Not a brand, but natural fibers. 100% cotton sweats and t-shirts, cotton/hemp blend shirts, wool sweaters. I can't deal with plastic against my skin anymore, at least not when I'm trying to be comfortable.

Anything made by Knipex. Why cheap out and pay 10 euros for shitty waterpump pliers when you could spend 30 and get the absolute best ones money can buy. I think everyone should own at least one pair of 180mm Cobras.

Kobalt shovel. I had to tear up roots, rocks, dig new gardens where none had existed, and i decided to dig up a small pond (5 feet deep, 10 across) on new property and I kept breaking my old shovels, new shovels, and then I bought this kobalt. I was frustrated at the various shovels breaking in various ways and spent like 20 minutes in the shovel aisle at Lowe’s studying them all like a lunatic and begrudgingly bought this expensive one that looked the most sturdy and well built in the places all the others broke. It’s a beast. I’ll never need to buy another. It finished the jobs and has doubled the amount of work I did with all those broken ones.

Laundry machines and dish washer machines. I know that Technology Connections says they’re all the same, but I disagree.

Knipex pliers and Wera screwdrivers. Especially Pozi drive.

This is why I think its important for advanced economies that the average person have actual discretionary income of a decent level. so that people can make decisions to spend more for things they believe are quality. otherwise all products become a race to the bottom.

Dewitt D20 diamond shape scuffle hoe with the 72" pistol grip handle. If you keep the blade nice and sharp it makes controlling weeds and prepping planting areas so much easier. It slices parralllel to the soil surface so you can cut weeds at the root without a lot of effort, and it's one of the only tools I've found that can break up dense mats of vines.

Bucket style towel warmer. No specific brand recommendation here. I got mine from the Aldi aisle of shame. You just throw your towel in before getting in the shower and 10 minutes later it's nice and warm like it just came out of the dryer.

Swing-a-way can openers. They work better and smoother than any other can opener and it's not close. They also last for fucking ever. I had one from before I was born and kept for most of my life until it finally rusted out a couple of years ago. The original company went out of business, but after some research, I found the EZ-DUZ-IT can opener which is the exact same design and works exactly as well. I've had this one for a few years now and it's going strong, so I think I'm good for another 20+ years.

Anything by Zojirushi but especially their rice cookers.

King Arthur flour! It doesn't always matter but for finicky baked goods it matters a lot! Love them.

Arm And Hammer products. I use their toothpaste, laundry detergent and deodorant, all top notch while not having a premium price tag. Don't have a cat ATM, but I used to use their kitty litter.

They've had the same few products for as long as I've been aware of the brand. They only do a few things, but they do them right. Praying they never enshittify or start spreading themselves thin.

My dogs can’t get into/knock over the SimpleHuman ones, so they’re what we’ve got. It took a heck of a ketchup-strewn garbage mess across the living room to justify one, but it’s been great.

Welcome to adulthood, where we get excited by the same household goods we thought our parents were lame for getting excited over.

Bone conduction headphones, specifically Aftershokz.

Running, cycling, walking whatever activity I'm doing outside I can listen to music or audiobooks and still be aware of my surroundings.

Taking an acid trip? Now I can hear the birds and have a nice background soundtrack to the day whilst I trip in the woods!

Working with heavy machinery, I can wear ear protection and also listen to what ever I want to pass the time. No more blasting headphones in an attempt to drown out the machine noise and fucking my ears up.

Fucking love these things!

The EZ-DUZ-It can opener. You don't know you need a good can opener in your life until you have one.

https://www.steuby.com/can-opener.html

A bidet with a heated seat and water. The water doesn't get very hot but at least it's not freezing in the winter. The heated seat is underrated until you go somewhere without one and remember how cold a toilet seat can get.

A swear jar, it helps me save. /S

Honestly tho, I've had the same pair of wired Apple earpods for over a decade and they're still working perfectly and the cable sheath only has a small cut 5cm of length away from the jack, and that's with the abuse I gave it when I was younger, like swinging it into the desk or accidentally pulling it by forgetting I had them on.

There were even pop up stores around me that basically sold earpods with official internals but coloured plastics for like $2AUD each, though the store I've seen in person closed a few years ago after having been in my local shopping centre for like 3 weeks.

I don't always swear, but when I do I swear by my Stevens 301.

I have the two chamber simple human trash can (one recycling, one trash), and honestly have quite a few complaints...

• the interior volume is way lower than the exterior volume that it takes up (including the top rim), it feels like it's wasting a lot of space
• the hinge sticks further out the back limiting its ability to go flat against a wall
• after a couple years the pedal mechanism is very loud and squeaky but hard to access
• theres a removable recycling bin but no removable garbage bin

Don't get me wrong, it's still better built than most and nicely designed for the most part, but to me it feels like a bunch of what you're paying for is the design and not necessarily robustness.

Like in many ways I have more respect for those $10 white Rubbermaid kitchen trash cans with the spinning lid. They get you 90% of the way to a simple human for 10% of the cost. Toss a couple brick in the bottom and it gets hard to push over.

the SmokeBuddy is fuckin magical if you vape or smoke weed and need to keep the smell under wraps

i could blow the biggest fuckin cloud of dank live resin cartridge vape through it and literally nothing would come out the other side

no smell. no vapor. nothing

they come in so many colors and a few different sizes

absolute life saver

Antique furniture.

It's heavy, it's durable, it's actual wood, it's over 100 years old and will still be here in another 100 years.

It's also extremely inexpensive and readily available in antique shops, goodwill, second hand stores, estate sales, etc...

Scott Bonnar reel mowers. One of mine has been running every week from before I was born and I'm 45.

Fly swatter of the brand Plastiken. That thing is fast, accurate and durable.

We have that trash can, it's been working for 6 years now!

I had a Honda Civic, and when it got totaled I got another Honda. Before these I had other cars but the Hondas have been so, so reliable. This one is 15 now, still going strong. I don't think I would get a different brand now unless they really fucked up.

Kitchen Aid mixers are still good.

Drain weasel. It’s a little bitty plumber’s snake for the bathroom sink. Works like a charm.

I have a few. Bose noise canceling EarPods. Bosch power tools. Ford cars. Gillette Mach 6 (or is it 5?). It looks like I may consume a lot; in fact these help me to consume much less.

I ready love my Hoover vacuum. A part broke and they sent me a free replacement (it was just a plastic piece). Also Webber grills; for similar reasons

Bloody Farm red fife flour is for sure the tops in the red fife flour game.

Ah I really want a simple human bin since I hate bins and always having trouble with getting bags out etc.

Unfortunately I can't justify the cost of them.

Perfect Aire 5000 btu window air conditioner. Its rated to work down to 18c outside.

I had another ac that pushed warm air when the temperature dripped to 18c

But this one keeps pushing cool air when the outside temps are as low as 13c.

Carhartt stuff is amazing

I'm a big fan of zeolite cat litter and the litter box system with absorption pee pads beneath. I've tried all the things over the years. I hate clay especially.

Despite the initially high upfront cost to get started, I think it's cheaper long term. Even more so because I recycle the zeolite pellets by rinsing them in a big bin instead of throwing them out and buying more. I dry them out then stir in baking soda. It's a porous mineral formed into pellets, doesn't break down just gets dirty over time. You lose some over time of course, lodged in turds and kicked out, fodder for the vacuum, but it's so cheap and way cleaner. The two cats aren't tracking that heavy pellet all over the house like clumping clay or urine soaked wood pellets that disintegrate into pee mulch. Ew.

The pee pads aren't very green of me so maybe next step is figuring out an alternative absorption medium to put in the tray beneath the pellets.

So I'm not recommending any brands because they'd all hate me for not being wasteful and fully replacing pellets every month like their bags instruct. Zeolite is zeolite, buy the cheapest per KG that day. I'd just say avoid Purina/Tidy Cats brand when possible. They over charge, especially for pee pads.

Also not a product per se but bib overalls, specifically ones with lots of pockets, or even better, one big pocket on the chest. I wear them pretty much every day now. Having ADHD means anything not immediately on my person is lost, and being blind means it's lost forever, so everything goes in a pocket.

I swear by none, because I don't want to be some corporate sponsor goodie consumer who builds trust with certain companies.

I can only swear by my preferences, if it's affordable, can do what I need or want it to do, whatever it is, that's what I get.