My Top 10 Best Ever Purchases

Sometimes I will look at an item in my house and think, "wow that was a really good purchase!"; either because the item is super useful or super cheap or both.  In no particular order, these are the items that have been really fantastic purchases:

#1  A daypack.  It cost $7.95 at TJ Maxx and I have used it for dayhikes, volksmarches, and even overnight trips.  It isn't a famous brand or anything but it is well made, super inexpensive, and has held up for over a year.

#2  A Samsung Galaxy S2 cell phone.  Buying this phone took ages (and a lot of debate) because it was $300 which is A LOT of money to me these days.  But I am really glad I got it because besides making it really easy to text and make phone calls, I also keep some Kindle books on there, can easily access the internet and my email, and it contains a bunch of other things to keep me occupied (like a couple of games, Google Sky, etc).

#3  A cell phone cover for my cell phone.  At a grand total of $2.95 (including shipping from Hong Kong no less!) it works really well to give an added layer of protection to my cell phone).

#4  A treadmill that cost $50 off of Craigslist.  We had a treadmill some years ago (bought at retail of course) but we sold it when we moved.  After we got settled here, hubby wanted another treadmill because he likes to exercise everyday.  What we didn't want to do, however, was pay top dollar for a new treadmill so I went on Craigslist and within one day, we had a nearly new treadmill in our garage (note that hubby likes to watch shows on his computer when he exercises but we didn't want to buy a very tall, probably very expensive, computer table so he made one himself...kind of). 

#5  Walking shoes.  I paid about $40 for these New Balance shoes made specifically for walking.  They made a HUGE difference!  No longer did my feet cramp or feel like every little bone in my feet were broken after five miles of walking like they did in regular tennis shoes.  These were well worth the cost!

#6  A needle threader.  This item came with a sewing kit from the $1 store and I don't know how I ever lived without it.  It makes threading needles SO easy since my vision isn't what it used to be.

#7  A small notebook.  This notebook also came from the $1 store.  While I know it would be cheaper (and more modern) to keep my shopping lists and "to do" lists on my computer, I still love pen and paper when it comes to making notes or just 'thinking out loud' in order to organize my thoughts.  It's well worth the $1 spent and much cheaper than the $10 notebooks I used to buy at Barnes and Noble.

#8  A pocketknife.  I have carried this knife in my purse for probably 25 years.  I think back then it cost about $10 and I have used it for everything from cutting tags off of clothes to opening boxes to even putting a desk together (it has a Phillips screwdriver on it as well as other blades).

#9  House shoes.  When we moved to Las Vegas I realized that I didn't have any house shoes (I pretty much got rid of everything when we moved and while we traveled I carried a pair of flip flops with me that I wore outside).  Since we don't wear shoes in the house (no shoes on carpet, clean flip flops on the tile or wood floor parts of the house), I needed some new flip flops.  I found these for $6.95 in the boy's department of Walmart and they have held up extraordinarily well for the past year and a half.  They will probably last for another ten years or so which definitely makes these an awesome buy.

#10  Sunglasses.  Who buys sunglasses at the $1 store?  I do!  I don't need fancy, expensive sunglasses but I do need ones that fit well, look good on my face, and work, well, like sunglasses should.  When I came across these at the $1 I loved them (and really loved the price!).