A useful object earns affection through years of solving problems.

Affection for objects is usually earned rather than bought. The knife that has never let you down, the coat that has been everywhere with you, the pan that cooks evenly after fifteen years. What you feel is not really about the thing; it is about the accumulated evidence of it working when you needed it.

That is a good standard for what to buy. Choose things that could plausibly be loved in a decade, which usually means simple, repairable, and well made. Then use them hard enough to find out.