My wallet cried a little when I bought new bike, then I calculated the cost of alternative (car, public transport) and was surprised that even nicer bike is cheaper.
If I count only operating cost of car it will pay off in about 1 - 1.5 years. Public transport is at about 2 years.
Yes I know that I have some infrastructure, and other things that make it possible for me to use it everyday as car.
Also I stay fit and healthy when I don’t sit in a car - so this is another value that can’t be easily put in monetary perspective.
I did the same math when I bought my bike. How many times do I have to ride it to work to break even on this purchase? And as soon as I hit that threshold I never touched the thing again. Turns out I hate riding a bike.
It doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition. You can restrict your riding to only beautiful days when you’re feeling good and it’ll still make a difference.
That’s actually what I tried to do. But I live in Seattle. 9ish months of cold wet days means I’m in terrible shape when the beautiful summer comes around, then by the time I’m back in shape, it’s time to hibernate again.
What was your issue with bikes? When I got used to it, it is no brainer to pick a bike and get to work.
Basically comes down to the fact that I don’t enjoy it. Every time I’m on a bike I just think “I could be in a car. I could be sitting in a comfy seat listening to music, going way faster than this, using zero effort.” I like diving, I don’t like biking.
Plus, the last thing I want to do after a 12-hour shift at a physical job is to bike several miles uphill to get home.
Plus, the last thing I want to do after a 12-hour shift at a physical job is to bike several miles uphill to get home.
That’s a fair point. My job is sedentary and cycling is my primary form of exercise. (That said, I do have an ebike so the workout is not mandatory. Don’t tell my dietician that…)
I guess what got me into the cycling option was having a good hard look at the map. I work in an industrial park with a railway running next to it, but that railway was decommissioned years ago, and it turns out that it had been converted into a public trail. Much of the time I was driving to work, I was not even aware of this. But I tried out the trail. Not only does it knock about a mile off the street route, but it replaces slow-rolling trucks with tree tunnels and, because it had been a railway, the grades are gentle and bike-friendly.
I no doubt lucked out there but what I’m trying to say is it’s worth checking where bikes can go and cars cannot, as it can be a better experience to take those routes if they exist?
zero effort
Ebike.
If you still own a car, and you don’t drive it to work, call your insurance and have them reclassify your car as “personal use”. It’ll save you on your insurance costs.
That’s interesting. I will follow up on this. I do occasionally drive to work when the weather or road conditions are atrocious. More so in the winter months. But it’s a sporadic thing now and the car is no longer my main mode of transport.
Lol I don’t even have driving licence, I don’t need it.
Anything you purchase to put between you and the ground. Shoes, tires, beds, furniture, foundations
That was my grandfather’s advice as well and he survived the Soviet Union
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Almost any repair tools, gardening, or anything NEEDED to DIY. You can do a lot of personal projects with very little money.
That being said, it’s very easy to fall into a trap of going beyond what is needed into a full, fancy workshop, with all the shiny new equipment. If that’s what you’re goal is, that’s fine. If you’re doing it to save money, there’s a lot of ways to just get the bare minimum, and be extremely effective. Especially if you can get used, or even non-functional equipment and fix it up yourself.
They always sale descent mechanics tool sets for like $100 on black Friday and sometimes other times from home depot or Lowes.
That and youtube will pay for itself the first time you need to do an easy diy job on your car.
Why pay a shop $300 dollars to replace a thermostat when you can do it for a $15 part and $20 of radiator fluid yourself?
$30 set of jack stands and you’ll never have to pay a shop $400 again to replace your front brakes. Good brake pads are $50.
Spark plugs need replaced? $200 at a shop for a 4 cylinder car, or do it yourself in under an hour for $35 worth of spark plugs.
There’s tons of vehicle stuff that’s not very hard to do that will save you tons of money with a set of tools and the ability to learn. I drive 15+ year old vehicles and have only taken one to a shop twice in the past 20 years. I do stuff a lot more advanced than your average person probably wants to try to do themselves, but I like working on my own stuff. But most of what I do is easy enough for most people to do without being too difficult.
Why you gotta at me like that for any hobby I start getting into.
I had to talk myself out of looking at small backhoes or tractors with a backhoe attachment today…. because I’m thinking about installing a single French drain. My “land” is 50’x100’, in a city.
Going big instead of being reasonable is a very real affliction that affects way more people than you realize.
It’s a tough balancing act. You don’t want to dive all in and buy the nicest, fanciest, most expensive equipment right out. But also, if you buy too cheap, or too limiting, you’re going to get discouraged.
Used is a really good balance between the two. Plan it out, figure out what you need, and meet someone locally to pick up their old stuff. Usually, if they’re selling their starter equipment to upgrade, you can even chat with them about the hobby, and get some real good local advice. Maybe even and in with the local community.
It really is a win-win.
And when it doubt, if it has a motor or needs to hold a heavy object over you then go for something in the middle range of cost unless you will be using is professionally or as frequently as a professional. The cheap stuff can be dangerous, and are generally not that much cheaper than a decent home use tool.
Estate sales and garage sales are other places to pick up used tools if you have a rough idea of what to look for like the finishing touches that used to be put on older higher quality tools like smoothing mold lines. Old mismatched tools from formerly reliable brands like Craftsman can be had for cheap!
Buy your first whatsit as cheap as possible, if you break it, replace it with another cheap one, if you break that one too, go buy a nice one.
So much this.
If I know I only need a tool once or twice, I always buy Harbor-Freight (discount power tools if you’re not familiar with them). I’ve always been able to complete the job with it, and anything beyond that is just bonus IMO (versus renting a better tool for the job at equal or greater cost).
Normally, though, they last a lot longer than that. I bought a HF drill in like 2004 and it finally died last year and was used pretty heavily throughout its life. Pretty sure I got my $18 worth.
I can think of a few that have served me well:
- A good laser printer: $100 plus a few reams of paper have covered my printing needs for over a decade (and going)
- Wool socks for the winter. Makes dropping the thermostat a degree or two much less unpleasant
- A good, 100W USB-C PD charger. I’ve got a few, and they’ll charge/power pretty much any of my devices (including laptop).
100% laser printer. My Brother laser paid for itself the first time I bought a set of cheap toner for it. I don’t understand why people buy/rent inkjet ripoffs.
I spotted one on the curb and thought it was an Epson at first glance. Took another look and saw it was a BW Brother laser the internet nerds are always going on about. I took it inside and dried the water off from the rain that just started, and was ready to take it back out to the curb where I found it whenever I discovered why it was put outside.
That thing is rock solid.
My girlfriend insists on having her Canon inkjet for color, and that thing bugs out at least once a month. Her mom’s HP has been a nightmare for me to deal with over the time she’s had it. This trash Brother has been the best home printer and scanner I’ve had in my near 30 years of computing. It’s still going on the toner it came with, not that I print much. Any wifi issues have not been related to the printer. It prints and scans great. From what I understand, third party toner should be no issue when the time comes as there’s no chip.
The hype is real on these Brothers.
You never said why they threw it out
I’ve never had an issue with it. Wifi works, scanner works, I think it’s even still on factory toner, print quality is good.
They must have upgraded to something color or faster, as I can’t think why someone would have tossed it.
I don’t print much, so I probably wouldn’t have a home printer otherwise since most of the ones I’ve had were more trouble than they were worth. But the Brother kicks butt for me.
I’ve been using 3p toner for a while, no issues
I still have my Brother laser printer from like 2006 and that bad boy is still running strong, although the nic recently crapped out. I just need to get around to hooking it up to a raspberry pi to get networking back.
I just had to replace my 15 y/o Samsung laser printer because I couldn’t find toner carts for it anymore. Nor would it work with anything but windows. Last time I found toner about 3 years ago I bought the last two the website had and they finally ran dry and no matter how much I shook them gaps were present. Laser printing is the best.
Decent stainless steel ‘silverware’ that doesn’t easily bend will last a lifetime isn’t very expensive for a one time purchase, and can be really cheap to pick up used if you aren’t too picky.
To varying degrees, a book.
Most things I buy, because that’s why I buy them. I know you were looking for a different type of answer, but I think it’s still important to acknowledge this. There are potential exceptions for some necessities, but still rarely ever buy the bare minimum.
Economists hate this one simple trick . . .
Toyota Tacoma. Is literally worth more now than when I bought it. My model has bluetooth but none of the “always on tracking” many vehicles come with after. Subaru Forester. It had a recall for a head gasket something or other that required an entire new engine. Got that done at 115k miles, basically a new car for nothing.
Le Crueset set for about $600 15 years ago. We have cooked hundreds of meals with them. Same with cast iron and stainless copper core pots and pans. Immersion blender (corded) as well. Stove top espresso percolator is so cheap and nice if you aren’t a daily espresso drinker. Having that one cup on a rainy afternoon or after dinner is a treat.
If you like grilled/bbq/smoked food, a nice grill will last years if you take care of it. I had a side by side gas and charcoal/wood grill for the last 11 years. Heavy use and lack of replacement parts finally killed it. I could cook full plates for 20+ people off that thing or just a couple of chicken breasts for a quick dinner. I have a pretty cheap but capable gas stainless grill and a santa maria bbq now. They work fine, but not quite as convenient as the all in one.
A really good mattress, solid bed frame, nice pillows, and high thread count cotton sheets are worth every penny. I didn’t get all that together until I was middle aged and I really wished I had done it sooner. My back is like “wtf dude, we could have had this the whole time ?!”
If you do any woodworking, 3d printing, making stuff, art etc? Space. A space to do all that it. Wether it is a hobby or cottage industry, you will need dedicated space to make your mess. I’ve seen people trying to DIY in apartments on youtube and its just so bad. Not to mention dangerous. Fumes, fire, trip hazard, mdf dust, etc. Find a place to house all that nonsense outside of your living space.
And if you make digital art, photoshop, draw, anything that makes you hate a mouse for input. A Wacom tablet screen is worth it. Not an iPad, not a Surface all in one, not some knock off clone from Ali Express…but a crazy expensive Wacom. The regular tablets are okay, but drawing on the screen is almost impossible to come back from. I bought mine in 2009 for $3k and still use it daily.
cast iron
And if you are prone to æmenia or are a vegetarian, it will also put extra iron into your food. Conversely, you can also get fish-shaped chunks of cast iron called “lucky fish” that residents of SE Asia throw into their pots to add extra iron during the cooking process.
Instant Pot
Might not be the most popular call, but streaming services.
A) movie tickets are absurdly expensive. Went for the first time in years last year and was shocked by the nearly $60 for an early morning session. Bonus though because the wifey and I were the only two at the screening (spider-verse 2). B) physical formats can cost more than 3-4 streaming services per month for just a single movie, cd, vinyl etc. Sales are still worth keeping an eye out for. C) streaming services promote choice. Your favourite movie isn’t on the service? Watch these similar themed movies. Like this song? Here’s work from similar artists. D) the other high seas streaming service is very viable if you’re discriminated against by living in a particular region or country. Or you simply can’t or don’t want to pay.
There’s definite downsides such as service saturation, the curse of too much choice, or constant garbage with the odd diamond thrown in. But if you’re not too concerned with loyalty (and you shouldn’t be) or you sail the high seas then that’s not going to be a problem.
Hit up your local thrift stores for used DVDs/Blurays, rip to computer/NAS and install Jellyfin.
I’ve been NAS-curious for a while. May I ask what your NAS rig is like?
I got a server mount chassis that would hold a normal PC motherboard and 5 bay HDD and threw as much storage at it I could afford and set up a ZRAID5.
Counterpoint: I recently got a Blu-ray player and honestly it feels like it’d be much cheaper than streaming. Especially for someone who doesn’t actually watch that much.
It feels like you have to have multiple accounts nowadays because everything keeps changing what platform they are on, and pulling things from their platform for one reason or another.
Take for example: I wanted to watch the “new” Puss in Boots movie (it’s really good, would recommend). If I wanted to watch it on Netflix, it’d cost me £11 a month every time I wanted to see it and it’d be limited to 720p. However, buying the Blu-ray cost me £7, and I can watch it whenever I want.
Sure, if you watch multiple things a month, or latest releases, streaming might make sense. But it’s certainly worth looking into whether occasional physical purchases might end up cheaper in the long run.
Check your local library, some have dvds and Blu-ray disks available to borrow.
I’m right there with you! I am sick and tired of what the steaming services have become. I started building my library of DVDs and Blurays and am never looking back.
I personally find tickets worth it. on the right day at the right time I’ll pay $12 for two tickets. then I think like $20-30 for popcorn and drinks
but I also dont go to every single movie, only the ones I’m really excited about
During the pandemic I got a membership to the nearest cinema. It’s $10/mo for a screening you can cash in any time, and I guess there are some extra discounts on popcorn and whatever. If you don’t use it, it rolls over to the next month. Since on average, a movie I actually want to see on the big screen (most recently Dune 2) comes around every couple of months, it works out because I have 2 tickets by then and my wife and I have a little dinner/movie date.
You would choke on the prices here. A saver session is $33 per ticket before fees. If you’re a member it’s $32 before fees. Theses are sessions they put on when the majority are at work. A late night session is still $27.
Want gold class? $47 per ticket before fees.
These cinemas are fully automated with no floor staff with exceptions for food sales, and even then they just refill only (checkouts are self serve.) You can book online and pay a service fee or purchase in person from a kiosk device and guess what? Service fees. $6 per ticket online or in person.
I don’t actually know what the service fee is for.
Food is eye watering expensive to the point we bring our own. There’s no staff to say you can’t, but it’s buried in the fine print of the T&Cs.
Definitely a controversial take. Streaming didn’t destroy the cinema for no reason, though.
As for physical media, I think the industry has realized that they’re not winning back the average consumer and have started catering to the nerds, with most presses (in my exposure) including more than just the base movie that you can find on streaming: higher bitrate, extra content/audio tracks to encourage rewatching, and nice packaging are all things that physical producers have done to compete with the convenience and cost advantage of streaming. In my mind, the appeal of the two are so different anymore that I rarely compare the experience of one being better than the other.
- A good quality belt. A cheap belt may last a year or two while a good one lasts decades but doesn’t cost 10x as much.
- Any sort of micro-mobility device (bikes, scooters, etc. or even costlier electric versions of these) that replaces a regular commute has good ROI over driving or even public transit (unless you’re lucky enough to live in a city where it’s free).
- A big sack of rice. It’s kind of insane how many meals you can get out of one of those.
What I would give to have a Vespa
I want an ebike. but fuck those things are expensive as hell.
If it replaces a car it’s cheap. Even replacing transit passes will save you money over some years.
great, i’ll run out to the money tree and pick a few grand.
This. I have calculated that the ebike I bought will pay itself off in about 2 years from all that not-driving I’m doing. That’s just from fuel/maintenance savings alone. If I factor in that my car is getting quite old and I would probably need to have replaced it by now, it has already paid for itself. (I still need a car for bad weather and certain hauling needs, but I drive it only sporadically these days so it’s lasting forever.)
I would pick up a used ebike. I bought two cube ebikes for 800€ each and they were as good as new.
I just started looking into getting a recumbent bike, and holy shit does adding pedelec features (ebike conversion)/peddle assistance) skyrocket the price. I knew it would be a bit expensive, but goddamn 😭
You can build your own for €500 if you pick up an old shit heap bike and put an electric wheel on it
Same. Been looking for the past few months because my previous ~18mi round trip daily commute was cut down to about 2 miles, but I’m not paying the price that people want for legit vintage Vespas in my area haha. I could get a whole GROM for that price.
My wife got me a handmade leather belt shortly after we started dating 10 years ago. I have worn it daily and its still in great shape. About two years ago I finally had to start using the next tighter hole as it has stretched, but theres definitely another 10 years of life still in it
This is highly individual, and I have some expensive products to add…
A good dedicated camera, since I got my first proper camera back in 2017 (a Lumix GX80) I have taken tens of thousands of photos per year.
Last spring I upgraded to a Lumix S5 with few fantastic lenses and it has been awesome, and with my S5 and 100-400mm sigma lens I have goten plenty of great photos.
To me my cameras are in my top three ever best purchases, all the things I have went snd done because I wanted to take photos have more than paid for the money invested, perhaps not in direct money for me, but in inspiration and enjoyment.
I am planning on getting the Sony A7 IV as a complement to my S5 as the A7 IV has much better and faster autofocus, I love my S5 for it’s amazing colors, UI and overall performance, but as I often go planespotting I need better and faster autofocus.
Damn, that was a lot of text about cameras…
Time to talk about cars…
I bought my first car last summer after getting my license back in 2022 and living alone without a car for 8 years.
It is a 2021 SEAT Leon FR PHEV hatchback and being able to get to interesting places out in the country to get cool photos have been fantastic and really improved my mental health.
It was very lightly used, and has enough performance for me without being exsessive.
I mostly drive on battery and charge up once a week, since I live in an aparment complex we only have shared charging infrastructure, but since it is a PHEV I can still go far when I need to without worrying about chargers.
Vaseline
Short or tall; thick or thin; Vaseline will get it in.
Vaseline seems too thick to make good lube IMO.
Does anyone know if you can cut it with an oil to thin it?
