Article created by: Ieva Pečiulytė
The Universe can reward you in mysterious ways. Many of us have one or two items at home or at work that continue to impress us with their quality and longevity every single day. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to call them the best purchases we’ve made. And price… actually doesn’t have all that much to do with the quality of the thing in these fringe cases. Sometimes, Fortune smiles on us, and a sketchy cheap buy turns into a lifelong companion.
Whether it’s a pair of cutesy pink Hello Kitty nail clippers from Japan or a flannel jacket for $2 that’s still going strong after a quarter of a century, these are the accidental heirlooms that we pick up throughout life. If this were an RPG, these would be [Legendary] quality and crafted by elves (and/or possibly dwarves). Scroll down for the very best stories about suspicious products and services that turned out to be awesome, as shared on this viral r/AskReddit thread. Oh, and remember to upvote the posts you enjoyed the most, dear Pandas.
Now that’s not to say that price doesn’t matter at all when it comes to quality (master crafted products cost a lot to make, and the labor’s expensive, too), but it’s weird how high quality can lurk in the unlikeliest of places. Do you have any cheap things you bought that have lasted for years, Pandas? We can’t wait to see what you have to say, so drop by the comment section.
Bored Panda reached out to Sam Dogen, the author of 'Buy This, Not That: How to Spend Your Way to Wealth and Freedom' (out July 19), for his opinion about saving on non-essential purchases and how to avoid impulse buying. He also shared some vital information about bear markets and how long they last. Read on to see what he had to tell us.
#1
Image credits: miraculous_spackle
#2
Image credits: viceroywaffles
#3
Image credits: Emilzabub
#4
No label old vinyl acetate record with hand written “That’ll be the day” on it. Paid $1. Ended up being a live Buddy Holly recording. Sold it for $970.
Image credits: ThredHead
#5
Image credits: Ticonderoga10-11
#6
Image credits: maddymj
#7
This bamboo back scratcher my wife got me for 3 bucks like 15 years ago. It is right here next to me. I use it to scratch my back, gesticulate while I pontificate, fend off my cats, and use as a tuning fork to make strange noises to annoy my wife. I joke that in the event of a house fire, this back scratcher is the only thing besides my wife and cats that I'd take with me. (Its not a joke though, I really would go for it first).
Image credits: EffeminateSquirrel
#8
A tour guide approached us outside the Vatican offering the best discounted Vatican tours. This guy was the definition of sketch. But we were like “oh whatever, when in Rome.”. It was indeed a discounted tour and turned out to be a highlight of our trip to Rome. Tour guide was awesome and we skipped all the lines to get right in.
Image credits: IfTheHouseBurnsDown
#9
Image credits: other_virginia_guy
#10
Image credits: PrussianBleu
#11
Image credits: KevinMScott
#12
Image credits: Whylizlovesyou
#13
Image credits: anon
#14
Image credits: OctoberThirteenth
#15
Image credits: 21_K
#16
I bought a blanket in Mexico in 1986 for $5. I still have it and it is super soft and comfy. It has been used, washed, etc and it is still in great shape.
Image credits: sprcpr
#17
Image credits: PnutButterOnMyBurger
#18
Not my purchase, but still one of the best: My brother gifted me a Snuggie one year for Christmas. I had painstaking tracked down a bootleg album he wanted and he got me a buy one, get one free, snuggie. I didn't speak to him for weeks. I have routinely used that snuggie for every camping trip I've been on over the last 7 years, and I will tell you it has become the most useful gift I've ever gotten.
Image credits: tarakerin
#19
Image credits: notornnotes
#20
Image credits: Emergency_Paperclip
#21
Image credits: alyssaaarenee
#22
Image credits: youknowhattodo
#23
Image credits: visijared
#24
Image credits: Figoverlord
#25
Image credits: Flareinne
#26
Spent $11 for a pair of 10ft phone charger cords on Amazon. I figured as often as I had to replace them, $11 wasn't bad for two. Three years later and I'm still using the first one.
- You Might Also Like: "The Ugly Truth Behind History’s Most Celebrated Figures"
Image credits: BustAMove_13
