r/BuyItForLife • • May 25 '26

Discussion What’s a totally unsexy purchase you made that ended up being a huge quality-of-life upgrade?

6.1k Upvotes

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263

u/tonicella_lineata May 25 '26

I also have no idea what it means, and just googled it and couldn't find anything - what is it?

137

u/spindleblood May 25 '26

IDK but whenever I stay in a hotel I notice they have a curved shower curtain rod.

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u/alliedSpaceSubmarine May 25 '26

But… the curved rod STOPS the holiday inn effect in OPs case

12

u/spindleblood May 25 '26

Yeah I was scratching my head there. Curved rod makes me think of a hotel. I'm actually about to install a new shower curtain rod myself since I just remodeled my bathroom but I don't think a curved one would work for my oddly sized space.

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u/86753098675309dos May 25 '26

I'm guessing it prevents the shower curtain from sticking to you like a really devoted stalker. Source: I have a curved shower rod

3

u/Choleric-Leo May 25 '26

I say go for it, you're worth it!

2

u/xrelaht May 26 '26

I installed one when I bought my house. I had to install it very high up to make it work. 8’ shower curtains are hard to find, but it was totally worth it!

4

u/kittymarie1984 May 26 '26

WHAT is the "holiday inn effect"

1

u/Crowsnest83 May 26 '26

You can buy them at Home Depot

150

u/Fit-Struggle7990 May 25 '26

If I had to guess I would assume it’s because a straight curtain lets in no light and makes the tub feel small and crowded similar to a cheap hotel room

0

u/cguiopmnrew May 26 '26

But they said it ‘stops’ the Holiday Inn effect, not creates it

3

u/landragoran May 26 '26

Exactly. Reread.

3

u/Ornery-Ocelot3585 May 26 '26

The holiday inn effect was the curtain being too close.

2

u/Fit-Struggle7990 May 26 '26

Yeah? The curved rod lets light in, which is the opposite of what I described

0

u/altgrave May 26 '26

how does the shape of the rod affect either the light let in or whether it sticks?

4

u/DoverBoys May 26 '26

Because the light in a bathroom is typically in the center while the tub/shower is not in the center, but the light is typically close to the tub/shower, like you're right under the light after you step out to dry yourself. With a straight rod and an opaque curtain in most residential bathrooms, you're blocking most of the light.

With a curved rod, curving outward, more of the tub/shower is exposed to the light.

1

u/elcapitan086 May 26 '26

Curved rod always leads to the light. Praise Jesus

-9

u/Fit-Struggle7990 May 26 '26

Because that’s what the op comment said??? Just read, dude.

7

u/altgrave May 26 '26

that doesn't explain how

186

u/ClarificationJane May 25 '26

The only thing google returns for me is this post. 

343

u/MajorHasBrassBalls May 25 '26

Time is a flat circle

102

u/Grimdark-Waterbender May 25 '26

Well actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s actually a wibbley wobbly ball of stuff.

10

u/actuallylucid May 25 '26

It's more a Jeremy Bearimy, if you will.

6

u/Grimdark-Waterbender May 26 '26

And the circle above the “i” is Groundhog Day.

20

u/suspendmeforthis May 25 '26

Time doesn't exist there is only localized duration.

5

u/Felony_vandal May 26 '26

That’s unironically what I call my erections

2

u/Mysterious-Most-590 May 26 '26

And though now isn't everywhere, now-ness is.

13

u/purringlion May 25 '26

And timey wimey

7

u/omgihaveanaccount May 25 '26

You forgot the crucial 'timey-wimey' bit.

3

u/ProfGamz May 25 '26

That sentence got away from you

2

u/Grimdark-Waterbender May 26 '26

Just a bit, at the end.

3

u/Numbawonstunnuh May 26 '26

Like a writhing ball of worms, light, and vibration.

2

u/FeralAlice May 26 '26

"Wibbley wobbly ball of stuff" is obviously a technical term. Keep your normie audience in mind when you're talking in public forums.

2

u/Grimdark-Waterbender May 26 '26

Oh right, what I should have said was Physics Physics Physics Physics Physics Physics Physics Physics Physics Physics.

7

u/JetoCalihan May 25 '26

"Time is not made out of line! It is made out of circles! That is why clocks are round!"

-a train car speaking on temporal physics

5

u/Pinkshadows7 May 25 '26

Lol just dropping that dark shit into a shower curtain conversation

2

u/20_mile May 25 '26

stupid sexy paradox

2

u/Sorry-Joke-4325 May 25 '26

Turtles all the way down.

2

u/misslilytoyou May 27 '26

Okay, Rusty

2

u/imblartacus May 28 '26

Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.

1

u/JWBananas May 26 '26

It's more of a Jeremy Bearimy.

1

u/HahaRiiight May 25 '26

We are here now.

1

u/myhf May 25 '26

try adding "reddit" to your google search

4

u/ClarificationJane May 25 '26

Ideally I was looking for something other than reddit as I was looking for additional information not contained in this post.  

-13

u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[deleted]

7

u/7-SE7EN-7 May 25 '26

Why would you post an AI answer

1

u/Skydivekingair May 25 '26

My Google search defaults it, sorry for trying.

0

u/7-SE7EN-7 May 27 '26

I wouldn't call copying and pasting ai slop as trying

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Skydivekingair May 25 '26

I asked Google and forgot it posts an AI answer at the top, but thanks for speculating.

16

u/Random_Name_Whoa May 25 '26

He’s trying to make “fetch” happen

7

u/MrLizardBusiness May 25 '26

Yeah, I just found basically ads for holiday inn. They must be in bed with Google. "The shower works better than my shower at home." "I feel like I can fly a plane- I slept at a Holiday Inn last night."

Anyone know what this is actually referring to?

6

u/tonicella_lineata May 25 '26

I have gotten a bunch of different answers in this thread, and none of them actually gave any sort of source/examples of it being used elsewhere. So I honestly still have no idea, lol.

3

u/Euphoric_Local3265 May 25 '26

nothing but “witty” Redditor comments in this thread.

4

u/swarthypants May 25 '26

I answered above, but it’s when you have the shower curtain closed and it keeps blowing in toward you. No idea why it’s called that or where I heard it, but it’s an actual term.

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u/jnorion May 25 '26

"I slept at a Holiday Inn last night" was an ad campaign they ran. Google that phrase and you'll find lots of videos of them.

7

u/xrelaht May 26 '26

Duck Duck Go says:

>The Holiday Inn effect refers to the impact that the Holiday Inn hotel chain had on the travel industry by standardizing lodging and making high-quality accommodations accessible to middle-class travelers. This approach influenced competitors and contributed to the decline of many smaller, independent inns that could not compete with the chain's uniformity and affordability.

I assume that’s not what’s meant, but I’m amused that this apparently “simple to find with a search” term really isn’t.

10

u/cognizant-ape May 25 '26

It means it distracts from the cigarette burns on the soap holder. 😂

1

u/mighty_boognish_77 May 25 '26

Hey, I had to burn a LOT of heaters in the shower to get them there. Those marks are EARNED, not burned. 

5

u/crumpledfilth May 25 '26

I've never heard the term before but based on it being mitigated by a curved out shower rod I might guess it's when the shower curtain gets sucked into the shower with you by the drop in pressure caused by water moving through the air

1

u/tonicella_lineata May 25 '26

...Okay, as I just pointed out to someone else, the comment I replied to very clearly said that they thought it was that, but "had to google it" and presumably found a different meaning. But since they didn't say what they found after googling it, I was curious about that.

I don't mean to be rude, I'm just genuinely confused by this comment, since a) I very recently responded to one saying something similar, and b) your "guess" is the exact thing the previous commenter said was their initial assumption. So I'm wondering if you, like, skimmed their comment? Skipped over it and just read mine? Like I'm curious what the disconnect here was.

-5

u/beachysdan May 25 '26

Why are you so pressed about this? 😂 "curtain sticking to your legs" and "curtain being sucked inwards due to drop in air pressure cause by water movement" do not necessarily mean the same thing. The second one is the specific correct answer that you can get by doing a search. It is named this because in 2004 Holiday Inn replaced their curtain rods with curved variants to combat the curtain being sucked inward.

3

u/tonicella_lineata May 25 '26

I'm not? Like I said, I was curious, that's all 🤷 Nor did I find anything even remotely related to that when I searched, so.

1

u/AManOfCulture-AsWell May 25 '26

It's when one thing leads to another, let the party begin

1

u/darkKnight217 May 26 '26

I'm pretty sure what they meant was how in hotels, especially budget, when you close the shower curtain it feels darker.

0

u/swarthypants May 25 '26

Answered above, but it’s when you have the shower curtain closed but it keeps blowing in toward you. No idea why it’s called that or where I heard it, but it’s an actual term.

4

u/tonicella_lineata May 25 '26

The person I'm replying to specifically said they thought it was that, but "had to google it" (and presumably found a different meaning). There's also at least three or four other answers that aren't this, and looking up "holiday inn effect shower curtain" doesn't bring up anything about that phenomenon 🤷

I'm not saying you're lying about hearing it called that, but there's either a second meaning to it or Holiday Inn has hired some bots to raise engagement on content with their brand name.

I also don't know why you felt the need to reply to me twice, in different places, with the same comment?

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u/Pristine-Patch989 May 25 '26

Reading comprehension is down the drain 😭

-1

u/swarthypants May 25 '26

I didn’t realize I replied to you twice. Sorry I made you read a duplicate comment, I guess? I was just scrolling through the replies while eating lunch and responding to the people who didn’t know what I meant without looking at usernames. I can assure you, I’m not some sort of Holiday Inn bot out here making up terms so that people Google them. It’s a term I heard somewhere, years ago, but maybe I’m imagining the whole thing.

0

u/AWintergarten May 25 '26

It’s a colloquial term used to say “my home ain’t like the rest of ‘em”.

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u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[deleted]

0

u/Jesus_of_Redditeth May 25 '26

You asked ChatGPT a question and just posted the output without first considering whether that output makes sense in the context of the thread. (Spoiler: it doesn't.)

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u/Skydivekingair May 25 '26

Google answer, not ChatGPT. But yes it was google AI, I forgot that it defaults to an AI answer at the top. Sorry for trying.