Asklemmy

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.

A mattress

Caulk, screws. Very much not worth having saved a few dollars when these things end up not working.

• 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.

Scissors comes to mind. Don't spend a lot, just don't be shit dollar store ones.

Office chair

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. 🙄

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.

• highly reputed Oxymeter in medical establishment (do not buy inaccurate smartwatches, Apple is 20x ripoff and still subpar)
• Victorinox for Swiss army knife
• Victorinox or Leatherman for multitool
• reputed branded batteries (Maxell, Duracell, Sanyo, Sony, Eneloop et al)
• reputed battery/device chargers
• PSU/SMPS and UPS for computer (APC, Emerson, Schneider and other brands)
• reputed brand watches (Casio, Citizen, Seiko have affordable BIFL options)
• ThinkPad for laptop (user repairability, third party parts, open schematics)
• Levis for jeans, they are almost BIFL
• a good weighing machine for kitchen/home use
• a good mixer grinder WITH safety lock (atleast 750W)
• quality stationery pen, mechanical pencil, leads, eraser and other items (Uni, Pentel, Sakura, Staedtler et al, refer to JetPens website)

Wow lots of replies but here's another one. Anything that connects you with the world. Boots, glasses, headphones

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.

USB sticks. Hold longer, have more speed.

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.

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).

Anything that broke and you need a replacement of.

A refrigerator with a good ice maker is worth the extra expense. Our ice maker just gave out, and I'd forgotten how much a pain in the butt it is to make ice in plastic trays.

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.

https://www.surlatable.com/scanpan-es5-11-square-griddle/PRO-5844956.html?cgid=SCA-428040&start=-4