The other day my son Matthew was extolling the virtues of the laptop computer that he recently bought with his own money. “This is the best thing I ever bought, Dad!”
I just nodded my head and smiled.
The truth is, if I took a moment to count up everything Matthew has bought with his very own money during the 14 short years he’s been around, his laptop really doesn’t have a lot of competition.
Let’s see: There’s a used skateboard or two, some video games, lots of pop rocks, and a handful of other trinkets and baubles. Then there’s the infamous remote controlled mini-helicopter; essentially an early-technology drone. It eventually disintegrated in a violent confrontation with the living room wall.
But that’s about it.
Anyway… that got me thinking about the best things I ever bought during my lifetime.
And the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was impossible to settle on just one thing. So I put together a top ten list instead. Here it is, in no particular order. How does it compare to your list?
Our current house
Purchase Date: 1997
Purchase Price: $198,000
Why it’s in my top ten: Our home is situated on a small and extremely quiet cul-de-sac in a relatively rural area, far away from the usual noises you hear in most parts of Southern California. At barely 2000 square feet, our home is roomy yet still small enough to be cost efficient. By being patient, we’ve been able to slowly make numerous improvements and upgrades over the years, including remodeling the kitchen and our master bathroom.
Window shutters
Purchase Date: 2005
Purchase Price: $7211.68
Why it’s in my top ten: I love our window shutters! They not only give the house a refined look that blinds can’t match, they also help reduce the energy bill by keeping our home warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
Hewlett Packard 15C scientific calculator
Purchase Date: 1983
Purchase Price: $135
Why it’s in my top ten: Just as car aficionados get weak-kneed around classic automobiles, engineers like me who began plying their trade prior to 1990 appreciate old calculators. The 15C is a real class act. It’s programmable, and uses Reverse Polish notation designed for making multiple complex calculations in short order. To this day, I still take my 15C “out of the garage” for an occasional spin.
Whole house fan
Purchase Date: 2019
Purchase Price: $1599.99
Why it’s in my top ten: My best friend Gary extolled the virtues of his whole house fan for more than twenty years before I got tired of listening to him and finally bought one of my own. Now it’s me who raves about those fans to anybody who will listen. Ours dissipates odors and smoke in minutes, which is great when you’re cooking fish — or burning dinner. But, even better, it’s extremely effective at pulling the cool evening and early-morning air through our home during the summer. As a result, we’ve saved thousands of dollars in electricity costs because we run the air conditioner far less than we used to.
1997 Honda Civic
Purchase Date: 1997
Purchase Price: $14,592.56
Why it’s in my top ten: I recently wrote a piece explaining why both dogs and old cars are worthy of being man’s best friend. With respect to old cars, an older properly maintained automobile saves its owner significant cash over time. We paid off the car loan in 2002. Before giving it to my son, I figure my trusty Civic had saved me roughly $50,000 in new car payments.
2001 Honda Odyssey
Purchase Date: 2001
Purchase Price: $26,400
Why it’s in my top ten: Aside from the cost benefits described above, until we sold it in 2017 our Odyssey had been the family’s workhorse. Powerful, reliable and well-designed — it is the most comfortable minivan I’ve ever been in — the Odyssey handled everything from countless local grocery store trips to multiple coast-to-coast summer road trips.
1974 Fender Stratocaster guitar
Purchase Date: 1994
Purchase Price: $400
Why it’s in my top ten: I used to play in a rock and roll band in my younger days. So I bought this beautiful vintage guitar with a gorgeous sunburst finish from a work colleague. He found it hiding in his mother’s basement after she passed away. Since he just wanted to get rid of it, he sold it to me for $400. The guitar is still in excellent condition and has served me well over the years. It turns out it was a good investment too. Depending on the condition, you can find some 1974 Stratocasters currently commanding upwards of $6000 in the marketplace – not that I’ll ever sell mine.
My college education
Purchase Date: 1983 – 1988
Purchase Price: $15,000 (approximate)
Why it’s in my top ten: Talk about getting a bargain! The listed purchase price includes the cost of my tuition. It also includes books, room and board for the five years I spent earning my engineering degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Today, the cost of a public college education in California is an astounding 17 times higher than it was in 1980, which begs the question: is a college degree still worth it?
T-shirt & matching capris
Purchase Date: 2008
Purchase Price: $56
Why it’s in my top ten: No they’re not mine. But, in retrospect, I was absurdly apoplectic when the Honeybee bought this simple cotton ensemble from the little gift shop at the historic State Game Lodge in beautiful Custer State Park, South Dakota. As if to prove a point, she faithfully wore that outfit at least one day each week until it finally gave up the ghost in 2012. That’s more than 210 times by my count; a very cost efficient 27 cents per use.
My wife’s wedding ring
Purchase Date: 1995
Purchase Price: $4400
Why it’s in my top ten: Speaking of the Honeybee, I know I said these were in no particular order. But the truth is, asking my wife to marry me was the best decision I ever made in life. I’m just glad she said yes.
Photo Credit: dvs
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(This is an updated version of an article that was originally posted on August 22, 2011.)
ooooh I thought you were going to make the biggest mistake of your life then by not including a reference to ‘honeybee’!!!!
I’m a big believer in Ying and Yang. I am the sum of everything that has happened to me since I was born ( and if you really go nuts on the idea …..even before then) I have favorite buys and some I wish I had never been tempted to complete but they all got me where I am now and I am really happy where I am. I’d be a lot happier with a few more reddies (another slang for cash) but that is another topic altogether !!!
Nah, I couldn’t possible forget the Honeybee, Cemlyn! 🙂
And I’m with you — aside from health issues that are beyond our control — I big believer that everyone’s station in life is the result of all the decisions that we make over time. I try to preach that to my kids as often as I can. Hopefully my words will stick with them before they start making more life-critical decisions in the future.
My favorite is a print of a beautiful watercolor painting that I bought at an art fair. My Hubs and I were newly married (23 years ago!) and couldn’t afford the original, so we bought a print of it. I have that print hanging on our wall, right by the front door. It colorful and gorgeous and still gives me joy every single time I look at it.
How nice that you listed your wifes wedding ring! You are obviously a sweet and romatic guy Len Penzo 🙂
I know what you mean. We have a wall hanging that we bought at the Orange County fair about seven years ago that I absolutely love. It’s not a painting, but it is one of those metal works of art that I adore.
As for your kind words, I’m really not as romantic as I probably should be, Aunt Jenny. But I do let the Honeybee know that I appreciate her as often as I can.
Oooo, I loved my 15C, but then again I am a pre-1990 engineer! I wonder where it is now…hmmmm.
If yours is hopelessly lost, you can still find them on eBay!
Even better you can download the 15c app from HP and your iPhone is now your 15c for about $10. This is the calculator that they issued us as plebes at West Point in 1985. We lived with those every day for the entire experience. I use it again now and love it. MG
PS just found your blog and love it
Glad you enjoy the blog, Mike!
Somehow, I don’t think having the functions of my 15c on my phone would be quite the same.
My top 10 would have to include a St. Louis Style Pizza. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm
I’ve heard of Chicago style pizza; what is St. Louis style? Does it use barbecue sauce instead of tomato sauce?
Len: I’ve been carrying around my HP32S RPN Scientific calculator now for over 20 years. It is always in my purse and gets much use. It looks as good as the day I bought it.
They are wonderful products..it is one of my top ten also.
My 15C is in pristine shape too. I treat it like a living being! LOL
I was surprised to find that the first three things I thought of for my top ten were also on your list – a house, an old Honda car and a ’70’s Stratocaster! You sound like a very sensible person. I look forward to reading more of your writing.
And you sound like a sensible reader, Donna! Welcome aboard! 🙂
Been stressed about getting lost and being on time while driving all my life but my purchase of a Garmin GPS has done more for my peace and well-being than any pharmaceutical.
Those are pretty handy, kayumochi! I have one that was given to me — so it doesn’t qualify for my list — but it is terrific!
Looks like HP is bringing back the 15c for its 30th anniversary: http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/31/on-30th-anniversary-hp-launches-limited-edition-financial-calculator/
Ha! But that’s a 12C – not a 15C. The 12C is for finance guys. Thanks for the info, Matt.
Love that HP-15C. I’ve had mine since 1987 and still use it almost every day! I think I’ve replaced the batteries once since then.
I’ve only replaced the batteries once in mine as well, John. The first set lasted through about 17 or 18 years of very frequent use.
OK, just read this article & I have a question for you – since you name your 97 Civic.
How do you know when to stop fixing your reliable old car?
I have an 02 Prism(Corolla core), bought it below market value when it was 6 months old with cash.
It has a slipped ring from a blotched oil chnage 7yrs ago ~ has started burning a qt of oil a week and needs new struts due to poorly maintained roads & the increase in speed bumps around our town. The car has started to show rust spots & has back end body damage. It has always started – even at 10 below. It has been there while my family has gone through horrible times. It has been to two oceans & Canada. I’ve discovered I love it as much as my dog.
How do you know when it’s time to let her go? I ran the math last night & that car has cost me $.80 a day without taxes/insurance figured in, it’d probably be about 1.30 with those.
I start a new job very soon that requires interstate travel and my other half wants me to get something that looks better & that he feels is more reliable…
Good question, Sam. My rule of thumb is get rid of the car if:
1) the annual cost of maintaining the old girl approaches 50 percent (or thereabouts) of the cost to replace it with a newer model in excellent condition.
OR…
2) the maintenance issues become so frequent that the car becomes completely unreliable (or at least is in the shop so often that it becomes a real inconvenience).
… but I suspect 2) won’t ever happen, since I keep all my cars well-maintained.
Nice list, but a number of non-fiscally sound purchases. By “best” it seems you mean the things you’ve bought that you have enjoyed in your life the most. For me, a best purchase is one you enjoy having in your life that is a great value, items 7-9 qualify.
Buying a new car? Twice? It is you got your money out of it by now, but if you’d bought a car 3-6 years old of the same make with low mileage, or even a year old, you could have saved a lot of money. I bought a 2001 Chevy Venture minivan in 2002 that was a year old with 24k miles on it, and my purchase price went from $22.5k new to $16k. That’s a savings of $6500 and I still have it ten years later, so I saved money up front and through owning a vehicle that has been a family warhorse that we have put 120k miles. In that time my only issue was when the AC failed in 2007 and cost $1500 to repair. A good reference for this is the Dave Ramsey, “Drive free, die rich” video on why buying used can have a major impact on your life.
Last up is again one that emotion rules over reason and that’s your wife’s ring. Instead of spending $4400 in 1995, you could have had a ring that looks JUST like that ring and is CZ or synthetic diamond and then taken a $4000 honeymoon to Europe. I gave my wife the choice between real and fake with a better honeymoon and she chose the latter. It also hurt a whole lot less when she lost the ring in 2003 and we replaced it easily within our budget. That would not be the case with a very expensive, “I’ve bought into diamond industry (let’s not even get into blood diamonds) marketing and spent two months of salary on a rock that will have no purpose.”
Good stuff and I love reading your tips and thoughts.
JD, I can take this a step further:
The money well spent (in regards to his marriage) was not the $4400 for the ring but the $50-100 for the marriage license.
And JD it seems you missed your own point: $4k for a honeymoon + $400 for a CZ ring vs. $4400 for a diamond ring. They are all money down the drain (in fact the $4400 is a better financial choice when you consider pawn value – which I hope is never realized for Len’s sake).
When my better half and I got engaged I told him forget the ring and instead we had a cheap (BBQ in a public park) wedding and put a down payment on a retirement home.
And don’t mean to one up you all, but at 47 yo I’m tired of hearing that and engagement ring, big blowout of a wedding, and exotic honeymoon are necessities. They are not (I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here).
“By ‘best’ it seems you mean the things you’ve bought that you have enjoyed in your life the most.”
Value is still a consideration, but you pretty much got it, J.D.
I fully understand the financial wisdom behind buying a car that is one year — or even better, two or three years — old; I’ve written about it on a couple of occasions, including this post:
https://lenpenzo.com/blog/id1501-100-words-on-why-youre-better-off-buying-a-used-car.html
I also know all about the CZ rings.
Those were my preferred options in all instances. However, they were not the wife’s — and as you probably know, an unhappy one can lead to an unhappy household, which, in turn, ultimately leads to divorce, which is extremely expensive too.
I started engineering school in 1983 and my father gave me a brand new HP 15C for Christmas that year (he is also an engineer). I still have it; I don’t use it much but I refuse to give it up (I always make sure it has operating batteries).
My husband (also an engineer but a Texas Instruments guy) doesn’t understand my attachment. I’m going to send him your article.
We seem to have followed a similar path, KJH. I too started engineering school in 1983 and that calculator helped me through a lot of engineering exams back then.
Believe it or not, despite all the use my 15C got, its first set of batteries lasted about a dozen years. I rarely use it anymore, so I suspect the second set will last long after I finally retire.
If your hubby is a TI guy, I suspect he’ll never understand our attachment. 😉
OMG, I laughed when I saw the 15C listed. My dad worked for HP for a long time and those things littered our house, along with other models. It seemed like there was one in every drawer. I still use one of the business calculators…13B II…or something like that. They were good calculators that just don’t stop working.
I bought the new 15C just last year. It has 10 memory slots and lots of other fun features. I bought my first one in 1982 and the only problem I ever had with it was that there were only the four postions. By the way, I paid less than $100 for the new one. It was on sale, but I think the original price (at Office Depot) was $119.00. I also LOVE the reverse Polish notation; now if I could just find a scientific calculator (affordable) with it!
I lied – I bought the 12C, which explains why I got one and you didn’t. Sounds like I should have bought a 15C while they were available!
Well, it was a nice run and I was enjoying your site… until I saw the praise of the HP calculator. Now I can’t possibly take you seriously anymore.
Those who pooh pooh the HP15C don’t know what they’re missing, Port.
I bought my HP11C in 1983 from Service Merchandise.
I was was on my way to Purdue for some higher education (BSIE 1987). I still use it everyday. My 11C has been with be for over half my lifetime and predates my meeting my wife. Long live RPN!
I just found your blog, but I feel right at home: my dad has that same calculator, and yes, he still uses it regularly and will wax poetic if anyone asks about it. Also, I live in SoCal with my aerospace engineer husband. And, I own a ’97 Civic. Unfortunately, the A/C just went out and my frugal brain is fighting battles to the death with my easily over-heated body, so, we’ll see how long I can sweat out keeping my faithful Civic. Anyway, love your blog, and isn’t it a small world?!
The HP 15C used to be standard issue at West Point back in the day when I was there. A couple years ago I found out they were still valuable and sold mine on ebay for around $150. I’m not an engineer, so don’t have the connection to it. I remember it was fun to program and use back then though. (of course that’s assuming one thinks math is fun)
A $2,000 engagement ring would have to be at the top of my list, shortly followed by my 98 Civic I bought in 2010 for $4,500.
Len, I’ve got that exact same calculator–the HP 15C. I use it regularly. And why not, it’s an excellent device!
That it is, Kurt.
Very impressive! Congrats especially on having bought a house, which is very tedious and stressful, considering the mortgage or the stress it can give to us.
Well, let’s say that being 14 and buying your own laptop is already a great thing. Kudos to you for inspiring your son to buy his gadgets and not just rely on his parents.
My first laptop was also one of the best things I ever bought, I was able to grow my web design business and make it a full time thing.
Great list! Sometimes, acknowledging the best purchases/decisions in your life can put you in a good mood. We oftentimes want for more, but we fail to recognize that we already have the best we’ll ever need.
It also seems like your son already knows how to depend on himself, which is a great trait.
awww. #10 is so sweet!
That was a great list, and the capris made me giggle.
I keep whispering “Cal Poly” to my 8 year old when he’s sleeping. My husband and I went private (86-90 for him, 88-92 for me), but at least we had the sense to do it on ROTC scholarships.
I never had a programmable calculator. Couldn’t afford one. Some of my friends did though!
I can relate to your guitar purchase as I also ran into a super deal. Several years ago I purchased a 1972 Gibson LPC in near-perfect condition (read: no belt buckle rash) for $200, but without a hard-shell case. That guitar is also worth several thousand dollars today, but I dare not even think of selling the fretless wonder. As with you, I bought an oversized Marshall 100 watt amp that I ended up playing in dive bars instead of Madison Square Garden along side Clapton, ha, ha. Today I’m using a small modeling amp – much easier to lift!
My brother suggested I might like your article, Len. He was entirely right!
Glad you enjoyed it, Ronny!
Our family of 6 is also rocking the Civic and Odyssey combo. Our 2002 Civic has served us well for many years and still has less than 110,000 on it. I love our 2008 Odyssey. It’s very comfortable for long trips and all 6 of us fit in it with plenty of elbow room and space for luggage.
Good for you, Mark. The Odyssey is a fantastic minivan.
Funny, I was going through some older files this weekend, and found a window sticker for the 1997 Saturn SL2 which my wife and I bought as a dealer demo, also for just under $15K, and drove for almost 300K miles….while using it in a job that allowed me to collect mileage!
That amount collected, in turn, allowed me to put it towards the purchase of my first Harley (also used).
Value is where you find it.
Well done, sir! (And you’re right; value is where you find it.)
Sadly (?), I was in college before electronic calculators came along. (1954-57, GI bill, no cost to me. Thank you taxpayers. I know most of you believe you got value for your money – armed forces veterans’ service to our country. Thank you.) .
One could always spot the engineering students on campus – they had sliderules hanging from their belts. Nascent elecrical engineers (me, until I wised up to my lack of potential in that field) had K & E log-log-decitrigs.
Did get a financial calculator, though, sometime around 1974, after I got into real estate: A Hewlet-Packard HP80.
My best early acquisition? Elaine, my wife of 53 years.
Best later? my wife Tatjana, after Elaine died.
Re $4K wedding rings: Tatjana and I got our SOLID GOLD (!) wedding bands at WalMart for under a hundred dollars each and got a kick out of the clerk’s reaction when we said “Now we won’t be living in sin anymore”.
When I first hired in as an engineering intern, I was paired with an old engineer who would demonstrate his slide rule prowess — it was very impressive!
As for my wedding ring, Dave, it is a simple gold band that ran about $85 — but it’s priceless to me!
Reading this made me nostalgic for my HP25C that I bought as an engineering student in 2006. Astonishingly inexpensive at $195. (when tuition at MIT was $3300. per year) and so cool! Maybe the first cool thing I remember owning! Stolen in a housebreak in 1980, I’m sure totally useless to the thief. Love that RPN!
Yep … you can’t beat RPN, Bob!
Being an Embedded systems programmer working with bits, bytes, binary and hexadecimal, I had a HP 16c. A calculator with RPN! It was an invaluable tool for my work. In the early 1990s I had my car broken into and my briefcase stolen with my treasured 16c in it. I was devastated and couldn’t find a replacement ( this was way before eBay, Amazon, and on line stores). Around 1995 after trying to use a TI programmers calculator as a replacement, I called a mail order calculator store in CA to see if there was something better available. Unbelievably they said that HP was clearing out there old inventory, found a couple of boxes of 16c calculators without manuals or sleeves, and were selling them for $25 each. I bought two. I used one for my work and saved the other in the back of my closet as a backup.
I found it about 5 years ago (still brand new) and sold it for $300 on eBay. Although retired now, I still have my 16c on my desk in case someone need some Motorola 68hc11 assembly code written.
Thanks for the memories
My pleasure, Rick. Thanks for sharing your story.
1. Our farm. Paid $1,000/acre for 70ac in 1982, 15yr later bought adjoining 27ac for $2,000/acre. Sold the 27 off 2 years ago for $5,000/acre, I’d imagine our farm would bring that + that much again for house/shop/barns etc built by us.
For over 30 some years now, it’s fed us, kept us warm (wood heat), provided building material, given us water (spring), given us electricity (solar 2007 onward), peace, solitude, and generally a great place to live.
2. Woodmizer sawmill. Paid $14k in 1991, built most everything on our farm with it from timber on the farm, plus 3 rental houses, and numerous other projects for other folks. I figure that $14k + maybe 4k in fuel/blades/maintenance has returned $300-400k in projects, mostly with timber harvested from our property. Best tool I ever bought, for sure.
You got me beat, Andy! Those are some terrific buys.
I can testify that anything made in Japan will both outperform and outlast most other products made elsewhere…why, I’m not sure
I think it is pride in workmanship, Mik.
Mr. Dave living in sin? Oh my. The shame! The shame of it all! (I wish he was still around to share a laugh and a smile.)
I started engineering school in 1978. I used a slide rule some in high school. I had a TI-59 calculator for Chemical Engineering. It had these programable memory strips you slid through it. This was of course before desk top computers. I remember when they came in big time.
So Len, you’re 60 or close to it now? Oh Wow! Do your kids think you’re an antique? You’ve already got the old man habit of watching squirrels. lol
Yeah … my kids think I’m pretty old, Bill. Same as it ever was.