We habitually spend a lot of time in daily routines, and we hear about cool stuff from the same sources. As such, we tend to lack awareness of things that don’t have the capability to advertise broadly. So, what’s something you expect many people don’t hear about or consider for use in their life?
It’s common to think of libraries as Public Book Rental, but recently most have expanded their services quite a lot.
- Rentals of items many households may only need briefly, like tools to find insulation gaps
- Online services that allow for digital renting of comics, manga, audiobooks, and even streaming services like Kanopy that have both old and new movies/TV shows
- Printing services; so that you don’t need to buy an ink cartridge for one printout one month, then another 4 months later when that cartridge has dried
- Tax prep assistance; because fuck Intuit
Libraries were admittedly the reason I started the thread but I’m also curious what other things will be mentioned.
Libraries are one of the only public places left where you’re not expected to spend (or even need) money.
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My library even has 5G routers you can rent for 3 months at a time. Really great option to get internet at home if you’re on a tight budget.
Shout out to the librarians in Gulfport, MS. They were really helpful and friendly when some haggard dork with a weird foreign accent showed up out of the blue in desperate need for a printer to deal with some DHS forms.
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LMAO this is soooo true. Recently went on a hiking trip at a national park where there were lines to get into the parking lot, but as soon as you stepped off the paved trail the crowd went down 90%, and a short walk later and we were the only ones in the whole park.
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Walking around the neighborhood.
It’s good exercise, you can meet your neighbors, and sometimes you can pick up something someone is throwing away that’s in good condition.
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Not just more affluent areas but also places with students who don’t reside in that place normally. Living in Boston I got so much high end furniture off Japanese and Chinese students who weren’t moving that set or piece back home.
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Thrifting.
Yeah I know it has been ransacked by greedy resellers and Goodwill’s awful practices. But sometimes when you thrift, it is nice to sometimes get things you are after. Quite a money saver too. I think thrifting is a good anti-consumerism practice in days where people spend too much on new things that don’t do anything for them.
Say more about Goodwill’s awful practices…
Playing an instrument, it’s something I think everyone should try to learn to do at some point. It’s mentally stimulating, it’s creative, and it can be a lot of fun. You don’t have to be good at it to be good enough for you to enjoy.
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Geocaching. I used to do it all the time, and need to start back up.
If you don’t know, it’s basicly a gps based treasure hunt. Some hunts are one and done, and others are multistage riddles to solve.
Reading while waiting for takeout
