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My espresso machine nearly 10 years ago. I think it was nearly $500.

I made drip at home and purchased lattes on the road. I bought the machine to make them myself in the morning and load up a tumbler with essentially 2 large lattes.

It definitely paid for itself within 2 years and I switched to work from home so I'm glad I have it today.

Besides using only distilled water in it I do basic maintenance of running coffee cleaner through it every 3 months or so. Never had a issue with it and it still works great.

Best purchase ever. Only downside is I make better "coffee" than most carry out places. I hunt for good coffee when I'm out. Found two shops locally that make great espresso drinks and pastries. I go a few times a year.

Good coffee is a dark black hole to get sucked into.

professional pedicures

Split airco in spring last year. I live top floor, flat roof with the living room facing south. Summers get real hot nowadays here, so last year was the first comfortable summer in our apartment in years. In winter we paid a fraction for heating as well. Best purchase in a long time.

Probably my two nicer guitars. They aren't especially fancy models, but they were pretty big purchases for me when I got them and have brought me heaps of joy since. Since the experience of playing a musical instrument tends to revolve so heavily around how tiny little details feel, like the strings of a guitar being a little higher or lower above the fretboard or the neck being a little more or less flexible, taking the time and money to find the ones that felt right to me made a big difference (and then adjusting the setup of them further to suit me more)

The two nice ones are an Epiphone Swingster and a PRS SE 24 7-string. The PRS is just fun. It's very versatile in sound, quite happy to do genres other than the metal that 7-strings are normally associated with but absolutely capable of getting angry when I want it to. The extra range of both the seventh string at the low end and the full 24 frets (the most that you'll see on a guitar without getting something very unusual) gives me loads of options to play things how I want. The Epiphone is a little bit beaten up after a fair bit of stage usage, but it still sounds so smooth and I absolutely love how it feels like it's coming alive when played loud. It's hollow like an acoustic guitar is, so when the amp is loud enough it resonates with its own output from the amp far more easily than normal electric guitars. This is how you end up with the feedback whine sound associated with classic rock acts leaving their instruments on stage at the end of a set, but when you're holding the instrument and controlling the feedback you can feel the entire thing vibrating and every sound you make with it can last for ages if you want it to

Wacom tablet I guess? I would hardly call it a luxury though, but it paid itself off in no time.

Otherwise my wallets. I've had one for a very long time which was really good quality and then I bought another one which I've had for years too, still in mint condition. Although I'm feeling the itch for a new one now. And guilty as well :/

I paid a bit more for a bike than I expected. Nothing compared to a Dutch person's weekend bike from what I hear. I got it used but the parts are all high quality, I think.

My life changed to being much more bike centric and I'm really happy with the purchase. The frame is carbon and I carry it up and down 5 flights of stairs 2-3 times a week.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but ... this scroll:

This is a set of bamboo slips assembled in the ancient style (though instead of having the characters and pictures inked on, these are laser-etched into them). I actually have two of these. One of them is the famous 老子 (Laozi) a.k.a. 道德经 (Dao De Jing), but this is the less famous 茶经 (Cha Jing or "The Classic of Tea").

I like both of them, but the tea scroll is the one that I find most comfortable.

Dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant. It was an incredible experience and one I frequently look back on with fondness.

The back story: for our 25th wedding anniversary, nearly a decade ago now, my wife found a B&B deal at this wonderful hotel which was simply too good to pass up; the only catch was we'd have to pay separately for our evening meal. Well, how expensive could that be, I wondered, especially if we were careful. Reader, we were not careful!

It was wonderful, from the petit-fours, amuse-bouche and starter (a salad, the likes of which I've never eaten before or since), into the main course ("how did they do that to a carrot?") through to dessert and the cheese trolley ("please have as much as you like!" we were told), and finally the petit fours, coffee and port from an ancient dusty bottle. The wine (we chose the second cheapest from the massive wine list, not that this saved us much) was similarly fantastic. I enjoyed every bite and happily signed off the bill with a smile using our emergency credit card.

It was a once in a lifetime treat but one I've never regretted.

Beyerdynamic DT-770 through Custom Cans (v3 acoustic mod and detachable cable). It's the best pair of closed-back headphones I've ever owned both in terms of audio and build quality.

On the flip side is the AKG K240. I bought it because of its legendary status as a neutral open-back, but the bass and low-mids are crushed. The cheap knock-off Samson SR-850 smashes it to bits. Then I learned that Samsung bought and then murdered the original AKG in 2016 and use the brand name to peddle their cheap landwaste products. Fuck you, Samsung.

The first thing that comes to mind is my computer mouse. Shelled out a bit more than I usually would for a more fancy mouse with multiple buttons and it has lasted 10+ years. The middle mouse button died pretty early but I just remapped that to another button close by and it feels awkward and wrong pressing the scroll wheel on any other mouse now. Although it is finally coming to the end of its days now and doing random disconnects and shit.

Also, just in general, shoes are pretty much always worth forking out a bit more cash for. Especially as someone that does a lot of walking, if you buy cheap shoes, you're going to be buying another pair every 6 months.

Other than that, haven't made a purchase that's good for the soul in a while. And I'm envious of your £200 picture lol. It really sounds like you're taking a lot of steps to make yourself happy, however big or small and that's awesome. Hopefully in about a year from now, I'll be able to answer this same question with some cool shit.

New car. You remember those infomercials with the grey unhappy "before" video followed by a colored and cheerful "after" ? Yup, that's pretty much me nowadays.

My old car was durable as hell, easy to maintain and all that. But my new car has so many creature comforts that I cannot imagine myself without them anymore.

Plus with 7 seats and AWD the entire household finally fits inside, and the mountainous terrain where we live is no longer a problem when the roads start icing up 8n the winter.

I bought a fancy picture in a proper art shop that was around £200. Expensive but it's brought me lots of joy! I'd always loved those pictures and I finally had the money to buy one. No regrets