With all the heat this year, we have been seeing a few flies in the house. I think they hover near the garbage cans outside the back door, and sneak in when it is opened. There are never many in evidence near the cans.
I bought one of these fly traps, less than $5 at Home Depot:
You fill it halfway with water and hang it up. A few hours after I did, I spotted a half dozen flies inside. I went to look and most of the surface of the water was covered with dead flies, at least 100 of them. After 3 days the flies are an inch deep in the water, thousands of them. It does smell like an animal died, but only if you get downwind and fairly close.
Yes but does this make any difference? My experience is that insect infestations are so numerous that killing a few hundred is like standing in the ocean scooping a bowl of seawater out in order to try to stay dry.
I have a cheap digital sports watch (Armitron?) that I bought on sale at Penney’s probably 15-20 years ago. I’ve never had to replace the battery (although I have replaced the band once or twice) and that thing is still running and keeps perfect time.
I bought a cheap $50 (Digiland) tablet for travel, just to have wi-fi access along the way. It is amazing what I can do with that. Maps and translation and booking travel and bill pay and free unlimited phone calls to any number in North America, from 17 countries so far and 7 more coming up next month. Stood up well under the rigors of travel. Best $50 I’ve ever spent.
I have a yellow seersucker camp shirt (women’s) I bought for $11 at a K-Mart in 2002. I wear it in the summers on hot days.
I’ve always put it in the washer and dryer, it’s never needed ironing and it looks almost brand new to this day. It still has all its original buttons, too.
Target quite often has seasonally-themed children and women’s socks for sale in their cheapo section right at the front of the store. They are $1/pair, and they last fooorrreever. I use them for bicycling socks; they’re about the same thickness/length, and “real” bike socks are like $15/pair.
A few months ago, I bought a Snark clip-on guitar tuner for about 12 bucks. It is the best guitar tuner I have ever used, and I have had dozens over the years. I think the only one I paid less for was the pitch pipe I had in the 70s.
Old Sears Countercraft food processor. I can’t remember what I paid for it, but it was less than they are selling for now on ebay. It doesn’t do fancy slicing and stuff (I don’t even know where those attachments are) but it has been turning out pie crust, and hummus, and pesto for over 30 years.
About ten years ago I decided I wanted to try my hand at 6-string bass guitar, but I didn’t want to spend the US$1,000+ I’ve typically seen on such instruments, in case I decided I didn’t like six strings. So I perused MusiciansFriend.com, and I came across this Rogue 6-string:
Rogue is MF’s “house brand”, and they were offering that bass for US$250.
It has ended up being the most solidly-built, best-sounding bass guitar I’ve ever owned. I use it more like a 5-string, rarely using the 6th string at all, but I prefer it to my Fender Classic Series 1960s Jazz bass. I’ve owned a Geddy Lee Signature Model Fender Jazz, a Steinberger, and a Tobias, and that $250 Rogue has them all beat.
The crappy ceramic 7" chef’s knife for $15-20 back, what, seven or eight years ago. I’d read all about how fragile they are and shatter if looked at funny but, since I’d wanted one for years when they were hundreds of dollars, I justified the cost as a novelty and figured it would be broken inside of six months. Damned if it still isn’t going strong. It is probably my second-most-used knife, way ahead of my fancy, expensive Japanese steel knives. I just used it last night to cut zucchini.
I agree on the cheap flashlights.
It will be difficult to talk me into paying more than about $12 for sunglasses.
My Acer netbook from 2009 is still my primary websurfing PC. I got a really nice convertible Lenovo ‘Ultrabook’ a couple years ago but never got comfortable using it for day-to-day stuff.
$9 cell phone. Takes lovely photos, video, email, web. And you can make calls with it. Holds a battery charge for up to a week. I’ve dropped it into a creek and once accidentally stepped on it. It keeps on going. Plus it displays the time so you never need to wear an annoying watch.
