You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Marriage; the wife has proven repeatedly handy to have around.
No way you can really consider marriage expensive. Average cost of a marriage ceremony was £18400 a couple of years ago. Given that a well maintained marriage can last for over 30 years or 10958 days that's a daily cost of under £2 .
That is so cheap you can't even buy a bland tasteless coffee.
Divorce on the other hand.
No way you can really consider marriage expensive. Average cost of a marriage ceremony was £18400 a couple of years ago. Given that a well maintained marriage can last for over 30 years or 10958 days that’s a daily cost of under £2 .
That is so cheap you can’t even buy a bland tasteless coffee.
I fear you have completely disregarded the very significant ongoing running costs.
Chris King headsets and bottom brackets
I have a real weird love/hate thing going on with CK, I've a headset running in one bike and its an amazingly well put together thing, and runs so smoothly...Every time I build a bike I put one in a shopping basket and there it sits as I struggle to bring myself to pay the stupid amount of money they are. The last time it happened, I eventually screwed up the courage to buy it, and it was out of stock as I'd waiting too long, I've never been so releaved.
Is it weird to say - food ingredients? (as opposed to ready made, or processed foods...) It seems I buy stuff to make food with, and I reckon I could save myself £££ every week just by buying a pre-made version of it. Which seems wrong.
Arai are perfectly good helmets (with great marketing) but I don’t see how they are significantly ‘better’ than a lot of other brands.<br /><br />
They may well not be for you but as you say helmets are a very personal thing. When I was first riding I’d buy any old crap, Frank Thomas, bieffe, etc my first quality lid was a shoei for work but I then found the Arai to be much better for me. Comfortable, quiet and light. I was reminded of all this when going on my first long ride in years and years, London to Ireland this year, using a cheap Frank Thomas lid. I almost stopped in Swansea to buy a new helmet it was so bad ( if I’d had more time I would’ve). I’ve now replaced it with an Arai.
Footwear/shoes. I find getting quality shoes infinitely outlast any cheap fast fashion junk and well worth the extra money. My Gran used to say you could always tell the cut of someone by looking at their shoes.
Second a decent pen. I happen to like a Parker Jotter but with a Fisher cartridge. The Parker is nice but the Fisher is worth the extra expense.
Shoes. See Vimes' Boots.
Tools. Good tools are always worth having.
Work stations. Having a decent setup will result in a happier day.
Mattresses. You spend a good third of your life on one, make it count.
Meat
Mattresses
Taps
Tools
Laptops
Marks & Spencer prawn sandwiches 🦐
No way you can really consider marriage expensive. Average cost of a marriage ceremony was £18400 a couple of years ago. Given that a well maintained marriage can last for over 30 years or 10958 days that’s a daily cost of under £2 .
I had 41 years with my partner without a marriage ceremony. cost zero. Marriage sounds awful expensive to me 🙂
monkeysfeet
Free Member
Coke and Hooker’s
Hmmm, but he didn't specify what.
I fear you have completely disregarded the very significant ongoing running costs.<br /><br />
I’m a cost centre in my marriage. I can confirm that the running costs are high.
Wellies.
Not bloody coffee!
monkeysfeet<br />Free Member<br />Coke and Hooker’s
......
Hmmm, but he didn’t specify what.
Well not cherry or classic, and nothing to do with fishing equipment 😉
Jeans. Shit jeans rarely fit nor last , and make you look like Jeremy Clarkson
Good jeans (note I don't say expensive jeans as there are some very poor quality expensive jeans) fit well, last and picked well are not Clarksonesque.
Good jeans are rarely cheap
Time is the ultimate luxury so it’s the NetJets membership.
I had 41 years with my partner without a marriage ceremony. cost zero. Marriage sounds awful expensive to me 🙂
I’m at 27 years and only cost was the registry office fee of £150. Rational was tax but I totally get your sentiment with regards the whole pantomime.
Exposure lights. Worth every penny.
Good quality sleeping bags with a high fill power down and good materials otherwise (no particular brand, lots to choose from)
Vallorbe files. Specifically a half round 2nd cut tapered file that was £40 but it just does the job and has done for years.
Di2.
YMMV but you would be wrong, sorry.
also +1 to exposure lights and good bread
also
a proper slow grown, decent breed, free range chicken. £10-£15 for a chicken? Bargain
OMM, Patagonia
a hand shaped surfboard
Stamps
I get that you might not want one, but surely it doesn’t take much imagination to see why others might like to own nice things?
I can see why people enjoy buying nice things, like a fancy notepad or fountain pen but that doesn't make it worth the money, which was the OP question. Some things are simply indulgent.
Surely an expensive notepad is the opposite of something that is ‘definitely worth the money’ as it serves no purpose other than to show to other notepad fans how much you’ve spent on a notepad?
Especially when you've got notepad.exe notepad++ for free.
Pans
Chef knives
Speakers
Power tools
Chainsaws
Beer
All of the above are available in large price brackets. All will do the same job from lowest to highest. However, the user experience and outcome is directly proportional to the money invested
A good pair of shoes.
I'm talking OTT hand made shoes but in my experience you just can't beat a pair of Docs for long lasting comfort that can be worn anywhere and fit in.
I used to buy cheaper shoes for work, perhaps a third to half the price of a pair on 1460's but they just don't last and were never so comfortable.
A good fountain pen is another choice. A Montblanc is a work of art and beauty to write with but even my TWBSI eco go to pen is a delight to use.
Meindl walking boots
Meat
Bordeaux red wine
I’ve heard you can spend thousands on bicycle brakes
Another vote for mattresses.
Good denim (selvedge).
Good wellies (Aigle and Grubs, La Chemaux didn't last me particularly well).
Good walking boots that are worth a re-sole.
Good shoes/boots. Redwing or Fracap that can be re-soled. Like a Loake dress boot.
Watches.
I'll have a pair of PMC BB6S XBD-A loudspeakers please, hard to find a price but they're over 100k
I’ve heard you can spend thousands on bicycle brakes
And cranks. And hubs. And rims, And gears. And various other trinkets.
Nobody is saying they are, objectively, worth it though.
Good jeans are rarely cheap<br /><br />
As pointed out numerous times, Uniqlo Japanese selvedge denim jeans for £35/pair are as good, if not better than jeans costing well north of £100, if not more.
Japanese selvedge denim jeans for £35/pair
They bleed like a swine though. I like to imagine an unsuspecting Tesla owner hopping into that white leather interior with their spangly new selvedge denims for a long drive... Because I'm twisted like that.
As pointed out numerous times, Uniqlo Japanese selvedge denim jeans for £35/pair are as good, if not better than jeans costing well north of £100, if not more.
Kaihara denim is decent, but the last time I looked, they were produced in Bangladesh and Uniqlo has questionable history of forced labour practices.
All of the above are available in large price brackets. All will do the same job from lowest to highest. However, the user experience and outcome is directly proportional to the money invested
I can’t think of anything where it’s directly proportional. Diminishing returns applies almost everywhere.
Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones. I ordered them and sent them back a couple of times before opening the box (sorry amazon). They seemed way way more expensive than I perceived myself being worth...
More than happy to spend a mint on my kids, but generally less so on myself. The hazards of parenting
As pointed out numerous times, Uniqlo Japanese selvedge denim jeans for £35/pair are as good, if not better than jeans costing well north of £100, if not more.
As I said good jeans are rarely cheap.another clue to them being any good is when they have stretch in the title.
Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones
These are really good and worth the cash imo. First quality pair of headphones . Wish I'd had them years ago when I traveled long haul regularly. But they would have been stolen multiple times
Toilet paper, unless you are a fan of running sandpaper across your holy rose.
Chris King. In almost 20y of riding, whether second hand or new, I have never, ever replaced a bearing on a headset, BB or hub. Hundreds of thousands of KM in all weathers. <br /><br />
Hope, Cane Creek, FSA, Shimano have all died in the attempt.
Hate to say it but my Uniqlo selve edge are no where near the Hebtroco's for quality. The difference is night and day.
For me:
Waitrose food. Stays fresh for weeks longer than Tesco or Aldi. Never understand why they dont market this. Stuff like carrots 6-8 weeks. Tesco 2 weeks if lucky. I know what tesco are doing and its sh!t grocery. Essentials range is also fantastic quality for the price. False economy not to buy decent food.
King Headsets: Always buy second hand & expensive. Wait for the search to pop up on ebay. One of the last true fit and forget items. Last way longer than Hope or Cane creek.
Leatherman for the 25 year warranty.
All my furniture is Ercol. 2nd Hand. Solid wood, well made, for the price of Ikea. Most of it is 40-50 years old and it will out last me.
Mattresses - worked for years in a mattress factory. You totally get what you pay for. High density Pocket sprung and layers of horse hair and lambswool every time. Just about to replace my 30 year old mattress and move it into the spare room. By my calcs I have spent over 70,000 hours lying on that thing. Why would it not be the most important item after your house?
St Anton lift pass. €406 for 6 days.
Grisport work boots, the tall ones. Not that expensive but they last and last
Cauliflowers. Well they seem to be bloody expensive at the mo.
I agree with sourdough, 3 quid for a large one at my local bakers.
Good beer (rather than going to Spoons 'cos it's cheap).
ATC loudspeakers.
Howarth oboes.
Also agree with @Andy re. Waitrose Essentials and Ercol. Recommend me a mattress Andy.
Like others
Exposure lights
mattresses
good red wine
I’ll add Assos roadie clothing and Remarkable notebooks.
+1 leathernan, also Gerber. I had a multi tool snap after twenty years service and they replaced without a receipt.
V Spring mattress
Swaroski binoculars
almost anything by Apple
A weekend in New York with prime tickets to see David Byrne in concert
Our Ercol furniture.
@doris5000 early December what few mills left in Hawick have sales both invitation and public.
+1 Leatherman
+1 Exposure lights (didn't pay ridiculous money for mine though)
+1 Frahm jackets (only have the one, but the quality is outstanding)
I'll add ebikes 😉
I'll also add - drysuits. Without a shadow of a doubt, the best bit of kit I've used this winter
It's difficult to understate the bed/mattress when you realise, you spend a third of your life using it.
With that in mind, almost another third: my Secret Labs office chair.
Proper, Goodyear Welted shoes. Look after then and they’ll last decades.
Tyres, be it bike or car, they’re the only thing sticking to your ground and you normally get what you pay for.
Good bread. Sourdough may be hipster but it’s bloody lovely.
Beer. I’ve cut down on drink and maybe have 3 beers a week. So I make sure they’re really good ones, even if it costs extra.
A handmade acoustic guitar is worth every penny.
A good hi-fi.
Good Red wine.
Good cheese.
Recommend me a mattress Andy.
I have only just decided to replace my 30 yo mattress, as I now want a king size in the spare room for my sister, so still looking. I always went for Vi-Spring or JL own brand when they had their own factory. I worked at the JL factory and visited the ViSpring factory a couple of times. Expensive but amazing quality. I am just looking now and annoyingly JL clearance ends tomorrow so the best I can do for myself is record the prices for future reference. I would still buy from JL now as they used to have brilliant knowledge of mattress composition. JL also used to do a spring unit refurb (recovering) but not looked into that yet.
OK here is my 30 yo knowledge. Key is to go to a shop with the stock to try it and decide on your firmness. JL used to be brilliant for this as they would have a mattress specialist, trained to advise properly. They are very staff light these days so worth phoning and establishing who the specialist is and when they are in. You and whoever else is going to use the mattress needs to have a good roll around on different examples.
A mattress is a sandwich. I dont believe in the memory foam or single sided mattresses. Core is the spring unit. I would go for pocket sprung over coil sprung. Key is a high spring count and each spring sheathed in natural calico, not nylon. Natural fibres breath and handle sweat much better. The rest is about the layers. The best are a layer of horse hair, calico sheet,layer of mohair, calico sheet and a layer of lambswool to give that initial float before settling based on the spring firmness. All natural fibres so it breathes in use. Mattresses are as much about handling sweat as comfort. Its old school tech! Also important is a calico border which is hand stitched to the mattress through the springs. It means the mattress doesnt sag over time at the edges. I have watched them do it and a hand stiched border is quite intricate as they carefully link in the outer springs, and can take two hours to do a mattress properly, they then pipe edge sew the edges on a machine, but it means the mattress wont sag at the edges after 5 years use. Finally you need a good tuft count to hold it all together properly.
A proper mattress should never be rolled or folded. It snaps the internals holding together. A good mattress should also be turned every couple of months on a ventilated bedstead or divan to allow the turned half to breathe the sweat away.
Any decent shop should be able to describe exactly what the layers, border stitching, tufting and layers involves and exactly what the fabrics and fillings used are. If they cant then I would walk away.
I now want a king size in the spare room for my sister,
Christ, how big is she?
Christ, how big is she?
I am sorry. What are you suggesting sir? :o)
There is very little you can cut corners on in mattress manufacture. The spring unit maybe, the border assembly and also the tufting is normally automated these days but the layering, border sewing and edge pipe machining is still hand worked AFAIK so its still very much you get what you pay for and a £1500 mattress works out at £10 a week so pretty much perfectly fits into the "expensive stuff definitely worth the money".
I would spend more time on a mattress than I would on a new car because I will spend a lot more time using the mattress!
At last I have found something useful to add to the STW hive mind! What a time etc etc
WMF Professional Plus Garlic Press
It’s £40 on a garlic press, but after years of using £5-10 ones this is a joy to use, we get through a lot of garlic here!
Tis is a great thread!
I agree with bike lights... Exposure in my case too...
Nice leather shoes would be on my list... I don't think my choices would be in the TRUE expensive category as I normally spend about £120 - 150 on a pair, and am aware they can be MUCH more than that... But I find they are much nicer than, say, a £60 pair ..
And steak from the supermarket... A seven quid steak trumps a four quid one by miles!
DrP
You and whoever else is going to use the mattress needs to have a good roll around on different examples.<br />
Is this a euphemism and if so I’m surprised they allow that in the shop? 🤣
Overtone beers
Yes!! Currently Puget Sound and 99 IBUs. I'd swear you even get a nicer drunk off them than other similarly strong IPAs 😎
Shoes, see Vimes boots
Came here to say exactly that.
another clue to them being any good is when they have stretch in the title.
Hope I'm not misinterpreting that one as my stretch Levi 511s are my favourite ever jeans, and they haven't gone at the crotch like every other pair I've ever owned (Uniqlo included). Definitely worth the extra £££
Am currently also loving stretch chinos although not sure how long £25 a pair will buy me 🙄
Along with the talk of a quality mattress I can also recommend a good wool filled duvet to go with it.
One of the best purchases I've ever made is a wool duvet. I always used to suffer from the cold, especially my feet, no matter what tog rating man made fibre duvet I used but since splashing out on a wool one I sleep like a log, an no longer wake up with a snotty nose.
My current memory foam mattress has done me 15 years though?
I’d have to buy five of them before I’d be in profit with one traditional mattress?
Exposure lights
Expensive cycling bibs that actually fit well (Gore for me but your shape may vary)
Berghaus boots (again a fit thing, although my last pair lasted ages as well).
Battery power tools that you use a lot (combi drills in my case)
Winter sailing kit
As a Topper sailing circuit dad - stacking dinghy trailers with box storage. Depreciation is slow, you can load them up with two boats, all your kit and spares, it's a handy store at the club and at 630 on a cold winter morning when you're heading off to a training event you hook up, pull the straps tight and drive away. No faffing around with lifting onto roof racks and sticking 3m long bags of wet salty gear in the car and repeating when you get home in the dark on a Sunday.
Plasterers
A cleaner.
I think I've employed a "woman who does" from my first paycheck in my first flat, and I still employ people to do the stuff that I cannot abide doing. Worth every penny.
don’t scrimp on boots or beds
if your not in one your in the other
(c) CFH
Church's shoes.
I inherited a few pairs, from the 60s, from my old man.
They fit like a glove but were in dire need of re-soling, so I sent them off to Northants... Re-soling 5 pairs was eye wateringly expensive but they came back as good as new, and I expect them to outlast me!
I agree with most of the things and would like to add:
Good quality shirts, that iron easily and fit well. Essential when heading into the office.
Joinery. If you're making things yourself this is linked to the tools comments. Good quality cabinetry is so nice!
Speakers. I'm a B&W fan.
Bike suspension.
Cadac Carre Chef 2
The wife bought me one as a back handed present a decade ago, it get used in the garden as our BBQ and for cooking on campsites, it has been built up and packed away hundreds of times now and is till going strong. I suspect we will never need to buy another.
When I worked and suits were the only option a made to measure suit was silly priced but oh so worth it. I reasoned that because I HAD to spend 12 hours a day in the thing - probably three quarters of my weekday waking hours - I might as well make sure I had kit I wanted to wear, especially as being 41" and R and a bit I was plumb between sizes. Take care selecting the fabric and a shade that wasn't just this year's thing and they comfortably outlasted the off the peg equivalent, so total cost of ownership was less eye-watering. The downside....Covid killed suits and I retired, leaving me with a rack of serviceable suits.
I’m lying on my mattress
I’ll be in trouble for this as it’s from IKEA. But it’s their most expensive one, now discontinued. £800 which is cheap. But 3 times what their cheap mattresses cost<br /><br />
You couldn’t roll or fold it without a JCB
As it contributed to solving my back pain which was really pretty bad it’s just a huge thing in my life
Another vote for:
Exposure lights, Chris King, Hope, Gerber and Apple products.
I agree with sourdough, 3 quid for a large one at my local bakers.
What all of them? Sounds like price fixing.
Church’s shoes.
I inherited a few pairs, from the 60s, from my old man.
They fit like a glove
Yik
