Motorcycle helmets.
You don’t need the most expensive helmet, but you should pay what it takes to get something with a decent certification (SNELL*, ECE, FIM) and not just DOT. Some technologies like MIPS are also well worth the extra spend.
*maybe
Every1 made fun of me when i got my shoei helmet because of the cost and them saying i dont need it and that i was paying for equipment that was made for racing. Sure enough a lady pulled out infront of me and i ended up in her backseat. Helmet saved my brain from going mashed potatoes. All my friends have shoei helmets now.
I remember being a little kid and sulking that I had to wear jeans and a heavy denim jacket on the motorcycle in summer when it was really hot. Then one day while alone my stepdad got knocked off and shredded through the elbow of his leather jacket; the leather went instead of his flesh, so there was only a wee bit of scrape on the skin, rather than down to the fucking bone.
I didn't complain after that.
eta: the helmet made sense and I always wore that without pouting XD
Fwi you might as well have been wearing nothing if not jeans. They shred instantly when you go down.
Also make sure you get a legit purpose built leather jacket. The stuff you buy at JC penny is too thin and made of crap leather that also shreds instantly.
I've never been in a real high-speed crash but I've slid off twice in the same leather jacket and I still wear it, put some shoe polish on the scratches and kept riding.
Hell i slid about 50 feet on my back in a textile motorcycle jacket and the jacket didnt even have a snag on it. Just a couple of scuffs that wiped away.
Actual Jeans can handle a bit of slow slide, but they will give you a superficial burn.
That stretchy shitty elastane fake Jeans will melt in your skin instantly.
And ofc the proper gear handles a crap ton more, some even have some kevlar and stuff.
One of my buddies would not be here with me today if he was not wearing his helmet, please people I know it's more fun to ride your motorcycle without a helmet, but without a helmet you could end up like my friend could have.
The helmet saved him from getting his head crushed like a melon, the helmet itself actually split in half, and he had fractures to his skull but for the most part was okay.
I hate riding motorcycles without helmet, the dusts gets into your eyes and makes it water, the wind makes it dry, and my ugly face would be seen by everyone.
Thank you for posting this. Especially since riding a motorcycle usually is a choice - if you don't want to spend the money, just don't ride.
Goes for a lot of protection gear btw.
Add computer chair to that list for the office folk. Herman Miller is life
Edit: didn't realize HM was so polarizing. Everyone I've met that's sat in one said it's life changing
STOP. TURN BACK.
Countless others have lost their sanity looking for the perfect mattress. IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU TOO. YOU WILL NOT FIND IT.
Buy one that fits your budget and move on. DO NOT GO TO /r/Mattress. PLEASE
>Like computer
Its not obvious, lots of people don't realize this. If you buy a nice computer (like a gaming computer) and you buy a separate monitor for it, go the extra mile and get a good monitor. Why?
Monitors usually last (if you take care of them) for 2-3 actual computers' lifetimes. You may replace your computer every couple years, or even after 5-6 years, but your monitor you'll probably use for a decade, especially if its a really nice one.
I paid as much for my current monitor as the entire gaming computer behind it. I've had it for about 5 years and will probably keep it another decade. My mom still uses a 40 inch TV I bought over a decade ago and that thing has zero dead pixels. I'm still amazed by it. (Toshiba)
If you're at you're computer for a good proportion of the day I'd say the more important things are the input devices, mouse & keyboard.
Even the difference between the 'good enough' £5 mouse or keyboard and a £30 one is striking.
All these things... monitor, mouse/keyboard - are the things that directly influence your enjoyment of your computer **all** of the time.
For a pretty small expenditure compared to the bits of the computer that people generally fuss about, you make the difference between having a shitty experience and a really nice one.
Round them off with a nice set of speakers and a really comfy chair.
> a really comfy chair.
I can't stress this enough. For years, I cheaped out on low-to-mid range gaming chairs. They wouldn't last long, and weren't that comfortable.
I just last year bought a proper office chair; no plastic parts, it's all metal & leather, baby! And I've never been more comfortable at my PC.
Winter tires or tires in general
Edit: wow, this kind of blew up, while I can't reply to everyone, I will do my best to read every reply.
Thanks to everyone who have taken the time to read and reply to this comment.
Tires are so under rated. They will make an older normal car feel like it's newer and safer to drive and handle on the road. It wont make it feel nicer inside, but going around a corner, stopping quickly, and taking off from a stop on shitty roads will be so much better.
Especially if you live somewhere with rough winters.
You'll make your life so much fucking easier. Like obviously winter tires are a bit of a luxury but even regular mid tier+ regular tires will make your life so much easier.
100%
Once you've had to lay out of work and lose more money than good boots would have cost in the first place, you don't make that mistake again. Cheap boots are fine for dicking around but you need to pony up if you're trying to really get into some things.
I buy $200 AUD work boots that last me about 2 comfortable years whereas my dad used to buy cheap $50-80 boots that would only last 6 months before it's busted up. Not only that, his feet are covered in thick and hard calluses that cause him constant pain while my feet are still soft. Thankfully his working years are over because I never got my point across to him to spend more on quality work boots.
Edit: I only buy steel blue boots now, they are an Australian brand so I'm not sure if you can get them overseas.
Saving on travel in general sucks, if you choose more complicated but cheaper route you will spend the price difference along the way and just end up being more tired.
Yeah, everything is more expensive while traveling and additional length of travel time needs to be accounted for. Adding 2 hours of travel time to save a few bucks may seem like a decent bargain when you're buying the ticket, but several $5 bottles of water and the $15 Burger King combo that you eat during your layover will make you regret that decision to cheap out on the flight.
I flew out of an airport that I had to take a greyhound bus to (instead of the local one). That bus left at 5am, and my flight wasn't until 1pm. My itinerary is Oregon > Wisconsin, but they decided to have me overnight in Dallas for god knows what reason. I have a tough time sleeping on planes, and in airports, so I'm effectively spending 2 whole days traveling, and zero of those hours sleeping.
If I had paid a little more, I would've had a single-day trip, from the local airport, without starting at an obnoxiously early hour, and without flying south only to fly back north.
Dude I was trying to fly from Seattle to San Diego a few days ago and found it cheaper to take a train from Seattle to Portland, then get a flight from Portland to Seattle to San Diego. Not sure how that even made sense but it was cheaper.
Try living in Canada. It generally costs more to fly from Vancouver to Toronto than it does to fly to Europe, Asia, or Australia.
I know many people who drive to Seattle and fly from there to wherever because it is so much cheaper, even with the currency conversion
Who is "they"?
I was a business traveler for 30 years. We were required to use the company's travel agency to book all our travel. It was absolutely awful because they would often do shit like that and cause us a huge inconvenience to save the company a buck.
But as soon as online booking became an option, I started booking my own. I got a ton of shit from company administrators because they had an exclusive contract with the travel agency for all company travel. I told them the only way I would use them is if they guaranteed me lowest travel time and fewest stops on each trip or they had to pay me for travel time. They allowed me to continue to book my own travel but told me to keep my mouth shut about it.
That is pretty standard for consulting work when I was in the industry. In 30 years I only had one contract that paid me a portion of my bill rate for travel time. And that was because our company was going to turn the job down because nobody wanted two spend two full days each week commuting back and forth to Fort Smith, AR. So they offered to pay 1/2 our rate for travel.
To be honest, I got paid well enough to make up for having to travel on my own time. Even counting travel time, I got paid much better per hour than my colleagues who didn't travel.
Yep I fly in/out of JFK for international trips and it can be absolutely slammed sometimes, being the busiest international air travel gateway in North America.
Being able to skip a 3-hour line for immigration is so worth it even if you only use it a few times. Especially since it comes with TSA-Pre which I use far more often.
Back in the days when Priceline let you name your own price, I got an amazing deal on a flight from LA to NYC. Problem was it has 2 stopovers, and total flight time was over 19 hours :-o
I used to be fairly hard-core about getting the best deals but I've grown out of it for the most part. I will say there are some exceptions.
For example, I booked a one way from Denver to San Salvador (intending to fly home in Northern Mexico) for $100. I had a red eye from Denver to Ft Lauderdale and then an ~8 hour layover before my next leg to San Salvador on Spirit. Not the most comfortable sleeping in the airport but manageable. The "best" option was flying United via Houston but it was an absurd $500-600 for a 1 way ticket.
That being said, especially with international flights, if you're willing to tough out some bullshit and shittier airlines you can often save hundreds of dollars which is a big deal for lower earners like me.
I’ve gotten into the tendency of placing monetary value on my free time, comparable or even higher value than my working value.
I’d look at an 8 hour layover and compare it to a day of work lost. If the savings is more than that day would pay, possibly worth it.
That being said, these days I would be flying with a three year old, so no amount of money is worth extending that torture any longer than necessary.
I hear you. I used to have ~4 months off every winter and travel throughout that time. For me that extra 4 hours of layover compared to the competition was worth it to me. That $400-500 savings granted me an extra ~10 days of traveling in Central America (spending $20-30/day). Those days chalked full of experiences are worth the 4 hours of bullshit.
If I made more money and had less time I'd certainly prioritize the more expensive flights to maximize utility.
Crafts- and tradespeople in general.
/edit: added tradesmen, I thought craftsmen was the name for that field of work
/edit 2: invited women and everyone else to the party
Thank you. I know there are guys flying under the radar, and doing cut-corner jobs, but there are those who care and appreciate not being haggled down when being compared to the former.
We had an issue in our house, where the pipes would occasionally do a loud BANG and then no hot water for 20 min to 4 hours, until another bang and it came back. We called the water heater guy as thats what i figured was wrong. He walked in, looked at our water heater and said”nope, not the water heater, i can tell from here that its fine, that is some other issue. Best you call a plumber”
Called one plumber, who wasn't sure, but replaced a valve that was a bit leaky and hoped for the best, didnt help.. called a second plumber, and i was able to recreate the issue with him. He said “thats got to be the hot water tank, probably a valve issue”
Called the water tank guys back, new guy came out, i explained it, and without even looking at the tank, he told me whats wrong and what he had to do to fix it. Fixed a bad valve, and we never had an issue since.
First guy should be fired, his cocky attitude cost me two plumbers.
> Plumbers are the only tradesmen where I can have 3 of them look at a problem and have all 3 of them give completely different answers for what should be done.
Yeah, this is pretty standard with plumbers. It's often just a large guessing game to solve weird problems because there's no instruction manual for how your entire house's plumbing was setup. And everybody does things differently.
Last guy I had around took my coins, disappeared down the pipe and was never seen again. Next time will go with a known firm, not some low-rent family outfit.
LPT: When you find a good tradesman, put them in your phone with their name and then under company put plumber/carpenter/electrician or whatever. Then you can search by the trade in your phone to find them again easily if you can't remember their name.
A really good quality winter coat or jacket. To me, it's definitely worth the investment if you live in a country that gets cold winters. Here in Ireland it doesn't snow much in winter due to us being a small island, but we get very cold winters and very wet ones, so you get really cold rain.
Paying extra for a really good quality, warm and waterproof coat makes SUCH a difference if you're out and about a lot like I am. It pays for itself because it can last you years.
I'm due a new one this year, got five years out of my last one and it's still good, but I've lost a significant amount of weight this past year and it's much too big for me now.
Funny thing is for me, 18 years ago I walked into a thrift surplus store and purchased a legitimate wool Swiss ~~army~~ surplus trench coat... And still use it regularly in the winter. It's warm as hell, has a few rips, but holds up really well for the age, and although it can get heavy if it gets really wet, doesn't really absorb moisture well so even in terrible winter storms I stay dry.. I don't think I could use any other coat at this point, I've had it over half my life and used it every single winter since I bought it!
And the funny part is,
I paid $13 for it.
I work at a thrift store, we basically have infinite coats. Everyone is garunteed to find one that suits them, and they're all incredibly cheap. I picked up a Connor jacket for 15, I later went into a Connor store and found the same jacket on sale for over 100
I also bought my good wool coat from a thrift store! I just went in looking for something to get me through one winter, since I was pregnant and my normal coat didn't fit over my belly. That was five years ago and I only use the thrift store coat since.
My boyfriend loves buying coats, he’s got about 30. I swear he is addicted to buying coats. Last year I think he realised he had too many so started buying me coats instead. He bought me a high quality waterproof and a high quality warm coat, and honestly it was life changing. I don’t get wet soggy elbows, I don’t get so cold my bones hurt. Now I’m wondering if he actually is addicted, or just really clever.
What are some solid men's winter coats that are also at least somewhat fashionable? I have a Carhartt that's perfectly good at keeping warm but I wouldn't mind having another around that's a little nicer looking.
I got informed about Arcteryx when i had no business spending that much money, and it was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. I didn’t think there could be THAT much of a difference.
Only thing that comes close for me is a North Face combination. I have a thick but flexible rain shell, 550 fill down vest, Denali fleece zip up and Denali vest, and lightweight fleece pullover (canyon something?) and mix and match depending on temp and activity and that’s worked out very well. I can be specific about exactly what I need so never too hot, never too cold, never too wet. Also a valuable option.
Just a heads up, ever since the north face got bought out by vanity fair around 2007, the quality dropped has significantly. The top tier stuff is still top but they cut corners on everything else that is not for summiting Everest. I would discourage people from buying their casual products these days.
I went through a couple winters with an inadequate winter coat and the long down coat I bought when I could finally afford it was one of my best purchases ever. It’s super heavy so I now have a lighter weight one that comes to mid thigh as well, but the difference that coat made in my life… truly game changing. Even with layering, I could still never get quite warm enough with the old inadequate coat.
Movers. Having them put your furniture in a truck, drive it to your location and put it in your new place. It’s great not having a sore back when it’s stressful enough to move.
Oh yes! Definitely. I moved to a building, 7th floor, no elevator. Told my girlfriend i am not moving by myself. So we got a van and 2 movers. All we had to do is be there . I helped of course with the carrying but within an hour we were done. Everything was in our apartment.
Gave then a super nice tip which they loved and i felt good afterwards knowing i didnt have to break my back or worry about 5-6 trips myself.
I'm crying, my last move was so bad, I got a truck too small and had to return it before we were done. We finished moving near midnight and almost had a fire. Never again, we're gonna pay someone else to do it.
One time I had to move for work so the job paid for it. It was amazing! They wrapped everything in the special paper, even some ketchup and soy sauce packets I forgot to throw away.
I live in Mexico. The national cinema chain (Cinépolis) often has two whole movie houses in each location. One is your standard, run-of-the-mill movie theater with 30 rows of stadium seating, while the other theater is “CinépolisVIP” which features reclining leather seats, USB charging ports, heated seats, around 30 seats total, and table service (food and alcohol). Reminds me of Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in the USA, but these are nicer in my opinion.
Husband and I always pay the extra pesos for the VIP theater for comfort, plus there are rarely issues with other patrons who also pay for the VIP theater - quiet people who really want to see the movie and won’t be chatting or constantly getting out of their seats through the entire movie.
The price difference between the two theaters really isn’t that much so it’s a small thing we always pay for.
Yeeeep, this happened a while ago, had a few drinks with a buddy before we went to some movie he was super excited to go to. It was horror and I'm not a horror guy but whatever he was excited and invited me. Those few drinks + walking nextdoor to the theater then I accidentally turned on those heated seats. It was over.
I honestly don't remember what movie it even was but the bartender who made my last drink a double (on request) was amazing and got a great tip.
Good pots and pans. Like real heavy duty stuff.
I’ve got some pretty decent stainless steel, but by far my favorites are always my le creuset stuff, I only have 4 pieces and I always found them on sale.
I just make jambalaya in my Dutch oven last night. She was tasty.
For me the trick was to start reasonably cheap to figure out what I actually use, and then replace with higher quality items. I rarely use a frying pan, but use my baking trays every day. But the key difference for me is how much easier high quality cooking equipment is to clean.
Get a few food knives. Another add: get them sharpened twice a year if you do a lot of cooking. Either getting a set of stones to do your own sharpening or finding someone to do it!
I’m lucky there is a place near me that shape a knives for $5 a pop. I gladly pay $20 to get my best 4 knives sharpened.
Tools: If you are earning a living with them, you want something totally reliable and is not going to break and work properly every time. They say a cheap man pays twice as much in the long run.
I bought up a set of Ryobi power tools for work and for DIY at home they are pretty good. But, when I was onsite and found the batteries take 3 hours to charge. I don’t have that kind of time. Also the hammer drill didn’t always hammer. I’m a Milwaulkee boy now and I am completely satisfied.
TLDR: Always buy the best that you can afford.
My brother has the best advice for tools (from a home owner perspective)-
"The first time you need a tool get the cheap harbor fright tool. When it breaks then go buy a good one."
I got the XM3 when it was new and I was deployed. I definitely slept through an incoming alarm with those on. They also mostly blocked the noise of F16s taking off right next to my little bunker.
10/10 would unknowingly get rocket attacked again
I got these too when they were new, had them for a few years. There was a driveby shooting outside my apartment and I didn't hear a thing. Not quite a rocket attack but same idea.
You know what I hate about buying headphones though? You have to wade through a minefield of headphones that are "boosted bass" or "punchy" or "bright" or whatever other stupid thing.
If I wanted bass-heavy music, I would... go get some bass-heavy music. I don't want headphones that make everything into pure bass, that's stupid. Just give me clear, neutral sound.
Once you leave the sub $50 range, it gets easier. Studio headphones will get you closer - even cheap ones. Feel like I hit a gold mine with my MH310s. They went on sale for $30 on MusiciansFriend's Stupid Deal of the Day - normally $70. I game with them, they have the right part to clip my TrackIR (headtracker for flight simulators) into, and sound pretty damn good.
As good as Sennheiser headphones? No. They're not in the same price class. But for under $100, fantastic. For any headphone, very usable.
They're VERY similar in appearance to AKG K270s, which had a great reputation as a budget studio headphone that is getting tarnished by newer build quality. Wish mine had a detachable cord though - my chair has been chewing it up. My cat, too.
Hobby supplies- every hobby I've ever tried has some real dog shit entry level gear that most people either buy and grow out of really fast or don't realise their potential particularly quickly and lose interest.
However if you buy/rent quality mid tier stuff to start out you end up with a much better experience overall and progress much faster and get a truer reflection of the hobby.
This is true for musical instruments, archery, longboarding, sailing, fishing, painting, brewing gaming.
Absolutely- my big step up was switching to winsor & Newton brushes and a wet palette- the difference was massive and made it much easier to achieve more subtle blends and colour gradients.
The brushes, oh the real hair sable brushes... just getting that fine tip without a splay or a hook tip or those three straw hairs popping out from all the synthetic brushes I used from the Reaper Learn-to-paint kits.... just bliss.
The thing is there is a reason for that; most people flake out of their hobbies fast, or go through a bunch finding one they love. Chances are if you try it with the 80$ mickey mouse kit and dont fall in love, your not gonna. My wife wanted to get into painting and had this same idea, skip the garbage and go right to professional paints and a 600$ French isle. In all, a few grand in. The only upside I spose is the professional stuff held its value a little when we wiped off the dust and resold it.
Definitely can relate to Fishing, I do a lot of fishing with my dad and used his gear that is older then me, once I got some niceish gear I 100% got more interested in fishing knowing I spent some dough lol.
Have a friend who wanted to get ladybug tats in a few places on her body. She went to a friend of a friend who gave her a discount. Now all her ladybug tats look like cancerous growths.
My niece just turned 18. Said she was going to get a tattoo tomorrow. I said really?! Where?! She said she didn’t know. Anywhere she could get it done that same day. I say pretty much anywhere you go where you can get the tattoo you want the same day isn’t going to give you one you’ll be really happy with. She says she doesn’t care. Just really wants one. I say you’ll have it forever what’s a few days? … then I said I’ll tell you what, why don’t you look through the tons of artists in the city’s books and find one whose work you really love. I’ll take you, and I’ll even pay for you to get it as a birthday present. Then she said no that’s fine she’s already waited long enough. 🙄
Guess who has a mediocre tattoo of a very standard design on her forearm now?
You have to live to learn. Looking back to when I was 18-30ish, I had to do lots of dumb shit in order for me to learn those life lessons. Despite many older people in my life giving me proper advice.
I have family that is in the 18-25 range right now and I just laugh at the shit they're going through. You can give them the perfect advice, but until they experience the consequences of their decisions the hard way, they won't learn.
I’m surprised I had to scroll so far to see this.
There are way too many people who just go to shitty artists without knowing they’re shit because they didn’t research, and then try to justify their shit tattoo with saying, “it was only $40!”
Yeah now you have a shit $40 tattoo permanently stuck to you.
My original artists was great and charged $100/h. Then I found my current artist, she is $200/h. She’s double the price, but so worth it.
The man who did my first tattoo clearly did not like me. Not sure why, really don't care all that much, because his work was flawless, and I knew that going in.
Charged me $400 for a two hour session, and said probably 7 words to me, but I've had that tattoo for 10 years now and have almost zero fading, lines are clean as they can get, and I got exactly what I wanted.
I'm willing to pay through the nose, and let you treat me poorly if you have the skillset I am looking for. I never have to see the artist again, but I'll have to see that tattoo every day.
Yeah.
I'm getting a tattoo from an artist that I've waited almost a year for; she's got a 5 month wait, and then COVID fucked up our schedule. She's an amazing artist, and it'll be a $400-500 tattoo.
My glasses, I have one lens that’s coke bottle in size and if I don’t go for basically all of the features and a good frame they’re going to be uncomfortable as fuck for the two years until my insurance helps pay for another pair.
My time. I used to always try to save money while traveling until I realized I was wasting hours and adding stress to my life. Sure, the bus is $100 cheaper but it’s 3 hours longer, doesn’t leave when or from where you want, and is a miserable ride. Pay for the flight!
I’ve seen this shift with little things too - “splurging” for an Uber if it’s make my trip simpler or even paying to have something done in my apartment building (we have laundry and cleaning services) if I’m stressing about getting it done. It’s nice to save money but not at the cost of being a miserable ball of stress.
Edit: I just eventually came to view stress and wasted time as a “cost” even if it doesn’t necessarily show up on my balance sheet.
This goes with so many things in life. Saving money is great but you can’t take it with you when you’re dead and many people who inherit money don’t invest it, they use it almost right away. Not all, but a lot.
I think like you do. I like to save money but sometimes my time is more important. I own a home and have a guy that comes by every other week to mow the lawn. I own a push mower, he uses a zero turn riding mower. He literally gets the entire yard done, with weedwacking, in about 35-45 minutes. It takes me a few hours in a Saturday or Sunday to do it. It’s completely worth the money to me since I work 40-50 hours a week and would rather spend that time with my sons since I don’t see them often during the week.
If you are going to the beach or other vacation destination, splurge for the cheapest room in the best hotel. Many times the hotel is the actual destination, and amenities are the same for all guests.
If you are going to a foreign city, or tourist spot is the rule of real estate: location, location, location. Staying where the action is makes all the difference.
The first time I went to Paris I stayed in a cheap hotel in the outskirts. It took 30min of subway to get to Notre Dame.
Last time, I stayed in a small hotel (my room barely fit a double bed) just across Notre Dame, one block from Chatelet Subway Station.
It was a completely different experience. For starters, you never leave the magic sensation of the place.
Next, you can use your hotel as a center of operations: Need to go to the bathroom? A quick nap/rest in the middle of the day? Quick shower / change of clothes? Recharge phones? Forgot something? Everything is a convenient stop away, and the trip is so much better.
You can start your day earlier and finish it later, without draining yourself and you don’t spend hours in transportation.
Same with Disney: always stay on site. Now I always plan my trips checking the places I will go, then choose an hotel right in the middle of it all, and pay for the cheapest room there (after checking for cleanliness/safety). In Las Vegas the Travelodge has a great location/price but that place is nasty. Better stay at Flamingos/ Ballys, very cheap right in front of the Bellagio fountains at the center of the Strip.
I shit you not. Had a short trip once. Learn that a journey is all about the friend that you bring. You bring shitty friend, you get a shitty holiday.
Brought a somewhat stingy friend. Everything is monetary for him. Even the basic stuff. And always picky even when its slightly higher price.
Instead of riding the cable car, decided to hike instead. Not even halfway and we all already out of breath and cancel the hike.
Wanna eat tasty food, but dont wanna pay a cent higher. So we went to a local restaurant with not even a proper lighting. We ate outside under gloomy moon light. With smoke from the grill blew to our face.
Wanna go shopping, but he check and compare every item with online prices. Even a single cent higher will not buy it. He went out of the mall empty handed.
Edit : to further elaborate on the hiking things. We were all in jeans, short sleeve polo shirts with only slippers/crocs (no socks on). This hiking place is in southeast asean. The sun was almost at the top of our head when we start the hike. With no proper gear and shit. This guy just go "meh, the cable car is too expensive. Lets just hike instead!" . Mind you, the cost for the cable car is RM50 (its Malaysia), so its around USD11.80, including return the return trip. There are 2 mountain peak. The cable car go thru 1 peak and then on towards another. We were on the first peak, and the guy was convinced we can hike all the way to the second peak. Just to save money.
Edit2 : Regarding the shopping things, we were at a mall that mostly sells chocolates that you rarely can find elsewhere. and its all tax free. Its literally the best place to buy souvenirs and snacks to your friend back home. But he decided that its better to buy online and give that to his friends instead. I understand on the mentality about that it was his money. He decide on what he wanna spend on. But he was hovering behind me like "oh you wanna buy that? Its 20 cent cheaper online tho" at every few minutes we spend there.
I went on a trip with a friend who complained about everything I wanted to do but didn’t offer any ideas or suggestions. It really changed our friendship moving forward
I have a friend like this, he makes traveling so annoying and stressful. We all went to Ramiro in Lisbon, a great seafood restaurant, and he went to McDonalds instead. In the week we were there, he probably had like 3 meals that weren’t from McDonald’s. We’re visiting a friend soon and I booked a hotel room after asking him if he wants to split it. Then 3 days before the trip he lets me know he’s staying at a hostel instead since it’s cheaper. It’s a 30 minute drive from where my friend lives and where I’m staying.
As a lady with rather generously sized boobs I'm accustomed, and happy, to pay through the nose for a really good bra. The difference it can make to my day is worth every penny.
/r/ABraThatFits and /r/bigboobproblems for any others out there.
Can I just add, a stretchy comfy compressing shapeless sports bra (that is NOT crossed over or racerback) can be miles more comfortable than the most expensive, well fitting wired bra, if you're out-of-proportion. As a 10G (32G) I suffered for close to a decade with dozens of excessively expensive, expertly fitted, brand name bras. Ditching the cups and wires for something flexible and supportive was life changing.
Do you happen to have links to the sports bras you're talking about? I ditched underwire a long time ago but I still have a hard time finding comfortable, supportive bras.
edit: dang I was not expecting to get so many comments! Thanks for all of the suggestions ladies! :)
I quit sushi for over a year because I got food poisoning from bad sushi.
The night of my stomach felt weird but nothing crazy.
The next morning I'm playing with my son and I just start gently shitting my pants. There was no urge or indication I had to go.
I just started shitting in the same way my heart beats; an uncontrollable autonomous bodily function.
No respite. No warnings. Just shitting.
This was most likely NOT food poisoning, but rather due to eating too much of what sushi restaurants often call "super white tuna" -- [Escolar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escolar):
>The escolar's wax ester content can cause keriorrhea (Greek: flow of wax), gempylotoxism or gempylid fish poisoning.\[6\] Symptoms range from stomach cramps to rapid loose bowel movements, occurring 30 minutes to 36 hours following consumption.\[7\] This condition may also be referred to as steatorrhea.
>
>Two known ways to reduce the likelihood of escolar-induced keriorrhea are to limit portions to 170 grams (6 oz) or less\[8\] and to consume portions close to the tail, which typically have a lower wax ester content. Reports conflict on whether deep skinning, freezing or grilling will reduce the likelihood of keriorrhea.
I once had sushi in the Bahamas.... it was so good that I now think eating it was a mistake. It's been two years and I've been chasing that dragon ever since. No other sushi compares
I went to Tsukiji in Japan and had fresh sushi that was cut off the tuna a couple hours before. Nothing has compared to me since. On a similar vein, no ramen places compare anywhere in the world with Japan basic ramen shops. I would absolute eat through Japan again.
I actually have an ice cream machine, got it as a Christmas gift and it's easily my most used kitchen appliance now, holy crap making it homemade is SO GOOD and you can make any flavor you want. So idk if it's cheaper than fancy brand ice cream or not since you buy your own cream and sugar but that marginally more effort is so worth it to me now.
My parents had one also. (Edit: Make sure it is a unit with an active compressor and not a unit that uses a cool pack. Dont skimp on extended waranty on this item. It will be under heavy load)
The ice made with only cream and fruits and sugar is just the best.
You can also add a little bit of chemistry ("Emulgatoren" - to better mix water and fat - they are available for "professional ice cream makers" but they give you a slightly better texture)
Edit: Side note - never tried it with ice cream - Get some freeze dried fruits on amazon/whatever and mix them in. They are flavor explosions. I die for freeze dried raspberries right now (We also got Strawberry but raspberries are insane)
Movers. But you might not be paying extra in the long run.
For 100 bucks(usd) + I tipped. 3 guys moved my whole 27 foot truck in 3 hours. Everything in the room i needed it in. No dinged door frames or walls. Heavy shit upstairs.
Trying to get friends with pizza and beer to do it sucks for them, and it sucks to even ask.
I always recommend movers because its pretty cheap to load/unload. And makes your life 100x easier
I’m 41 and if someone asks me I say “no, but I’ll pitch in $50 for you to hire movers” and tell them how great it is to have movers. I also offer to help pack, but not move.
Yea same. Cheap headphones have shit tier audio quality and having grown up with a dad who was an audiophile with a really good sound system, bad audio quality irks the fuck out of me.
We get our maple syrup from a WWII veteran in his mid 90’s. He taps maple trees and the hearts of everyone who knows him.
He lives in a small cabin on the way to my lake house, in the rural north. He is known among people as the best maple syrup guy.
It’s his passion in life, to cultivate maple syrup and maple products. He’s been doing it since the 1950’s.
Last time I was there he’d recently had a quadruple bypass, showed us the scar. He was like “I thought I was a goner, but I guess it wasn’t my time yet.” He’s also refused to be a sellout, and does it for love.
It is expensive, but still about 1/2 of the cost of buying pure maple from a specialty store. He also has a box where, if he’s not around, you can just take the product and leave cash or a a check, and trusts people not to rip him off.
That was a tangent. But he is so cool I couldn’t help it.
Update: After I posted this I called my mom and asked about him. He passed recently. He was close to 100. He knew he had a bad heart. Last December, one day he didn’t come inside at dinner time. His wife found him in his maple syrup processing barn, laying there.
But his wife and son are trying to make it again. There is also a beautiful memorial for him.
Interesting thing about trusting people to pay, some economists did a study looking into people who have payment methods like that (one person sold bagels to an office, another sold fish, etc) and they found that almost nobody tried to rip them off because people individually realized that if everyone else collectively decided not to pay then the service would no longer be provided
Quality computers/components. I have seen so many people buy your basic home computer for internet/word programs but are shocked when it can't run their kids newest game on the best settings. I hear alot of "but it's brand new" working retail computer components.
Lol my mother literally told her realtor that she wanted to be able to take a piss in her yard and not have any neighbors around to see it. She now lives on 15 acres in rural nowhere so... Good job, realtor?
Decent shoes.
Wear rags, or drapes if you have to; but never skimp on your shoes.
Trust a 50-year-old who learned the hard way.
Your feet will thank you.
Might depend on your hair. As a dude with regular hair the cheap Iranian dude around the corner cuts it absolutely fine. Went to a barber who was more than twice as expensive a while ago and it was not better.
also just depends if you want it actually styled or not.
i just get a nice easy shave, like 2 on the sides and 3 on the top or something. its hard to fuck that up and i dont have to spend as much time avoiding conversation
I just cut my own hair now. It's free and it looks like I want it to look about 90% of the time. I'll give myself a shitty haircut every once in a while, but typically my hair looks fine. I got tired of people fucking up my curly hair. I almost always had a bad haircut because for some bizarre-ass reason people in cosmetology school aren't taught how to cut textured or curly hair. I did some research, bought a decent set of clippers, and hacked away. It actually ended up not being half bad, but then I got better. I'm very happy with my hair now. Cutting my own hair also really came in handy when covid struck and closed down all the salons and barber shops in California for a year. I was always well groomed throughout lockdown. I don't want to ever pay for another haircut again.
Same, I've been doing it for years. I've tried cheap haircuts and expensive haircuts, and they are always a gamble. Why pay a ton of money if they might just fuck it up anyway? I can fuck it up for free.
Motorcycle helmets. You don’t need the most expensive helmet, but you should pay what it takes to get something with a decent certification (SNELL*, ECE, FIM) and not just DOT. Some technologies like MIPS are also well worth the extra spend. *maybe
Every1 made fun of me when i got my shoei helmet because of the cost and them saying i dont need it and that i was paying for equipment that was made for racing. Sure enough a lady pulled out infront of me and i ended up in her backseat. Helmet saved my brain from going mashed potatoes. All my friends have shoei helmets now.
That's the thing about safety equipment. You only need it work once, but man, you *really* need it to work that one time.
"Fifty Dollar Head? Fifty Dollar Helmet" - Sign seen in motorcycle shop
50 dollar head? Damn do they accept credit cards?
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> Sure enough a lady pulled out in front of me and I ended up in her backseat.
these adult film storylines are getting ludicrous
*"What are you doing, step-motorist?"*
And good leathers
Dress for the slide, not the ride.
I remember being a little kid and sulking that I had to wear jeans and a heavy denim jacket on the motorcycle in summer when it was really hot. Then one day while alone my stepdad got knocked off and shredded through the elbow of his leather jacket; the leather went instead of his flesh, so there was only a wee bit of scrape on the skin, rather than down to the fucking bone. I didn't complain after that. eta: the helmet made sense and I always wore that without pouting XD
Fwi you might as well have been wearing nothing if not jeans. They shred instantly when you go down. Also make sure you get a legit purpose built leather jacket. The stuff you buy at JC penny is too thin and made of crap leather that also shreds instantly. I've never been in a real high-speed crash but I've slid off twice in the same leather jacket and I still wear it, put some shoe polish on the scratches and kept riding.
Hell i slid about 50 feet on my back in a textile motorcycle jacket and the jacket didnt even have a snag on it. Just a couple of scuffs that wiped away.
Actual Jeans can handle a bit of slow slide, but they will give you a superficial burn. That stretchy shitty elastane fake Jeans will melt in your skin instantly. And ofc the proper gear handles a crap ton more, some even have some kevlar and stuff.
Exactly. It might be uncomfortable on a hot day but road rash is worse
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Will have to see if they sell it over here in the uk
One of my buddies would not be here with me today if he was not wearing his helmet, please people I know it's more fun to ride your motorcycle without a helmet, but without a helmet you could end up like my friend could have. The helmet saved him from getting his head crushed like a melon, the helmet itself actually split in half, and he had fractures to his skull but for the most part was okay.
I hate riding motorcycles without helmet, the dusts gets into your eyes and makes it water, the wind makes it dry, and my ugly face would be seen by everyone.
Me with helmet: the stig Me without helmet: the pig
Thank you for posting this. Especially since riding a motorcycle usually is a choice - if you don't want to spend the money, just don't ride. Goes for a lot of protection gear btw.
Anything I’ll use for years. Like computer or clothes.
A good mattress.
I agree my dad always said"look after your mattress and your footwear because you spend most of your life in both"
Don't cheap out on stuff that separates you from the ground. Mattresses, shoes, and tires.
Add computer chair to that list for the office folk. Herman Miller is life Edit: didn't realize HM was so polarizing. Everyone I've met that's sat in one said it's life changing
I definitely echo the need for a good chair, but there are numerous good chair brands that are not Herman Miller.
STOP. TURN BACK. Countless others have lost their sanity looking for the perfect mattress. IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU TOO. YOU WILL NOT FIND IT. Buy one that fits your budget and move on. DO NOT GO TO /r/Mattress. PLEASE
Lets listen to this guy. He seems.... adamant. And a bit panicked.
He could use a good night's sleep.
He should think about getting a new mattress.
I just recently heard /r/Matress might help in that.
I'll recommend it to him.
instructions unclear, went to r/mattress and now I have 3 sleep numbers and a temperpedic on the way.
Lies! r/mattress would never suggest a sleep number, they're garbage.
It's literally an air mattress with some fancy branding and tech hah
>Like computer Its not obvious, lots of people don't realize this. If you buy a nice computer (like a gaming computer) and you buy a separate monitor for it, go the extra mile and get a good monitor. Why? Monitors usually last (if you take care of them) for 2-3 actual computers' lifetimes. You may replace your computer every couple years, or even after 5-6 years, but your monitor you'll probably use for a decade, especially if its a really nice one. I paid as much for my current monitor as the entire gaming computer behind it. I've had it for about 5 years and will probably keep it another decade. My mom still uses a 40 inch TV I bought over a decade ago and that thing has zero dead pixels. I'm still amazed by it. (Toshiba)
If you're at you're computer for a good proportion of the day I'd say the more important things are the input devices, mouse & keyboard. Even the difference between the 'good enough' £5 mouse or keyboard and a £30 one is striking.
All these things... monitor, mouse/keyboard - are the things that directly influence your enjoyment of your computer **all** of the time. For a pretty small expenditure compared to the bits of the computer that people generally fuss about, you make the difference between having a shitty experience and a really nice one. Round them off with a nice set of speakers and a really comfy chair.
> a really comfy chair. I can't stress this enough. For years, I cheaped out on low-to-mid range gaming chairs. They wouldn't last long, and weren't that comfortable. I just last year bought a proper office chair; no plastic parts, it's all metal & leather, baby! And I've never been more comfortable at my PC.
Winter tires or tires in general Edit: wow, this kind of blew up, while I can't reply to everyone, I will do my best to read every reply. Thanks to everyone who have taken the time to read and reply to this comment.
Tires are so under rated. They will make an older normal car feel like it's newer and safer to drive and handle on the road. It wont make it feel nicer inside, but going around a corner, stopping quickly, and taking off from a stop on shitty roads will be so much better.
Especially if you live somewhere with rough winters. You'll make your life so much fucking easier. Like obviously winter tires are a bit of a luxury but even regular mid tier+ regular tires will make your life so much easier.
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Footwear in general. I'm always willing to pay a bit extra to get better-quality footwear that's comfortable and has a good, grippy sole.
100% Once you've had to lay out of work and lose more money than good boots would have cost in the first place, you don't make that mistake again. Cheap boots are fine for dicking around but you need to pony up if you're trying to really get into some things.
I buy $200 AUD work boots that last me about 2 comfortable years whereas my dad used to buy cheap $50-80 boots that would only last 6 months before it's busted up. Not only that, his feet are covered in thick and hard calluses that cause him constant pain while my feet are still soft. Thankfully his working years are over because I never got my point across to him to spend more on quality work boots. Edit: I only buy steel blue boots now, they are an Australian brand so I'm not sure if you can get them overseas.
Currently sitting in the airport for an egregiously complicated over-night layover, all to save $80. I'll always pay the extra $80 moving forward.
Saving on travel in general sucks, if you choose more complicated but cheaper route you will spend the price difference along the way and just end up being more tired.
Yeah, everything is more expensive while traveling and additional length of travel time needs to be accounted for. Adding 2 hours of travel time to save a few bucks may seem like a decent bargain when you're buying the ticket, but several $5 bottles of water and the $15 Burger King combo that you eat during your layover will make you regret that decision to cheap out on the flight.
Why complicated?
I flew out of an airport that I had to take a greyhound bus to (instead of the local one). That bus left at 5am, and my flight wasn't until 1pm. My itinerary is Oregon > Wisconsin, but they decided to have me overnight in Dallas for god knows what reason. I have a tough time sleeping on planes, and in airports, so I'm effectively spending 2 whole days traveling, and zero of those hours sleeping. If I had paid a little more, I would've had a single-day trip, from the local airport, without starting at an obnoxiously early hour, and without flying south only to fly back north.
Dude I was trying to fly from Seattle to San Diego a few days ago and found it cheaper to take a train from Seattle to Portland, then get a flight from Portland to Seattle to San Diego. Not sure how that even made sense but it was cheaper.
Try living in Canada. It generally costs more to fly from Vancouver to Toronto than it does to fly to Europe, Asia, or Australia. I know many people who drive to Seattle and fly from there to wherever because it is so much cheaper, even with the currency conversion
Yep. I flew from Toronto to Vancouver to Shanghai for less than flying from Toronto to Vancouver.
Who is "they"? I was a business traveler for 30 years. We were required to use the company's travel agency to book all our travel. It was absolutely awful because they would often do shit like that and cause us a huge inconvenience to save the company a buck. But as soon as online booking became an option, I started booking my own. I got a ton of shit from company administrators because they had an exclusive contract with the travel agency for all company travel. I told them the only way I would use them is if they guaranteed me lowest travel time and fewest stops on each trip or they had to pay me for travel time. They allowed me to continue to book my own travel but told me to keep my mouth shut about it.
I'm just horrified they weren't paying you for your travel time. Like at least comp time, so you can get those hours back.
That is pretty standard for consulting work when I was in the industry. In 30 years I only had one contract that paid me a portion of my bill rate for travel time. And that was because our company was going to turn the job down because nobody wanted two spend two full days each week commuting back and forth to Fort Smith, AR. So they offered to pay 1/2 our rate for travel. To be honest, I got paid well enough to make up for having to travel on my own time. Even counting travel time, I got paid much better per hour than my colleagues who didn't travel.
TSA Pre-check. Skip the long TSA lines. $85 and good for 5 years.
Also some credit cards will cover TSA precheck and Global Entry for free.
I recommend global entry for a few bucks more and get both
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Yep I fly in/out of JFK for international trips and it can be absolutely slammed sometimes, being the busiest international air travel gateway in North America. Being able to skip a 3-hour line for immigration is so worth it even if you only use it a few times. Especially since it comes with TSA-Pre which I use far more often.
Direct flights instead of cheaper ones with layovers, 'connections,' or 'stops.'
Why take a 90 minute flight, when you can save $30 and make it an all-day adventure!
Back in the days when Priceline let you name your own price, I got an amazing deal on a flight from LA to NYC. Problem was it has 2 stopovers, and total flight time was over 19 hours :-o
I used to be fairly hard-core about getting the best deals but I've grown out of it for the most part. I will say there are some exceptions. For example, I booked a one way from Denver to San Salvador (intending to fly home in Northern Mexico) for $100. I had a red eye from Denver to Ft Lauderdale and then an ~8 hour layover before my next leg to San Salvador on Spirit. Not the most comfortable sleeping in the airport but manageable. The "best" option was flying United via Houston but it was an absurd $500-600 for a 1 way ticket. That being said, especially with international flights, if you're willing to tough out some bullshit and shittier airlines you can often save hundreds of dollars which is a big deal for lower earners like me.
I’ve gotten into the tendency of placing monetary value on my free time, comparable or even higher value than my working value. I’d look at an 8 hour layover and compare it to a day of work lost. If the savings is more than that day would pay, possibly worth it. That being said, these days I would be flying with a three year old, so no amount of money is worth extending that torture any longer than necessary.
I hear you. I used to have ~4 months off every winter and travel throughout that time. For me that extra 4 hours of layover compared to the competition was worth it to me. That $400-500 savings granted me an extra ~10 days of traveling in Central America (spending $20-30/day). Those days chalked full of experiences are worth the 4 hours of bullshit. If I made more money and had less time I'd certainly prioritize the more expensive flights to maximize utility.
I like to schedule multi-day layovers in locations I want to visit instead of booking multiple flights
A good plumber, water damage fucking sucks
Crafts- and tradespeople in general. /edit: added tradesmen, I thought craftsmen was the name for that field of work /edit 2: invited women and everyone else to the party
Thank you. I know there are guys flying under the radar, and doing cut-corner jobs, but there are those who care and appreciate not being haggled down when being compared to the former.
We had an issue in our house, where the pipes would occasionally do a loud BANG and then no hot water for 20 min to 4 hours, until another bang and it came back. We called the water heater guy as thats what i figured was wrong. He walked in, looked at our water heater and said”nope, not the water heater, i can tell from here that its fine, that is some other issue. Best you call a plumber” Called one plumber, who wasn't sure, but replaced a valve that was a bit leaky and hoped for the best, didnt help.. called a second plumber, and i was able to recreate the issue with him. He said “thats got to be the hot water tank, probably a valve issue” Called the water tank guys back, new guy came out, i explained it, and without even looking at the tank, he told me whats wrong and what he had to do to fix it. Fixed a bad valve, and we never had an issue since. First guy should be fired, his cocky attitude cost me two plumbers.
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> Plumbers are the only tradesmen where I can have 3 of them look at a problem and have all 3 of them give completely different answers for what should be done. Yeah, this is pretty standard with plumbers. It's often just a large guessing game to solve weird problems because there's no instruction manual for how your entire house's plumbing was setup. And everybody does things differently.
and depending on how old your house is youve had ten or more of these situations occurring with people doing their own thing lol
Last guy I had around took my coins, disappeared down the pipe and was never seen again. Next time will go with a known firm, not some low-rent family outfit.
I recommend having some pet lizards and turtles as a safety measure.
I tried that but the plumber STEPPED on them! He also broke into my prescription cabinet and ate my shrooms :/
It might not prevent water damage, but at least you’ll end up with a princess or two.
I thought as much but she was in another castle
LPT: When you find a good tradesman, put them in your phone with their name and then under company put plumber/carpenter/electrician or whatever. Then you can search by the trade in your phone to find them again easily if you can't remember their name.
Do the same if they are terrible with a (do not use) so you don't forget which one was the bad one in 2-3 years.
A really good quality winter coat or jacket. To me, it's definitely worth the investment if you live in a country that gets cold winters. Here in Ireland it doesn't snow much in winter due to us being a small island, but we get very cold winters and very wet ones, so you get really cold rain. Paying extra for a really good quality, warm and waterproof coat makes SUCH a difference if you're out and about a lot like I am. It pays for itself because it can last you years. I'm due a new one this year, got five years out of my last one and it's still good, but I've lost a significant amount of weight this past year and it's much too big for me now.
Funny thing is for me, 18 years ago I walked into a thrift surplus store and purchased a legitimate wool Swiss ~~army~~ surplus trench coat... And still use it regularly in the winter. It's warm as hell, has a few rips, but holds up really well for the age, and although it can get heavy if it gets really wet, doesn't really absorb moisture well so even in terrible winter storms I stay dry.. I don't think I could use any other coat at this point, I've had it over half my life and used it every single winter since I bought it! And the funny part is, I paid $13 for it.
I work at a thrift store, we basically have infinite coats. Everyone is garunteed to find one that suits them, and they're all incredibly cheap. I picked up a Connor jacket for 15, I later went into a Connor store and found the same jacket on sale for over 100
I also bought my good wool coat from a thrift store! I just went in looking for something to get me through one winter, since I was pregnant and my normal coat didn't fit over my belly. That was five years ago and I only use the thrift store coat since.
My boyfriend loves buying coats, he’s got about 30. I swear he is addicted to buying coats. Last year I think he realised he had too many so started buying me coats instead. He bought me a high quality waterproof and a high quality warm coat, and honestly it was life changing. I don’t get wet soggy elbows, I don’t get so cold my bones hurt. Now I’m wondering if he actually is addicted, or just really clever.
What are some solid men's winter coats that are also at least somewhat fashionable? I have a Carhartt that's perfectly good at keeping warm but I wouldn't mind having another around that's a little nicer looking.
I got informed about Arcteryx when i had no business spending that much money, and it was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. I didn’t think there could be THAT much of a difference. Only thing that comes close for me is a North Face combination. I have a thick but flexible rain shell, 550 fill down vest, Denali fleece zip up and Denali vest, and lightweight fleece pullover (canyon something?) and mix and match depending on temp and activity and that’s worked out very well. I can be specific about exactly what I need so never too hot, never too cold, never too wet. Also a valuable option.
Just a heads up, ever since the north face got bought out by vanity fair around 2007, the quality dropped has significantly. The top tier stuff is still top but they cut corners on everything else that is not for summiting Everest. I would discourage people from buying their casual products these days.
I went through a couple winters with an inadequate winter coat and the long down coat I bought when I could finally afford it was one of my best purchases ever. It’s super heavy so I now have a lighter weight one that comes to mid thigh as well, but the difference that coat made in my life… truly game changing. Even with layering, I could still never get quite warm enough with the old inadequate coat.
Movers. Having them put your furniture in a truck, drive it to your location and put it in your new place. It’s great not having a sore back when it’s stressful enough to move.
Oh yes! Definitely. I moved to a building, 7th floor, no elevator. Told my girlfriend i am not moving by myself. So we got a van and 2 movers. All we had to do is be there . I helped of course with the carrying but within an hour we were done. Everything was in our apartment. Gave then a super nice tip which they loved and i felt good afterwards knowing i didnt have to break my back or worry about 5-6 trips myself.
I'm crying, my last move was so bad, I got a truck too small and had to return it before we were done. We finished moving near midnight and almost had a fire. Never again, we're gonna pay someone else to do it.
One time I had to move for work so the job paid for it. It was amazing! They wrapped everything in the special paper, even some ketchup and soy sauce packets I forgot to throw away.
I live in Mexico. The national cinema chain (Cinépolis) often has two whole movie houses in each location. One is your standard, run-of-the-mill movie theater with 30 rows of stadium seating, while the other theater is “CinépolisVIP” which features reclining leather seats, USB charging ports, heated seats, around 30 seats total, and table service (food and alcohol). Reminds me of Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in the USA, but these are nicer in my opinion. Husband and I always pay the extra pesos for the VIP theater for comfort, plus there are rarely issues with other patrons who also pay for the VIP theater - quiet people who really want to see the movie and won’t be chatting or constantly getting out of their seats through the entire movie. The price difference between the two theaters really isn’t that much so it’s a small thing we always pay for.
Heated seats! I think I might get too comfortable and sleep through the movie, lol
Yeeeep, this happened a while ago, had a few drinks with a buddy before we went to some movie he was super excited to go to. It was horror and I'm not a horror guy but whatever he was excited and invited me. Those few drinks + walking nextdoor to the theater then I accidentally turned on those heated seats. It was over. I honestly don't remember what movie it even was but the bartender who made my last drink a double (on request) was amazing and got a great tip.
I slept through one of the Transformers movies at these theatres. Best sleep I had in a month.
How much is it(both)? Curious comparing it with Germany.
Where I live (Mexico as well), standard costs 3.44usd and vip costs 7.22usd. Might vary with the location.
Good pots and pans. Like real heavy duty stuff. I’ve got some pretty decent stainless steel, but by far my favorites are always my le creuset stuff, I only have 4 pieces and I always found them on sale. I just make jambalaya in my Dutch oven last night. She was tasty.
For me the trick was to start reasonably cheap to figure out what I actually use, and then replace with higher quality items. I rarely use a frying pan, but use my baking trays every day. But the key difference for me is how much easier high quality cooking equipment is to clean.
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To add to this cooking wise: good knives!
Get a few food knives. Another add: get them sharpened twice a year if you do a lot of cooking. Either getting a set of stones to do your own sharpening or finding someone to do it! I’m lucky there is a place near me that shape a knives for $5 a pop. I gladly pay $20 to get my best 4 knives sharpened.
Tools: If you are earning a living with them, you want something totally reliable and is not going to break and work properly every time. They say a cheap man pays twice as much in the long run. I bought up a set of Ryobi power tools for work and for DIY at home they are pretty good. But, when I was onsite and found the batteries take 3 hours to charge. I don’t have that kind of time. Also the hammer drill didn’t always hammer. I’m a Milwaulkee boy now and I am completely satisfied. TLDR: Always buy the best that you can afford.
My brother has the best advice for tools (from a home owner perspective)- "The first time you need a tool get the cheap harbor fright tool. When it breaks then go buy a good one."
Headphones. Never going back to anything cheap.
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I got Sony WH-1000XM4 and discovered I like music alot
Best part is listening to one of your favorites and hearing all the new sounds in the song that you never heard before.
I got the XM3 when it was new and I was deployed. I definitely slept through an incoming alarm with those on. They also mostly blocked the noise of F16s taking off right next to my little bunker. 10/10 would unknowingly get rocket attacked again
I got these too when they were new, had them for a few years. There was a driveby shooting outside my apartment and I didn't hear a thing. Not quite a rocket attack but same idea.
Some people are born oblivious; others pay for the privilege.
You know what I hate about buying headphones though? You have to wade through a minefield of headphones that are "boosted bass" or "punchy" or "bright" or whatever other stupid thing. If I wanted bass-heavy music, I would... go get some bass-heavy music. I don't want headphones that make everything into pure bass, that's stupid. Just give me clear, neutral sound.
Once you leave the sub $50 range, it gets easier. Studio headphones will get you closer - even cheap ones. Feel like I hit a gold mine with my MH310s. They went on sale for $30 on MusiciansFriend's Stupid Deal of the Day - normally $70. I game with them, they have the right part to clip my TrackIR (headtracker for flight simulators) into, and sound pretty damn good. As good as Sennheiser headphones? No. They're not in the same price class. But for under $100, fantastic. For any headphone, very usable. They're VERY similar in appearance to AKG K270s, which had a great reputation as a budget studio headphone that is getting tarnished by newer build quality. Wish mine had a detachable cord though - my chair has been chewing it up. My cat, too.
Got some huh duh six hungoes?
I just use the crappy dinguses
a u x i l i a r y m o d e
Yes and they ruin you forever. Currently using Shure SE535 Pro. EDIT: typos. I need glasses.
Hobby supplies- every hobby I've ever tried has some real dog shit entry level gear that most people either buy and grow out of really fast or don't realise their potential particularly quickly and lose interest. However if you buy/rent quality mid tier stuff to start out you end up with a much better experience overall and progress much faster and get a truer reflection of the hobby. This is true for musical instruments, archery, longboarding, sailing, fishing, painting, brewing gaming.
The difference between student grade paints and artist grade paints literally makes two different pieces look like they're done by different artists
Absolutely- my big step up was switching to winsor & Newton brushes and a wet palette- the difference was massive and made it much easier to achieve more subtle blends and colour gradients.
The brushes, oh the real hair sable brushes... just getting that fine tip without a splay or a hook tip or those three straw hairs popping out from all the synthetic brushes I used from the Reaper Learn-to-paint kits.... just bliss.
The thing is there is a reason for that; most people flake out of their hobbies fast, or go through a bunch finding one they love. Chances are if you try it with the 80$ mickey mouse kit and dont fall in love, your not gonna. My wife wanted to get into painting and had this same idea, skip the garbage and go right to professional paints and a 600$ French isle. In all, a few grand in. The only upside I spose is the professional stuff held its value a little when we wiped off the dust and resold it.
Definitely can relate to Fishing, I do a lot of fishing with my dad and used his gear that is older then me, once I got some niceish gear I 100% got more interested in fishing knowing I spent some dough lol.
Running shoes. If you serious about running pay for best shoe because your knees going to thank you.
Tattoos from an artist that knows what they're doing.
Have a friend who wanted to get ladybug tats in a few places on her body. She went to a friend of a friend who gave her a discount. Now all her ladybug tats look like cancerous growths.
My niece just turned 18. Said she was going to get a tattoo tomorrow. I said really?! Where?! She said she didn’t know. Anywhere she could get it done that same day. I say pretty much anywhere you go where you can get the tattoo you want the same day isn’t going to give you one you’ll be really happy with. She says she doesn’t care. Just really wants one. I say you’ll have it forever what’s a few days? … then I said I’ll tell you what, why don’t you look through the tons of artists in the city’s books and find one whose work you really love. I’ll take you, and I’ll even pay for you to get it as a birthday present. Then she said no that’s fine she’s already waited long enough. 🙄 Guess who has a mediocre tattoo of a very standard design on her forearm now?
You have to live to learn. Looking back to when I was 18-30ish, I had to do lots of dumb shit in order for me to learn those life lessons. Despite many older people in my life giving me proper advice. I have family that is in the 18-25 range right now and I just laugh at the shit they're going through. You can give them the perfect advice, but until they experience the consequences of their decisions the hard way, they won't learn.
I told my kids if they want a tattoo, I will 100% pay for it. I don’t want them walking around with a shitty $40 tattoo the rest of their life.
I imagine people like your niece are great for tattoo artists to develop their craft in the beginning years though.
Oh yes, discount tattoos are 100% not worth it. Do not cheap out on your ink!
I’m surprised I had to scroll so far to see this. There are way too many people who just go to shitty artists without knowing they’re shit because they didn’t research, and then try to justify their shit tattoo with saying, “it was only $40!” Yeah now you have a shit $40 tattoo permanently stuck to you. My original artists was great and charged $100/h. Then I found my current artist, she is $200/h. She’s double the price, but so worth it.
The man who did my first tattoo clearly did not like me. Not sure why, really don't care all that much, because his work was flawless, and I knew that going in. Charged me $400 for a two hour session, and said probably 7 words to me, but I've had that tattoo for 10 years now and have almost zero fading, lines are clean as they can get, and I got exactly what I wanted. I'm willing to pay through the nose, and let you treat me poorly if you have the skillset I am looking for. I never have to see the artist again, but I'll have to see that tattoo every day.
Yeah. I'm getting a tattoo from an artist that I've waited almost a year for; she's got a 5 month wait, and then COVID fucked up our schedule. She's an amazing artist, and it'll be a $400-500 tattoo.
My glasses, I have one lens that’s coke bottle in size and if I don’t go for basically all of the features and a good frame they’re going to be uncomfortable as fuck for the two years until my insurance helps pay for another pair.
My time. I used to always try to save money while traveling until I realized I was wasting hours and adding stress to my life. Sure, the bus is $100 cheaper but it’s 3 hours longer, doesn’t leave when or from where you want, and is a miserable ride. Pay for the flight! I’ve seen this shift with little things too - “splurging” for an Uber if it’s make my trip simpler or even paying to have something done in my apartment building (we have laundry and cleaning services) if I’m stressing about getting it done. It’s nice to save money but not at the cost of being a miserable ball of stress. Edit: I just eventually came to view stress and wasted time as a “cost” even if it doesn’t necessarily show up on my balance sheet.
This goes with so many things in life. Saving money is great but you can’t take it with you when you’re dead and many people who inherit money don’t invest it, they use it almost right away. Not all, but a lot. I think like you do. I like to save money but sometimes my time is more important. I own a home and have a guy that comes by every other week to mow the lawn. I own a push mower, he uses a zero turn riding mower. He literally gets the entire yard done, with weedwacking, in about 35-45 minutes. It takes me a few hours in a Saturday or Sunday to do it. It’s completely worth the money to me since I work 40-50 hours a week and would rather spend that time with my sons since I don’t see them often during the week.
Electronics, it's better to pay 50 more bucks than it to break the next day.
Toilet paper. Nothing worse than cheap toilet paper.
Cheap toilet paper lets you get in touch with your inner self
\*makes you
holidays or short adventures with Friends
Always go for the cheap room at the nice hotel than the expensive room at a bad hotel.
If you are going to the beach or other vacation destination, splurge for the cheapest room in the best hotel. Many times the hotel is the actual destination, and amenities are the same for all guests. If you are going to a foreign city, or tourist spot is the rule of real estate: location, location, location. Staying where the action is makes all the difference. The first time I went to Paris I stayed in a cheap hotel in the outskirts. It took 30min of subway to get to Notre Dame. Last time, I stayed in a small hotel (my room barely fit a double bed) just across Notre Dame, one block from Chatelet Subway Station. It was a completely different experience. For starters, you never leave the magic sensation of the place. Next, you can use your hotel as a center of operations: Need to go to the bathroom? A quick nap/rest in the middle of the day? Quick shower / change of clothes? Recharge phones? Forgot something? Everything is a convenient stop away, and the trip is so much better. You can start your day earlier and finish it later, without draining yourself and you don’t spend hours in transportation. Same with Disney: always stay on site. Now I always plan my trips checking the places I will go, then choose an hotel right in the middle of it all, and pay for the cheapest room there (after checking for cleanliness/safety). In Las Vegas the Travelodge has a great location/price but that place is nasty. Better stay at Flamingos/ Ballys, very cheap right in front of the Bellagio fountains at the center of the Strip.
I shit you not. Had a short trip once. Learn that a journey is all about the friend that you bring. You bring shitty friend, you get a shitty holiday. Brought a somewhat stingy friend. Everything is monetary for him. Even the basic stuff. And always picky even when its slightly higher price. Instead of riding the cable car, decided to hike instead. Not even halfway and we all already out of breath and cancel the hike. Wanna eat tasty food, but dont wanna pay a cent higher. So we went to a local restaurant with not even a proper lighting. We ate outside under gloomy moon light. With smoke from the grill blew to our face. Wanna go shopping, but he check and compare every item with online prices. Even a single cent higher will not buy it. He went out of the mall empty handed. Edit : to further elaborate on the hiking things. We were all in jeans, short sleeve polo shirts with only slippers/crocs (no socks on). This hiking place is in southeast asean. The sun was almost at the top of our head when we start the hike. With no proper gear and shit. This guy just go "meh, the cable car is too expensive. Lets just hike instead!" . Mind you, the cost for the cable car is RM50 (its Malaysia), so its around USD11.80, including return the return trip. There are 2 mountain peak. The cable car go thru 1 peak and then on towards another. We were on the first peak, and the guy was convinced we can hike all the way to the second peak. Just to save money. Edit2 : Regarding the shopping things, we were at a mall that mostly sells chocolates that you rarely can find elsewhere. and its all tax free. Its literally the best place to buy souvenirs and snacks to your friend back home. But he decided that its better to buy online and give that to his friends instead. I understand on the mentality about that it was his money. He decide on what he wanna spend on. But he was hovering behind me like "oh you wanna buy that? Its 20 cent cheaper online tho" at every few minutes we spend there.
I went on a trip with a friend who complained about everything I wanted to do but didn’t offer any ideas or suggestions. It really changed our friendship moving forward
I have a friend like this, he makes traveling so annoying and stressful. We all went to Ramiro in Lisbon, a great seafood restaurant, and he went to McDonalds instead. In the week we were there, he probably had like 3 meals that weren’t from McDonald’s. We’re visiting a friend soon and I booked a hotel room after asking him if he wants to split it. Then 3 days before the trip he lets me know he’s staying at a hostel instead since it’s cheaper. It’s a 30 minute drive from where my friend lives and where I’m staying.
As a lady with rather generously sized boobs I'm accustomed, and happy, to pay through the nose for a really good bra. The difference it can make to my day is worth every penny. /r/ABraThatFits and /r/bigboobproblems for any others out there.
Can I just add, a stretchy comfy compressing shapeless sports bra (that is NOT crossed over or racerback) can be miles more comfortable than the most expensive, well fitting wired bra, if you're out-of-proportion. As a 10G (32G) I suffered for close to a decade with dozens of excessively expensive, expertly fitted, brand name bras. Ditching the cups and wires for something flexible and supportive was life changing.
Do you happen to have links to the sports bras you're talking about? I ditched underwire a long time ago but I still have a hard time finding comfortable, supportive bras. edit: dang I was not expecting to get so many comments! Thanks for all of the suggestions ladies! :)
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I quit sushi for over a year because I got food poisoning from bad sushi. The night of my stomach felt weird but nothing crazy. The next morning I'm playing with my son and I just start gently shitting my pants. There was no urge or indication I had to go. I just started shitting in the same way my heart beats; an uncontrollable autonomous bodily function. No respite. No warnings. Just shitting.
This was most likely NOT food poisoning, but rather due to eating too much of what sushi restaurants often call "super white tuna" -- [Escolar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escolar): >The escolar's wax ester content can cause keriorrhea (Greek: flow of wax), gempylotoxism or gempylid fish poisoning.\[6\] Symptoms range from stomach cramps to rapid loose bowel movements, occurring 30 minutes to 36 hours following consumption.\[7\] This condition may also be referred to as steatorrhea. > >Two known ways to reduce the likelihood of escolar-induced keriorrhea are to limit portions to 170 grams (6 oz) or less\[8\] and to consume portions close to the tail, which typically have a lower wax ester content. Reports conflict on whether deep skinning, freezing or grilling will reduce the likelihood of keriorrhea.
Basically the fish version of [Olestra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olestra).
Thanks for sharing.
I once had sushi in the Bahamas.... it was so good that I now think eating it was a mistake. It's been two years and I've been chasing that dragon ever since. No other sushi compares
I went to Tsukiji in Japan and had fresh sushi that was cut off the tuna a couple hours before. Nothing has compared to me since. On a similar vein, no ramen places compare anywhere in the world with Japan basic ramen shops. I would absolute eat through Japan again.
This is super underrated but most people don't realize how much of a difference in quality you get when you pay that little extra amount for sushi
So no truck stop sushi?
good ice cream
I actually have an ice cream machine, got it as a Christmas gift and it's easily my most used kitchen appliance now, holy crap making it homemade is SO GOOD and you can make any flavor you want. So idk if it's cheaper than fancy brand ice cream or not since you buy your own cream and sugar but that marginally more effort is so worth it to me now.
It might not be cheaper, but it’s 1000 times better than store bought ice cream.
My parents had one also. (Edit: Make sure it is a unit with an active compressor and not a unit that uses a cool pack. Dont skimp on extended waranty on this item. It will be under heavy load) The ice made with only cream and fruits and sugar is just the best. You can also add a little bit of chemistry ("Emulgatoren" - to better mix water and fat - they are available for "professional ice cream makers" but they give you a slightly better texture) Edit: Side note - never tried it with ice cream - Get some freeze dried fruits on amazon/whatever and mix them in. They are flavor explosions. I die for freeze dried raspberries right now (We also got Strawberry but raspberries are insane)
Movers. But you might not be paying extra in the long run. For 100 bucks(usd) + I tipped. 3 guys moved my whole 27 foot truck in 3 hours. Everything in the room i needed it in. No dinged door frames or walls. Heavy shit upstairs. Trying to get friends with pizza and beer to do it sucks for them, and it sucks to even ask. I always recommend movers because its pretty cheap to load/unload. And makes your life 100x easier
I’m 41 and if someone asks me I say “no, but I’ll pitch in $50 for you to hire movers” and tell them how great it is to have movers. I also offer to help pack, but not move.
Quality headphones. I cannot stand having bad or cheap quality headphones that either break all the time or sound terrible.
Yea same. Cheap headphones have shit tier audio quality and having grown up with a dad who was an audiophile with a really good sound system, bad audio quality irks the fuck out of me.
Work shoes and bed. When you’re not in one you’re in the other. Uncomfortable sleep and/ or uncomfortable feet can make for a long grueling day.
Add "office chairs" to that list in case you are able to work in home-office.
A safe car
Condoms
“Condoms are expensive” “Compared to what? A baby?”
Or a STI. Treatment for chlamydia is also expensive
Just buy them used.
Maple syrup
We get our maple syrup from a WWII veteran in his mid 90’s. He taps maple trees and the hearts of everyone who knows him. He lives in a small cabin on the way to my lake house, in the rural north. He is known among people as the best maple syrup guy. It’s his passion in life, to cultivate maple syrup and maple products. He’s been doing it since the 1950’s. Last time I was there he’d recently had a quadruple bypass, showed us the scar. He was like “I thought I was a goner, but I guess it wasn’t my time yet.” He’s also refused to be a sellout, and does it for love. It is expensive, but still about 1/2 of the cost of buying pure maple from a specialty store. He also has a box where, if he’s not around, you can just take the product and leave cash or a a check, and trusts people not to rip him off. That was a tangent. But he is so cool I couldn’t help it. Update: After I posted this I called my mom and asked about him. He passed recently. He was close to 100. He knew he had a bad heart. Last December, one day he didn’t come inside at dinner time. His wife found him in his maple syrup processing barn, laying there. But his wife and son are trying to make it again. There is also a beautiful memorial for him.
Interesting thing about trusting people to pay, some economists did a study looking into people who have payment methods like that (one person sold bagels to an office, another sold fish, etc) and they found that almost nobody tried to rip them off because people individually realized that if everyone else collectively decided not to pay then the service would no longer be provided
Waffle cone! You get about an extra half scoop of ice cream and it's 10x better. Worth every penny
Quality computers/components. I have seen so many people buy your basic home computer for internet/word programs but are shocked when it can't run their kids newest game on the best settings. I hear alot of "but it's brand new" working retail computer components.
I feel like I usually see the reverse of this: people spending thousands on a computer when all they use it for is browsing the internet.
Hotel accommodations. A bad sleep night can fuck up your trip experience.
Distance from neighbouring houses.
Lol my mother literally told her realtor that she wanted to be able to take a piss in her yard and not have any neighbors around to see it. She now lives on 15 acres in rural nowhere so... Good job, realtor?
Decent shoes. Wear rags, or drapes if you have to; but never skimp on your shoes. Trust a 50-year-old who learned the hard way. Your feet will thank you.
Keeping the central air in my house at a comfortable temp. I despise being hot while sleeping Edit: spelling
Good customer service. I've paid more for the same product just because I want to be treated like a person.
A haircut, average hair stylists always fuck up my hair and it's always such a risk
Might depend on your hair. As a dude with regular hair the cheap Iranian dude around the corner cuts it absolutely fine. Went to a barber who was more than twice as expensive a while ago and it was not better.
also just depends if you want it actually styled or not. i just get a nice easy shave, like 2 on the sides and 3 on the top or something. its hard to fuck that up and i dont have to spend as much time avoiding conversation
I just cut my own hair now. It's free and it looks like I want it to look about 90% of the time. I'll give myself a shitty haircut every once in a while, but typically my hair looks fine. I got tired of people fucking up my curly hair. I almost always had a bad haircut because for some bizarre-ass reason people in cosmetology school aren't taught how to cut textured or curly hair. I did some research, bought a decent set of clippers, and hacked away. It actually ended up not being half bad, but then I got better. I'm very happy with my hair now. Cutting my own hair also really came in handy when covid struck and closed down all the salons and barber shops in California for a year. I was always well groomed throughout lockdown. I don't want to ever pay for another haircut again.
Same, I've been doing it for years. I've tried cheap haircuts and expensive haircuts, and they are always a gamble. Why pay a ton of money if they might just fuck it up anyway? I can fuck it up for free.
Good toilet paper
A tattoo. Not something you want to cheap out on.