Mine… My Xbox 360 slim only costed 129 euro back in 2012 and to this day still work like brand new, you would think that the disc drive would stop working but no. Never had the need of open it or clean it’s insides. Still great, I just don’t use it anymore since I feel it’s outdated and loading speeds are better nowadays.
Victorinox Swiss Army Knife. It’s still kicking. The amount of times I’ve used it, it saves so much time than looking for the proper dedicated tool.
A metal wallet. Definitely worth it if you don’t carry a lot. Mine is maybe 10 years old now or more.
3+ year old used Lenovo Thinkpads, these things are great if you need a budget laptop that’s not for gaming. A lot of companies lease them. When the lease expires you can get them very cheap because they flood the market.
General Military Surplus. We have a shop a few kilometers a way that sells surplus. They get in brand new stuff all the time. Still in packaging. It’s built well. Keep in mind military surplus isn’t just in the field stuff. Laptop bags, shirts, blankets, hats.
A pet. Worth every penny. Got my cat from a shelter, he’s been there for me through thick and thin. Gives great hugs.
My wife did a cert class for data analytics and needed a work horse laptop. I bought her a used i7 Thinkpad from eBay.
It’s so damn fast… m2 drive 32 GB of ram it’s literally only limited in speed by the user input.
Just an amazing deal for $450
Edit it was a t14 gen 2.
I just got mine a few weeks ago and it’s so impressive. I bought it used for $150 and I can tell I’ll be using this for years.
I juuuust retired a t420s recently… off lease computers are absolutely the way to go for buying new to you laptops.
Toss in a SSD and a Linux distro… and you’re good for 6-8 years imho
Where would I buy a cheap thinkpad?
ebay is a good source though more expensive, places like marketplace often have decent deals, check out electronics recyclers and wholesalers, if you have any. Those are generally good places to look.
Amazon or Ebay probably. Sometimes you can find an electronic recycling place and just ask.
I love my poncho liner lol, it’s perfect for a hammock blanket. I think it was maybe $5.
Heck my wife stole mine, I spent more on mine. Those things are great.
Trying to convince mine, she keeps buying these expensive cartridges that she ends up throwing out after a few times or they get left out and their little soap bars fuse to stuff. They suck.
Minecraft
I wish Minecraft had an in game play counter… Well… I mean I’m glad it doesn’t but I kind of wish it did. I’ve been playing since 2011 or so…
I probably have more than a year in actual game time… lol
i easily have somewhere between 5000 hours, and 10000 hours in minecraft to this day.
What an incredible game.
in terms of play time, i have a server that i have a little over a month of playtime on. I have several launcher instances with well over 500 hours of playtime, and i’ve been playing semi regularly since i’ve originally owned the game. So safe to say, damn good investment.
Condom
This is the best money saver
Safety razor: When you need to shave with a razor, these things work better than disposables and are cheap as hell to replace the blades for. Still on my original pack of blades from 10 years ago (got a gross of blades for maybe $20) and am not even halfway through - I might not ever have to buy blades again.
This. I bought 500 feather blades for $40 (which is more of a steal than a deal) in 2013 and they will last me many more years
I have probably tried 3 dozen blade types, and Feathers and Gillette Yellows are the tops. Double the price of the cheaper ones, but absolutely a nice “splurge.” Decided to grow out my hair and beard for a while to mix things up, but I still have a big grab bag of blades for when I change moods again.
Even at double the price you still end up paying under $0.10 per shave - maybe $25/year - and that’s if you pay full price. A small fraction of what you’d pay for cartridges or disposable razors.
Yup, double edge blades are so cheap compared to cartridges. I got pretty long life out of blades too, so it got even cheaper.
A 100pack of astra blades… they just keep going and going! I suspect that they multiply inside that box tower that they come in!
This was such an improvement bit only are the blades better but since they are cents each and not dollars I just get a fresh blade when ever it want to. Bought a pack of 100 for like 6 dollars a few years back and only recently had to restock.
Use some of the savings to get a nice brush and soap it will make a world or difference over the stuff in a can.
Yeah, I’m still on my original brush too lol
Collapsible metal travel chopsticks. Always have a useful set of utensils on me. Cost me less than $10.
I keep an old Ozark Trail Hobo Tool in my overnight bag. I can’t tell you how useful it’s been when traveling and ending up at a hotel somewhere getting take out to have an actual knife and fork.
A shoehorn. It makes putting shoes on so much easier, and for just a couple of dollars. I’m perfectly capable of putting my shoes on without it, but I enjoy not having to.
I started using one because the back would always wear out (heel counter, I think it’s called) so the shoe horn has reduced that to nothing. Now the shoes wear out first, so I’m sure I’ve saved the cost of a couple pairs of shoes by now.
Plus I feel classy using it 😆
I feel classy using it
I have one of those long shoehorns that let me put my shoes on without even leaning down. It makes me feel downright aristocratic. (And it’s metal too, no plastic for me!)
The gf made fun of me at first for using it, but now she does too, especially as she likes to take off her shoes without untying them. 😒
She brought home a metal one a while ago after our long plastice one broke, but this one already bent somehow. I keep bending it back, but it must be made of the cheapest metal possible because it keeps bending again. Still works, just looks stupid. I’ll have to ask for a quality one for Christmas. It does make me feel rather gentlemanly when I put on my work boots!
I’m still loving my iPod Classic. I got it a little Bluetooth dongle so I can listen via my hearing aids. I find iTunes beyond irritating though and am always looking for an alternative for adding music.
My Zune will never die.
Possibly the only worthy iPod competitor in my opinion. I wish I had one.
My zune got stolen :'(
My first Chromecast i bought years ago for 20$. It’s still faster than the Google TV with a remote and I quite like to use my phone as a remote.
LTT screwdriver - although quite expensive has been a great tool when moving a few times, and for everything really.
An old receiver I got used, for 30$ has been with me for 5 years now, and it’s sadly starting to misbehave, but I can’t afford a new one ATM so I’ll suffer through it as it powers everything I throw at it with ease.
I’m 41. As a college going-away gift I suppose, my dad bought me a basic screwdriver where the bits can be flipped for larger and smaller Phillips and flat heads, all stored in the shaft. It’s got a floral handle. That thing is both my husband’s and my favorite screwdriver despite having acquired many more tools in the interim, and it probably cost four bucks back in 2001.
I finally got one of these after using my normal bit-swap screwdriver with no ratcheting about a month ago and I’ll never go back
Bonus: craftsman make one that will ratchet the same way no matter what way you twist it. Just hold the ring and twist, screw goes in. It is amazing
I ordered my first Chromecast the day they were announced (Amazon exclusive at first BTW).
It was a different time with Amazon. They got confused in the rush or orders, and sent me like 7 emails in 20 minutes all contradicting each other about my order. I was mostly curious when it would arrive, so I called to see if they had any idea, since them emails ranged between 2 weeks and 4 months.
They apologized for the confusion, overnighted one to me, and refunded my money.
Amazon’s customer service 11 years ago was excellent to the point of irresponsible.
I grew up in a third world country and one of the first gift my immigrant relatives got for my parents was a microwave oven. That was way back in the early 90s when almost nobody in my country knew what a microwave oven was. The same microwave had been going strong for more than 30 years before the buttons finally broke last year. All for around $200 back in the day.
portable clothes washer and dryer: they’re both 20 years old now and i bought them used on craigslist five years ago and they’ve already paid for themselves multiple times over. regular home sized portable washers and driers are normally 2x the price of traditional washers and driers, but they’re 1/2 the price used; i got lucky and mine were 1/4 the price.
mobile clothes washers and driers are great because they don’t require any special electrical, water or drain hookups that traditional washers and dryers require so you can use them anywhere where there’s electricity and running water. i hook mine up to the kitchen sink for the washer and use an exhaust hose w a window for the dryer whenever i need to do laundry; then i use their built in wheels to put them in the closet when i’m done.
their regular sized capacity means that i can wash the same things that that a traditional home washer and dryer can do, but since they use regular 120 volt electric plugs instead of the special 240 volt washer/dryer plugs, they take longer to finish; but still worth it, especially in a rental situation where you can’t install traditional washer & dryer electrical and plumbing hookups.
Skyrim for $3 on PS3. Best money I ever spent on a video game.
Got a set with a box cutter and a foldable knife a few years back for $7, haven’t really used the knife much but the box cutter has been used a ton. It’s really nice to just be able to replace the blade when it starts getting dull, and it has allowed me to use it for a lot of precision cutting for a lot of different projects, plus it’s really easy to fold or unfold so I don’t have to worry too much about cutting myself.
My father got a toaster at a garage sale back in the 1970’s. That was the toaster I grew up with. When I was moving out, my parents happen to be replacing it, so I asked for it. I did some research and it is a GE toaster from the mid 1950’s. I have used it for the past ten years and it’s still going strong. It’s maybe a bit small for some slices, but it’s hard to argue with 70 years of near continuous service.
This reminds me that every night I set the alarm on the alarm clock next to my bed. I bought this alarm clock in 1991 in a Caldor store for less than $10. It has a little light bulb in it that I’ve changed 3 times.
33 years. Not bad.
Stackable prep bowls for the kitchen. They’re about $6 a piece and I have eight of them. I got sick of constantly running out of bowls when I was doing things like chopping lots of veggies for a soup or marinating tofu. I expect to reach the end of my “usefulness” before they do.
Similarly, I have a set of 12 rounded stacking mixing bowls. I use them a lot for tossed salads, but they are also useful for dough.
I don’t know why, but I read “stackable” and my brain went to “collapsible”. Was flabbergasted anyone was trying to mix dough in a rubber flimsy container lol. +1 for the stainless steel. All of the non-stick coating pans and pots are a complete scam of wasted money. If anyone out there hasn’t purchased stainless steel, just buy one pot or pan when you need a replacement. You’ll quickly realize you now have that item for life and it’s safe to use any cooking utensil you want.
I have really fallen in love with my carbon steel skillet for general purpose cooking, including more delicate food like eggs. It took some time to get the hang of cooking with it and I still haven’t quite gotten the seasoning right, but it’s a sturdy piece. I also have a cast iron skillet, but it’s much heavier and I’ve never been able to get it to cook eggs. Since I started using the carbon steel for eggs, I have basically stopped using our non-stick pan.
I actively use a couple of appliances with a nonstick interior, an air fryer and a rice cooker. I just try to treat them very nicely but I know they won’t last forever. At least the parts are trays or liners that can be replaced separately from the appliance.
I also have a very nice 3 ply stainless steel pan, but I find that I don’t pull that out as much. Maybe because I’m usually not making the sorts of recipes that it excels with, like ones that use the fond to make a pan sauce.
When I first moved into my own place I needed a few pots and pans to cook. I bought 2 cheap aluminum pots with a non-stick coating and the coating is starting to disintegrate after like 3 years and light usage.
I should have just spent the extra 10 bucks to get cheap stainless stuff.
