Some notes:
My wife has almost never questioned my tool purchases and has actually often said, "Go buy the ****** thing," when I was hemming-and-hawing about whether to buy it. She did question some of my purchases early on in our 40+ years of marriage but soon learned what she got in return was worth more than what I'd spent.
When I rewired my '49 Int'l Metro bumper-to-bumper, I relied exclusively on three tools: a sharp pocketknife, a flat-blade screwdriver, and lineman's pliers. I used the pocketknife to strip wires and cut electrical tape and the lineman's pliers to cut wires and crimp connectors. I have since added special purpose tools for some of the tasks but still rely heavily on those three.
I emphasize sharp because sharp cutting tools do a better job, with more ease, and much, much greater safety. I have to warn people to be very careful around my knives, hatchets, axes, chisels, and so forth because I keep them razor sharp. (People know when I've been sharpening tools, especially knives and chisels, because I'm missing significant portions of the hair on my arms.)
