what are some of the best purchases you've made ?
what are some of the best purchases you've made ?
I bought cast iron pan which I think is the best ever purchase I made.
The best purchase I've made this year has to be the tickets for the "Barbie" movie on opening day July 21st. As I watched the movie in theater (the best way to watch a movie), I was literally moved to tears by the performance of the lead actress, whom I might add, deserves an Oscar this year.
Fellow lemmings, I, for one, will definitely be buying "Barbie" on Blu-ray to have it in my collection.
Multiple copies, in fact.
My house. Even though we have to pay taxes and mortgage interest, it beats paying rent to a landlord. Also, we bought it in 2020 and it has appreciated it value significantly since then. However, that appreciation is kind of fictitious to me, because if we sold the house it's unlikely that we'd be able to buy a similar one in the same area for less. So, it's just a nice house.
Vasectomy. Before I got my vasectomy, I had a lot of anxiety that the condom might fail and an unwanted pregnancy would occur. That's not to say vasectomies can't fail, they can, even years afterwards, recanalization can happen so I get tested every year.
Annual failure rate of condom (average use) is 18%, and with perfect use it's 2%. This means that over a span of 20 years, even with perfect use, there is a 33% chance for a pregnancy which is too high for me. A vasectomy with annual testing of sperm count is as close to zero as possible.
Off the top of my head no particular order:
- Proper mop bucket like heavy duty on wheels. Mopping takes minutes now, nothing has worn out in years, very little waste.
- Proper broom, not plastic. Got tired of all the waste from plastic ones wearing out so quickly. I got one of these and it is an amazing buy it for life kind of thing.
- Bidet
- An IDGAF pocket knife. All those times when I was young and just needed a vaguely knife-shaped piece of metal but dad was like "don't hammer that knife into that rock you'll damage the blade" or "don't hammer that knife into the can of beans" or "don't hammer that knife into the deer skull you found" well now IDGAF. Sturdy, cheap, doesn't matter it it holds an edge or stays clean.
- A Dremel. I don't have a lot of space and this thing is great for cutting random things I don't have real tools for.
- Respirator and impact goggles. Originally bought for going to protests but I've found they're just fantastic around the house. Don't want to breath in murder chemical while cleaning an oven? Or microplastics from sawing your latest art project in half? What about "This Dremel blade might explode if I use it like this and I don't want to lose my eyes"?
- Yak tracks, they work. I'm getting too old to fall on ice and walk it off.
- The right shoes for the job. Walking shoes, climbing shoes, hiking boots, brown leather heels for construction work, eight inch black leather stilletos for getting attention, blue suede boots for getting attention, six inch pink platform boots for getting attention, blue gogo boots for getting attention. They're all crucial to my day to day.
- Cats. They keep the sad away, works great.
- Jars everywhere. You can store spices, leftovers, paperclips, q tips, an array of rocks for making minis, paints, pepper ferments. They are so versatile and easy to clean I have maybe 150 or so of them currently.
- Air fryer. Didn't think I'd like it but I'm a convert now they're great.
- A growing collection of glues. I don't know why but the ability to properly fuse shit together unlocks so many possibilities. This is a new discovery for me.
- A growing collection of solvents. Like the reverse of glue the ability to clean things in specific ways is great.
- Metal wire shelves. They're versatile, sturdy, relatively cheap, easy to break down and transport if you've been averaging a move a year for ten years.
- A small sewing kit. Great for small repairs. I've added years to some of my dresses by catching weak points early and doing 10 minute fixes.
- Proper electric toothbrush. Even the fanciest ones are cheaper than dental work.
- Lastly, a bin of compost in your living room because you live in a city and don't have much access to dirt. Feed it very slowly so it doesn't rot. Keep roly polies in there, they're cute, and springtails to prevent mold, they're also cute. When you feel sad about living in a cement and steel environment just crack that thing open and pretend you're looking at a forest floor. Dig around a little see how the worms are doing. Bother your nesting partner by grabbing fistfuls of it and loudly exclaiming "dirt smells great today really earthy!"
Edit to add, how could I forget this? I just got home and in my entryway there is an 18 unit locker like the kind you would find during a Bed Bath going out of business sale and they're getting rid of everything including the employee lockers in back, you know the ones. I'm poly so each of my partners and my nesting partner's partners get to pick their own locker to keep overnight supplies in. There are unclaimed lockers for guests to store small things, and some that are effectively house mandatory junk drawers. Also serves as a lost and found when like partners leave phone chargers or whatever else behind. Great purchase.
Our air fryer. I thought it was all hype. I just didn't know. It's so convenient for so many things.
Along similar lines, our Instant Pot. So covenient for so many things. We cook rice in it, chili, stews, my dog's food, stock, etc.
Our bidet. I cringe at how dirty my asshole used to be. It's amazing.
Steam Deck - I know I'm not supposed to promote a specific product (change SD to a handheld gaming device if you must), but after my son was born, moved to a different country and changed jobs my life was rather hectic. I had no time to play videogames at all, which was my go-to method to unwind since I was a little kid. As an almost 40 years old responsible adult I can now still enjoy gaming in bite sized bursts, in bed, instead of scrolling through social media or watching mindless videos. The best thing is I can be next to my SO while she does something else I can work through my backlog.
Decent quality automatic cat feeders.
We have 3 cats, and I resisted getting autofeeders for 5 years because it felt silly to buy what amounts to three $75 food bowls.
They paid for themselves the first weekend I didn't have 3 razor sharp dickheads screaming at me to feed them at 5:15 AM. I should have bought them years ago.
Probably condoms.
I bought a house back in 2009 for around $290,000, sold it in 2022 for $600,000, paid off my original loan and then bought another house outright with the proceeds. No house payment is a huge stress relief. I own this place and will as long as I pay my taxes.
One of my favorite purchases in terms of usefulness, cost, and fun (relative) was these frigging ceiling fan pull chains. I saw them on some "things you didn't know you needed" list or something. But for less than $10, they have made my life infinitely easier and they do give me a little joy every time I pull on them.
My house. I am constantly stressed now, but it's something I can work on, improve, and builds equity.
The medicine cabinet in my bathroom. I know it sounds stupid, but of all the improvements in my house I've made in the last year, this one has had the most impact. It looks great and gives me tons more storage. And since I use it every single day, I can appreciate it every single day.
Hard plastic pan scrapers, kinda like these.
A friend had a bunch in her kitchen when I was housesitting and I took one home. First started using it in my air fryer to get rid of gunk without scraping up the finish, but now I use a set all over my kitchen. For all I know they've been around 20 years and I never knew. Dirt cheap, too.
My dog. Easily the most value I've ever got for my money, no comparison.
My IKEA 100cm blahaj for 30€. Now I don't feel as lonely every night.
I recently bought an electric car and I'm loving it. I would recommend getting one. I charge it at night and it can go all over town. We recently took a long trip too. It definitely took more time than it would have in a gas car but we just ate while the car charged and that worked out awesome since we needed to eat anyways.
My 2nd monitor. It's some 24" curved 165Hz 1080p monitor that I bought from a guy at my university for $105. While not the best for gaming (noticable ghosting), it's been incredibly helpful for work as it gets more complicated in university. The extra screen real estate lets me fit so much more without needing to alt tab or click on another window.
Multiple computer monitors
I love being able to have chats / reference materials up on one screen while working on another
Ender 3 3d printer about 6 years ago. I bought it used for $100 on a whim with no knowledge on how to use one. Now it's the most useful tool in my house. Need a slightly bigger hollow wall anchor? You can print one. Custom desk organizer? Print one. Name plates for a dinner party. Stamp to impress into wax or leather. Fantasy scatter terrain.
There is certainly a learning curve but if you can get proficient you can make countless helpful things that would would not be able to buy.
stand mixer. i make bread like no ones business. and a warm coat (i bought one at a hardware store lol) and nice warm boots.
Doom (1993). I bought it once and now all I need is the iWAD and I've got unlimited maps, mods, ports, and total conversions, to play forever and ever
Union dues and used books.
25 years ago I bought an IKEA printer cart to hold a computer tower and a UPS and stuff. It was like a billy line, so it was particle-board (aka beaver chow) but at least 20-odd years ago it wasn't the hollow-core shit like so much of their stuff. I could screw in a mount for a switch and stuff.
Fast forward 25 years. I've moved-house 10 times, three of them coast-to-coast moves, and this thing is festooned with old cable-tie mounts, two switches (hp1810 and er-x) some test-rig APs for a project, a work laptop on top and its 4th APC unit (movers beat the hell out of them).
Good as new. I'm amazed that the beaver-chow actually held together, but I've kept it safe from its kryptonite: water. I've rolled it out and around to work on a tower on the top as a workbench l, and I've loaded server after server into it as they lifecycle out.
Barring calamity, I could bequeath this fucker.
A bicycle with a full chain case. They're hard to find in the U.S. Bike mechanics say it's because they're a pain to work on, but the cool thing is that you hardly ever have to work on them. When riding in the winter, I'd have to clean the gears and chain every couple of weeks, and then replace the drivetrain almost every year. With the chain case, so far my maintenance has consisted of oiling the chain a handful of times in three years.
Bidget, I'm a pretty large man (450 pounds) and I always have trouble reaching under to wipe. I would go weeks without wiping and just let it build up like fondu on my ass while I sit in my gamer chair and argue with Redditors (my karma is over 10 mill btw). My hygiene got so bad my pants were decomposing because of all the caked shit. One day as I was moderating r/mademesmile I noticed an ask reddit thread that was talking about bidgets. They were saying how great they were for blasting your butthole clean and how much you save on toilet paper so I asked my mother for some money to buy an attachment for my toilet.
I ordered it off Amazon for like $100 and I got my mom's boyfriend to install it and oh boy was this thing a life changer. First time I used it it didn't do much because my ass was full of dried shit but eventually with the help of a paint scraper my butt was cleaner than the Shinano-gawa (that is a Japanese lake) but then I noticed that when the water hits a particular spot under my balls my uuuhhh yeah. So even though I can't really see anything because it's so small I could see the semen oozing down my leg. That's when I realised I can jerk myself off useing the bidget. I would bring my gaming setup into the bathroom and play Genshin impact while the bidget sprays water under me until I cummed. I eventually had to throw it away because it rusted from constant use but I am saving up for one of those Japanese smart toilets so I can install it in my bedroom.
Bedjet. I have constant nightmares which make me soaking in sweat. This thing keeps you and your sheets dry all night. Keeps me cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And the quality is something I have never seen before
It's not cheap but if you Cook daily a control freak induction burner. The precision not only allows for super reliable results it allows you to focus on other steps while cooking.
Sweating onions at 110c without worrying they will burn if not watched. Or getting a nice sear on meat at 163c for 3:15 on repeat is such a game changer.
Buy a stanley thermos. If you leave it on a train track, it would probably derail the train and you would still have hot/cold liquid in there.
SAN SERO Vented Microwave Cover. I was just thinking about this the other day. I've owned this thing for over 9 years and use it nearly every day. At the time I think I paid like $20 for it (it's $34 now). And I thought that might be silly for what is basically a piece of plastic.
But holy crap, it's got to be my highest value-to-dollar ratio item EVER.
With it, I hardly ever have to clean my microwave. It keeps splatters to the cover itself, which is trivial to wash out.
And it helps with energy efficiency too, keeping heat close to the food, instead of it being lost as waste heat.
It comes with tiny vent holes at the top, so it won't steam up much or pop off.
And it has a nice handle built into the top middle of it, so most of the time you can grab that without burning yourself.
It also fits perfectly onto your typical round dinner plate. I mean perfectly.
This thing has been with me through four different homes/house moves, and hundreds of times of cooking or re-heating items on bowls and plates.
It's easily the best thing I've bought in my life.
In the last two years, its gotta be our air fryer/ convention oven. No preheating time for anything that needs to be cooked in the oven, exceptional heat distribution due to the convection and super consistent. If I cooked something at 400f for 15 minutes it will always come out the same way every time. I never use our big oven anymore. I love it.
We have the one that the Wirecutter recommends which is the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven TOB-260N1.
My self emptying roomba i7. Complete game changer for my floors when you have 2 big dogs trekking around dirt everywhere.
Although I’m not thrilled about having this device connected to the cloud and a private company. I’ve heard that are certain robot vacs that can be hacked to use a local home automation controller or something of that nature. Need to research that more and will probably try to go with something like that as an option when this thing kicks the bucket.
All that aside, it’s been an amazing product so far about 2 years in.
Purple bed. Super expensive but the most comfortable sleep I've ever had. Prior, I've spent way more on high-end pillow tops, but they eventually get lumpy. I've had a Purple 2 King matress for 6 years, and it's as good as day one. My #1 purchase ever, period. Sleeps cool and preasure perfectly. Makes me sad when friends ask for bed recommendations, and then they get the Costco bed in a box. Had a couple of them complain, and I just shrug. Might sound like an advertisement, but I 100% love this bed. But of a pain to change the protector since the King matress weighs over 200 pounds
A good quality utility knife for the kitchen
Noise cancelling headphones. My work requires a lot of air travel and I have trouble with loud noises in general. I bought a pair a year or so ago for just under $70 and it's as good or better than the more expensive one ($150 refurbished) I got in 2017. It also has a mode to let the external sound through if someone is trying to talk to you.
It really does eliminate some of the annoyance of air travel.
Kerbal Space Program 1. I bought it in early beta for like $14, have received all subsequent updates for free because I bought it so early, sunk literally thousands of hours of enjoyment into it and come out with a solid basic understanding of orbital mechanics.
I cant think of a better return on investment I've ever made.
3d printer. I can make custom things that just can't be bought fairly easily.
My washing machine's motor went out while it was full of water. I designed and printed an adapter that let me manually run the pump that drains the washer off of a cordless drill and successfully drained the washer. (Actually, the adapter broke in the middle, but I had the foresight to print a few spares. It only took a couple to drain the whole washer.)
A lot of the other stuff I print is custom wall mounts for things. A Raspberry Pi NAS that hangs on the wall, a mount for a SAD lamp, a mount for my Nintendo Switch Joycon charging base, etc.
The original Guild Wars released in 2005. Damn that was an awesome purchase. Insane number of hours for the money spent.
High end PC I built. Players every game I'd wanna play super well and is far more reliable than any other PC I've owned
- Bidet
- Leatherman Micra pocketknife - all I need for most things
- Ebike with a front platform - helps transport
- Acoustic Bike with trunk bag - a trunk bag has a surprisingly large amount of space
- Ortlieb panniers - add to the bikes only on an as needed basis
- Instant Pot - it does miracles with legumes, meats, and a large variety of other dishes
- Instant brand Air fryer - we're working w/o a vent right now so we got this to provide an oven replacement
- IKEA wardrobe - configured and used as a pantry
- Large (40L) backpack with good suspension - great for all sorts of travel
Proper chef's knife and vegetable cleaver. Most of my military surplus clothes. A vaccuum sealer. Second hand books. My Traynor YBA-1. Some good boots. There's definitely stuff i forgot, i don't really buy items anymore.
Proper leather boots. I got the red wing irons rangers. Took 3 months of to break them in but it was worth it. Now I have boots that will last me half my life if I take good care of them, plus they fit like a glove!
A decent blender. Not anything industrial like a Vitamix, it's a Magimix which was about half as much but still durable and has replaceable parts. It's fine for what I need and is lasting much longer than the pile of crap I had before.
Vacuum pack bags for clothes is another one. I like to keep my wardrobe seasonal but I don't have much space, so packing it down helps.
Also anything reusable: PTFE/silicone baking sheets, rechargeable batteries, reloadable floss handles. All of these have saved recurring purchases, money over time and reduced waste (which made me feel good.)
Prob my house.
without a ton of thought, and other than my current house:
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travel, in general. recently a trip to sail out of svalbard down to norway. it's another world up there
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an inexpensive handtruck is one of the most useful tools i have
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a 'prosumer' grade espresso machine and a grinder is used and loved every single day
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Electrostatic capacitive rubber dome keyboard. …Such a pillowy, smooth travel compared to every mechanical keyboard. I wish there were higher demand so I could get an ergonomic one instead of basically being limited to what Topre or NiZ release.
I can't take credit for this, as I found it in a comment in a similar post and want to give that guy his props. It's a microwave sandwich grill press. It's inexpensive, and I use it all the time, especially when I want something, but I don't want anything big or heavy. I microwave grill a sandwich, and it's fantastic!
I was skeptical about how it would work, but it does. This is the Amazon link to it.
One of those nice traveling Bluetooth speakers about half the size of a brick. Whenever I travel I bring it and it is a huge improvement having music that sounds good everywhere.
It was more than I wanted to spend but it was money well spent these many years later.
Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X headphones. Love the sound profile on them.
In 2009 I bought a lot of 10 late 90s Sun servers (1997 machines upgraded a few years later with better CPUs) for $300. Original list price about $2.5 million. After fixing a few problems and swapping parts to max out half the machines, I kept a few as my compute servers, and traded the rest for SGIs. An Onyx for the museum, and a small (one 6' rack) Origin-2000 for myself.
Nothing really fancy here but:
- Clevo NV41MZ Laptop, a beast compared to my stupid T495 thinkpad and corebootable! Very hard to find.
- my roadbike, its very classy 2001 stuff, Campagnolo Daytona (this series doesnt even exist anymore) but its fast as hell and looks great. Just love racing through the streets
- that damn Jack&Jones Winter jacket I got 5 years ago. Already had a burn hole from fireworks, but apart from that I went through so much with it and its still like new.
Got myself a samaung galaxy active a couple months back for like 20$ off ebay. Its a nice reminder to keep my body moving and helps lose some of the weight I put up over the years. I do however keep it offline now and just manually record my info for privacy sake. Looking to get a casio royal as a more general watch for myself this christmas and keep my active as a workout watch instead
Glerups. I wear them all day
These are some items which I have purchased. which I've gotten alot of practicality and enjoyment out of
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oculus quest 2
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alliexpress h61 lga 1155 motherboard
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aoc gm500 mouse
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stadia midnight blue controller
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i7 3770
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macbook air 2012 4gb
They've served me well especially that little old but still gold quadcore and the motherboard highly recommend it to anyone looking to build a gaming beast would combo well with 16gb,rx 570
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mid price point rice cooker. not as much of a cool/fun answer as the rest, but it lets me meal prep for days. i don't like cooking for just myself, but it's so easy to use that it doesn't feel like a waste. plus i always overcook my rice on the stove 😅
All tools for work, but:
Siglent oscilloscope. STK500 AVR development board Huawei D15 laptop A corporation
- Kettle barbecue
- Charcoal pit + rotisserie
- Air fryer
- Small benchtop induction cooker
The top two have resulted in some of the tastiest meat I've ever cooked. I chucked away my gas barbecue recently. The bottom two are just way more efficient (and environmentally friendly, with my solar) for small meals, rather than the natural gas hob and/or big electric oven.
Reinforced binder paper where the holes are triangles and reinforced with tape. I hadn't had to deal with my papers getting ripped out of a binder/refillable notebook since getting them
Air Fryer. Got one for $30 on a black friday sale a couple of years ago and it paid for itself within a week for the amount of time, effort, and oil saved.
Koss porta-pro headphones. And some vanity color ear foams just for fun. EDC.
I bought this cast iron set and I haven't used a regular pot in the years since I've bought this
Cast Iron Cookware 17-Piece Set - Pre-Seasoned 6" + 8" + 10" + 12" Skillet + Grill Pan+Lid + Griddle + Pizza Pan + Dutch Oven+Cover/Pan + Panrack + Silicone Handle Cover + Pan Scraper/Cleaner + Guide
Wok, vegetable cleaver, bidet. The world is your oyster.
GPD Win Max 2. A very capable 10" laptop with controller built in. It's very versatile and extremely portable. Emulates everything very well. Nothing like having everything you've ever played or want to on a 10" hand-held. I use it for work too. They just released a smaller device too, just as capable, but with fewer stage options.
MSFT right when it dropped to $40 per share around . Too bad I wasn't making much and I couldn't afford too many shares back then.
A motorbike for commuting.
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