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In the early 2000's, I bought a 1986 Honda XL250R. Just an old dirt bike.
The motorcyckle shop was across the road from the pawn shop I was originally going to buy a gun from, for the express purpose of taking my own life, for reasons that made sense at the time.
Since I bought that bike, I've made friends, learned a lot of new skills, and I met the best person in existence, who I am now married to. I passed on a final exit, and ended up with a pretty great life.
Hey man. From one stranger to another. I'm glad you're still here. Keep on going, stay awesome.
does stealing it count? because that would be a boxed copy of redhat linux from best buy in the late 90s/early 2000s. yes, i found a way to steal linux
Thid guy has the power of God
A bidet.
Japan has ruined toilets for me.
I can ruin toilets just fine myself, thank you.
A Kobo e-reader. I now read much more than before because of the convenience, and I also became a book pirate. It has paid itself multiple times on the money I've saved in physical books.
Chemotherapy absolutely changed my life, does that count?
If you are alive and well, it does
Smart vacuum cleaner. You pay once for not needing to vacuum your house anymore - best deal ever.
I had a very different experience with mine. I bought a middle range one, not the cheap one, with very good reviews at the time. I absolutely cannot trust it. It's always getting stuck, getting lost and not able to go back to charging station, or say that it's "finished" and leav obvious spot of dusts.
My living room is indeed a bit cluttered as it's not that big, but there is still enough space for it to move....
Anything that takes away shitty chores. People take washing machines for granted these days, but a decent dishwasher is a godsend. Modern ones don't need anything more than a basic scrape of the dishes as "prep" and loading it before bed to then wake up to a load of sparkling clean dishes is amazing.
In a similar vein we've just got a robot vacuum cleaner that we've set to run every night. The amount of dog fur in its bin every morning is eye opening, and other than for the stairs there's almost no need to do vacuuming ourselves now.
I love my airfryer and may upgrade it to a larger one. I've started making my own food again instead of eating fast food every day (depression sucks).
Bidet. Amazing for a North American, I know RoW has had them for eons. You are so clean that a couple of squares of tp to dry off and you are golden. No more endless wiping.
A dog.
Have had a dog most of my life. Hard to imagine living without one. They're better than people, fantastic companions, and the entire relationship is based on each other trying to make each other happy.
I lost my first dog last week. He was a great friend.
~~Zoloft~~ Lexapro aka escitalopram. I thought everyone had the anxiety voices like I did. I told myself I was just a worrier. Then it got REALLY bad in my 30's and even I thought it was getting absurd. My doc asked me "how are you feeling" and I just broke down, spilled my guts. He said "let's try a small dose." and after a couple months adjustment, the crazy voices went from 4/5 to a 1/5. They're still there, but they're WAY more quiet. I had no idea that this is what normal people think like.
we were picking up some free boots for my partner off of facebook marketplace when i asked about the weight bench that was also in the yard. the owner said "someone said they were coming for it, but they were supposed to be here 2 hours ago. you want it?" I disassembled it in the yard and ruined my folding knife trying to use it as a screwdriver, but it was the best decision I've ever made. Grabbed some adjustable dumbbells from amazon, have been hitting up marketplace for plates people aren't using ever since, and I've now got a full-body 5x/week workout routine that is 100% the key to my mental and physical health. Best thing I've ever done for myself, and getting every piece of equipment that I use today cost about $100 total.
Wheelchair :)
That and medication. The two changed my life completely.
Bicycle. No gas expenses, no tabs, no loan, free parking. I understand how it works and can mostly fix it myself for very little money. I can take quiet side streets and arrive in a much better mood, plus my fat lazy ass gets some exercise.
I wish there was infrastructure for them where I live, I hate driving and I like cycling
Self hosting. Iโm still a beginner on this but Nextcloud and plex made me way richer than before both economically and mentally
64 ounce Stanley water jug. I throw ice in it and I have something cold to drink all day. It's beautiful.
Bidet has been good though now it feels gross to shit at work and my politics demand I shit at work.
Contact grill, ie a GE brand George Foreman. I can't fuck up flippimg shit if I'm frying both sides simultaneously. And a food thermometer so my colorblind ass isn't relying on mom's shit advice to just cook it until it's brown.
This battery car starter / tire infator / phone charger. I have used it with some frequency, but more often I can just roll up and fix someone's car problem super quick. I even get out of work with it a lot when a customer needs someone to jump their car or fix a flat (also keep a tire patch kit obv).
All of this is bought from thrift stores. I can only assume most of my shit was originally shoplifted, it's fantastic. There is just so much good shit being sold for almost nothing, I am the KING of expired Chips Ahoy.
A dishwasher... For a family, it saves a huge amount of time and water.
A foam/gel pillow that allows me to sleep with my neck at the proper angle so my degenerating disks don't keep me up all night. A literal lifesaver.
In last 5 years for me:
(sorry it's not single item...)
Noise cancelling earphones.
Oh man. Just not having to listen to my dishwasher, clothes machines or vacuum cleaner run their mouths while they're in service is live improvening.
A Comma 3 to run Openpilot on my Honda Civic. It's lane keep / adaptive cruise control on steroids. I drive about 40 thousand miles each year for work, 46 miles round trip on "local" days. Having that level of driver assist on the highway makes a life changing difference. I arrive less fatigued and feel more capable of reacting to hazards. Their tagline is making driving chill, and it really has delivered. I don't know how I did this mileage before Openpilot.
A replacement screen for my 2012 Samsung laptop. I fell on it, slipping on the ice and the screen was totally fucked. So woe is me, time to go to a technician and someone on the bus overheard me and suggested I buy the screen and fix it myself. Tech quoted me 300 bucks and 2 months wait.
So I bought it for under 100 bucks, took just a week and followed a how-to guide on Youtube. It was an improvement because it meant I was finally developing a job skill in computer maintenance and could do something to at least survive in capitalism.
Crocs. Technically two items but you need a pair to get the benefits.
You're good bro:
One UPC = one item. For the purposes of inventory reconciliation you are requested to treat all paired, grouped, bundled, etc, items as a unit or group of units where the quantity thereof is to match the number of uniquely scannable UPC codes, or where multiple codes are affixed to a single saleable unit the saleable unit itself may be considered to be the saleable unit.
-- Parapant v Decacards Corporation, 1998
Synology NAS (basically a hard drive always connected to the home network and internet) - has been amazing for auto-backing-up photos from the family phones and for running Plex run my own personal streaming service for the whole family around the world. Has been great for file transfer too. I can easily move files between my phone, PC, Steam Deck, etc and all the USB memory sticks I had have been sitting in a drawer ever since.
Exercise compression thermals - wear these is super comfortable and really warm. I wear them constantly at home and can have the heating off almost all winter (UK). Saves tons of energy and money.
Electric blanket - another great low energy purchase for relaxing under when watching TV or warming up the bed before sleeping. Gets super hot while hardly using any energy at all.
Split unit air con installation - this was expensive and I thought it would be unnecessary in the UK, but it seems to be used more and more every summer as we get more heatwaves and summers are becoming unbearable.
Safety razors - I have really thick facial hair and the multi-blade razors from big name brands would dull really quickly and cause tons of shaving rash. These razors are sharper, last longer, are recyclable and much better for my skin.
Liquid ink refillable rollerball pens - I tried fountain pens after seeing the online communities that are crazy about them, and really didn't like them. I found rollerball pens I like that take fountain pen ink and have been super happy with them. I write a lot at work and this has gotten rid of the plastic waste of throwing away used disposable ballpoint refills every couple of weeks.
Hitbox controller - I've been playing Street Fighter 6 since release and I made a leverless controller box myself and I've loved using it to play SF6. Managed to make it for one third the price of what these things sell for and completely customised it.
TOP OF THE LIST: bidet (duh),
electric water kettle (fuck gas stoves and also faster),
$3 metal tongue scrapper (clean ass mouth),
noise cancelling headphones (it's amazing not going back),
slow cooker (it's impressive how lazy i am. spend an hour cruising slow cooking recipes on reddit/chaptgpt, pick out 10+, set for life),
piratebay
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
50+ pack of small white rags and using those instead of paper towels. simple washer after all used to reuse
cheap air purifier in room @ night, clean air and dual white noise maker.
small $10 desk usb fan. fuck running the A/C just turn this guy on.
electric space heater. depending on your climate, you don't need central gas heat just get space heater and shut the door to the room you're in.
First place, aSmartwatch.
I all but stopped checking every fcking notification, my life has become peacefull and tranquil.
Second place, my 4yo daughter. Achieved the exact opposite.
Two things together allowed me to sleep soundly for the fist time in my life:
-Melatonin
-A sleep mask
I take melatonin an hour before I want to sleep and the eye mask ensures that no light bothers me.
Baby Brezza formula machine.
Pre-heats the water and has a hopper for the powder. You can have a bottle of formula ready to go in about 10 seconds. Wifi with an app too.
Proper quality in ear headphones/monitors. So nice. Proper over ear headphones hurt my neck, and you can't always turn the speakers up to a decent volume.
Very small quality of life increase, but I got the Scrub Daddy Soap Daddy. Makes life a bit easier and tidier for cleaning up in the kitchen.
Sunglasses and UV-blocking clothes.
With the first I discovered that I have a high sensitivity to light, now I can see much more during the day.
And the second is very useful, protecting me from sun without the need to worry about sunscreen (except for the face)
