A mattress
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- Boots
- Knives
- Ziploc bags
- Saran wrap
- Hand tools
- Power tools
- Yard tools
- Firearm optics
- Field optics
- Gasoline
- Oil filters
To name a few. I'll leave some stuff for other people.
Office chairs around 400 to 800$. It's god damn pricey but an absolute life change if you spend a ton of time at your computer. Are so much better for your back and butt and is worth the money 10x over considering the pain it'll save you.
If you can't fork up the cash, do a ton of research, learn a lot about specific models and then on Facebook marketplace (or any other local marketplace) search up "office chair". Oftentimes people sell premium office chairs without ever knowing, this way you can snag some for ridiculously cheap. Usually around 100-200$ but if you are lucky 10-30$.
Also avoid "gaming" chairs. Like most gaming related stuff, they're awful and you're just paying for the edgy look. I had multiple of these and each one was an ergonomic catastrophe, even expensive ones.
Caulk, screws. Very much not worth having saved a few dollars when these things end up not working.
Scissors comes to mind. Don't spend a lot, just don't be shit dollar store ones.
Office chair
Wow lots of replies but here's another one. Anything that connects you with the world. Boots, glasses, headphones
Nah, glasses don't have to be expensive. I notice literally no difference between pairs I've had that were over $400 and pairs that were $50. It's just shaped glass... And whilst I mostly agree with you on headphones, there are a very small number of manufacturers out there who are doing some fantastic budget headphones. The earbuds I use now cost me $40 and shit all over any others I've had (and have lab verified frequency response curves to prove they are legit too). Should add, that even though they are budget, some of their products can easily cost over $1k, but then they are emulating headphones that cost over $5k...
Glasses are one I’d specifically advise against spending tons of money on. All of the different brands and designers are all owned and manufactured by the same two or three lens manufacturers for dirt cheap. I can guarantee that the $400 pair of glasses is using the exact same lenses and frame materials as the $40 pair, because they’re both made by the same companies on the same machines in the same factories using the same materials.
The only reason different designers and brands exist is to give customers the illusion of choice. The same way Nestlé owns an entire conglomerate of food companies that are on the shelves next to each other so you can “shop around”, the glasses brands you’re comparing in the store are all owned by the same company.
Glasses are only expensive because those lens manufacturers also own the major glasses retailers, and force smaller retailers to play by their rules if they want to be able to sell their glasses. The glasses only cost ~$10 to manufacture and ship, regardless of the style. The rest is pure markup.
Buy those fuckers online for like $50 a pop. Hell, if you want to spend $400, just buy like six different pairs. Now you can style them for your particular needs. Maybe you have a daily beater pair, then a more classy pair for going out, a sports pair for working out, etc… And they’re all made using the exact same machines that the $400 glasses were made on.
Google Luxottica (which is one of the main lens manufacturers) just for a glimpse of how wide their ownership goes. All of the big optics companies have focused on vertical integration. So they own the companies that produce the lenses, the companies that produce the frames, the companies that market the frames, etc… And they only keep them separate to give the customer the illusion of choice. When you walk into a LensCrafters, it doesn’t matter which glasses you buy; All the money is going to the same parent company regardless.
Now that more devices are on USB-C, but the standard isn’t labeled well, it’s worth getting a good cable/charge block that will regulate power appropriately.
Adam Savage had the team that does CT Scans of various products and you really can start justify why some good charging cables cost $100.
I probably wouldn’t spend that kind of money but I’m willing to spend more on one really good one that I can use in many devices.
For me it's toner for printers: I have a Brother laser printer at home that is not heavily used but at least once a week. I thought I'd save some money when I bought some cheap ass toner from Amazon that cost about half of what a original Brother toner costs and promised something like double the capacity.
Oh boy... I had the worst mildly infuriating two years of printing you could imagine: always disappointed of the printing quality but not THAT disappointed to replace this shitty but still at 2/3 capacity toner. I paid money for that toner so I'd squeeze every last page of shitty quality prints out of this fucking toner!
Last week I gave up and bought an original Brother toner and it's a bliss. 🙄
A mattress, sheets, and at least one pillow. It can be expensive, but the first time you lay down in a bed that’s actually comfortable, you’ll know it was worth it.
I'd take issue with the "only," but setting that aside: musical instruments. Guitars, for example. You can find perfectly serviceable guitars for cheap and they'll be playable with a decent setup, and you can obviously find deals. But in general, if you try your $100-$200 Fender acoustic guitar or mandolin and then go to a guitar shop and try out a high-end Martin, for example, there's a world of difference.
Anything that broke and you need a replacement of.
Safety equipment, especially SCUBA. Also clothes, shoes, your bed, and your computer chair.
If you drive a lot, a "low-end" luxury model that isn't fully equipped will likely drive better, be more comfortable, and every feature it does have will be at least a little bit nicer than the equivalent in the "normal" brand.
You might even get a lower sale price on a used luxury car vs buying a new Toyota or something these days.
Maintenance will definitely cost more, but the experience of having that work done is a whole lot better than how it used to be on all the shitty cars I've had.
Not everyone will agree with this one, but I pay more for better seats on planes too, and tend to fly only with Delta for status. That's because I have extra blood clot risk and need the wiggle room, and because I have beef with most of the other companies due to many years of experience.
My travel curse has largely been managed after getting all the stuff that gets you through the lines faster, including global entry.
Recently we were about to miss our transfer and there was a dude waiting at the gate when we deplaned who loaded us into a Porsche and drove us around the runway directly to our next gate. That was probably random, but there's a 0% chance Southwest or Spirit would do that.
Also treat yourself to some fine dining if you are able, even if it's just once every year or two.
Maybe get someone to deep clean your place (even once a year) .
Note that I am in no way a baller when I say these things. I always thought you had to be rich to get anything cool like that, but it's not attainable than you think, assuming you're not in a paycheck -to-paycheck situation (which many are and I certainly was for like all of my 20's and a good chunk of my 30's).
Everything that you use for prolonged amounts of time every day. For me it was ergonomic chair, keyboard, pillow. Expensive is a word, but I would rather think higher quality when choosing replacement for stuff I use.
Another category of things is hobby equipment, for me it's instruments. When I buy one it's to last. So when I was buying digital piano I went for one over my budget because I don't plan to get rid of it for next 5-10 years still, and it was 5years ago. Overall stuff that you don't usually think of buying frequently.
Last category I think of i go for higher quality stuff then generic ones are travel stuff. Last thing you want during your trip, short or long, distant or near, is to deal with faulty bag, broken wheel, or such.
A square cooking skillet pan. So many of these will bend if it's not made of cast iron, but found the scanpan one to work wonderfully.