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Noise cancelling headphones. My work requires a lot of air travel and I have trouble with loud noises in general. I bought a pair a year or so ago for just under $70 and it's as good or better than the more expensive one ($150 refurbished) I got in 2017. It also has a mode to let the external sound through if someone is trying to talk to you.
It really does eliminate some of the annoyance of air travel.
A good quality utility knife for the kitchen
The original Guild Wars released in 2005. Damn that was an awesome purchase. Insane number of hours for the money spent.
3d printer. I can make custom things that just can't be bought fairly easily.
My washing machine's motor went out while it was full of water. I designed and printed an adapter that let me manually run the pump that drains the washer off of a cordless drill and successfully drained the washer. (Actually, the adapter broke in the middle, but I had the foresight to print a few spares. It only took a couple to drain the whole washer.)
A lot of the other stuff I print is custom wall mounts for things. A Raspberry Pi NAS that hangs on the wall, a mount for a SAD lamp, a mount for my Nintendo Switch Joycon charging base, etc.
High end PC I built. Players every game I'd wanna play super well and is far more reliable than any other PC I've owned
Kerbal Space Program 1. I bought it in early beta for like $14, have received all subsequent updates for free because I bought it so early, sunk literally thousands of hours of enjoyment into it and come out with a solid basic understanding of orbital mechanics.
I cant think of a better return on investment I've ever made.
I can't take credit for this, as I found it in a comment in a similar post and want to give that guy his props. It's a microwave sandwich grill press. It's inexpensive, and I use it all the time, especially when I want something, but I don't want anything big or heavy. I microwave grill a sandwich, and it's fantastic!
I was skeptical about how it would work, but it does. This is the Amazon link to it.
Prob my house.
Electrostatic capacitive rubber dome keyboard. β¦Such a pillowy, smooth travel compared to every mechanical keyboard. I wish there were higher demand so I could get an ergonomic one instead of basically being limited to what Topre or NiZ release.
A decent blender. Not anything industrial like a Vitamix, it's a Magimix which was about half as much but still durable and has replaceable parts. It's fine for what I need and is lasting much longer than the pile of crap I had before.
Vacuum pack bags for clothes is another one. I like to keep my wardrobe seasonal but I don't have much space, so packing it down helps.
Also anything reusable: PTFE/silicone baking sheets, rechargeable batteries, reloadable floss handles. All of these have saved recurring purchases, money over time and reduced waste (which made me feel good.)
Proper leather boots. I got the red wing irons rangers. Took 3 months of to break them in but it was worth it. Now I have boots that will last me half my life if I take good care of them, plus they fit like a glove!
Proper chef's knife and vegetable cleaver. Most of my military surplus clothes. A vaccuum sealer. Second hand books. My Traynor YBA-1. Some good boots. There's definitely stuff i forgot, i don't really buy items anymore.
without a ton of thought, and other than my current house:
travel, in general. recently a trip to sail out of svalbard down to norway. it's another world up there
an inexpensive handtruck is one of the most useful tools i have
a 'prosumer' grade espresso machine and a grinder is used and loved every single day
I bought the Rockwell 6S razor a few years ago and it's one of the best purchases i've ever made.
Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X headphones. Love the sound profile on them.