There’s 3 things that really stand out for me that I would say made a massive difference to my life:
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Cordless screw driver. Bought the day after building a flat pack bed with a crappy screw.driver that just shredded my hand. Thought it was frivolous at the time, but I’ve used it so much since. It’s light, small enough to fit in my pocket and good for 90% of DIY tasks.
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Tassimo coffee machine. Bought it 9 years ago, use it every day. Nice quick easy coffee. What’s not to like.
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My first DSLR camera. It was a Nikon D50 back in 2005/6 and it sparked my interest in photography to this day. It gave me a hobby I can take lots of places and do it alone or with others. I never loved the D50 camera itself, but I did get some really nice shots with it
- vasectomy
- divorce
- campervan
Tells a story.
He bought a campervan, so his wife divorced him, and after getting plastered at a bar, he woke up in the hospital with a small scar on his balls.
Oh my god, those monsters. Somebody get this man a new vas deference!
Although I can’t say these are the best purchases in my life, I have also purchased all three, and can attest they were money very well spent. Very. Very. Well. Spent.
- A flight ticket out of the US (it’s been 7 or 8 years since… not sure if I will ever return until there is an important funeral)
- Wired IEMs with a Harmon target
- Tea kettle with variable temperatures to make green tea properly without burning it
A computer — no other item I own has changed the course of my life as much as owning my own computer has.
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Quality electric toothbrush. I can’t get my teeth feeling clean without one anymore.
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A rice cooker. Doesn’t need to be fancy, but it lowers the barrier to cooking substantially given how many dishes use rice.
3, A phone with a camera that’s at least mid-range, as it’s the camera you’ll have on you most. I used to always use phones from cheap brands like Umidigi and although some of them did perform quite well others left me with gaps of my life where none of the photos I took have any detail.
My rice cooker sees more usage as a crock pot as almost every meal here comes with rice & if cooking, I’d rather make something harder to find, but when I do need rice, it’s the way to go.
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My vasectomy. Hands down the best ease-of-mind investment ever
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My computer. Easy choice, I use it daily, sometimesmore than 8 hours
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Good, high quality spices
My vasectomy.
Paying for that? That’s weird.
I wanted to do it myself but my doctor advised against it.
I’d advise against it too! That should only be done by a qualified professional.
Pfff sounds like big surgeon propaganda to me
Is other birth control free?
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Bidet which i installed during covid when stupid fucking people were fighting for TP. Been using it since then. Worth every cent.
Agreed, but specifically an aftermarket electric seat bidet to save in a load of plumbing.
What are you talking about ? A handheld one will cost ya $30 and all you need to do is screw it to the flush using a T joint.
Isn’t heated tho :P
I did the same recently and can’t recommend them more. They’re wonderful. I can’t imagine a world without one and I’m shocked that they didn’t become the staple in every household decades ago. Big TP really did a number on my country.
Lol majority of people are fucking stupid.
The thing that weirds me out about the common bidet answer is how certain societies thought otherwise was a good idea in the first place. I don’t know anyone here that would call it revolutionary since 90% of the places you go have a hose for your butt sitting right next to you.
My Garmin Fenix watch, it was during the first month of wearing it that I realized my life and fitness can be like a video game and I get badges and points for doing things. It drives me to move and even after 4 years, it still is making me motivated.
A nice wallet, I looked for a long time and ended up with a Trayvax wallet. I just love the damn thing, it’ll last me forever and it’s unique and functional. Each time I pull it out of my pocket, I appreciate it’s look and feel and form.
My osprey back pack. I’ve carried it to and from work, on boats, kayaks, walking, for camping and to my friends houses. It is just so functional and comfortable in a way that a less expensive one isn’t. It’s made to be comfortable AND hold things.
Which Osprey did you get? I’ve loved their backpacks for a long time.
It’s a commuter backpack, momentum 30. Has a front pocket to fit a bike helmet, I never use it for that but a big stretch pocket on the front is so useful.
Overall, it just always seems to fit everything I’m carrying with me to most places.
I’ve got a few other smaller travel bags too that I used to store computer accessories and toiletries when I travel.
Cordless screw driver. Bought the day after building a flat pack bed with a crappy screw.driver that just shredded my hand. Thought it was frivolous at the time, but I’ve used it so much since. It’s light, small enough to fit in my pocket and good for 90% of DIY tasks.
Got a gun from sako the other day it’s cute, it’s small, fits right in my pocket (yeeeeeah right in my pocket)
Real answers tho:
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Air pump for car tires. I have notoriously bad luck with flats, leaks, etc. This thing has saved me more than a few times.
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KVM switch. I work from home, this lets me have my work computer and my personal computer connected to the same equipment, and I can toggle between them with either a physical switch or a keyboard hotkey
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Bit of a curve ball, but therapy. Life’s tough, gotta have some outlets and advice sometimes.
Had to admit defeat with the electric screw driver a few times and bust out my relatively new impact driver. Now that’s an impressive bit of kit with a lot of power, especially when screwing in to masonry. But for most stuff the smaller screwdriver is better suited.
The kom.bu.cha! mush.room! peo.ple! sit.ting a.round all day!
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I bought a 97 Ford Taurus off a friend for $800 back in 2008. Her dad thought it was on its last legs at 155k miles so he wanted to sell it. I drove it for four years. It was running fine until someone blasted it out in front of my girlfriend’s house and drove off. At the time it had 206k miles. 50k miles for $800 was certainly one of my best purchases.
All my cars have been sub-$5k rust buckets or on their last legs.
$600 - 1993 Honda civic
$1300 - 1994 Volkswagen Golf
$3000 - 2003 Mazda 3
$1000 - 2007 ford escape
$2000 - 2012 Kia Rio
$3000 - 1994 Chevrolet s10
$4000 - 2009 Volkswagen rabbit
$4000 - 2009 Toyota Yaris
Almost all of them sold for what I bought it for. Im mechanically inept so probably could have kept them longer if I was good at that.
Good purchases, some adventures, but cheap cars that work out and are in that sweet spot of not dead but still cheap are great.
Kindle - all the books, all the time.
Sony WH1000-XM3 (I guess newer models are still good) - excellent noise cancelling, perfect for flights
Steam Deck - play almost any games, anywhere, and with a full desktop mode too.
In the past I’d have put the Acer Aspire One, I loved the netbook form factor, now I use either the Vivobook or Steam Deck like that.
The Aeropress is also great for quick, simple coffee.
My daughter got the steam deck and she does use it mobile however it has eclipsed the switch as our go to living room family/party/multiplayer console. Family library sharing works very seamlessly in steam.
I am regularly impressed how well PC titles run on it regardless of if they windows running under proton or Linux optimized.
There are also an impressive number of titles that have native or at minimum controller support to the point the onscreen prompts all show the correct buttons. We have a number of Xbox controllers now for up to 4 player multiplayer.
We regularly hook it up to hotel TVs when traveling as well.
I guess newer models are still good
Nope. The WF1000-XM4 have battery drain issues, and there is at least one explosion recorded…
Edit: To everyone saying they have XM4 or XM5 and see no issues, congratulations you are one of the lucky few. Just google “XM4 battery drain” and you will learn the Sony had to issue so many refunds they introduced new processes…
PS Boycott Sony until they address the issues. It’s not okay for major producer to release a product with such a major flow and then look the other way.
Had the XM-4, battery life was shit and I will now never ever buy another set of headphones without physical buttons. They were truly dreadful when you put them round your neck
Changed for Bose QC45 and will never buy Sony again
haha, I had the Sony XM4’s as well and my favorite day ever of owning them was when I finally got so frustrated I threw them off the mower I was riding on and mowed over them. It felt SOOOOO GOOD. By far the biggest waste of money I have ever spent. Never again Sony anything even remotely related to that. Also never again anything without physical buttons.
Haaaa yeah the kindle. Both loved and hated in my case. Love the form factor, allowing me to indulge in new books. Hate it because I don’t get new physical books anymore. Not that I have any room left for books; that’s the reason I bought the kindle in the first place…
- Whole house fan, and it’s not even close. We’ve saved tons of money by not running the AC as much as a result. Plus it just feels nicer to have fresh cool air come in from outside. I’ve even used it in the winter after the whole family got over being sick. Crack a couple of windows, turn the fan on, and the entirety of the house has fresh air in minutes. That got cold pretty quick, but worth having some stale air purged.
- Drill press I’m an amateur woodworker who is apparently incapable of drilling straight holes.
- Blackstone griddle A gift from a loved one who passed before they got to see me use it, but a nice reminder regardless. Works great for meal prepping something like breakfast burritos!
Look at you & your fresh air privilege over here not having the pollution of the city :P
Lol, no question I’m privileged in that regard. We do have half the state burn during the hottest parts of the summer, so can’t use it then. And an overzealous neighbor who likes to burn yard waste on the nicest days of the spring/summer, if that makes you feel better. :)
1: My motorbike - hands down my best purchase. That has single handedly done more for my mental health than the last 9 years of various anti depressants.
2: My PC - the same as others. It’s just nice to be able to have the option to do just about everything.
3: A car - I didn’t really buy this. My mum gave it to me as a first car. It’s not the flashiest. It’s just the most basic type. But I love it. I spent 23 years just putting off getting my licence until I just decided to get it just to get it out of the way. And I have missed put on so much by it. The sense of freedom, not having to rely on getting lifts, or getting public transport. (Not opposes to public transport. It’s just that where I live, it’s a pain for commuting)
Haha driving a motorbike is very different in your country :D
Here I average 15km/hr or less, due to heavy traffic. It’s fairly stressful, and it sucks in the monsoon. I’ve got scars on both legs where I’ve been burned by unprotected exhaust pipes. You can smell the meat cooking when it happens. All working class people here have these scars. When I need to relax, I take the bus – it’s a luxury!
Still, it beats not having a motorbike by a lot, so I can still relate :)
Oh damn, yeah thats a lot different here. Especially the monsoons. This may sound dumb, but how does the bikes hold up in that weather condition? And another dumb one, how do you get burnt by the exhausts?
Thay sounds peaceful though, with the bus. Especially compared to the bike.
Bikes are just wonderful, stay safe, man.
Well, we don’t have winter – so very well! It’s not unusual for bikes to last 15 years or more. In the big cities, the condition of the roads is also surprisingly good in Viet Nam (countryside…depends). Road work is bizarrely efficient and happens overnight, only closing as much of the road as they need to work on in 1 night, then opening it up again in the morning. So my bike doesn’t accumulate much wear and tear.
We also get floods. Driving some bikes in 40cm of flowing water is possible, but difficult. Sometimes there is no choice. If the water blocks the exhaust that’s obviously not going to function, but barring that you can slowly drive. It doesn’t wear down the bikes much either though, surprisingly!
The exhausts have a metal radiator that gets very hot, especially in traffic when there’s little airflow and you’re not using your engine efficiently (accelerate, stop, repeat) . Usually there is a temperature resistant plastic shield to stop inadvertent contact. However many people remove it, or it breaks and they don’t replace it (…pretty universally regarded as a dick move). The traffic is so dense, you’re physically pressed up against all the other bikes. So if someone decides to be a jerk and muscle through, they will burn many of the people they pass as their exhaust pipe presses against their legs. Feels easily over 100 degrees and will sear your flesh in an impressive manner. Like, you can hear it before you feel it.
Most people are not jerks, but due to population density, there’s always a jerk present. So we all have 3-4cm oval scars on our legs, unless we are ultra rich so don’t need to drive a bike – these are the scars of the working class. Colloquially, it’s known as a “Saigon Kiss”. Although you’ll get them easily in Ha Noi too, haha.
On the bright side, nearly everyone obeys the speed limit, which is 50km/hr, and the majority of the people drive on the correct side of the road and wear a helmet. On the other hand, there’s always someone doing none of these things. Impacting the road hurt less than I thought it would, I’m thankful for the low speed limit. Although I still very much do not recommend it getting in a motorbike accident here. The number of tourists with no license on the road is an increasing problem, too. They also tend to run home when they hit someone.
Out of curiosity, how does the motorbike help your mental health? Is it having transportation in general, or the feeling of riding a motorbike specifically?
I’m gonna be honest. I find it really hard to describe the feeling. I’ll try, though, but I’ll try. Sorry if it doesn’t make sense.
It’s not just a mode of transportation to me, at least. There’s an insane sense of freedom to it. The adrenaline from having sports car acceleration speeds just straight between your legs. It’s like when people say to play music as a coping mechanism. Only this mechanism isn’t just sitting around. It actively forces your mind off those things. Like, yeah, you’ll think about it. You may still have those megatove thoughts. But they just sorta melt away and get blasted away, almost. The raw sounds of the engine, only adding to it. Ot drains it all out, (If you like the sound, I personally have a stock exhaust, as thays more than enough, I really enjoy the sound of just amy exhaust, well, except the shitty tinny ones thay oiss everyone off. Or the unnecessarily loud ones)
And the fact that you are sat on top of a solid block of steel, with thousands of explosions happening right there. Woth a fuel tank just above it. Kicking out insane power, even a 67hp 650cc. With pretty much nothing protecting you. One slight mistake, and it all goes tits up. But you’re in control of it. And it’s gonna keep you upright if you handle it. It’s relaxing. I also think it helps because you can feel what the bike is doing. Even with slight inputs.
Keanu Reeves said, “If you ride a bicycle, you can kind of understand.”
Sorry if thays too long and doesn’t make sense. And sorry if it’s kinda cringe. But, I truly do love the bike.
(Also, from what I’ve seen, the biker community is insanely inclusive and nice. Even just riding past another rider. Just that simple gesture of “Hey man,” it makes you feel like you’re somewhere you belong)
Very good writeup.
It actively forces your mind off those things.
That’s the biiiiig thing for me. It’s incredible meditation. The road demands the rider’s full attention for short-time planning, spatial visualization, sensory inputs, and muscle control. It’s literally a matter of life and death. At the same time other parts of the brain aren’t required, so the mind wanders, but in a much subdued way where stormy thoughts turn into a calm flow.
Stay left, look in, lean, apex, watch out for the pothole, left again, shift down ahead of the intersection, ok they are yielding, back on the throttle, shift up, don’t lean over the manhole covers, wow view’s pretty, hey pedestrians looking to cross let’s come to a smooth stop…
I think you described it very well! Thanks for that. It makes me want one. Sometimes you just want ant to zen out and it sounds like it’s perfect for helping with that.
Oh, good, I’m glad it helped.
I will always suggest that if it’s not gonna cause other issues, get a bike.
I won’t lie, I’m one of the types that does little dances on ot when the right songs come on. And singing. But somehow, I can still concentrate on it, it is really relaxing.
You don’t even have to jump straight to the big ones. Even a 125, whilst it won’t give the full experience, will be more than enough to see if you can get on with them.
Straight up miss my bike. I like backpacking on a bike just because the freedom of it is an allure in itself. Still recall the days when I would just wake up on the weekends and decide on a trip for two days to some place unknown. The journey, the part of exploration and the freedom that you feel when you’ve the wind blowing through that is not describable. It needs to be experienced. Now the part where I miss it. I moved between countries and where I am now I don’t (haven’t still) felt safe enough getting a bike and riding in the highways.
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Rescue dog - I saved hers and she saved mine.
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College Education - paying to finish my 4 year degree, life changing
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40mhz AMD PC processor /w motherboard. replacement for a christmas gift but it solidified my love of computers and computing. Which lead to my college degree and career.
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A plot of land in a place I like. Nothing fancy or huge, just a place to be by myself and enjoy a nice bonfire away from people.
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Headphones. The old clunky ones that cover your whole ears. I love them! They feel like a hug and I use them all the time while listening to spooky stories. Bought them in a sale about four years ago.
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A hello kitty backpack. Bought it as a birthday gift for a friend’s daughter, we had a fallout and I kept it. One day I needed a clean backpack and this was on hand so I grabbed it in a whim and have been using it ever since. I have a pair of Columbia, silver ridge and tetons laying around but this fluffy cute backpack makes me so happy and has the perfect size.
You seem like a cool person.
I don’t get that compliment a lot lol, so thank you.
Well, of course not; you’re on your land away from people! 😂 But seriously, I mean it! Take care…
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Smart vacuum cleaner - you pay a reasonable amount once and don’t have to vacuum anymore
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Vaporiser - switched to vaping weed instead of smoking joints which is not only nicer in many ways but also allowed me to quit smoking cigarettes
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PlayStation - after sitting 8h by the desk moving a mouse for work, I didn’t want to sit in the same position another few hours playing games. With PS I can comfortably sit in my armchair and play on a big tv scrreen using a controller
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Ergonomic mattress - healed my hurting back. This should be on the top of this list.
What vacuum are you using?
Xiaomi Mi Vacuum Cleaner. I’ve had it for almost 5 years so there are likely better/cheaper options.
Me too! Over 6 years here. Damn fine vacuum.
How bad are the privacy concerns?
The app doesn’t have much information about you. The vacuum does map the area as it goes so I guess worst case China might have a rough sketch of my house layout. It uses lasers to map so there’s no camera to worry about. I figured the benefits outweighed the risks with this particular purchase.
I’m sure china is super interested in you lol
And interestingly, I haven’t replaced a single brush or anything else despite notifications.
How often do you have it vacuum?
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