Weekly discussion: small purchases that nobody talks about [v5]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, mods please remove if it is not.

Quick context: I am relatively new to this and trying to find my footing. Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

Posting this here because the relevant subreddit has gotten too noisy lately. For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land. Mostly thinking out loud — feel free to push back hard.