Things I have bought but wished I bought 5 years ago. (not investments)

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Things I have bought but wished I bought 5 years ago. (not investments)

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#1878586 6-Oct-2017 17:09

Miele vaccum cleaners. Hands down the best I've owned. Blows (or sucks, rather) every other brand I've used (Nilfisk, Electrolux, et al) out of the water. Sadly I sold mine when I needed some cash and was living with someone else who had a Miele as well. I sold it for not much less than what I bought it for so was interesting to see that it held its value pretty well. Definitely planning to buy one again soon now cos the bagless one my partner has is hopeless. Barely sucks anything especially when the head and the long tube is attached.

Geektastic

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#1878591 6-Oct-2017 17:51

KiwiSurfer:

Miele vaccum cleaners. Hands down the best I've owned. Blows (or sucks, rather) every other brand I've used (Nilfisk, Electrolux, et al) out of the water. Sadly I sold mine when I needed some cash and was living with someone else who had a Miele as well. I sold it for not much less than what I bought it for so was interesting to see that it held its value pretty well. Definitely planning to buy one again soon now cos the bagless one my partner has is hopeless. Barely sucks anything especially when the head and the long tube is attached.

We bagged a Miele tumble dryer off TM a couple of years ago. It was being sold by a man whose grandfather had died and was so new the shop tags were still attached. $800 or so. Over $2000 new. Bargain and the best dryer ever - will go on and on and on.

SWMBO's habit of turning the place into a Chinese Laundry with stuff hanging all over the place indoors when it wasn't drying weather outside finally kicked into touch...!

mattwnz

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#1878597 6-Oct-2017 18:17

KiwiSurfer:

Miele vaccum cleaners. Hands down the best I've owned. Blows (or sucks, rather) every other brand I've used (Nilfisk, Electrolux, et al) out of the water. Sadly I sold mine when I needed some cash and was living with someone else who had a Miele as well. I sold it for not much less than what I bought it for so was interesting to see that it held its value pretty well. Definitely planning to buy one again soon now cos the bagless one my partner has is hopeless. Barely sucks anything especially when the head and the long tube is attached.

I actually have another brand witha power turbo head, which is really good, but it is a bit brittle and cheap feeling, with rough moulding edged etc. It is also bagless, so save on not having to buy bags. The turbo had gets an amazing amount of dirt and fluff out of the carpet.

However my parents have a miele cat and dog and it's buid quality is excellent, and it does a good job. However the turbo head is not powered, it relies on the airflow, it doesn't get as much out of the carpet. The only complaint is that the flap you store things in keeps popping up, and I thing the little latch is poorly designed.

Goshawk

5 posts

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#1878983 7-Oct-2017 13:56

Left or right handed. For left handed visit Ned Flanders LOL

martyyn

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#1879010 7-Oct-2017 14:29

Our X5.

Bought one 18 months ago and instantly regretted not getting one 10 years ago when child #3 turned up. Back then they were a touch out of my price range but I could have stretched and in the meantime we went through three different cars as the kids got bigger and lost money on each car.

jnimmo

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#1879941 9-Oct-2017 14:50

A good quality baking cooling rack.

Barely bake but for some reason put up with using a rubbish one for years (only had horizontal wires, probably over 1cm apart, new one goes both ways and much better support)

An Anker 10400 Power bank & fast charger for the car - for years I've looked at power banks and wondered why people bothered, but I've only ever tried out a rubbish one before. Now using it at least a few times a week.

wellygary

8325 posts

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#1879957 9-Oct-2017 15:20

martyyn:

in the meantime we went through three different cars as the kids got bigger and lost money on each car.

How would you ever make money on buying/owning a regular car?

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dickytim

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#1880161 10-Oct-2017 05:49

wellygary:

martyyn:

in the meantime we went through three different cars as the kids got bigger and lost money on each car.

How would you ever make money on buying/owning a regular car?

Buy for less that you sell it for?

This can be done regularly if you find a good deal, or buy a car with a simple mechanical issue, fix it and sell it.

I think however the post was suggesting that he had purchased and lost money on 3 cars, where as purchasing and loosing money on one car may have been more cost effective in the long run, in the mean time he would have had the car he actually wanted!

I am in this situation at the moment, however I think I have done the best out of it I could.

I wanted a CX-5, this years model, about $57,000 worth. I did the sums and the cost to service the loan and run the car, with all things considered was only about $50 a month more than my current car at the time.

The minister of finance, who has a work car, so doesn't spend a cent on these things insisted that I didn't get a loan for that car and looked for a run about. I explained to her, and I may have exaggerated a little that the older the crapbox, the more expensive to run in the long run. That and I threatened to rebuild the engine etc. on my Commodore, which would have cost about $10-15,000 to get the car up and running and reliable again.

We compromised and I ended up with a 2015 Mazda6. She loves driving it more than her company car so I don't get to drive it on the weekends now! As part of the compromise in 2019 I am allowed to get the 2017 Mazda CX-5 Limited second hand to replace the Mazda6.

Not quite 5 years ago, but I am sure I will answer this thread in 2019 saying I wish I had the CX-5 2 years ago!

tripper1000

1617 posts

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#1880251 10-Oct-2017 10:35

MikeAqua:I miss our double dish draw.

Our current house came with a cheap nasty dishwasher. It's noisy but performs just adequately enough to justify its ongoing existence. I have sworn that the second it breaks down it's toast, but it has proven surprisingly durable.

Or have you just become accustomed to the unreliability of dish draws? Maybe in 5 years you will be glad for the money saved :-)

kryptonjohn

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#1880252 10-Oct-2017 10:39

tripper1000:

MikeAqua:I miss our double dish draw.

Our current house came with a cheap nasty dishwasher. It's noisy but performs just adequately enough to justify its ongoing existence. I have sworn that the second it breaks down it's toast, but it has proven surprisingly durable.

Or have you just become accustomed to the unreliability of dish draws? Maybe in 5 years you will be glad for the money saved :-)

I've heard that a lot. But I've had them two houses since 2005 and the sum total of repairs since then was replacing two impellers myself - about an $80 part each time. Based on my own experience I wouldn't touch another type of dishwasher.

When they first came out they had significant issues with moisture getting into the electronics.

Dulouz

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#1880347 10-Oct-2017 13:48

Aarons Thinking Putty - I use it constantly now when working at my desk.

Amanon

Paul1977

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#1882004 11-Oct-2017 15:53

Converting from a little 180 litre low pressure gravity feed hot water cylinder to continuous gas hot water.

Increase in hot water pressure was huge, and can shower as long as I want without running out of hot water.

trig42

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#1882005 11-Oct-2017 15:59

kryptonjohn:

tripper1000:

MikeAqua:I miss our double dish draw.

Our current house came with a cheap nasty dishwasher. It's noisy but performs just adequately enough to justify its ongoing existence. I have sworn that the second it breaks down it's toast, but it has proven surprisingly durable.

Or have you just become accustomed to the unreliability of dish draws? Maybe in 5 years you will be glad for the money saved :-)

I've heard that a lot. But I've had them two houses since 2005 and the sum total of repairs since then was replacing two impellers myself - about an $80 part each time. Based on my own experience I wouldn't touch another type of dishwasher.

When they first came out they had significant issues with moisture getting into the electronics.

I've heard that myself as well. We are on our third house that we have installed dishdrawers into.

I have not had to replace any electronic parts, but I have had to buy a new cutlery basket and the panel around the buttons after a tenant somehow wrecked them. Parts are reasonably prices, and very easy to get (that goes for all F&P appliances in my experience - have rebuilt an icemaker in a second hand fridge for about $120).

Kiwifruta

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#1882045 11-Oct-2017 19:31

KiwiSurfer:
Miele vaccum cleaners. Hands down the best I've owned. Blows (or sucks, rather) every other brand I've used (Nilfisk, Electrolux, et al) out of the water. Sadly I sold mine when I needed some cash and was living with someone else who had a Miele as well. I sold it for not much less than what I bought it for so was interesting to see that it held its value pretty well. Definitely planning to buy one again soon now cos the bagless one my partner has is hopeless. Barely sucks anything especially when the head and the long tube is attached.

Our Miele vacuum cleaner is superb too.
We spent $80 on the 3rd party attachment that collects stuff, so the bags lasts a lot longer. Still on the first bag since the beginning of the year. The bonus is the attachment also collects the Lego and is easy to empty.

MikeAqua

7785 posts

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#1882344 12-Oct-2017 10:38

tripper1000:

MikeAqua:I miss our double dish draw.

Or have you just become accustomed to the unreliability of dish draws? Maybe in 5 years you will be glad for the money saved :-)

I understand the first gen were pretty horrid. We didn't encounter many issues at all with our dish-drawers (G2 and G3). The one reliability issue we did encounter (stuck float on water sensor) was addressed by free replacement parts from F&P.

If you look at availability they are excellent. We didn't have a single day without a working dishwasher in >10 years.

We upgraded when we re-did the kitchen to split a double into two singles for ergonomic reasons.

We have a single G2 dish-drawer in the apartment. No issues in 11 months and counting

We could cook a three course dinner for a dozen people and still have enough dishwasher capacity to not have to hand-wash anything except my kitchen knives. G3 is quiet enough to run during dinner in an open plan kitchen and dining room without being intrusive.

Mike

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