What is something really stupid you purchased that turned out far better than expected?

RanchOnPancakes@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 1031 points –

I bought a piece of 1.5 inch stiff foam to try to fix a sag in a bed. It didn't work but having that thick piece of solid foam around has been a life saver.

Need something flat to put a laptop on? Throw it on the foam. Going to be doing something that requires you to be on your knees for a while? Get the foam!

It went from stupid purchase to something I'd gladly replace if it broke.

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This sounds like something I'd like to get for the shower, but with multiple memory settings, that's a much different product.... Unless I ducted two shower knobs.... Oh fuck I feel a project coming on...

We're about to redo our bathrooms and have started looking at things. One thing we saw that sounded cool are these new thermostatic shower controls: you set them to a temperature and it mixes the water to keep it at that temperature regardless of fluctuations in the hot and cold input. Huh, sounds neat. So we looked at one - over $3000 for just the valve. It doesn't sound that neat.

Sorry, new?! Unless this is something different from what I’m imagining, thermostatic shower valves have pretty much been the standard in Denmark for all of my life. You can get them for 80 usd (or probably even lower). These are purely mechanical, no need for batteries. I can even find one on US Amazon for around 50 usd (https://www.amazon.com/Bathroom-Thermostatic-Showering-Temperature-Control/dp/B071ZP4ZHN/ref=ex_alt_wg_m?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B071ZP4ZHN&psc=1&pd_rd_w=MLPp3&pf_rd_p=e06954f1-ab26-49e7-940f-21fea3d5decd&pf_rd_r=1YGK573NBS6VC329GYD0&pd_rd_wg=PC4iL&pd_rd_r=4415efd7-7117-45ad-8b60-0a1c86e84ef0&content-id=amzn1.sym.e06954f1-ab26-49e7-940f-21fea3d5decd).

Edit: I realise that this sounded more aggressive than it meant it to. I was simply quite surprised! :)

They've been code where I am in the u.s. for 20 years.

Omg! Was it designed to go to space? I've got an idea for a T valve with 2 sets of always on knobs. The wife says as long as it looks good I can do it...

I think it'll cost about 200$ to get good looking materials.

I'm guessing it's just priced as a luxury item, not related to actual cost. Wealthy people will shell that out without blinking. Then when they sell enough at that price, they'll start dropping it to get other buyers.