What's the best home purchase you've ever made?

[bunsen82]

I realize this is about household items, but just for fun….

Bought my first house for 150k, had roommates until I got married, rented it out to the same tenant for 10 more years and sold it for $285k…never paid the mortgage on my own. Bought our first house together for $225k and sold it 10 years later for $470k…rolled both into our current house. Sometimes I reflect on how lucky we were to time the housing market the way we did. Pure luck, no skill.

We bought at the absolute bottom in 2010 and got the 8k first time home buyers credit as well. Between rock bottom interest rates, low home values, couldn't have timed the purchase any better when looking back, and all we were doing was looking for a house. I would guess the value has doubled since then.

 

[FSUTribe76]

We bought a Bissell Big Green Machine carpet cleaner about 7 years ago and it makes me happy that we did every time I use it. In fact, I just cleaned our carpets on Sunday, and when I was done, I said, "this is the best thing weve ever bought"
Prior to that we had rented one a few times when moving. We had also purchased 2 separate cheaper models that broke within a year.
What home purchase have you made that you are happiest with?

Probably in bang for your buck it was a high end Dyson vacuum cleaner that my wife and I got as a wedding present from my in laws. Over ten years later the thing works perfectly, is incredibly easy to clean and has never had an issue (knock on wood). But that’s not something I bought, it was bought for me.

As far as things I’ve bought….either the new Kitchenaid fridge which has great storage and has really helped us organize stuff better over the ten year old Samsung side by side it replaced.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/kitchenaid-27-cu-ft-french-door-refrigerator-with-external-water-and-ice-dispenser-stainless-steel/6534858.p?skuId=6534858

Or maybe the Tfal fryer I got that self-filters and stores the frying oil when done, comes apart easily, is easy to clean and keeps it on the target temperature pretty accurately. Because of it, I honestly fry much better than most restaurants, I just don’t use it that often as I try not to fry at home very often and save fried foods for nights out. But it is a fantastic fryer I highly rec.

https://a.co/d/7yi4vSk

 

[Obviously Oblivious]

Obvious answer is something like a washing machine or dryer, but for something off the beaten path I would go with our shuffleboard table in the basement. I have a sophomore in college and a junior in high school, and we play it all of the time as a family. As the kids have gotten older and are doing their own things, that family time that they actually want to spend together is pretty priceless.*

*edited to add that if anyone is in the market we are happy with this one:

York Shuffleboard - Olhausen Billiards

Olhausen doesn't just manufacture game tables, we make dreams come true

www.olhausenbilliards.com

So jealous, I live those tabletop shuffleboards but I can’t justify the cost or the area it will require.

For me a very inexpensive item that gets a lot of use is our air fryer. We were late to the party on them but glad we finally got one. Also my smoker is something that I’m very glad we have now.

 

[jamesvanderwulf]

You by Iowa City?

Yep. People’s Republic of Southern Johnson County-for now. There are rumors circulating around Casey’s of Liberty Township seceding and joining our southern brethren in Washington County. Renaming Johnson County Johnson County may have been the last straw…

 

[artradley]

The more you spend on an ice machine the smaller the cubes. The cheap ones spew out that big shit that isn’t chewable.

I am the original ice snob.

Big ice cubes are better as they don’t melt so quickly and dilute the drink.

And why on earth would anyone want to chew on ice?

 

[Tenacious E]

So jealous, I live those tabletop shuffleboards but I can’t justify the cost or the area it will require.

For me a very inexpensive item that gets a lot of use is our air fryer. We were late to the party on them but glad we finally got one. Also my smoker is something that I’m very glad we have now.

It was a splurge but part of a basement reno that was long overdue, so we saved up for a rainy 6 months.

 

[Tenacious E]

We bought a Bissell Big Green Machine carpet cleaner about 7 years ago and it makes me happy that we did every time I use it. In fact, I just cleaned our carpets on Sunday, and when I was done, I said, "this is the best thing weve ever bought"
Prior to that we had rented one a few times when moving. We had also purchased 2 separate cheaper models that broke within a year.
What home purchase have you made that you are happiest with?

Another one that is super cheap is a bidet attachment for a toilet. They are like $40 on amazon and are game Game changer. Got one during the great toilet paper crisis during the pandemic and haven’t looked back.

 

[onlyTheObvious]

Big ice cubes are better as they don’t melt so quickly and dilute the drink.

And why on earth would anyone want to chew on ice?

Pfff