Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share Their Best Pandemic Purchases

People Share Their Best Pandemic Purchases
Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

The pandemic has had a lot of side effects: working from home, social isolation, online shopping...

Some of them have led to unexpected purchases.


Redditor mrgreen1464 asked:

"What was the best purchase you made during the pandemic?"

Musical Aspirations

" I finally bought a cello!"

"I’d been wanting to begin learning for years, invested and loving it."

- amediocremusician

"Cello is an underrated beautiful instrument. Watching Adam Hurst on YouTube makes me feel like I’m watching Lestat from Anne Rice’s books play an instrument."

- Reddit

"Cellos are the best!!!! Every song sounds beautiful and haunting."

- GloomyCamel6050

Giphy

Unexpected Benefit

"I bought a doorbell camera."

"I was internally debating if I had wasted money on it or not when I realized it caught a clip of my best friend—who passed away last summer—doubled over in laughter and having his pants fall down around his ankles while he was trying to catch his breath."

"Worth every penny."

- Greyskiesgreeneyes

The Big Dig

"Heard we were going into lockdown so contacted local earth moving company and said as you will not be able to work can you drop around a 20 ton digger for me to use over lockdown and pay on the hour meter."

"Worked out so good, they dropped around their nicest machine. Chipped away over the month and moved 1/2 my section to make it flat, dug a pond etc..."

"Only cost me $2000 for a month rental!"

- ultimatedbag

Giphy

Worthwhile

"Squat rack."

"Took a long time to get everything set up, but it was worth the wait."

- Longjumping-Dot4301

"*worth the weight..."

- Vinegaz

Comfort Is Key

"Warm comfy slippers."

"My feet get cold easy so it helped a lot."

- ChillPalm

Giphy

Introspection *results may vary

"I tried some magic mushrooms and realized that my life was headed down a horrible path. That realization made me get trained in a new career that will hopefully be more sustainable and healthy for me."

"Granted it's been a challenge but I don't think I would have been brave enough to change without that experience..."

- CurrentMeasurement29

"Damn I wish this was my experience with shrooms. Every time I’ve just had fun for a couple hours, then slowly descended into a terrifying hell world for the next six."

"No life changing realizations or clarity. And now I am far too afraid to ever try any kind of hallucinogen again."

"The inside of my brain is not a place I want to be trapped in, it’s f'king dark in there."

- fadingstatic

Home Office Necessity

"Heated cat bed."

"Keeps my cats off my work laptop."

- fewlove

Giphy

Catpanionship

"Not a purchase necessarily, but taking in a little stray pandemic kitten."

"He’s brought so much joy to my life and I honestly don’t know how I would’ve made it through the difficulties that the pandemic brought on if I didn’t have him."

- CeLaVieluv

"I somehow adopted two kittens during the pandemic. One May of 2020, the other January 2021."

"They are truly the best."

- blackcatsbrew

"Oh, it’s a purchase-cat food, litter, scratching post, vet bills, etc..."

"We took in a little black kitten in September & she’s brought a lot of joy."

"She has a cat tower that’s taller than I am because we wanted to give her a safe spot from our overly-affectionate Labradors. As it turns out, she pesters them more."

- dailysunshineKO

Alternate Reality

" Nintendo Switch to live on an island and pretend the world isn’t falling apart."

- maltymawma

"I impulsively bought a Switch and Animal Crossing days before everything got completely shut down."

"The game still consumes my life, it’s given me online friends, a creative outlet, it’s given me so much more than just the island."

"Truly a blessing."

- Mrs_worldwide_

"Animal Crossing really was the escapism I needed. I probably have a lot of weeds to pull now..."

- Jazzlike_Log_709

"Animal Crossing really came out at the best time. A former colleague got a Switch of her own (her kids had one or multiple) just so she could play Animal Crossing by herself!"

"How many hours I spent with it in the beginning, how many friends I made via the internet that told me it got them through hard times..."

- gezeitenspinne

Giphy

Better Credit

"Not what I bought...what I didn't buy."

"I saved SO much money, not shopping."

"My credit cards are 100% paid off for the first time in like 20 years."

- NotThisAgain21

Did you purchase anything that changed your life during the pandemic?

Share it in the comments!

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Donald Trump; Martin Luther King Jr.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images; Jack Sheahan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Trump Ripped After Forcing National Parks To Drop Free Entry On MLK Day And Juneteenth For Infuriating Reason

President Donald Trump was criticized after the National Park Service announced it will be dropping Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth for next year's calendar of free-entry days and adding Trump's birthday, which happens to fall on Flag Day, on June 14.

Last month, the Department of the Interior unveiled changes to what it now calls its “resident-only patriotic fee-free days,” expanding the calendar to include new dates like the Fourth of July weekend and President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, while dropping others that had honored the department itself, including the Bureau of Land Management’s anniversary.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Juanita Broaddrick's tweet overlayed against a picture of the J. Crew sign
@atensnut/X; Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

MAGA Is Melting Down Over A Pink J. Crew Sweater For Men—And Our Eyes Can't Roll Hard Enough

MAGA fans are melting down over a $168 men's sweater from J. Crew with a fair-isle collar, claiming, in yet another example of the idiocy of the culture wars, that only liberals would actually wear it.

We know what you're thinking... Really?!

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert Garcia; Marjorie Taylor Greene
WWHL/Bravo; Daniel Heuer/AFP via Getty Images

Dem Rep. Has An Idea For A New Line Of Work For MTG After She Leaves Congress—And It Would Certainly Be Something

California Democratic Representative Robert Garcia was elected in November 2022 and even before being sworn in, he was locking horns with one-time MAGA darling and Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

For years, MTG was best known as the QAnon conspiracy theory-spewing, State of the Union heckling, crossfit hyping, Trump ride-or-dying, anti-LGBTQ+ racist MAGA minion from Georgia.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump Jr.
Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

Don Jr. Sparks Outrage After Startup Company He Backed Scores Massive Contract With Pentagon

Donald Trump Jr. is facing criticism after The Financial Times reported that Vulcan Elements, a startup he backed, scored a $620 million government contract with the Department of Defense.

The company said the deal falls under a broader $1.4 billion collaboration with the federal government and ReElement Technologies aimed at scaling up U.S. magnet production and strengthening the domestic supply chain.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Describe The Deepest Internet 'Rabbit Hole' They've Ever Fallen Down

Who amongst us hasn't wasted HOURS of life surfing the web for things we couldn't help being intrigued by?

Going on the internet for one quick look at a sale, then staying up until sunrise trying to uncover a 50-year-old unsolved murder mystery is totally normal.

Keep ReadingShow less