Where you absolutely refuse to go the cheap way.
For me its deodorant. Everything else I’ve found but my chosen brand fails me.
Everything that is under you. Shoes, mattress, bike, car, desk chair etc.
Cheaping out on the above will cost you more in hospital and physical therapy bills.
Good comment! It’s a great rule of thumb.
I’ll add: a good bike helmet, which is a single-use item. One knock to the head and the helmet’s dead: if you are okay it’s done its job.
No
“Don’t skimp on things that seperate your ass from the road.”
Includes tires, helmets or PPE, furniture and what you said.
One of my dads advice nuggets. Has yet to fail me.
I wanted to buy new good shoes, but I can’t find good ones. 😫 to be fair though, my feet are weird sizes.
See if you can get Joya shoes where you live. They’re like walking on clouds. I’ve recommended then to everyone I know, but most ignore the tip. The ones who’s gotten a pair thanks me afterwards. You’ll NEVER hurt under your feet, no matter how much you walk in a day.
PC power supply.
Never, ever skimp on a power supply. Get one from a reputable brand and with a rating above what you may actually need.
A failed PSU can in principle wreak havoc on any other components in the system, many of which are far more expensive than the PSU itself.
A computer chair.
As I get older my back is really happy that I spent a bit more on the chair I spend almost all my time in.
Aeron chair for life.
Meh an Aeron feels “fine”……. And 8 hours later still feels “fine”.
Laptops that are designed to support Linux
Framework FTW
Don’t forget laptops you can repair
But how are you supposed to learn kernel patching if everything works out of the box?
Hell yeah
I totally get why you might not but for me, quality underwear has been a great purchase. They last longer, breath better, stay put, and synthetic ones are washable in a sink in a pinch when traveling(I mean they all are but these dry really quick)
I only buy ones certified by inspector 34.
I’ve found my expensive underwear to not last all that long, but to be amazingly more comfortable. There’s no going back, especially when it’s hot out.
What is expensive underwear to you? Curious on brands and different qualities.
My favorite is ExOfficio. I usually buy them when they’re on sale because they can be highly variable in pricing. 15 to 30 dollars an item, for example, and usually not so cheap as 15. But the quality is great.
Edit: I used to use Patagonia, which are much better than standard underwear, but ExOfficio is better.
Coffee beans for sure (gotta love freshly roasted specialty beans!), but also vegetables (organic & local are the best). Oh, and also headphones, for sure.
To me these are all totally worth it because the jump in quality is very noticeable. After a certain price point, though, the law of diminishing returns kicks in hard
I unfortunately can’t tell the difference between organic fruit and regular fruit.
But I can tell the difference between fresh eggs from somebody’s lawn and cost like $6-8 and supermarket eggs that’s like $3. Fresh eggs is so good
Office chairs are important, but people tend to overlook the rest of their office ergonomics. If you work at a computer you should spend money on an adjustable keyboard tray and monitor arms. Then buy a good ergonomic keyboard and vertical mouse or trackball to go with them. My back and wrists used to get sore by the end of the day. That hasn’t happened since I upgraded my gear.
Just out of curiosity, do you have any recommendations for specific products?
I recently bit the bullet and bought a Kinesis360 Advantage. Definitely interesting to get use to and eye wateringly expensive, but my wrist pain went away within days.
The Kinesis Advantage is an absolute godsend for tendonitis!
I can tell you what works for me.
I have an Uncaged Ergonomics Adjustable Under Desk Keyboard Drawer and Mouse Tray (KT2-b v2). It has a wider range of adjustment and is easy to change. I spent a week tweaking the position and it’s been perfect ever since.
My dual monitors are each attached to a Jestik Advanced Flex 1.0 Single Monitor Arm. I can position them anywhere I want at any angle and they will stay there.
My keyboard is a Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB with Cherry MX mechanical switches. I also use their Lift Kit. The keyboard is split in half and the lift kit raises it in the center at a 30-degree angle. There is a wrist rest built into the front the of the keyboard. All of that minimizes how much my arms have to rotate without making me learn a completely different mode of typing.
I switched from a mouse to a trackball decades ago when I started to have sore wrists. My long-time driver is the Logitech MX Ergo Trackball. I put it on a stand that adds 20-degrees of tilt to get the best angle for me.
I also have a small trackpad on a small pedestal between the two halves of my keyboard. It allows me to do simple cursor movements without taking my hands of the keys.
On the rare occasions when I want a mouse I use an Anker Wireless Vertical Mouse.
It may be overkill, but I use it for eight hours a day and do not feel any discomfort.
Underwear and socks. PC desk, don’t trust a 50$ folding table with your midlife crisis gaming rig.
Sushi
Anything that connects me to the ground. Shoes, Mattress, Tires, etc.
Never skimp on what you apply ON or put IN your body.
Pretty much everything, nowadays.
I came across a saying “Buy nice or buy twice” and that resonated with me. Another variation I have seen is “Buy once, cry once”.
Getting cheap trash that will fall apart in a few months that you will have to eventually re-buy isn’t going to help, but that doesn’t mean you buy gold-plated or diamond-encrusted items. Spending a little bit more for most items usually gets you something that will work better, last longer, or both. Good quality stuff is usually backed with good warranties too.
I spend my time researching to see what product is the best for me, look for deals online, or even buy used if I have to.
No problems paying for quality. We need more of it in this world. But when they market themselves as such but aren’t… now that ruffles my jimmies
Consumables are a great place to save. 99% of the time, the store brand cookie, or whatever, is mostly the same as the name brand. A lot of the time they’re even coming from the same factory.
I generally only follow this for things that are luxuries anyway. If I’m buying tools I buy the cheapest, crappiest version of it I can find. Then if it breaks, it means I’ve probably used it enough to warrant the expensive version.
Any tool I’m going to use more than once.
I use the saying quite often: “You can buy something nice, or you can buy something cheap and then something nice.”
Buy it nice, or buy it twice
Brady “Hard as Nails” Harran
Good underwear and a nice pair of wool socks. Nice undergarments are a big quality of life improvement.
Darm Tough socks are sure legit, lifetime warranty
Plus one for darn tough.