Be cautious with these and see if you can try them out for a while (e.g. if a friend has some) before buying them. Some people love them, but some people find that noise cancellation causes a headache.

An external monitor seems likely to improve your quality of life if you don't already have one. An external monitor that costs less than $250 probably won't.

If you buy something on this list, but end up spending substantially more than $250 on it, I'm hoping that resolves either NO or N/A.

What is (was--I bet it down a bit) with rice cooker being so high? I have rice every week and don't own a rice cooker. Am I missing out in the source of true happiness?

@AlQuinn I used to cook rice on the stovetop 1-2x/wk and then was gifted a not particularly good rice cooker. I would never go back. Very good rice with zero attention and no chance of error. Modest effect but it adds up.

Now I have a fancy one with settings for oatmeal etc but it's not really necessary.

Good one! Love the app

@TheWabiSabi what does it do?

@jskf it's a mindfulness app, but where headspace and calm only focus on just breathing, is Waking Up also explain all the theory behind it. It's really the best meditation app on the market. You can test it free for a month (with a ref link and no creditcard information). And if you need a free account because you find it to expensive, they give it to you no questions asked.

I am not going to submit this answer because it doesn't cost under $250 (up front), but an ebike if you live in any non-rural area. It can also pay for itself over time in saved transit fares/car mileage/parking.

I bought one about 9 months ago for $3k including all accessories and have already saved about 25% of that in transit fares, plus it's faster and way more fun. Let me know if you (or anyone else) want more details - best purchase I've made in years, easily.

@MattLashofSullivan $3k?? What did you get for the second half of that?

@jskf I bought a cargo one with an extended rack because I use it to take 2 kids to school. So, it was about:

Blix Packa Genie: 1900

Dual battery/range double: 300

2 seat cushions for the rear rack: 80

Runner boards: 100

Sturdy attached front basket: 90

Roll cage for rear rack: 200

And it's a class 2 ebike so it really zooms even with an extra 120lbs on the back. I agree you could spend a lot less if you were just carrying yourself. But I actually use every one of those accessories daily.

Ability to carry the kids around on it has substituted quite a few times to where a 2nd car would have been useful (we get by with one)

@MattLashofSullivan also, where I live ebiking to work at a constant-ish 20mph is actually faster than driving most of the time, in addition to not costing $40 to park in the garage. I recognize this is somewhat idiosyncratic tho.

Silent Electric Toothbrush

@PenguiBurst Thanks for the suggestion :) This won't count for the bounty unless it's an answer in the market, however! Feel free to submit it if you think the odds are good. Plus, even if I don't try it, it'll resolve N/A eventually.

These vary wildly, if you aren't wild about one you might try another before giving up. I had an air fryer lid for my Instant Pot, loved it but spouse complained too small. Next Instant Pot brand air fryer with two baskets so different temps at once. Sadly a screw got lost early on, causing one basket to fall apart, turned out to be highly non-standard screw, Home Depot guy told me to order replacement screw from Instant Pot, I said hell with it and threw out whole item. Right now I have Gourmia which is like a deluxe countertop oven, super roomy, spouse complaining again though as only one temp at a time and why can't we go back to the basket kind.

@ClubmasterTransparent interesting to see how much it can vary, but it seems that you had a streak of bad luck with air fryers. I have a single-basket air fryer and typically use it to cook quick meals or reheat. As long as you aren't optimizing for the ultimate taste you should be fine. As someone who lives alone, I find it very efficient and well-spent money

There's got to be some clever way to weight a market like this for cost

@NivlacM markets are resolved to 100% - $cost/10 if helpful. Something like that. Maybe a logarithmic scale so you can go way up there with cost

Fun idea. Threw a couple small bets on stuff I own and like or own and don't feel are broadly applicable. I also use my noise cancelling earbuds way more than my noise cancelling over ear headphones, so I threw that up.

To make the case: normally I don't need to hear high frequencies, but someday I might have grandchildren, and it would be nice to understand them. I bought various earplugs but never had them with me, or if I did, I felt irrationally self-conscious wearing them. These are on my keychain (admittedly somewhat fragilely) and I feel proud when I wear them. Presumably other aesthetic earplugs are available.

In my experience, good pillows are so underrated

Quick update to resolution criteria:

If I have tried something but it doesn't make the "top 10" cut, I'll resolve to "NO." If I didn't try the answer, I'll resolve to N/A.

If you are one of the 5 traders on the market so far and this impacts the bet you made, let me know and I can reimburse you.