I was thinking what object gives the most pleasure for the amount of money it costs. And I think I have a winner… the humble blanket.
You can get a very nice blanket for $100, and it will last you 10 years easily. If you use this blanket every night, my calculations are that the blanket will cost you about 2 cents a night to keep you toasty warm. Of course you can get a decent blanket for half the cost and it will probably last even longer than 10 years, so it’s an even better deal.
Think how many nights that blanket has kept you cozy and give a moment of appreciation for the amazing value that is a blanket.
Anyone else think of something that gives more pleasure per monetary unit?
In college and during the initial post-college years, I frequently got together with a bunch of friends for dinner and a night of board games. We had a lot of fun playing Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, or one of the other board games for an evening. The games themselves cost about twenty bucks and we had hundreds of hours of fun with those games, so the cost per hour was miniscule. Certainly much less than a concert or going to the movies.
I got a chuckle from the corkscrew and bottle opener replies. They are a real value!
But on a more serious note, kitchen cutlery. I fine knife (read, quality) could last generations. Plus you get to work with a great tool!
You may want top tighten your definition a bit. I can think of several body parts that came as standard equipment (no cost) and have given me vast amounts of pleasure.
No, you have to count the acquisition expenses of the complementary body parts you need to access for this to work.
I’m going to second the lowly humble blanket, actually. Let’s make it an ensemble: That, together with the similarly priced (per unit size or whatever) warm fuzzy slippers.
It’s hard to argue with a corkscrew or bottle opener. I was going to suggest my climber.
For $150 I can climb up into a tree and hunt for four hours and then do it again that afternoon. I’ve had it for ten years and since it’s made out of steel it’s just as functional as the day I bought it. Doing some quick math it literally costs me less than a penny per hour of use.
I used to think along similar lines: What of my personnal objects have I gotten the most value out of. For me, it would be my Craftsman cordless drill. I have had the thing for over 7 years, am on the same battery (although it is nearing the end of its life), and use it on a weekly basis. Hundreds of pictures hung, dozens of shelves built, a deck, and the list goes on. Of everything I own, I would be most upset to loose my drill (relative to it’s actual cash value). I cannot think of anything that comes close.
If you know my posting habits, you know what I would say: old guitars; acoustics. I have a few that are 60 - 80 years old. They just keep getting better if you take care of them.
Corkscrew and bottle opener do not provide the pleasure. They merely get you to the pleasure. You have to factor in the cost of the consumables as well.
I’d probably go with a $9.99 clock radio that I bought a zillion years ago and use every day.
