Bought a cheap AU$40 pair of generic hiking poles. Use it for the entire Camino de Santiago. Friend borrowed for her Camino walk as well. I later used it for the first half of the Coast to Coasthike in UK. Earlier this year i used it for my Kumano Kodo hike. Still going strong.

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.

Bidet

Solar Panels

VR headset (originally to socialized during covid but ended up completely renewing my interest in video games)

Electric Scooter (an adult sized one with suspension). Ended up selling my ICE car when I realized the scooter isn't just for fun.

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.

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.

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

The highest end Green Pan cook set. I've had expensive cookware before, but these are unbelievable. Actually makes me want to cook more.

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.

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.

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.

Pinecil soldering iron

Idk how I did it, but I bought a house a week before the market went bonkers in 2022.

I bought a countertop dishwasher for my house and it is amazing.

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

Kuru brand shoes. I'm on my feet for 12 hours shifts and I actually have zero foot pain, they're amazing. Also I have extremely high arches, and the Kuru Quantums are the first shoes I've ever owned in my entire life that I don't have to add orthotic arch supports.

I buy a new pair twice a year.

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.