look bold, smooth, and steady. Everything my handwriting lacks. They now make a 0.5 and is equally as clean but far better for smallest script. One pen lasts me about 6 months of regular writing.

smooth ballpoint

I bet they're a "rollerball" pen rather than a ballpoint. Those move a lot more-readily than ballpoints, kinda glide.

kagis

Yeah.

https://www.amazon.com/R-2-0-7-Roller-Ball-Pens/dp/B004B7RLWS

They're rollerball pens.

Lots of different pen manufacturers make those. Sometimes you'll see gel rollerball pens sold as "gel pens". If you want an even smoother movement and can live with thicker lines, you can get a broader tip -- those have even less resistance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollerball_pen

Roller ball pens or roll pens are pens which use ball point writing mechanisms with water-based liquid or gelled ink, as opposed to the oil-based viscous inks found in ballpoint pens. These less viscous inks, which tend to saturate more deeply and more widely into paper than other types of ink, give roller ball pens their distinctive writing qualities. The writing point is a tiny ball, usually 0.5 or 0.7 mm in diameter, that transfers the ink from the reservoir onto the paper as the pen moves.

In comparison to ballpoint pens,

Rollerball pens have a unique ink flow system for an even, high-performance writing experience.

Less pressure needs to be applied to the pen to have it write cleanly. This permits holding the pen with less stress on the hand, saving energy and improving comfort. This can also translate to quicker writing speeds. This is especially true of liquid ink pens.

Their inks usually have a greater range of colors due to the wider choice of suitable water-soluble dyes and/or to the use of pigments.

They tend to write more clearly than ballpoint pens do.

There are a number of disadvantages inherent to roller ball pens:

Roller ball pens with liquid-ink are more likely to "bleed" through the paper. Liquid ink is more readily absorbed into the paper due to its lower viscosity. This viscosity also causes problems when leaving the tip on the paper. The bleed-through effect is greatly increased as the ink is continually absorbed into the paper, creating a blotch. This does not affect gel-ink roller ball pens as much. This is one way through which the thickness of gel-ink gives it an advantage, in that it isn't as prone to being absorbed. Though the bleed-through effect of a gel-ink roller ball is greater than that of a ballpoint, it is usually not too significant.

Roller ball pens generally run out of ink more quickly than ballpoints because roller balls use a greater amount of ink while writing. This is especially true of liquid-ink roller balls, due to gel ink having a low absorption rate as a result of its thickness. Neither lasts as long as a ballpoint.

Uncapped roller ball pens are more likely to leak ink when, for example, placed into a shirt pocket, but most pens include caps or other mechanisms to prevent this from happening.

A roller ball tip is more likely to clog and jam when writing over correction fluid that has not yet completely dried. This often renders the ink cartridge useless.

The WP article doesn't mention it, but rollerballs also don't work well with carbon paper, as you don't need to push hard enough to create an impression from the carbon paper the way you do with a ballpoint. But as long as that isn't an issue for your application...shrug
- This guy knows his pens, don't buy them from that link though, dollar tree has them for $1.25
- I had a pen once that I could press on paper and wait to make a circle of ink. I never tought about how or what that was but your comment made me remember that.

I don't know if they still exist. But there were these machines in casinos that took dollar bills, and always seem to pay out really well. 1 of paper equals 4 of coin everytime.

Starting this out:

P51 Military Can Openers: I have several of these. I have one on a tiny magnet attached to my kitchen door should I ever need it. Works about as well as any other can opener. Easy to slip in a drawer, keychain, car, exct.

Mason Jar plastic reusable lids: great for storage as well as meal prep. I have a lot of mason jars and these are awesome.

Can confirm. Just discovered them about a week ago and I'll never go back to metal ones.

Edit: will NEVER go back.
- Do you mean never?
I like the plastic lids for fermenting food in mason jars, like sauerkraut. I find the metal ones tend to become really hard to open or corrode once the ferment has been going on for a while.
- I used to have trouble opening jars.
  
  I went looking for one of those "jar openers" and someone in the Amazon reviews suggested a strap wrench. They were right. They are much better. Maybe a bit overkill for jar-opening, but better to be overkill than not enough.
  
  These gizmos are for putting a lot of torque on something large and round, like pipes. Hardware stores have 'em. There are several types: some have a metal strap, others a nylon strap, and others a rubber strap. For jars, you want a rubber strap.
  
  You can even get two, use one on the lid and the other on the jar.
  
  One random example (not the one I have):
  
  https://www.amazon.com/ACOSEA-Wrench-Diameter-Adjustable-Plumbing/dp/B0C9YF82ZL
  
  Note that (since this is a $1 discussion) these things are more than $1.

Watching the sun rise every once and a while is free. You could probably get a pen and a few sheets of paper to write or draw your experiences. By volume a daily vitamin is well below $1 per day and could have significant benefits if you're not always eating healthy.

Well I can tell you I need B12, Iron, and Niacin. So I definitely do take those if I remember.

Dollar Tree movie candy

Dollar Tree is $1.25 where i live!
- That's around $1.
Awesome oxygen cleaners, dollar tree

The only things I can even think of that are still that cheap are like... A single fruit or vegetable, salt, and ramen. I guess bananas are cool? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Arizona Iced Tea.

They recently changed the formula -_-
- Oh no, did they? I haven't had one in a while...
The energy tonic one is best imo. Made with tea and pear juice plus some other stuff.
- I'm a Mucho Mango man myself, but they're all good choices.

A tree donation.

Instead grow a tree and get rid of shitty lawn
- If you have a lawn to get rid of, sure. If you don't have an area to grow a tree yourself, a tree donation still is a feasible alternative.

Cheap scissors for your car. You never know when you need to open something that would be difficult to do with your hands for whatever reason.

Likewise tweezers

A few things you could probably get for $1, but would be better if bought in bulk:

A permanent marker, a package of labels. Combined, you can reuse your Amazon boxes as storage boxes. Labels aren't necessary, but black text on a white background is easier to read from a distance.

Box cutter knife/utility knife. Can be used to cut holes in Amazon boxes for pets to play in. Or, simply keep them but the front door so you can open packages right away.

Hook-and-loop (Velcro) ties for wires. Can be used to tidy up the wires behind your desk, or for charging cables when traveling.

Dish soap (without degreaser)/baby shampoo. Aside from their original purposes, these can both be used to clean glass before applying a permanent tint (or just to clean glass normally) or to wash your car (degreasers can wear away at your clear coat over time.) Both can be found at the dollar store.

Colgate regular toothpaste. (If you don't have tooth sensitivity) You don't need colgate total. You should still use an electric toothbrush. You should not use the cheap off-brand toothpaste. You should also floss.

Jellyfin/Subsonic/Plex Server If you have a digital library (movies, shows, music) and an old computer/laptop/raspberry pi, you can put one of these three programs on it and host your own, personal, Netflix/Spotify for free with no ads. You only need to pay for electricity. You need to learn a bit to set it all up, but once it's done it's very set-and-forget. You'll also need to buy or find your new media online (or rip it from a disk), which can be a big change for some.

Something else that has a low barrier to entry: origami. Learn how to make a square from any sheet of paper, then learn how to make the traditional paper crane. All you need is any piece of paper and scissors (to cut it into a square). If you enjoy making the crane, there's an endless amount of models to fold. The craft has exponentially taken off in the last few decades, just do a little searching.

The last campfire on steam when its on sale.

A vpn subscription over 3 years or split the cost with a friend, it comes to about 1 something a month. Cheaper than those shitty subscription services.

I got the Last Campfire for 2 or 3 bucks and it was still worth it
I was going to say Mulvad VPN - 5 eur a month, so just over a dollar per week if I can flirt with OPs rule a bit. Totally worth it.

The DeArrow browser extension. Made by the creator of SponsorBlock, it crowd sources replacement titles and thumbnails for YouTube videos to just about completely eliminate clickbait.

Thanks

Bitwarden Premium is $10 a year. Less than $1 a month.

Bitwarden also has a free tier.

There's these pineapple ginger candies in the European section of the grocery store that are 1.39 a bag and saved me during my recent bout of laryngitis.

Also their tea section is much better and quite inexpensive.

You're from America? It's funny if you have an European section in the supermarket since there are American shelves in supermarkets in many European countries. They typically stock mac n cheese, pop-tarts, jello and that kind of stuff.
- No, Canada. My city has a large Eastern European population, and I mostly go to a Polish grocery store anyway, so it's.always fun to guess what the mystery pickled vegetables are!
- The stores around me in the US have a few different sections categorized like that. There's usually an "Asian" and "Latin" section, but I see the European one often as well
- My wife wanted to try the famous pop-tarts for fun. We found them in a supermarket in France. We each took a bite, looked at each other wondering if it was real food, and threw everything in the trash. It should be forbidden.
I recently bought masala ginger chai from the Indian section, and oh my goodness, I will never drink regular tea again!
- Right? You don't realize what white people tea you've been drinking until you venture out.
  
  I'm super into this Ukrainian tea, the flavor is called Alpine Herbs, and another one is Ice Moss, which is actually some kind of algae and makes the palest tea I've ever had.

4 quarters

a box of Whoppers

Flossers. Contact cases for packing lotions, hair product, etc.

Boy do I wish flossers would just go away. So much pointless plastic waste. And people keep chucking them out their car windows. They're fucking everywhere. They haunt my dreams.
- We have compostable straws, surely we can make a flosser the same way, just paper and wax string
- I haven't seen that.
  
  SMARTLIFECO Biodegradable Dental Floss Picks - Natural Plastic Free Handle, Thin Thread Tooth Flossers for Adults & Kids, Eco Friendly Toothpick Soft on Gum & Teeth, Zero Waste Vegan Organic, 200 mint https://a.co/d/4KRNLIb