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?
Ditched gaming chairs, got an ergonomic office chair with several adjustment points.
It’s mesh seat and back, so its breathable in summer, gentle and supportive. I sit upright with no back pain. I lock it in place upright if I’m not using the armrests (eg: controller). Comfortable enough you quickly forget its even there, which is what you actually want in your practical furniture.
Every ‘gaming’ chair I’ve used cost almost as much, was a sticky pleather mess that flaked within months, pneumatics shot within a year, weird ‘racecar’ leaning back, fucked up my neck. But hey, at least it was in garish pointless colours? (Also, fuck those chairs that have the little ‘edges’, are they supposed to cup me in my seat Luke a cot? Because they get in the way).
I will never game in a gaming chair again. Quality ergonomic office chairs are DESIGNED for sitting in for hours at a time, and it shows. I’ve converted several others now.
Absolutely agreed. I got a decent office chair over a decade ago, and it’s been good since. I think it has a teeny wobble that popped up in the last two years, but other than that the padding and such are still great.
Thank you, +1 to your converted list
Office chairs are designed to be sat in for long periods. Gaming chairs are designed to look cool on twitch.
Imagine ricing an office chair to look like a gaming chair:
“Look at my awesome gaming office chair I customized it myself” would definitely be a flex on twitch
Can you link the one you got please?
The thing is that this chair is so good that I’ve had it for years and the pneumatics still so no sign of wear. So I couldn’t find a link for you, the retailer I got it from is lone gone. (Also you probably don’t live on the same island as me.)
But I can see the emblem on the back indicating the brand is GTCHAIR, so I guess check their range for full mesh ergonomic? I forget how many adjustment points mine boasts, I want to say 9… also has a lumbar support piece, which goes great with the height-adjustable back
I bought a second hand Aeron right at the start of Covid, banking on the fact I’d probably need it. I have been permanently remote work since and it’s been one of my best investments. It was very expensive and also very worth it.
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.
My power tools. I’m not a professional but doing all the diy home repairs myself with the right tools for the job has probably saved me tens of thousands of dollars in contractors. And believe me when I say get the right tools for the job, it’s worth it. You can fight with the wrong tool for hours trying to get a job done poorly or do it right in minutes with the right tools for the job. Not only is your time valuable but having the project done correctly the first time means you don’t have to pay to fix it a second time. Even if you’re the one doing it the second time, you still have to spend the time ripping out the garbage you put in and pay for the materials to do it right the second time.
My bike is the only thing I can say for certain has paid for itself. If I had paid $1 for each trip I’ve taken on it, I would have spent far more than it cost me.
I bought an expensive e-bike exactly 2 years ago. Here the public transport costs 70 €/month. The bike hasn’t quite paid for itself yet, but it’s getting close!
now add in the value of time and convenience, with that it’s likely paid for itself a few times over
I have two 10,000 liter water tanks in my basement that I use to harvest rainwater, and another 2,000 liter tank on my roof. From October to around May I close the city water and use only rainwater. I’ve been doing that for a bit more than 10 years now, and it paid for the installation cost in about 4 or 5 years. I also have solar water heaters, but it’s hard to tell how long they took to pay for themselves because I also have on-grid photovoltaic panels for energy generation. My energy bill is about 1/6 of my neighbors’, and the photovoltaic panels paid for themselves in about 5 years as well.
You drink the rainwater?
Not directly, but I probably could. I have nets in my gutters so insects and leaves don’t fall on it and I have another filter before the tanks in my basement. I regularly do tests to check levels of pH, chlorine and other stuff. The chlorine tablets I use says it’s used to make water drinkable, and I use the rainwater to cook and make coffee (so I only consume rainwater that was treated and boiled).
My city is in the middle of mountains and it rains a lot and it also has tons of public water fountains, so every weekend I just go to a natural water spring at the bottom of a mountain and fill some bottles to drink through the week - the city’s water company do weekly tests on the fountains and every fountain has a QR code for you to check that fountain status.I think that’s a cool option for preparedness, but seems like a bit of a hassle compared to just using municipal water. But I’m guessing the municipal water is also fairly expensive where you live
There were a couple of years with extended drought season and the city’s water reserves got dangerously low and there was rationing. Since then, I got another five 260L barrels and tons of 5L bottles filled with rainwater under my stairs just for use on my lawn, garden, and houseplants. I don’t believe the climate is going to get any better in the future, nor that the population will get smaller or industry will use less water. Every year is hotter than the previous one. What I expect are longer and longer drought seasons, and I don’t think I’m prepared enough :P
Wow. Thats very cool. I’m planning on getting a solar system installed this winter too (costs less in the winter). Here power supply is not reliable but solar is fairly cheap thanks to China. Infact I’m pretty sure we have a very impressive solar system for a country of our status. (Pakistan)
It’s been more than a decade since I installed mine, so there are probably more options today, but when I did, you were either on-grid or off-grid. On-grid means you “sell” your energy production to the energy company, but if the city power goes out, so does yours. Off-grid means you don’t use city energy at all, but it was much more expensive because it required batteries for storing energy… however, I remember recently reading about people using their electric car batteries to power their houses when the electricity was out, and I’m sure batteries are much more affordable nowadays because of how much electric car technology has developed.
Boring answer but my hair clippers.
Ain’t been to the professionals for years.
I do look like the wild man of the woods though
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.
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).
