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People share the 'buy it for life' products they've purchased that have actually held up

"It’s wild to have any belonging that will literally outlast me."

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People share the high quality products they've purchased that have lasted a lifetime.

Buying good-quality items that are meant to last a lifetime can be a big financial win, regardless of the initial investment. However, just because an item says it comes with a lifetime guarantee, it doesn't always mean it will actually last.

In a Reddit forum of savvy shoppers, member @qdobah posed the question: "We're at or near middle age. Have bought any 'buy it for life' products? How are they holding up at the midway point?" They followed it up with, "Good, bad, neutral. Give us all your reviews."

The shoppers divulged the products that have stood the test of time. These are 32 long-lasting items that lived up to their excellent quality.

quality, quality items, lifetime products, last a lifetime, high qualityHigh Class Quality GIF by ANTIQUES ROADSHOW | PBSGiphy

"Lodge cast iron pans are going strong. It’s wild to have any belonging that will literally outlast me. If you don’t mind the maintenance required for seasoning them, they are a slam dunk purchase." —@RerollingAfterDeath

"I love my cast iron collection, but honestly I love my All Clad pans more, simply because of the ease of maintenance. We received a set of stainless All Clad pots & pans 20 years ago, we use them daily, and they still look as good as the day we got them." —@IHeartChampagne

"My KitchenAid mixer. I've had it for 5 years and I use it at least once a month but it's going strong." —@bigkatze

mixer, stand mixer, kitchenaid, kitchenaid mixer, mixerscake baking GIF by franciscabGiphy

"Vitamix! They have had the best reliability, amazing customer service, and it’s a single consumer product I use every day and have not found a single issue/ something I don’t like about it. Great quality, great team based in the USA. My Dyson vacuums are so/so - customer service is trash. Lexus cars have been extremely reliable. It difficult to find items that aren’t short-term-use junk, marketing hypes, cheap crap made in China, horrible for the environment, etc." —@WhiteRabbitOrngePill

"Le Creuset dutch oven. Can cook bread, pasta, stews etc. anything. It’s held up well." —@Consistent-Duty-6195

"Sorel boots for snow. Lodge cast iron pans. Stanley thermos with the little cup on the top. My Stanley camping pot that comes with two cups inside. Honestly this Stanley camping pot has lived through hundreds of miles of backpacking and dozens of cups of coffee." —@djn3vacat

knife, knives, knife sharpening, sharpen knife, sharp knifeChef Cooking GIF by Brix 01Giphy

"People hate on them because they mistakenly think it's an MLM but CutCo has been good to me. I signed up to be a salesman in college. Scheduled a bunch of fake demos with friends and family to cash in on the money they gave you to do it. Can't remember what it was but I made like $3000 over the summer and only did like 2 actual demos out of the dozens I claimed to do. To top it off I never returned the demo set they loaned me. It was like a $2k set and I've had it ever since. Once every 5-8 years or so I spend like $10 to ship them off for sharpening. They're sharp as hell and I use them every single day and have been for like 15 years now. Can't beat literally being paid for a product haha." —@dnvrm0dsrneckbeards

"Darn tough socks." —@Traditional-Job-411

"Corelle dinnerware and my flatware. Definitely not replacing and they’re perfect after like 10 years already." —@RainyMonster2635

"We have a nice set of henckels knives and pot set for at least 15 years now. Going strong." —@Working-Librarian157

cast iron, cast iron skillet, cast iron pan, cast iron ware, cast iron kitchenCast Iron Food GIF by Rachael Ray ShowGiphy

"Lodge cast iron is solid although I probably hold a record for longest ikea furniture keeper. My corelle dishes are solid as is my Miele vacuum both acquired in 2005 when I graduated high school. My vitamix is holding up well, was a 2013 diploma grad present." —@Clevernamegoeshere__

"My grandparents had weirdly modern taste and bought a Rosenthal tea set in 1957 that still looks chic and modern today. If it had been covered in floral doilies it would have gone into a box in my basement or sold, but this set is sleek, simple, elegant, and the most intoxicating, iridescent, mother of pearl blue. The set is 68 years old and I still use it all the time." —@augustinthegarden

"Fiesta plates. Easy to wash and never chip." —@Familiar_Luck_3333

gameboy, gameboys, gameboy nes, gaming, gameboy nintendoNintendo Snes GIFGiphy

"My NES and Gameboy. These were OG from my childhood and still hold up today." —@Pogichinoy

"Copic markers. Not even kidding. My mom bought me a set in 2010 and I still use that grayscale set. You can replace the nibs and refill the ink. They are worth every penny." —@UnderlightIll

"I've been almost daily cooking on a Stargazer cast iron skillet for about 10 years now. It's still going strong on its original seasoning. I also have a 1940's Griswold skillet that makes magical pancakes." —@RickS50

swiss army knife, victorinox, swiss army, knife, pocket knifeLoop Knife GIF by MULTI AWESOME STUDIOGiphy

"I bought a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife (camper model) back in 1993 when I was 10. This thing is still razor sharp and working as good as when I bought it. But the tweezers and toothpick are long gone." —@halfway_23

"My kitchen is the most important room in the house. That's where we've decided to spend our money because our kids have food allergies and I need everything to just work when I need it to. I want to buy once, cry once. But if it's truly buy it for life, finding deals secondhand is absolutely possible. Viking oven. We bought ours second hand about 6 years ago and it was already 15+ years old. It needed deep cleaned and one hose fixed. And because I bake a ton, we have to replace the oven ignitors once every 2 years or so. It's a beast and I love it. Because it was secondhand, we only spent like $600. New they are $10k+ All my burners are "the good one". It doesn't have any fancy electronics either. It ovens and stoves. That's it. Thermador dishwasher. It's the luxury sister company to Bosch. Ours is only 4 years old BUT it's doing much better than the Samsung that we had prior. The salesman said that Samsung isn't designed to last more than 5 years or so. One of the few BIFL items we've purchased new, no regrets. We really had a hard time deciding between Bosch and Thermador. The racks were what sold it. Thermador has better quality racks." —@nutkinknits

"I bought a Zojirushi rice cooker at least 15 years ago when I was in college. I use it daily and it's still going strong." —@mishmashpotato

rice, rice cooker, cooking rice, rice gif, make riceGIF by YWAM NurembergGiphy

"Well my Craftsman tool set certainly outlasted the company." —@5oldierPoetKing

"I bought a burberry trench coat. 6 years ago. Looks exactly the f*ckin same as when I bought it. I dunno if its life but I think it has 20 years in yet. Worth it." —@pokemonandgenshin

"My rainbow vacuum. My Yeti 30oz tumblers (idk about their coolers yet)." —@In3briatedPanda

yeti, yeti, yeti tumbler, tumbler, tumblersYeti Tumbler GIF by Bill Miller Bar-B-QGiphy

"Wolverine waterproof steel toe boots. Bought these for a job when I was in my early 20s, still going strong in the winters, but they only got about 8 months of consistent use before being shelved for snow days." —@starwarsyeah

"DE safety razor merkur 34c saving money and getting better shaves."—@ 808_surf

"I’ve had a Cuisinart Food Processor for 20 years and it’s as good as the day I bought it." —@dunnkw

doc marten, doc martens, doc marten boots, boots, docsnew york fashion GIFGiphy

"Still have my Doc Martens from 7th-8th grade. Aside from laces fraying, they look and feel just like they did back in the day." —@bcathy

"Mine are all hand-me-downs from grandma. I have Corelle from the 70s, Pyrex glass bowls from the 80s, Tweezerman tweezers that were used when she gave them to me 20 yrs ago, and lots of cast iron. All of this stuff will likely outlive me." —@cat_at_the_keyboard

Images via Wikipedia

Elder Millennials reveal the different childhood experiences they had compared to young Millennials.

Millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, are a generation with wide-ranging childhood experiences. Millennials born in the early 1980s, also known as 'Elder Millennials," had vastly different upbringings than those born in the 1990s.

In a Reddit forum for Millennials, member @_NoleFan6 posed the question: "Elder millennials (81-84), what are some things that separate you from the core/late millennials?"

They continued, "I’m just curious what makes my fellow elder millennials identify more with Gen X? Some things for me are: Being old enough to remember the tail end of the 80s, seeing Terminator 1 before Terminator 2, M.A.S.K. (iykyk), woodgrain VCRs, roller racer, going to see 1989 Batman at the theater, seeing Bo Jackson play, and not accessing the internet until ‘97 (I was 14). How about y’all?"

Many Elder Millennials could relate. They offered up 16 of their childhood experiences and how they differ from younger Millennials.

teddy ruxpin, teddy ruxpin toy, teddy bear, teddy bear 80s, 80s bearTeddy Bear 80S GIFGiphy

"Teddy Ruxpin. I'm a 1982 baby, and the Teddy Ruxpin craze was big when I was around 3 years old in the mid-'80s. I had talking Teddy, his talking friend Grubby, his books, his cassette tapes, his toy air ship and figurines, pajamas, underwear... People who are a few years younger than me don't really know what I am talking about when I mention him." —@KevinTodd82

"Being a latch key kid. And when young millennials don’t understand the turn it up to 11 phrase." —@geopimp1

"I’m an elder and my sister who’s 10 years younger is a core so I see Millennials as her generation not mine really as far as how we grew up. She was in grade 4 when 9-11 happened and I owned my own home. She is who taught me to take a selfie and I still have never used a filter. There’s just so much difference." —@Trick-Coyote-9834

my little pony, saturday morning cartoons, cartoons, 80s cartoons, morning cartoonsMy Little Pony 80S GIFGiphy

"We’re basically the in-between crew. We grew up like younger Gen X (80's Saturday cartoons and toys, landline phones, dial-up internet, tapes) but we hit our teenage and college years just as all the new techs exploded. So we remember life before smartphones and social media, but we adapted to it way faster than Gen X did. Basically, we were young enough to go through the whole switch from analog to digital, so we remember life before the internet but adapted to the online world pretty easily. We relate to Gen X and millennials in different ways, kind of the best of both. That’s why some of us like the term 'Xennials', which is those born between ’77 and ’83 or 84'." —@CedricBeaumont

"Tv before ratings. It was a free for all." —@merylbouw

"tamagotchi. pokemon. grunge." —@WOLFMAN_SPA

"Patchouli oil smell." —@rollbackprices

grunge, grunge music, nirvana, kurt cobain, alternative rockkurt cobain nirvana GIFGiphy

"Grunge. We were a little too young for the breakout albums in 1990-91, but we were the perfect age for the follow-ups in 1993-94 and the broader explosion of 'alternative rock' music in the mid 90s. Sadly, people who are even a little bit younger did not share in this experience, and that’s a bad thing because the music industry took a turn for the worse in the late 90s." —@Appropriate-Topic618

"Never had computer is or video games growing up. Literally grew up outside with no electronics." —@Humbly2022

"Being aware in the 90's." —@DiskSalt4643

90s, 1990s, the 90s, millennials, cluelessAlicia Silverstone Reaction GIFGiphy

"Being an adult when I got my first email address, and 9-11 happened. (A very young one, but still.) Having a truly analog childhood." —@Wild-Sky-4807

"Remembering Desert Storm and the USSR listed on maps in first grade textbooks. Princess Diana's death. MySpace top 8. Making your own websites on angelfire. AskJeeves. Dogpile." —@Ready-Player-Mom

"Michael Jordan. Michael Jackson. Mike Tyson. Michelangelo." —@Due-Set5398

michael jordan, jordan, michael jordan gif, miachael jordan nba, bullsChicago Bulls Dunk GIF by NBAGiphy

"I’m (82) an elder married to a core (88). Music, pop culture and especially kids programming are the main difference. We remember the 90s very differently - I was already too old for the Disney 90s surge of Aladdin and Lion King while she was too young to follow Jordan and the Bulls. I outgrew TGIF by the time Boy Meets World went on the air but she was too young to understand why boys loved Step by Step." —@Quick-Angle9562

"I think the biggest difference is cell phones/social media. Late millennials had smart phones in hs. We didn’t have text messages, and had to wait til after 9 to talk for free." —@walkhardd

"Watching Jurassic Park in the movie theatre 🥹." —@organicbabykale1

Culture

Old people admit the 45 Gen Z and Alpha slang words they secretly love

"I love using Sus and Sketch and my kids hate me for it."

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Old people share their favorite slang from Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Keeping up with the latest slang is no easy feat. For older people trying to stay fresh with the ever-changing Gen Alpha slang and Gen Z slang, they have their work cut out for them. But many are keeping up.

In a Reddit forum, member @Final-Work2788 posed the question: "What slang that's come out in the past five years do you have to admit is kind of awesome?"

Boomers, Gen Xers, and more happily shared the slang words that they're obsessed with. These are 45 Gen Alpha and Gen Z slang terms that older people secretly love.

"''Skills Issue'." —@GrimaceMusically

"FAFO [f*ck around find out]. So useful!!" —@PrimarySelection8619

"I will always adore, and use at every occasion, the vaunted word 'YEET'." —@5ilvrtongue

yeet, yeeted, yeet word, yeet slang, yeet gifRainbow Yes GIF by LumiGiphy

"Slaps. There’s a lot of good new slang out there but this term slaps." —@robotlasagna

"Thirsty." —@Gloomy_Obligation333

"I love using Sus and Sketch and my kids hate me for it." —@bladel

"'Mid' does it’s job perfectly. So short. Anything truly 'mid' doesn’t require any more time/verbiage. 'It’s mid,' move on." —@bitsonchips

"That’s a banger, referring to a song. Also the term glazing." —@haf2go

rizz, rizzler, rizz word, rizz slang, rizz termKids Dancing GIFGiphy

"I like rizz. It reminds of the Putting on the Ritz scene from Young Frankenstein." —@Niniva73

"Younger Aussies are saying 'cossie livs' for 'cost of living' issues. If you can't afford something it's 'cossie livs'. We'll make slang out of anything." —@Mash_man710

"I am Gen X. I love the term crashed out, or crashing out. My daughters say I am not allowed to use it though. I am not sure if it is a cultural appropriation thing or if they just think it’s cringe when I say it. I love it though. It’s very descriptive." —@Neat-Client9305

crash out, crashed out, crashing, crashin out, crash out slangFreak Out Rage GIFGiphy

"I love 'Menty B' for mental breakdown lol." —@philmajohnson

"'…with your whole chest'." —@Ok-Scallion9885

"I love Gen Z slang. Rizz is so creative. Gyat is hilarious. I have a son in middle school so I hear a lot of it. I’m Gen X and think it’s much cooler than what we came up with." —@HairyHorseKnuckles

"'Deplorean' for a Cybertruck, even though I am a Tesla owner. I don't hate Cybertrucks, I just think it's funny." —@AJ_Mexico

"Fire." —@keepsummersafe55

fire, that's fire, that's fire, gif, fire slang, fire wordShark Tank Rohan GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy

"I'm Cooked...as in sick or in a bad way." —@Scottishdog1120

"Oh, so many!
--Mid
--Okay, no
--Situationship
--Ded (and, the skull and crossbones emoji instead of LOL)
--that ATE (also: 'Ate and left no crumbs')
--era ('villain era')
--lowkey
--deadass
--SLAPS
--dripped out
--turnt
--a snack ('Girl looking like a SNACK')
--IYKYK." —@CatCafffffe

ate, ate slang, ate gif, she ate, ate termGIF by RuPaul's Drag RaceGiphy

"Enshittification." —@Numerous_Problems

"Cap and no cap." —@ContributionOk9927

no cap, cap, cap gif, no cap slang, cap slangPaul Rudd Wear A Mask GIF by GIPHY NewsGiphy

"Cringe. It's perfect." —@meekonesfade

"Pedestrian. This one sums it up." —@PigpenD27870

"I kind of like deadass meaning for-real or I-shit-you-not. I’m too old to know if it’s within the last five years though." —@Tom__mm

deadass, deadass slang, deadass word, deadass phrase, deadass gifBlac Chyna GIFGiphy

"Skibidi is fun to say." —@BrooklynDoug

"Ohio. I lived there for six years and can confirm, it's Ohio." —@those_ribbon_things

"it's giving. sometimes something isn't necessarily 'like' a thing at all but it's gives you the same energy or vibes (i enjoy vibes too)." —@coolcoolcool485

"I don’t know why but I find it funny when kids say someone is a 'D1 Yapper.' They don’t just talk too much, or never shut up, they have been recruited to a Division 1 school for their yapping, haha." —@Impossible-Still-128

yap, yapper, yapping, yap slang, yap gifChat Talking GIFGiphy

"My great niece asking me if I wanted the tea. I said no thanks, I'd just had coffee...boy did she laugh! And said NO, let me tell you want happened and laughed some more! I love that girl to pieces 🥰." —@Educational-Glass-63

"Brainrot. So appropriate for so much media (including what I'm doing here!)" —@rrddrrddrrdd

"De-lu-lu is my fave." —@recyclar13

delulu, delulu gif, delusional, delulu slang, delulu wordDelulu GIF by Forabeli BeautyGiphy

"The comment, word, reply, phrase: 'Bet.' Like wtf does it mean and how did it derive to be so much yet so simple?

Q: 'Hey, you wanna go get something to eat?'
A: 'Bet.'
C: 'Dude, this song is freaking awesome!'
R: 'Bet.'
Q: "Hey, did you smash that last night?'
A: 'Bet, Bet!'
C: 'I can kick your ass!'
R: 'Bet.'
Q: 'You want some chips?' (A) 'Nah, I'm good.'
A: 'Bet.'" —@SomeMidnight


Canva

A woman enjoys a piece of chocolate. A man doesn't like it.

Here's the thing: even the worst chocolate, at least for a chocolate-lover, is usually tolerable. Obviously, taste is subjective and there are plenty of people who actually prefer American chocolate over its European counterpart.

That said, an American on Reddit posted a pretty heavy statement on the subreddit r/CasualEurope: "European Chocolate has ruined me." They write, "I always heard online that Europeans hated American chocolate, saying that it tastes of bile. I ignored such things, to me it always tasted fine. Then along came an opportunity, 6 months of working in Denmark. It just so happens that my work had a chocolate jar, every day after lunch I'd have two pieces, tasted good, never thought much of it."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

This takes a turn. They continue, "That was, until today. I'm back home for the holidays, my mom put out a candy dish of Hershey's kisses. Don't mind if I do. But as the chocolate melted on my tongue I knew something was off. The distinct taste of vomit. I had escaped the matrix; my eyes now open to the truth. Is this a blessing? A curse? I myself don't even know. The only truth I do know is that American chocolate will never taste the same."

The comment section is riddled with explanations, and they seem to know their chocolate. One explains, "European chocolates are required by law to have at least 14% dry milk solids while the US only requires 12%. European chocolate is also slightly richer because it's required to have at least 3.5% milk fat. In the US, the minimum is 3.39%. European chocolate ALSO has a higher requirement for cocoa content — aka the ingredient that gives bars their deep, chocolaty flavor. These differences might not seem so big, but taken together, they add up."

But they're not done. "Also worth noting? When it comes to the American chocolate standard-bearer (hi, Hershey's), some say the biggest perceived difference in chocolate quality might come from its use of butyric acid — which makes chocolate last longer on shelves but gives it a 'tangy' flavor that many Europeans find totally off-putting." One even asks, "Is that why some chocolate BURNS?"

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

"Tangy" is a nice way to put it. In a recent piece for The Takeout on Yahoo! Life, author Moriah House asks, "Why do so many Europeans hate Hershey's chocolate?" House notes, "By and large, the consensus among European (and generally non-American) Hershey's reviewers seems to be that it tastes more like sawdust than chocolate, or less generously, that it tastes like vomit. This might sound unnecessarily harsh, but there are some legitimate reasons that Hershey's bars may be an acquired taste."

While, obviously, Hershey's recipes are kept under lock and key, House insists there's evidence which "suggests that Hershey's chocolate contains butyric acid, a compound that is also found in, well, vomit. Before you get too grossed out, butyric acid is also found in parmesan cheese and many other things that many people find delicious."

Of fascinating note, it's also pointed out that perhaps Americans (and everyone worldwide) don't notice an off-putting taste or smell because of the nostalgia factor. In other words, we're just used to it. "The taste-memory connection should not be underestimated—studies have shown that comfort food is more related to memory than actual flavor. Considering that chocolate is a highly emotional and nostalgic food, the sweet memories associated with your childhood favorite chocolate probably have a not insignificant impact on how you perceive its flavor."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

There are, of course, other reasons the chocolate tastes different: sugar and fat content, and surprisingly, where the cocoa beans themselves are sourced. On GourmetBouquet.com, they explain, "American chocolatiers tend to use beans from South America, while Europeans, such as those in Great Britain, often use beans from West Africa instead."

While plenty of people have chimed in to say they in fact love American chocolate, the Europeans got a backup with this from this Redditor Down Under: "Mate, I'm here to tell you it's not just Europeans who don't like American chocolate. Us Aussies hate it too. And our chocolate (at least the mass-produced, supermarket stuff) isn't the greatest by a long shot!"