Where you absolutely refuse to go the cheap way.
For me its deodorant. Everything else I’ve found but my chosen brand fails me.
Disclaimer: my wife has a chronic neck injury.
Car! We’ve had Renaults for years, but last time we went for a BMW and the difference is night and day. My wife had to do lots of stretching exercises just to go and buy bread. In the BMW she can happily drive 5-6 hours with no (extra) discomfort.
YouTube premium. I’m too old to hassle with extensions, and I really don’t like ads. And I like to support my content creators without going to twitch or clicking on any links in their descriptions.
Motor oil and oil filter. I only use mobil 1 and their extended life filter.
Edit to add: I don’t know of any shop that will use that oil/filter so I do my own oil changes and even with the “expensive” oil (5 qt. jug from walmart is about $29 and free delivery) it is much cheaper to diy this than have it done.
ETA: Just looked up that price and I was off by $2 so updated it to $29.
I’ll run the cheapest oil I can find but I will only buy Mobile 1 filters. I can’t remember the YouTube video I watched but the conclusion was Mobile 1 were almost the best and Fram are crap.
That is interesting.
It took me a while to land on the mobil 1 filters. I think I was using wix before. Glad to hear they’re good.
I assume you change your oil often? I only do so every 5k with the mobil 1 oil ( extended mileage). That still makes me a bit nervous but no problems. The (haynes?) manual I use says not to go more than 5k even with synthetic.
Edit to add: Those videos where they open the oil filters are really interesting. So much marketing bullshit on the outside and very real differences on the inside.
A bicycle
Cannabis. Quality typically scales with price.
If you grow your own, you get the best of all worlds. Some of the best cannabis you can obtain is shit you grew yourself.
Truth be told, I haven’t actually bought flower for some years for the above reason :) Good homegrown beats dispo by a long shot.
PC power supplies. God, do not cheap out on them. That and a bed mattress. A good sleep is more important than money.
A good sleep is definitely more important than money - when you have money. Until you have money your sleep doesn’t matter, you get to lay in the filth of others or sleep on a mattress that will slowly poison your lungs with fibreglass.
Everything that is used daily and has a big workload like fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, vacuum… Car parts… As mentioned before: computer parts.
Also cosmetics: find out what your skin needs, which products are the right ones for you. Don’t clutter when it comes to cosmetics. Buy only what you need but good stuff.
Food. I’ll give you everything else I own for food if I really need it.
Never skimp on what you apply ON or put IN your body.
Anything that I will experience the use of a lot. Computer, shoes, daily bag, etc.
I think a daily takeout coffee that lasts just half an hour a day, on the other hand, is an expensive luxury.
Bounty paper towels.
Everything else is a fucking waste of paper.
This along with toilet paper for sure. I did paper towels once that reviews said they were just as good. They lied. They weren’t close. It isn’t worth the price difference as you go through so much more.
my wife insists on trying cheaper brands and then telling me they’re just as good.
i do most of the shopping now.
Only good bread.
I learned how to make my own and now even the most expensive bread isn’t good enough
I bake my own and it’s great.
But if we’re being honest, my baguettes can’t beat the 40 year old artisan bakery across town.
A good backpack.
I looked a very long time after my backpack of 10 years broke and found one with a lifelong warranty that feels like I‘ll have it for at least 20 years.
I went with a Cotopaxi 35L for my solo travels. It’s been amazing! I highly recommend.
Good cookware. Non toxic stuff and good knives.
I use a lot of cast iron which is cheap and the only chemical is…iron.
Don’t forget carbon steel. My carbon steel pan is 100 years old!
Underwear and socks. PC desk, don’t trust a 50$ folding table with your midlife crisis gaming rig.
