Humans love forward and upward motion: one great piece of evidence being that most popular video games include upgrading as a main mechanic. And in many games, like in Tiny Tower (pictured above) upgrading is literally the only thing you do.

That is the game. Upgrading.

It’s addicting, to feel like your life is beter than it used to be. A new espresso machine or job or a better relationship than the one you used to be in. Or the gains you see after going to the gym consistently. All of this is upgrading.

One counter-intuitive thing about upgrading is that sometimes, the effort or cost required to get the upgrade is way smaller than you’d think for the benefit that the ugprade gives you. So here is a list of my favorite low-hanging fruit upgrades. They are thing you can buy (easy) for less than $100 (relatively affordable).

Some of these might be obvious. Some might not. If you know me, text or email me with other items to add to the list and then I’ll list your name at the bottom.

> Housekeeping: How far $100 gets you depends on where you live, but no matter what, it’s worth it. You think you’re good at cleaning until someone professional comes in and the place looks brand new. It’s hard to go back.

> Chargers in every room: Most people I know, including myself until recently, have one or two charging bricks and a spiderweb-like mess of cords somewhere. Now I have a charging brick in the wall in every room of my house, with the proper cables attached so that I don’t ever have to disconnect and reconnect cables.

> Cheap, spontaneous ~2-3 day trips: Lots of people spend hundreds of dollars on the weekend at restaurants, bars, and clubs. One overall happiness upgrade for me has been going on way more cheap, short trips about <2 hours from where I live. The nice thing is that they are low stakes. You can go to random places. Just throw a dart at the map. It doesn’t have to be some grand thing, which is why it’s so great. Much easier if you live in a cool place, of course.

> Unlimited cell plan: Paying the extra $20, or whatever it is, for an unlimited cell plan is well worth the stress relief you get from knowing you can do whatever and not worry about extra charges.

>Excessive socks and underwear: Maybe it’s just me, but I used to—frequently—have situations where I’d wake up and realize there weren’t clean socks or underwear. Now I do laundry about once per week and own socks and underwear that could last me three times that long.

> Plants: They’re cheap to buy and generally easy to maintain, but provide a surprisingly outsized happiness boost. Nothing better than looking over at your own little jungle, and watching it grow.

> Paintings: Like plants, some of them are cheaper than you think and there’s a real, consistent happiness boost to having good art around. If you can’t find a painting you like for under $100, get a print. Or spend more and commission one.

> Good face lotion: This is probably more of an ignorant man thing but I lived most of my life either not using face lotino or using greasy ones. I found a simple, $4 one that I love. It would be hard to go back.


> Huge cutting board: Most kitchens have little baby cutting boards, where if you want to do anything serious you’re going to get food everywhere. And you don’t have much cutting space. A huge cutting board—like, the biggest your counter can fit—is such a nice upgrade. Blank canvas.

> Quality kitchen knives: So many kitchens have bad, dull knives. Why would you cook like that?