Essential items for the twenty something year old

[Flambeur]

Great thread.

 

[impolyt_one]

forgot to add:

- towels. hand towels, washcloths, big bath towels, buy from an outlet store or something, and steer clear of the prints, Astro Boy. Re-use these as plumbing rags/car waxing rags as soon as they lose their loft and buoyancy. When your mom sent you to college with new towels, and when you eventually end up married to some hag who insists on getting a bunch of towels, they weren't/aren't kidding. You need towels, they're multi-purpose.

 

[BBSLM]

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

Good eye, yes mostly. I tossed in Saratoga but they might have mentioned it during the competition to name the most bottled waters.

I could add A.Testoni crocodile loafers also

It's one of the few fiction books I'd read. I need to get around to it.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

So, Towels I guess?

In a serious addition to this threak:

Buy only white towels/sheets with no pattern. It makes life a lot easier to do one load of laundry at the end of the week for towels/sheets.

Buy enough towels to last one or two weeks, buy a couple sets of sheets as well. If you get busy at work you dont want to run out of daily supplies at home, makes life quite aggravating.

White shirts for work make life easy, since you can pair them with basically everything. Enough for one week minimum, but better if you have enough for two weeks.

Get a bar or yellow natural soap and a scrub brush. Hit your cuffs and collars with that and some hot water prior to washing and you'll always have nice clean collars.

Get a nice steam iron and a good ironing board and you'll save a small fortune over going to the cleaners and paying to have your shirts laundered. Most cleaners do a **** job on the collars/cuffs and actually destroy your shirts in short order. Doing it yourself is cheaper and more effective.

Get the supplies needed to take care of your stuff, that includes shoes, shirts, suits, ect. Clothing brush, shoe brush, shoe pastes/polishes, ect.

 

[Lizen]

Everything that has been said has been much appreciated. Keep the info coming!

 

[kaiserkarl]

i'd like to ad a bialletti if possible and a good suitcase.

try to buy your first real art piece.

and lots of books.

 

[dah328]

Interesting topic for a thread. Here are some things that were moderate expenditures from which I got a lot of use in my 20s:

• Custom shirts in conservative business styles (light blue, white, subdued stripes and checks)
  
• Quality dress shoes
  
• Good headphones, especially for business travel and work in noisy offices
  
• An old BMW 3-series. It cost little to buy, little to maintain, and was a fun and distinctive car to drive up until I sold it, and not without subsequent regrets.
  
• A Valentine1 radar detector for the above. YMMV, of course.
  
• Luggage and laptop bags, especially if you travel a lot. It's way better to get some good stuff early on then drag that cheap rollerboard with the busted handle on every flight you take in your 20s.
  
• A decent queen-size mattress.
  
• A 401k/IRA opened at the earliest possible time and contributed to every year.
  
• SkinnyGoomba's suggestions of quality clothing care implements are good. A Kent clothing brush is one of the best purchases I made. You don't want to get quality clothes and shoes and then get less wear from them than you could because you skimped on a $4 tin of shoe polish.
  
• kaiserkarl's suggestion of a Bialetti if you drink coffee is excellent.

Some things from which I would have received good use had I known to purchase them:

• Quality suits in staple colors such as navy and gray. All my stuff then was crap.
  
• Sheets and linens in neutral colors. An eventual SO will impact your choices of such interior design elements, but if you have them in neutral colors, they should still work.

Some things that I did buy that were wastes:

• Custom shirts in non-conservative business styles. Those ended up in the back of my closet.
  
• Books that I will read only once. I try to buy only books that I will read multiple times. Libraries are for one-read books.

Some things that may or may not be good ideas:

• Furniture. Both your evolving tastes and an eventual SO will influence your future decor choices, so you may not want to invest in expensive pieces early on.
  
• A nice wallet. I had one but I decided I prefer a money clip so now it sits in a desk drawer.
  
• Nice wine glasses. Between drunk friends and moving every 18 months, they will get broken.
  
• Lots of bespoke. Even if you can afford it, your tastes and your body shape are likely to change. Pace yourself so you don't end up with a closet full of expensive stuff that you loved at 23 and hated at 28.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by dah328

Interesting topic for a thread. Here are some things that were moderate expenditures from which I got a lot of use in my 20s:

- Custom shirts in conservative business styles (light blue, white, subdued stripes and checks)
- Quality dress shoes
- Good headphones, especially for business travel and work in noisy offices
- An old BMW 3-series. It cost little to buy, little to maintain, and was a fun and distinctive car to drive up until I sold it, and not without subsequent regrets.
- A Valentine1 radar detector for the above. YMMV, of course.
- Luggage and laptop bags, especially if you travel a lot. It's way better to get some good stuff early on then drag that cheap rollerboard with the busted handle on every flight you take in your 20s.
- A decent queen-size mattress.
- A 401k/IRA opened at the earliest possible time and contributed to every year.
- SkinnyGoomba's suggestions of quality clothing care implements are good. A Kent clothing brush is one of the best purchases I made. You don't want to get quality clothes and shoes and then get less wear from them than you could because you skimped on a $4 tin of shoe polish.
- kaiserkarl's suggestion of a Bialetti if you drink coffee is excellent.

Some things from which I would have received good use had I known to purchase them:
- Quality suits in staple colors such as navy and gray. All my stuff then was crap.
- Sheets and linens in neutral colors. An eventual SO will impact your choices of such interior design elements, but if you have them in neutral colors, they should still work.

Some things that I did buy that were wastes:
- Custom shirts in non-conservative business styles. Those ended up in the back of my closet.
- Books that I will read only once. I try to buy only books that I will read multiple times. Libraries are for one-read books.

Some things that may or may not be good ideas:
- Furniture. Both your evolving tastes and an eventual SO will influence your future decor choices, so you may not want to invest in expensive pieces early on.
- A nice wallet. I had one but I decided I prefer a money clip so now it sits in a desk drawer.
- Nice wine glasses. Between drunk friends and moving every 18 months, they will get broken.
- Lots of bespoke. Even if you can afford it, your tastes and your body shape are likely to change. Pace yourself so you don't end up with a closet full of expensive stuff that you loved at 23 and hated at 28.

Furniture. Get cheap **** from ikea until you're really settled. i didn't and I regret it.

I still love all the stuff I bought, but +1 on the body shape, unless you're willing to work to maintain what you were. I discovered SF early though so I didn't make the horrendous mistakes a lot of young people make, with the exception of some Armani **** very early on.

 

[Fuuma]

Nothing aside from a bed, a laptop, a cellphone, a few article of clothing and maybe some decent luggage. Sincerely...

 

[jesask]

I am going to second the advice not to bother with nice furniture. At your age your friends won't care.

Otherwise, I am with Fuuma.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Originally Posted by jesask

I am going to second the advice not to bother with nice furniture. At your age your friends won't care.

Otherwise, I am with Fuuma.

Maybe, but why would you buy or not buy something because of your friends' opinions. FWIW alot of my friends appreciate finer things, its one thing alot of us have in common.

 

[GQgeek]

Furniture can be fine but it really depends on whether you realistically think you're gonna be settled in one place for at least a few years otherwise it's just pissing money away imo.

 

[Davidko19]

Im 28 (in 4 days!!!) and looking back the only things I can say I am really glad I purchased are:

Quality mattress. Cannot stress this enough.
Quality Knife and Pan(s)
Cast Iron grill pan
Ipod
Retirement savings


PS - my couches and have had nothing but drinks spilt on them, people passed out on them and vomit projectiled onto them. Plus, they'd be a ***** to move. If your settled down then get nice ones. If your a regular 20 something, get something used thats comfortable and not too ugly.

 

[Piobaire]

I covered furniture earlier:

Couch made of cinderblocks
Gaming chairs

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

Furniture can be fine but it really depends on whether you realistically think you're gonna be settled in one place for at least a few years otherwise it's just pissing money away imo.

Yes, your decor might change depending on your location and the architecture of your home/apartment. I would imagine if you shy away from the stylistic extremes and stick with staple items that flow together you're going to be better off buying nice things once.

It may also change depending on who you marry. If nothing else buying bedroom furniture will probably be fine. A modern style king sized bed, goose down pillows and comforter in white with white sheets would fit a great majority of home styles. I would stick with a hardwood frame and your set. Staying away from stainless steel parts will allow it to look appropriate in many situations.