Our 10 Best Purchases Ever!

In no particular order...

1. Over the air antennas.  If you live in a place that receives a lot of OTA stations (in our city we get about 50) these antennas can save more than a thousand dollars over the course of a year since you won't need to get cable TV.
2. Netflix.  Again, for around $10 a month, Netflix gives you A LOT of TV shows and movies which can be watched in place of cable TV.
3. House Seats/Fill A Seat.  If you live in a city with a lot of live entertainment, you should check and see if you can get a House Seats or Fill A Seat subscription.  For about $50 per year for two people, we have seen hundreds of shows ranging from comedy shows to concerts to magic shows to full-on Las Vegas spectacle shows.  Paying individually for these tickets would have cost thousands of dollars.
4. A good carry-on bag.  For hubby it is a small rolling suitcase that fits in the overhead compartment on an airplane and for me it is a 33 litre backpack.  We have learned to travel light and only carry one carry-on bag each when we travel thus saving at least $100 per trip in baggage fees.
5. Cookware and knives.  We have a few cast iron pans, a set of heavy bottom pans in a range of sizes, and five really good knives.  None of these things will ever need to be replaced since they are made to last forever and work really well thus negating the need to get rid of them and "buy something better".  There is nothing better and these will last long enough to be handed down to the kids and grandkids (one cast iron pan actually came from my grandmother so that means it would have lasted at least five generations when we give it to the grandkids!).
6. Internet service.  Yes the price keeps going up as cable companies try to recoup money lost to cable cutters but for a service that costs $60 per month, it is well worth the money as it allows me to work from home, bank from home, watch Netflix, communicate with everyone I know, etc.
7. A pocket knife.  I bought a Swiss Army knife with my babysitting money when I was about 12 and have carried it with me everyday since.  I use it to open boxes, open packages, cut tags off of new items, etc. and for the small price of less than $10, it has lasted for nearly 40 years!
8. Tools.  We bought Craftsman tools years ago (back when they were good quality, now I have heard that brand referred to as "crapsman" sadly) and they have lasted for decades.  When we moved and downsized and figured our days of building things were probably over we sent them to the son and grandson who used them to build their house.  Good quality tools can last a lifetime--or more.
9. Smartphone.  My purse is orders of magnitude lighter these days thanks to my smartphone.  It has replaced my dumb phone, camera, flashlight, paperback books, notebook and pen, and many more everyday items I used to carry with me.  This one small device can do everything and if you keep it long enough instead of buying every new annual iteration that comes out, it can actually cost you only pennies a day to use.
10. Houses.  While some people have lost big in the housing market, we have been fortunate that our houses have always earned (and saved) us quite a bit of money.  We have always bought houses that we could afford, and that would shelter us for years (none of this flipping and/or pulling equity out of them at every opportunity).  By paying our mortgages down--and off--as quickly as possible we have always paid below market rate for shelter while having an asset that earns us money whether we used them for rentals or sold them outright.