There’s 3 things that really stand out for me that I would say made a massive difference to my life:

  1. Cordless screw driver. Bought the day after building a flat pack bed with a crappy screw.driver that just shredded my hand. Thought it was frivolous at the time, but I’ve used it so much since. It’s light, small enough to fit in my pocket and good for 90% of DIY tasks.

  2. Tassimo coffee machine. Bought it 9 years ago, use it every day. Nice quick easy coffee. What’s not to like.

  3. My first DSLR camera. It was a Nikon D50 back in 2005/6 and it sparked my interest in photography to this day. It gave me a hobby I can take lots of places and do it alone or with others. I never loved the D50 camera itself, but I did get some really nice shots with it

  • UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world
    1·
    4 months ago

    I bought a 97 Ford Taurus off a friend for $800 back in 2008. Her dad thought it was on its last legs at 155k miles so he wanted to sell it. I drove it for four years. It was running fine until someone blasted it out in front of my girlfriend’s house and drove off. At the time it had 206k miles. 50k miles for $800 was certainly one of my best purchases.

  • COASTER1921@lemmy.ml
    0·
    4 months ago

    1. Quality electric toothbrush. I can’t get my teeth feeling clean without one anymore.

    2. A rice cooker. Doesn’t need to be fancy, but it lowers the barrier to cooking substantially given how many dishes use rice.

    3, A phone with a camera that’s at least mid-range, as it’s the camera you’ll have on you most. I used to always use phones from cheap brands like Umidigi and although some of them did perform quite well others left me with gaps of my life where none of the photos I took have any detail.

  • 8565@lemmy.techtriage.guru
    0·
    4 months ago
    1. Back in 2017 while stationed in AZ I adopted a dog who was the cutest little Blue Heeler, for $5 we have been inseparable since and she is the single greatest thing that’s happened to me.
    2. Last year in April my Powerstrokes transmission failed and on a whim I bought a 98’ 4 runner with 245k miles. We have now built the hell out of that little rig and have put 15k miles on it in 11 months
    3. 100 pairs of socks on Amazon. This sounds nuts but, I got 100 pairs of black socks 2 years ago for $60 because I was tired of my socks always missing. I still have 50 socks I haven’t touched.