Friday Fun Facts: Best Investments

It is sunny and going to 80 today so there isn't really much that can ruin my perma grin today!!

I thought I would talk a little bit about some of the best investments/purchases  I/we've ever made. These are things I'm not sure I could ever live without now, is that sad? 

-Sleep to Live Bed
This is the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in in my entire life.  K and I had been sleeping on this Ikea mattress for a good year, myself for about 2 years. If you look closely you'll see it's mostly just a glorified foam mattress,  let's just say it was awful and it was a FULL- two people over 5'9 should never sleep in a bed that small. 
So after we got married we decided to upgrade and quite a few of our friends insisted we get the Sleep to Live bed. Let me tell you it is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  It's like a Sleep Number bed, only better. That's right, better.   You lay on a test bed and tell them how you sleep and if you have any aches and pains then they pick a color for you and YOUR SIDE OF THE BED is made in that color and your sleep partners is there color.  K and I were both green so our whole bed is green but my sis was an orange (super plus) and her boyfriend was a blue (firm) so their bed is half and half it's awesome. 
The only downside is that I'm so comfortable in the mornings it's hard to pull myself out of bed.

-Clarisonic Facial Cleanser
This is the best thing that has ever happened to my skin. It is worth the $195.00, I promise you! (I was very lucky it get it on major discount from QVC thanks to sister in law)   I have fine lines from sun abuse, my face still breaks out, and my pores sway to the big side.  The Clarisonic solves ALL of these problems-  it makes my winkles/lines look smaller, it keeps my skin clear because my acne medicine can soak in and it helps make my pores smaller.   If I forget to use it for a few days you can totally tell and my skin starts to look raggedy.   I do not use the cleanser it comes with I actually use philosophy Purity- which I also swear by. 

- A nice knife set
When I was registering for gifts I registered for this knife set. I registered for it with K in mind.  I'm not much of a cook and to be honest I knew nothing about knives, I pretty much thought they were all equal.  Boy was I wrong!!   The first time I ever used one of our new knives I almost died.  It cut right through my chicken without me even trying.  I was so amazed I made K come watch me do it, he laughed and was like that is how knives are supposed to cut.  I was so shocked and I have no idea how I lived so many years cooking with dull knives! (even though we received this as a gift I still think it counts)

-Home Warranty
When K and I purchased our home in 2008 one of the things we also purchased was a home warranty. Since our house was 15 years old and the previous owners didn't get a good record of how old everything was we thought it was a good idea.  It's kind of like health insurance for your appliances, plumbing, heating, and electrical.  It cost $522.00 per year.  We purchased it for 1 year and have now since renewed it.  So many people thought it was a complete was of money but I totally disagree.  Any visit or appointment to come fix something is just $60.00.  We had a plumber come out and do 4 different jobs for just $60.00, my dad estimated that without that we would have spent well over $400.00. We've had an electrician come out and do two different jobs for just $60.00 which again estimated to be over $400.00 worth of work.  If any appliance breaks and cannot be fixed our warranty covers a brand new appliance, while it might not be a cherry red Samsung steam dryer it will be a perfectly good working dryer that will only cost us $60.00.  Our air conditioner is about 15 years old and to die and we're so happy we have the warranty!!   If you are a first time home buyer and moving into an older home I suggest you get one because you NEVER know when something might break or die and you don't have a landlord anymore to come fix it!

-My Blackberry
Only because I don't have an iphone yet!  I hate to say it but now that I have a Blackberry I can't imagine ever going back to a regular cell phone.  Sometimes I hate being that connected but at the same time I love having everything at my fingertips- I feel lost without it (sad but true).  I know so many people that feel this way once they have a Blackberry or iphone!

-Our House
This one is kind of obvious but investing in real estate is some of the best investing you can do! Especially now that home prices are lower again, at least near me.  We were able to get our house under market value and it was appraised for $15,000 more than we paid for, and this was before we did some updating to it. Yay!!  Coming from a family of Realtors and being one myself for a little while it was an investment we just could not pass up.   If only we lived in a more affordable area like I see on HGTV :)

So what's the best investment/purchase you've ever made?  Is there something you just can't live without?  Anyone have any worst investments/purchases?