carboard boxes
- for clothes and most other items
pro
- cheap and available
- easy to disposed
- less likely to give off toxic fumes
- easy to access contents if kept open by folding-in the top sides
- can be stored folded if not in use
- can be moved as is when moving to a new place
con
- ugly if not painted (potentially plastic layer) or hidden
- may rot in humid environments, other material needed there
- without a shelf: boxes with rarely used items at the bottom, more frequently used in open boxes at the top
- clothes can be rolled instead of folded and stacked. this saves space is easier to access and also useful when packing a suitcase
silent refrigerator using water-ammonia absorption
- often marketed to hotels as mini-bar fridges
- pro: completely silent, no humming, bubbling, only a click sometimes, energy requirment is ok
lightweight mini-oven ($30)
- with a layer of aluminum foil on the inside bottom to make cleaning easier
mobile induction hotplate
- pro: heats much faster than heated metal plates and cooking is therefore often easier to manage. the flat surface ceramic plate is easy to clean
- con: usually have an audible fan that runs when active
glas, smoked glas or opal glas for cups
- pro: material does not affect taste, degrades little over time, no coatings that chip or dissolve
garbage bags in boxes or bag holder stands. bag size can be varied for type of garbage
- pro: cheap and space saving
- con: very ugly
- distilled water for cleaning screens. leaves no residue and doesnt harm plastics like alcohol can
- glass water bottle with metal lid from store bought mineral water, refilled with tap water, if good tap water is available
battery powered vaccuum
- vacuuming in straight lines and checking with a strong light for dust left on the floor
air cleaning device to reduce dust particles in the room
- for example, take a strong flashlight, darken the room, turn on the light: what can be seen floating in the air - lots of dust? is it everywhere in the room? that is what you are breathing. is that bad? might be. fine dust particulates are known to create lung cancer (any residues from combustion, exhaust, asbestos, textile dust; dust can break down and become smaller)
- coal power plants, neighbors burning wood for heating and industry emissions are significan not killers
wide flat mop for hard floors
- mopping solves and looses dirt with water that the vacuum could not get. vacuum before mopping
- spray bottle to apply a thin layer of cleaning solution. do not just mix what is on the floor
powdered food like plenny, soylent or queal
- it works. some people are already using it as food for years
- supposed to contain all needed nutrients. at least potentially optimal nutrition. can be alternated and combined with other healthy food.
- no other type of food can compare in nutrition density, low space requirement, price, simple and fast preparation, quick consumption and long shelf-life (a year or more)
- never be hungry again, because a full meal is always quickly in reach
- can save kitchen appliances (freezer, fridge, stove, microwave, blender, ...)
- less trash, and less weight to transport
hemp and linen materials
- are tough and available certified to be low in toxic chemicals. may create less fine dust than cotton because of larger and stronger fibers
synthetic materials
- pro: no dust, temperature balance, resistant, fast drying, need no ironing, stretch materials that ease movement, lightweight even when wet, insects ignore it
- con: petroleum based, perhaps more likely to contain toxic substances
- camping mat with an organic natural fibre (yoga) mat on top and hemp fibre bedsheets for bedding on the floor
- flashlight with rechargable batteries as sole lightsource. can be taken into all rooms
- monochrome laser printer with toner. toner is much cheaper and lasts much longer than ink. they give contrast-rich print results, faster and are wholly less expensive than inkjet printers
- paper bags and organic cotton sacks and net bags instead of plastic
neoprene clothes against low temperatures
- pro: thin and light
- con: plastics, neoprene smell, doesnt let through much air
simple bicycle that uses commonly available and cheap parts
- electric cars have much fewer parts than other cars and should therefore require less maintenance. the fast acceleration could improve the flow of stop-and-go city traffic
- white daylight led bulbs. the white light from daylight lamps tends to look exactly like daylight in the periphery and can help staying more productive in the evening
- tiles with no or small gaps on the floor and walls. easiest to clean and resistant
- sight-blocking matte foil on windows instead of dusty curtains. because foil does not need attachments on the wall and are thin, they save space that would be lost by having a curtain in front of the window. no regular cleaning necessary. can be difficult to apply
- velcro tape cut to custom lengths to bundle cables
- black tape for covering unnecessary led lights on appliances
- monitor desk mount. a metal arm to reversibly attach to the table and monitor. the monitor must have vesa screw holes, which many do. takes very little space on the table, perhaps 6 square centimeters, and can offer a maximum of ergonomic flexibility. the monitor can be pulled towards, turned around or rotated out of the way and it can not fall from the desk
- silent computer mouse that makes less audible clicking noises
tower computers have benefits in extendability and performance. the parts are more widely available and easier to replace
- laptops might not last as long generally because they are built more tightly and get hotter. they are also harder to clean from accumulating dust. if one part breaks, like just a fan, the part might be irreplacable or hard to get and it is sometimes easier to buy a complete new laptop
- passive cooling components or large fans and ssd drives to ideally have no noise emissions
- enough external backup drives attached via esata or internal docking stations to have at least two backups of all data you would not want to have lost. mix different types of storage, flash/magnetic/optical/m-discs/etc. hard disks fail, and when this happens it is the wrong time to think about what important data was on the drive
slim keyboard with flat laptop keys
- flat keys usually easier to press from all approach directions and have shorter travel time to be pressed and take less time to be pressed again
- smaller keyboards often still have a numpad on the letters accessible via fn key, if needed. typical keyboards are big with more useless keys
- more room to have the keyboard almost in the center and the mouse right next to it
- headphones with ideally a flat frequency response and no sound coloration. this lets the source material as much as possible control the sound without unnecessary standard distortions. etymotic, sennheiser and possibly akg might have suitable products that make decent compromises
- noise insulating earphones that go in like actual earplugs, like the ones from etymotic
external dac (digital to analog converter, basically a sound card) and headphone amplifier combination (may be built in)
- sound cards can make a huge sound difference
- the resulting quality difference can be described for example by a combination of resolution (how much can be reproduced at the same time and how clearly), dynamics (how quickly it can change between sounds without slurring) and frequency response (if x is requested does x come out)
- as an audio enthusiast, i would buy in a range from $500 to how much you value sound quality. maybe up to $2000 (professional audio equipment can go into the tens of thousands). getting high quality sound files adds additional costs
- good office chair. a chair molds the body. can cost $300 or more but usually lasts a long time (10y or longer)
- earplugs for a quieter life
- zip-lock bags to protect electronic devices from rain
- pop-up tent that builds up by itself and can be folded back together in seconds