I’m curious, what’s an item, tool, or purchase you own that you feel has completely justified its cost over time? Could be anything from a gadget to a piece of furniture or even software. What made it worth it for you?
Hair clippers. I started with a $25 cordless rechargeable one that I got on sale during the pandemic when everything closed down. I recently upgraded to a much better and more powerful corded variant. Looking at how much haircuts are these days plus tips, it definitely has paid for itself multiple times over.
Robot mower. I bought one on sale 4 months ago. It hasn’t paid for itself yet because I’ve only had it for a short while, but I believe within a year it will, with how much time and effort I save for myself. That and my knees and back are thanking it.
The corded ones really are better than the cordless ones. My bf went through several cordless ones before I bought him a corded one. Years later, it’s still going strong. Don’t know why the lifespan is so different. They’re the same brand.
I think the battery-powered ones are simply just weaker. Making them as powerful as the corded versions means shorter working times and you have to re-charge more frequently. Mine was also getting jammed with hair clippings that I had to clean them out after every use. My corded clipper on the other hand has barely any hair on it after use and a light brushing cleans it up. It also has fewer nooks and crannies for hair to get stuck in.
Safety razor
Blades are extremely cheap and always gives a great shave.
Elliptical and dumbbells
Gym memberships add up quick so went with a cheaper elliptical and a nice set of adjustable dumbbells.
Kobo ereader
As I get more into reading I’ve come to appreciate that this one allows loading my own ebooks from my PC which can save a ton depending on use case.
I have priced out gym equipment, because I live 100 miles from the nearest “city” (…which is, like 20,000 people).
At $30/mo for a gym membership, it would take me >15 years to pay for a decent, mid-range power rack, Olympic bars, and bench. And that’s not including the weights themselves, which are usually $2-5/pound. A decent elliptical machine from eBay? Another 2 years, plus a year and a half for shipping.
If you’re serious about weights, and not independently wealthy, it almost always makes more sense to have a gym membership.
Agreed. For anything beyond the simplest setup membership is the way to go especially if near enough to some of the cheaper options; we had a Planet Fitness open near us that offers $10/month for lowest tier membership (prior it was YMCA at $70/month for the family).
Safety razor was a game changer for me. Although I do find that some brands of blades irritate my skin and some don’t, might be worth trying multiple if you get one.
lots of online stores that specialize in that stuff sell variety packs of blades so you can find what works for you.
I bought a Kobo as well, after having a ton of DRM issues with books I’ve bought on kindle. I love the Kobo!
My radar detector (Valentine V1 Gen2) literally paid for itself the first time it alerted me of a speed trap ahead. I am guessing it has since saved me 10’s of thousands of dollars.
A couple years ago I bought a lifetime license for Plex and it has been so wonderful. I can truly own my media that I’ve purchased, watch it from any device, and share it with Family and close friends.
Obligatory Jellyfin is better and free
Jellyfin is awesome. The only thing is getting remote access to work has been hard for me to figure out. I’m very glad that there’s multiple good options for media servers.
Stainless steel cookware. Spend the extra money to avoid shitty non-stick and aluminum. Steel heats evenly and maintains temperature. My food has improved a lot just with this change
Related: a good knife. Get a good santoku and you’ll be prepared for the vast majority of kitchen tasks.
Good stainless cookware can be stupid cheap, too. If you don’t care about fancy tri-ply, you can get a perfectly usable pan from a restaurant supply store for $20.
I guess my bike? Have saved loads of money on bus tickets and it’s much more reliable too.
Sewing machine pays for itself quite quickly as paying a tailor to repair your clothes is like 1/3 the cost of a brand new sewing machine, so just repair like 3 items of clothing to get your money back.
A slipping torque wrench, two jack stands, and a hydraulic jack. I change the summer and winter tires on several cars twice/year and have been since the 90s
$20 Cabelas fleece. I bought one in late 2014 and wore it everyday for half the days out of the year ever since. It’s overdue for a good replacement, though.
I also have two DE razors and for a while was intrigued by the idea of the cheapest shave. -Pennies per shave
I’m not sure I’m quite there yet but I’m on my way: my sewing machine.
I sew clothes for me and my husband. I sew my kids’ Halloween costumes. I sew bags; my last two purses have been made by me. One is still in great shape aside from the handles; my kiddo said I should get (or sew) a new purse and I replied, nah, just need to re-sew the handles, no biggie.
The only reason I don’t think it’s paid for itself quite yet is because I bought a pricey machine in 2021 after struggling with a hand-me-down for a while.
What was your hand-me-down? I’m working with a 1950s machine, and it seems to work great for me, but i have to admit I haven’t used a machine built in the past 20 years, so idk what I’m missing.
It was a 1971(? I think) Kenmore of all things. I had no idea Kenmore even made sewing machines, but apparently they did. I still have it. I couldn’t get the zipper foot to work and the proverbial straw was that not only could I find no help online, but the guy at the repair shop said “Why are you bothering?” Although that did rub me the wrong way, admittedly. I took it to a different shop and they said essentially the same thing but in a much kinder and gentler way. (I bought a new machine from them instead of the first guy.) I decided I wanted something I could at least find help for on YouTube, and in fact I have watched videos a few times when I couldn’t figure something out… or whenever I want to do a blind hem because I can never remember how to do it.
Ah, I wonder if it was new enough to not be dead simple, but not new enough to not have any documentation or spare parts?
I didn’t even know what a zipper foot is, but it turns out I have one, lol. That shows what I know.
Oh yeah, I bought a cheap machine pre-2000 and it’s paid for itself several times over just making boat canvas and doing sail repairs.
I’m toying with the idea of getting a sewing machine.
Hand sewing bores the tits off me but I want to be able to fix/adjust/create my clothes
I recently picked up a sewing machine at a garage sale for $40 and it has been a game changer for me and has really upped my look. All my clothes are now tailored to fit my body, and it makes a huge difference. I’m a middle-age man, but am very fit. However, most off the rack clothing is cut for the average American male physique, which means that shirts that fit me in the shoulders generally have tons of extra fabric around the mid section. Now, every short sleeve shirt I buy gets “the treatment”. I take up the sleeves to mid-bicep (because showing bicep is the male equivalent to showing cleavage), take them in to hug my biceps, and then taper the shirt to the waist to show off my trim waistline and emphasize my shoulder to waist ratio. Quite honestly, it’s amazing how much more attention I get based upon that one simple change.
Most modern sewing machines have capability to do so much more than you probably really need.
Personally, all I really need is a machine that can do straight stitches with adjustable stitch length and reversing. I have a 1950s machine that does that, and it was free to me, and there’s attachments for zigzagging if I want.
If you are just patching and altering clothes, that’s probably all you need, too.
Yep, definitely.
No need to spunk loads of money on something I’ll not use to its full capacity…
A second hand simple model will be sufficient.
The most exciting thing I’ll end up making is probably pillowcases/cushion covers.
Or that dress from IASIP
lol I agree! Hand sewing is so slow. I only do it when I absolutely must.
As a kid I liked cross stitch, and I think I still might (I’m also a knitter so slow processes are fine) but I don’t enjoy the end product so I never do it.
Cross stitch looks like fun, but I don’t want any cross stitched stuff afterwards, I guess.
Okay so this is a little awkward because I’m a big advocate for using cars as little as possible and fighting to remove car dependant infrastructure. However, I have a truck that’s as old as I am, its the only car I’ve ever owned and its stunning how well it is chugging along. It’s seen around 300,000 miles, both coasts of the US, immense hail storms, a small tornado, a multi-car pileup, a few bullets, and multiple hurricanes. It leaks just about every fluid, its hood is a different color because I pulled it from a junkyard, and the trunk has a large bloodstain. Yet the fucker refuses to die, its never even broken down and left me stranded. Every major issue was cheap and fixable at home. I must be immensely lucky because I do not treat it kindly. I didn’t personally buy it but its served my entire family for over 2 decades so I’d hope it had payed itself off by now.
Agreed 100%. Would give up driving daily if we had better public transit, but my 90s truck is comfy without being oversized, stupid easy to repair, and free of spying gadgets. Also paid in full with cash, so no monthly loan payments.
It’s seen around 300,000 miles, both coasts of the US, immense hail storms, a small tornado, a multi-car pileup, a few bullets, and multiple hurricanes.
Oof, make and model, please
Just came to say I get your opening statement. I have a minivan as I can’t 100% go without a car and minivans have the best driver/passenger seating for someone with medical issues like my wife has (you neither have to climb into nor fall onto the seat. perfect but level). I do like it the most out of motor vehicles to as its crazy multipurpose and efficiency is great for anything its size. Even competes with most cars that are not economy size.
Eufy 11S Max robot vacuum.
We had a Roomba back when they were new. It did ok, but it wasn’t really that impressive. My wife had a rechargeable upright vacuum after that. When that died, I argued for going back to a robot vacuum because her health problems were both making it hard for her to use the vacuum and also leaving me too busy to do it.
She resisted because she was never happy with the job the Roomba did. However from day 1, the Eufy vacuum did a visibly good job cleaning and won her over.
We have it set to run once a day. There’s one chair it occasionally gets stuck under, and we have to block the base of the fridge or it gets stuck there. Aside from that, it’s very independent. It does the vacuuming and then finds its base to recharge for the next day. It needs to be emptied out every day and cleaned more thoroughly once a week.
We’ve been very pleased with it.
We named it Meryl Sweep.
I wouldn’t trust a eufy product in my home after their security camera vulnerability controversy that they initially refused to fix
The vacuum has no capability for an Internet connection and no cameras or audio recorders.
The quality of the vacuum wouldn’t lead me to choose anything else from Eufy. It’s just a good robotic vacuum.
I have an Eufy named Goofy. He’s an early model but works fine, except sometimes he locks himself in the bathroom.
We love Meryl.
I’m going to get a piece of wood, paint it white, and mount it under the fridge so she doesn’t get caught underneath.
Leo finds her a bit frightening.
Just when he thinks he’s safe, she turns around and goes on the attack.
My AF makes it hard to go poo, so I guess me having to get surgery for it means it forced me to pay something for it… ?
Try getting a stool that raised your legs to the point where you are squatting or near squatting over the toilet
It relaxes the sphincter if I recall correctly
🙏
Leatherman. Spent like $140 on a good one (Signal) and it was used nearly every day. Pliers, screwdriver, pry, cut, etc. Great to have easily available on the hip.
I have a Leatherman Tool, as in, when they only had one model, and it was called the Tool. I dread the day when I inevitably lose it somehow.
I got a Leatherman Wave years ago and it’s almost always on my hip.
Fantastic thing.
My Skeletool is 12 years old and still going strong. I love that thing. Gets used almost every day.
My tractor has more than paid for itself.
A lot of my work gear is sort of pricey but it keeps me safe and working. Usually pays itself off within a month or two and will last at least a few years.
