I'd look more towards utility. I've used mine to fix/repair/replace all kinds of broken things around the house.
Just last month my co-worker broke the key for her Honda. It's one of those smart keys with an integrated fob and the plastic had shattered. A new key from Honda was almost $200 - but I was able to find a couple of designs on thingiverse for replacements. Most of them had some minor issues but I eventually found one that worked well after I made a minor modification to it (it had room for a truck release that her minivan didn't need) and printed it in Nylon both for strength and so I could dye it to her color preference:
A few hours of printing (mostly testing designs that weren't quite right) and a few dollars worth of filament - and now she has the only purple Honda key in town
I've also made things like a pen holder for our family message board so all of our multi-colored dry erase pens are always handy. Or new hinges/clasps for our nice big igloo cooler which had fallen apart. Or adapters for our air pumps to fit different mattresses/pool floats instead of having to buy new pumps because we lost the inflators. Same with my daughters toys - loose a small vital part that makes the toy useless? Just print a replacement!
Honestly I'm pretty sure my old printer paid for itself over the 3 years it was my only printer in small repair parts I made. My new MK3 will take a bit longer to pay for itself since it's more than twice as much as I paid for my old printer...but it's so much more reliable and easier to use I'm very glad I was able to pay the extra for it!
That said....the downside is I have gallon ziploc bags full of plastic toys and tests piling up that I hate to just toss but really don't need to keep around now
Just don't tell her about that part
