I really get that sentiment—there are an awful lot of ways to be penny wise and pound foolish in this world. You can go through a lot of $150/pr "dress shoes" b

I really get that sentiment—there are an awful lot of ways to be penny wise and pound foolish in this world. You can go through a lot of $150/pr "dress shoes" before you even need to resole a good pair, for instance, and if you need to be dressed up (for work or even for frequent meetings) you can go broke saving money. And trying to save money on your tools (and for a full-time coder, even a chair is a tool) is going to cost you in productivity over the long haul. On the other hand, I've found that there's nothing better for my back (or my sleep in general) than a properly-inflated air bed (and I had severe back problems for years). (It started as an interim solution when I beat my furniture to a working location by nearly a week.) That works out to about $30 per annum around these parts, and although there are "real" versions with long-term guarantees and fancy fabric coverings (a standard mattress pad gives the same feel) the price differential isn't an incentive to give up the "replace annually" variety.