One thing that I haven’t done yet, but really want to, is replace my current, homemade solar pannel and battery system with a good, professionally installed system. I was thinking of the Tesla solar pannels and Powerwall(s) along with the electrical engineering to allow me to use the battery backup during power outages or even at night. This would be a pretty big-ticket item but where I live I think it will really work well.
Nothing against the Hobie, but it doesn’t count as a satisfying purchase for me. It was a fun little toy, but no comparison to the bigger sailboats we had over the years.
It carries a wide brief! my wife uses it for tutoring, the kids for gaming and other crafts and I can do my work and blast my music to my hearts content during office hours.
They refer to it as the “shed”. I claim it is an “intercontinental business and leisure complex”
I had all of the rotting timber planters and retaining walls around the house replaced with stone shortly after we moved in. Best $13,000 I ever spent on the house. My property value went up way more than that amount, and I admire them every day. They almost look too good for the house.
It’s funny; when I got certified, I pictured myself diving on vacation in tropical places. That’s part of why I didn’t buy gear right away; I figured I’d rent it on location and save the luggage fees. But I surprised myself with how often I wanted to dive, and how much I enjoyed diving in our local (SoCal) waters. I got certified at the end of 2018, so I had time for a little bit of dive travel before COVID shut down the world. But from March of 2020 until this past summer (when I was ready to fly again), I did about 150 dives, all within driving distance, and all facilitated by the gear I bought less than a year prior. It’s what’s kept me sane through all this.
Solar panels. It’s nice to know we’re generating our own electricity. Even better, we recently replaced our ICE cars with EVs, so the sun is powering our cars, too.
Yeah. When I had a CNG Honda it was nice being off the petroleum teat for 17 years and 300,000 miles. Alas, I’m back to ICE for a while until EVs drop in price or, more likely, I can get a used Tesla for less than a new model.
Central air for our house in New Jersey. Much better than getting window units in and out every spring and fall. We got central air for our current house, and extended heat to the addition, but not the same.
Do you know the make / model? We’re looking to install something similar in our fireplace.
For me, the biggest “big ticket” item that’s been most satisfying is my education. I earned 4 degrees – including an MA – in just under 10 years and “only” borrowed $24K total, the rest was paid through grants or out-of-pocket. It’s already paying off handsomely.
Runner-up is my house. I never thought I’d be a homeowner, let alone a nice 3/2 in a desirable suburb.
It’s made by Lopi. The exact model they don’t make anymore, but it looks similar to this one:
The RV we bought in 2004 for $74K, and then the smaller RV we traded it in for in 2010. For non-tangibles, it has to be the African safaris we went on; vacations of a lifetime.
A few Christmas Eves ago, my daughter and I snuck downstairs at midnight to set up our very first flat-screen television. The punch line was that the next morning, everyone was opening presents and playing Christmas music (turntable’s in the entertainment center that the TV’s on). No one noticed the huge-yet-flat television!
But the beauty of that TV is that we’ve never had cable, but the Firestick and Chromecast I also bought have brought worlds of streaming media to our house.
I’m looking at this thread for ideas. I’m pretty sure the mattress we’re sleeping on is the one I bought in 2006. I don’t remember what I paid but it was affordable making seven something an hour. Might be time for an upgrade.
We get a lot of entertainment out of our computers and spend a big chunk of our entertainment dollars on them, but it seems like a pretty nice computer doesn’t cost all that much these days unless the GPU you want is being gobbled up for crypto.
Did you have a Phill?
Passenger NGVs got briefly popular again around 2012 but I’m pretty sure that was the last gasp.
A 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata. It’s impractical as hell, but driving it creates some memorable experiences.
I got the auto in 2000 so it was a larger, more sophisticated model, faster compressor made by Fuelmaker than the Phill. It was also bulkier, standing on a pad in the side yard.
We just very recently got to enjoy ours for the first time. A few months ago we closed on a fractional ownership share of a beach house–fulfilling 1/10 of my lifelong dream. We now own five weeks of Outer Banks real estate, letting us return multiple times a year to the same house rather than throw lots of money at a rental for one week each summer.
We just returned from our first visit as owners and are thoroughly satisfied with this purchase. This big-ticket purchase will pay off for years and years to come. 
There have been a couple just in the past two years.
Adding a heat pump to our HVAC system last spring. With increasingly hot weather, including the smashing of our previous record high temperature this past summer, plus wildfire smoke and pollen allergies keeping us from opening windows, it was life changing.
I also traded in my very practical automatic transmission Subaru that I got no joy from, for a brand new Mazda3 premium manual transmission. I added racing chevrons on the fenders and rally badges to the grill. I so so love this car. It’s incredibly fun to drive. I am happy to have to run to the store for something so I can drive it. It is also, by far, the safest car I’ve ever owned. I love the heads up display on the windshield, and the Mazda “infotainment” system, and the various collision avoidance systems. It’s the only brand new car I’ve ever bought, and I intend to keep it as long as I can. (I figure we might be coming to the end of the manual transmission era in the US, at least.)
spending a few thousand more for a more reliable used car, rather than getting another Hyundai
I wouldn’t have thought of this but yeah, this is a good one. We finally got the driveway torn up and redone this year after years of putting it off and it’s extremely satisfying. Our garage is in the back corner of the property so it’s a rather long driveway and two cars wide so it took a nice Christmas bonus and tax return to cover it but glad it’s done. This winter, I can run a shovel over it without ramming myself in the stomach when the blade catches in a crack or stomping asphalt chunks back into place.
Not nearly as expensive but still a hesitant splurge was my SecretLabs computer chair. Was around $500 but is very comfortable and holding up like a champ. Compared to my previous “Whatever’s on sale at Office Max” chairs that would start disintegrating after a few months of regular use, this thing doesn’t make a squeak when I’m reclining or leaning to a side, etc. Very glad I bought it.
Hmmm, seems like you’re going out of your way to avoid identifying the whiskey you like… are you afraid we’ll buy it all up? (I bolded some of the suspicious phrases)
At $500-629 (best price I found locally), I don’t think we’ll be emptying the shelves before you can save up.
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Hey, everyone, I bet it’s from Bainbridge Organic Distillers (on Bainbridge Island, just a quick ferry ride from Seattle).