This is just a list of the things that I’ve bought which have value far in excess of their cost. It’s in no order.

Leatherman Wave

I bought a Leatherman at the last minute before I went travelling in Egypt in 2005. I felt extravagant buying it for £85 (if I remember rightly).

It was mildly useful there, but in the eight years I’ve now owned it, I have used it thousands of times. I use the knife all the time to slice through packing tape, packaging, banding and anything else. I cut through a floorboard yesterday with the saw. I usually cut my fingernails with the scissors. It’s as good as the day I bought it.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500

This scanner is a beast. I load it up with 20 A4 pages at a time, it scans both sides, OCRs the text and gives me a PDF. I am virtually entirely paperless now, and I can access anything from anywhere. I have a single box with important papers in, everything else has gone. This scanner also did the scanning for my side project, How A Car Works.

ExpenseMagic on iPhone I’m hesitant to include this because it’s only been a part of my life for three months or so. That said, it’s financially paid for itself 10x already. I photograph all my receipts, they are then processed offshore by ExpenseMagic and imported into my accounts package. Total cost: £50 per year. Total time saved - easily 40 minutes a week and a couple of lost receipts that get written off.

Macbook Air

My mum bought the family an Atari ST in about 1990. In 1995 I got my first PC at a cost of £500. In 2011 I bought my first Apple computer for £1,100. Since then I have massively improved my productivity and become a better programmer. This is the most expensive item on this list, but also the best tool I own.

Festool TS55 Track Saw

One for the builders here. We aren’t really into tracksaws in the UK, and I’d never even heard of Festool until I watched The Wood Whisperer. This thing makes cutting sheet material an accurate joy. Festool is the Apple of the tools market. Expensive fantastically designed and engineered equipment which has a resale value of approximately 100% of its new cost.