Underrated small purchases — am I overthinking this? [v3]

For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land. This came up at a meetup recently and the room was split, so curious what the broader community thinks.

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land. Mostly thinking out loud — feel free to push back hard.

Mostly thinking out loud — feel free to push back hard. Maybe an unpopular opinion but here we go. I want to write something more comprehensive about this later but starting with a quick post to gather thoughts.