Wha Are The Best Price to Value Purchases You Made?

User102430 on 08/05/2023 - 16:13

Quick reminder:
Price - amount of money you pay for something
Value - perceived benefit or utility that the product purchased provides to you

So I wonder, what are the best price to value purchases you've made?

Looking at reasonably recent time horizon, my personal best would be:
- Skoda Octavia - with the same EA888 engine as installed in much more expensive VAGs (VW, Audi, Porsche), offers great blend of performance, economy, quality and reliability, turning out to be a great little family car for a fraction of a price of its big brothers, running smoothly for 4 years, counting
- set of cheap ceramic knives - kind of missed one of Global deals, so went for a cheap temporary replacement. Paid less than $20 for a set of 4 and I'm very happy: no maintenance required, they last 3 years already, still very sharp, I'm amazed how much you can squeeze out of it
- $1 phone stand - to my uttermost surprise, they're incredibly useful when you want to watch something on your phone, and add great value at practically no cost

General Discussion

Comments

  • skid on 08/05/2023 - 16:21

    I was going to say my car too, mostly because of the negotiated price. Congrats on the Octavia purchase!

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 08/05/2023 - 17:12
    +1

    My gym setup, dropped about 3k on it so far but have an internal and external gym setup and already broke even years ago and could resell the weights for decent resale if I got sick of them

    • brendanm on 08/05/2023 - 17:32
      +2

      You can't put on price on the sick gains.

      • bloom on 08/05/2023 - 18:05

        Put those pecks on onlyfans and you’ll be richer than an F45 gym!

  • seannami on 08/05/2023 - 17:36
    +1

    I paid $25 for a brand new WiiU (BigW price mistake and no-one seemed to notice). Then again, not sure how much that counts as value?

    Sifting cat litter trays- $35 each and I have 4, but when you have 3 cats in a small house- one with tummy troubles that result in something akin to a war crime- those things are worth their weight in gold with puppy pads and some pine litter. In the same vein is pet insurance for the two younger ones- $28/month and it's paid for itself 10 times over thanks to various dietary indiscretions, and Healthy Pets Plus (about $20/cat/fortnight) has saved me a heap on vet bills and blood tests (hypothyroid cat).

    Fridge with a large freezer- $800 side by side- people said it was too big for one person, but my goodness is it useful having space, especially meal prepping in the freezer

  • tallkid123 on 08/05/2023 - 17:38
    +1

    Galaxy Fold 4 - Gamechanger of a phone/tablet/pc. Buy an accompanying case with stand and pen and you'll never get tired opening it up to reveal the big screen. Utility wise, it's such a huge step up from a standard mobile in terms of general use - watching Youtube, browsing Ozbargain, reading emails etc.

  • MeesusEff on 08/05/2023 - 17:41
    +2

    My $1-2 phone ring holder, makes it SO much easier to hold my phone while scrolling and not having it drop on my kid's head.

    Portable washing machine from Temu , had new customer offer for $5.60 so got it for fun. Husband and toddler been traipsing in the garden a lot so handwashing their socks was wrecking my hands. it actually works pretty well! but i messaged them last night about a missing drain pipe and they refunded me the whole thing so it was freeeeee.

    Tineco S3 , always hated mopping and would just use to vacuum instead. now i mop at least twice a week and am surprised at the state of the water (no shoes in the house, no pets)

    • User102430 on 08/05/2023 - 21:45

      It's quite amazing how these little $1-2 phone gadgets can make a big difference

  • 87percent on 08/05/2023 - 17:44

    Bought a new pillow. Wife says I don’t snore anymore

  • coffeeinmyveins on 08/05/2023 - 18:17
    +2
    • Skoda Octavia - with the same EA888 engine as installed in much more expensive VAGs (VW, Audi, Porsche)

    A quick google of the EA888 engine shows that yes, it is the same platform that's used as some Porsche's such as the Macan but just because it's the same platform doesn't mean it's the same engine after configurations and tuning are considered.

    Looks like the BHP range for that engine goes from 149bhp to 310bhp+. I'm guessing your Octavia is at the lower end of that.

    So yeah, you can't exactly pull up next to a Porsche Macan and say "yeah we have the same engine"..

    • Boioioioi on 08/05/2023 - 19:37
      +1

      why you poopin on his parade

      • coffeeinmyveins on 08/05/2023 - 19:42

        Not really poopin, but when you say things like

        for a fraction of a price of its big brothers

        it's disingenuous because they think it's got all the makings of a Porsche when it doesn't. I like Skodas, I like the Octavia, but I'd never pull up in one next to a Porsche and go "hey there (slightly older) brother"

    • Protractor on 08/05/2023 - 19:44

      You made a good point. His EA888 comes with the same reliability but MUCH better engine longevity

    • User102430 on 08/05/2023 - 21:54

      While I agree that there's more to the car than just the engine, I don't quite understand this argument - literally every Macan 2.0T review out there mentions it's the same engine as in other VW group cars, see here:
      https://performancedrive.com.au/2022-porsche-macan-2-0t-revi…
      or here https://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/macan/engine-and-transmission etc.

      Differences are in the software that controls the output.

      Top range Octavia, depending on the year, comes with 220-245bhp version, that - in case of my Gen3 EA888 at least - can be tuned to nearly 300bhp by upgrading ECU software only, see here for example: https://www.getunitronic.com/ecu-tuning/Skoda-Octavia-VRS-20…

      • coffeeinmyveins on 09/05/2023 - 11:10

        damn, what a beast, i stand corrected.

  • We Out Here on 08/05/2023 - 19:00
    -1

    free amaysim sims

    made thousands from free meals/promos from them

    i eat for free, have free coffees whenever i go out

    i wont mention any in case others try and copy

    • deme on 08/05/2023 - 19:50
      +2

      lame

    • lostgoat on 09/05/2023 - 09:12

      You need to do the ground work to upgrade to 12 mth plans as changing every mth with free ones is wasting precious time .
      If you can't figure out a few that will pay for that plan 10 fold you are behind the ball.
      The meals should be tokens compared to the big crap hit lol .

  • freefall101 on 08/05/2023 - 19:32

    Cuisineart "ice hardened" knife set - Moved back from overseas, needed knives, bought this. It was one of those 90% off deals, came with a knife block, I think it was about $50. 9 years later, still going strong. It doesn't hold it's edge really well but better than I expected while being easy to sharpen than any knife I've had before. Not sure if I struck it lucky or something?

    2004 Kia Spectra. Purchased it in 2008 for $3,000. Sold it in 2014 for $2,000 below market value to a friend. Nothing went wrong with it, ever. I did all the maintenance myself, I flogged it around in the snow (northern canada, so we're talking salted roads, -40C, banks of snow, massive potholes), took it on long drives through the mountains, along piece of crap highways.

    Cat. $50 from the pound. Slightly expensive to maintain and is also currently trying to block my monitor to stop me typing this. Value: priceless.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 09/05/2023 - 11:11

      2004 Kia Spectra. Purchased it in 2008 for $3,000

      My jaw is on the floor at the price of a 4 year old car being $3000

      • freefall101 on 09/05/2023 - 15:47

        It had probably gone up in price since then!

        It was actually an ‘03 (I checked it because it did seem a little too good), but mostly it was a trade in at a dealer that I knew. Needed a fair bit of cleaning but was perfect under the dirt, they just couldn’t be bothered detailing it.

  • bobbified on 09/05/2023 - 01:30
    • Skoda Octavia - with the same EA888 engine as installed in much more expensive VAGs (VW, Audi, Porsche)……running smoothly for 4 years, counting

    Wait until the plastic waterpump cracks after warranty. haha.
    (I have one of those engines and it was still under warranty when it happened, but I did see the bill).

    • User102430 on 10/05/2023 - 10:19

      I have slightly different approach to spending on cars and while I have no warranty, the waterpump replacement will be cheaper than the "free" one you get on warranty ;)

  • Sinnerator on 09/05/2023 - 08:58
    +1

    Acer Swift 1 laptop new $145 clearance TGG Canberra.
    Value = low
    Price = Very Low
    I declare myself winner.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join