Anything you purchase to put between you and the ground. Shoes, tires, beds, furniture, foundations
That was my grandfather’s advice as well and he survived the Soviet Union
Almost any repair tools, gardening, or anything NEEDED to DIY. You can do a lot of personal projects with very little money.
That being said, it’s very easy to fall into a trap of going beyond what is needed into a full, fancy workshop, with all the shiny new equipment. If that’s what you’re goal is, that’s fine. If you’re doing it to save money, there’s a lot of ways to just get the bare minimum, and be extremely effective. Especially if you can get used, or even non-functional equipment and fix it up yourself.
Why you gotta at me like that for any hobby I start getting into.
It’s a tough balancing act. You don’t want to dive all in and buy the nicest, fanciest, most expensive equipment right out. But also, if you buy too cheap, or too limiting, you’re going to get discouraged.
Used is a really good balance between the two. Plan it out, figure out what you need, and meet someone locally to pick up their old stuff. Usually, if they’re selling their starter equipment to upgrade, you can even chat with them about the hobby, and get some real good local advice. Maybe even and in with the local community.
It really is a win-win.
Buy your first whatsit as cheap as possible, if you break it, replace it with another cheap one, if you break that one too, go buy a nice one.
An old, ugly bike and a good bike lock. No one will ever steal it and can bring you wherever you want without the fear of leaving it in the wrong spot
Well now I want an old ugly bike. Where do you park yours? 😉
Isn’t that the point of the good bike lock? To prevent stealing even a good, new bike?
locks don’t keep people from stealing, they only slow them.
I don’t think that’s true lol. But sure, some people will do anything they can in desperation. Surely it’s a spectrum of necessity.
if locks kept people out, there would be almost no theft, like 90% reduction. if someone wants in, they’re getting in.
You are generalizing but I understand what you’re trying to say. Locks aren’t magical or anything, it’s just metal, right? But they work pretty well. Anybody could be tempted to take a bike if it’s just sitting there unlocked. Anybody.
But locked bikes are stolen much less than unlocked bikes, so locks work. Locks do keep people out. 🙂↕️
Battery operated angle grinders have removed the effectiveness of just about any lock. The idea is to be a less attractive target. Will someone risk getting beat up or arrested for a beater bike? How about an obviously expensive bike? The effort and potential punishment is the same, but one has a much high potential for reward. Even if they don’t take the whole bike, do you have expensive rims, etc?
A bike not worth stealing can still be all you need it to be, but not what someone else would take a risk for.
I guess I live in a place in the world where it isn’t such a big problem. I mean, bikes are stolen all the time here, but I park my bike in public places so that it won’t get stolen. I have a very big lock as well so even an angle grinder would have to go for a while, enough for people to wonder and maybe call the police.
I recently purchased a good lock because I got myself an escooter and figured I’d need something good to protect it well. I am still in shock by how much those locks cost, like holy I understand why but I just never expected it. Didn’t help that I forgot to check the price before taking it to the counter either I guess.
I still get anxious about parking my e-scooter though so I try to only bring it to places with secure areas or where I can fold it up and keep it with me.
A rice cooker. YMMV but I’ve probably cut 80% of my food spending since I had a way to cook rice reliable and easily.
I’m actually the opposite. We relied heavily on our $25 rice cooker (and it’s still nice sometimes) but recently I discovered that stove cooked rice with like actual ingredients in it isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Total gamechanger and even though I love my plain white rice, it can be really nice to mix it up and do like a Greek or Mexican style rice.
Potato peeler. Saves so much time over using a knife.
Swede here. Never have I been to a household that does not have a potato peeler. You use it for everything. Potatoes, carrots, apples, pears, sweet potatoes… Sometimes cucumber if you’re making something weird/garnishy. People use knives to peel potatoes‽
I’m fact, just boil the potatoes with the peel, then pinch it off after boiling. Even faster than all other methods. Also keeps nutrients.
Sometimes a household is a more fluid concept than you’d like and not everything in a kitchen moves from one instance of a household to the next. But there’s always a knife around and sometimes you just want a potato so you peel with what you got. But then when your household gets more stable you remember what a great time-saver a potato peeler is.
I know you’re just trying to sound like a smartarse wank but who in the utter fuck doesn’t have a potato peeler?
Where do you live, Kyrgyzstan? 😂
People that have moved around a lot and never had a chance to assemble a lot of cooking utensils until recently. But I’m glad your life has been so charmed you can’t imagine someone not taking a potato peeler for granted.
Why not leave the skin on? It’s more nutritious and tastes good
The real question is how to easily and quickly get Styes out.
Dang, I gotta eat more potatoes.
An eReader. Once you have one you can read for entertainment and knowledge anywhere from free to any budget.
Yes, you can read with pretty much anything with a screen but a nice dedicated device will encourage focused reading.
On that note, you don’t need to buy books from Amazon, Google, Apple or Kobo. And no I’m not talking about raising the Jolly Roger.
Project Gutenberg offers public domain books for free to anyone in all the formats. While Overdrive or Libby offers you Books,
newspapersmagazines, and audiobooks for the low low cost of a free library card. Down side on Libby is wait times for some things. Audiobooks can be worse, upto a month or more for the most popular books.My Kindle is definitely my favorite way to read anything without heavy diagrams.
Fits in a fanny pack, doesn’t burn my retinas, battery lasts incredibly long.
A bidet. You can get a basic one for $30-$40 and there is no need to get anything fancier than that. With the amount of money you save on toilet paper, it will more than pay for itself in the first year.
Additionally, toilet paper will never clean your rusty balloon knot nearly as well as a stream of water. If you got shit on your hand, would you be satisfied with wiping it off with some paper? I hate pooping anywhere else but shit-base-alpha. Whenever I have to poop somewhere and use toilet paper, I feel like a filthy caveman.
As someone with a hairy butt, I use the same amount of toilet paper for drying. But my ass is WAY cleaner.
Yes. I love my bidet. I got one after the stupid tp shortage. I still like toilet paper to dry off but yes, parts of me have been much happier since this change.
Whenever someone balks about the bidet I just ask them if they ever used lotion before, and then I point out that they’re using poop as lotion on their butt.
Cocaine ❤️
/s
Toyota Tacoma. Is literally worth more now than when I bought it. My model has bluetooth but none of the “always on tracking” many vehicles come with after. Subaru Forester. It had a recall for a head gasket something or other that required an entire new engine. Got that done at 115k miles, basically a new car for nothing.
Le Crueset set for about $600 15 years ago. We have cooked hundreds of meals with them. Same with cast iron and stainless copper core pots and pans. Immersion blender (corded) as well. Stove top espresso percolator is so cheap and nice if you aren’t a daily espresso drinker. Having that one cup on a rainy afternoon or after dinner is a treat.
If you like grilled/bbq/smoked food, a nice grill will last years if you take care of it. I had a side by side gas and charcoal/wood grill for the last 11 years. Heavy use and lack of replacement parts finally killed it. I could cook full plates for 20+ people off that thing or just a couple of chicken breasts for a quick dinner. I have a pretty cheap but capable gas stainless grill and a santa maria bbq now. They work fine, but not quite as convenient as the all in one.
A really good mattress, solid bed frame, nice pillows, and high thread count cotton sheets are worth every penny. I didn’t get all that together until I was middle aged and I really wished I had done it sooner. My back is like “wtf dude, we could have had this the whole time ?!”
If you do any woodworking, 3d printing, making stuff, art etc? Space. A space to do all that it. Wether it is a hobby or cottage industry, you will need dedicated space to make your mess. I’ve seen people trying to DIY in apartments on youtube and its just so bad. Not to mention dangerous. Fumes, fire, trip hazard, mdf dust, etc. Find a place to house all that nonsense outside of your living space.
And if you make digital art, photoshop, draw, anything that makes you hate a mouse for input. A Wacom tablet screen is worth it. Not an iPad, not a Surface all in one, not some knock off clone from Ali Express…but a crazy expensive Wacom. The regular tablets are okay, but drawing on the screen is almost impossible to come back from. I bought mine in 2009 for $3k and still use it daily.
Laundry machine, whether at home or laundromat. It’s one household chore that almost nobody does manually in the developed world.
Hot water heater. It’s almost dirt cheap to run, but damn if I don’t love me some hot water.
Refrigeration. Shit is so cheap and ubiquitous, but fucking ice and cold beverages, hell yes.
Cannabis. It’s not free but it’s really not expensive. A little goes a long way these days.
Internet maps and GPS. Usually you don’t have your pay for the maps, or GPS, but somebody has to store and update all that information about places you’ve never been. Also phones and data connections aren’t free. Trips used to take a lot more planning, and getting lost. I think a smart phone is worth its cost for mapping alone. And it also calls people too. And plenty of other amazing stuff.
Serious question: why is it called a “hot water heater”?
If anything, it heats cold water to make it hot.
Why not just “water heater”?I don’t know. I wanted to say “hot water on tap”, to differentiate from a tea kettle, which is also a water heater. But the prompt was about items you might purchase, and I’ve always called it a hot water heater.
We moved into a place that had a massive washing machine in a room attached to the garage. We ended up buying a massive dryer to match. It’s like having our own laundrette. And since I do my laundry like an animal (no separation, no gentle cycle, now low heat dry) I can get most of my clothes done in two loads.
Speaking of hot water, a few years back I needed to replace the boiler for my home heating, and I learned that there are “indirect fired” hot water tanks that use the boiler to call for heat. I did the math and had one put in.
I love it because the tank is dead simple, very little to go wrong, no burning and rusting and blowing out the bottom seams.
And my favorite aspect is that it exercises my boiler all year round, so I know won’t have nasty surprises when the winter season starts.
I think a reverse umbrella. It’s a great thing, it won’t turn inside out and break in heavy winds, and when you fold it up all the wet side is on the inner side so you don’t drip all over the floor, the bus, etc. I love mine and it was only about 20 dollars.
Reverse umbrellas are the best. Hands down.
Dried beans.
CeraVe unscented lotion.
Sunscreen
$100 a month for family membership to yoga studio
My iron skillets, none were over $25. Some are over 25 years old now though.
Glasses for my myopic ass. Face I mean.
Depends on your hairstyle, but I used to have my hair cut about once a month for $20-25. I bought a set of electric hair clippers for about $30 more than 15 years ago and learned to cut it myself and have saved thousands of dollars. Its a simple men’s cut, so it works for me.
An electric razor or a quality safety razor are also possibilities. I used to use the disposable gillette razor cartridges at about $4 per head, which lasted 3-4 weeks (I used them until they hurt to save money). Now I have both a safety razor and an electric razor (I don’t need both, the electric was a gift). The safety razor was $45 and and blades are about $0.10. Blades last about a week instead of a month, but it paid for itself in about a year. I experimented with various shaving creams as well, but eventually went back to canned shaving cream because the time spent creating a good lather in alternative forms was annoying and not worth the savings.
The electric razor may or may not pay for itself depending on how much it cost and how often you have to change the head and the cost of cleaning solutions, but I do enjoy having it for a quick shave. It definitely is not as good of a shave though.
Really depends on a hairstyle - I cut my hair like this for years, but now I realize I looked like a criminal.
But now my wife does my hair, and she is perfect at that (because it’s same stuff on same head every time). So I’m still not paying :)
