Can you use that gift card anywhere? If yes, then first convert it to cash. Your parents may be covering all your expenses, but they still need to buy groceries. The next time they do, ask them to use your gift card and give you the equivalent amount in cash. Now you have more flexibility to do whatever you want with that cash. Buy something nice, save/invest, etc. You have plenty of advice from others on this already.
this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2025
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Food bank?
One gallon of gas.
1.25 in may area
Invest it.
Thermapen is on sale for $75 right now. https://www.thermoworks.com/thermapen-one/
Best food temperature probe out there. Might not sound like a big deal, but you'll get so much use out of it if you cook meat (including fish).
Buy stuff on ebay and start trading to bigger and better things. If you work at it hard enough, you'll end up with trading items worth thousands without having spent more than $75.
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/steven-ortiz-porsche-trade-craigslist,news-7544.html
This is what I do. I recently bought 3x rx480 graphics cards for $90 total and 3x office PCs for $150 total and sold for $450 total. You just have to watch for deals.
I also made !flipping@lemmy.world for this kind of stuff, but it's basically dead as lemmy is mostly anti capitalism and sees flipping as dirty.
Trading in existing items is not exactly capitalism ... that's just plain old bartering.
Capitalism, especially the modern form, is when you use your existing or inherited wealth to buy or develop companies who generate wealth from the work of other people to create brand new products or services. It's exploitative because capitalists take the hard work of many people who create brand new products and then claim full or majority ownership over those products without having done anything except claim ownership.
What you are doing is taking old discarded things that either have no more value or lesser value and taking your own effort and time to recreate value and barter it to someone else. The only person you've exploited in the transaction is yourself ... but you reap all the benefit. And no one can go back and say that the product that you just traded is stolen profit from the previous owner ... the previous owner had thrown it away and didn't value it any more or even considered it trash to be thrown away.
Flipping isn't capitalism ... it's just good economic sense for the individual.
Unless you turn it all into a multimillion dollar business with employees, real estate and a corporation ... it isn't capitalism.
Why is having employees and especially why is exploiting employees necessary to define something as capitalism?
Wow, I thought that had become basically impossible to profit off of ages ago.
An HOKC Finka-C is almost exactly $75 on Amazon right now.
Apropos of nothing, really.
You're advising a young man to buy a combat grade knife? For what? If it would be utility there are so many other good options such as decent multi-tools in that price range. So that leaves defense. But a knife for defense needs serious training or otherwise any situation is quickly dangerously escalated by drawing a knife like that. There are more productive ways of spending 75.
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I had no idea what I was getting into when I clicked that link, but it was a fun read and a really pretty knife.
What are your hobbies?
gaming, building computers, rpgs such as dnd, mild card collecting.
Do you have a 3D printer? $75 won't buy one in full, but it can help get a decent entry-level one like an Ender 3 V3 SE. If you already have one, maybe some filament.
Also, a Raspberry Pi can be used for some nice things. I love my Home Assistant setup, for example!
I do have a 3d printer but i may want a second one someday?
Also what model or single board computer do you suggest, i ask because pi's have gone up in price i believe to to the ram inflation? atleast from what i saw on amazon. What projects are good to do with single board computers?
I've got 4 Pis in my house right now:
- Octopi server for my 3D printer (Zero 2 W)
- Home Assistant server (400, but this was before I understood how Home Assistant worked and how much I didn't need easy display access
- This adorable retro thingymabob: https://www.printables.com/model/694802-retro-desktop-pc-raspberry-pi-case-v2/files (I think on a 4?)
- A nearby flight display thingymabob: https://github.com/c0wsaysmoo/plane-tracker-rgb-pi (another Zero 2 W)
I'm also looking at making one of these (put a few parts on the Christmas list 😀 ) https://github.com/fatihak/InkyPi
And a person with THOSE hobbies is on Lemmy??? Well I for one am shocked. SHOCKED I SAY!!!!
........not that shocked actually. Next you'll tell us your linux distro, and a fight will ensue over which distro you should switch to.
I'd suggest taking a look at what roll20 has to offer if you want to play virtually with your friends.
If the rasp Pi is too much (per your other comment), you might have fun with a few esp32s and some basic sensors if you want to get into the embedded electronic space. The entry price is lower then the rasp.
75 isn’t a whole lot. If you don’t have a financial management tool yet, you should put it towards that.
Look for something with no fees. I believe Sofi has no fees and might not have a minimum amount. Their app is also really easy to use.
A local credit union is also a good choice since you can physically talk to a person when you have questions.
it's a giftcard
if your into coffee, a cheap carafe or french press is really good. depends what you want to use it on?
Buy Bitcoin.
Better to wait a year or two for the current cycle to hit it's low. Or just DCA.
I'd always recommend DCA.
What's DCA?
Dollar Cost Averaging, where you invest a fixed amount on a regular basis, regardless of the value for something.
Get some meth and a cheap hooker and have a party.
Drugs.