Should have spent more...

[me203]

Discussion here of up-selling got me thinking of another problem that one can have when purchasing something that one could perhaps call "under buying." That is, buying Item A that is cheaper than Item B, even though Item B will end up being a much better choice in the long run.

One very memorable example was a mixer my mother bought when I was a teenager. It was the cheapest in the store. My grandmother was with us, and she argued maybe something a bit better would be a better investment. But my mother was feeling a bit poor that day and got that cheap mixer. Which proved to be an under-powered, short lived disappointment. (On the plus side, the better hand mixer that replaced it seemed even more impressive than it might have otherwise.)

I mentioned in the up-selling thread an audio system I acquired in the 1990s. One off-and-on regret was that I wish I'd gotten speakers that were a step above what I ended up with. While the ones I got made sense at the time, and still work today, other choices in that store would have served me better for just a bit more. Particularly when one considers the speakers are the one item that has never changed in 30 some years.

 

[rareboy]

I like a good deal.

But have always tried to buy the best quality in our price range.

 

[LeicsDom]

When I was younger I would always go for the cheaper, more disposable version of something.
I think somewhere in my head I felt that I didn't need permanency.
As I have got older I find I do appreciate the quality of things and will go for the best I can afford at the time.
This is probably because I am now retired and am on a very fixed income so can budget more accurately.
When I was working my income was quite variable from week to week and month to month

 

[TickTockMan]

I am totally cheap, but I think 4th dimensionally. I buy better quality over cheapest in price.

 

[jjonn3]

I mentioned in the up-selling thread an audio system I acquired in the 1990s. One off-and-on regret was that I wish I'd gotten speakers that were a step above what I ended up with. While the ones I got made sense at the time, and still work today, other choices in that store would have served me better for just a bit more. Particularly when one considers the speakers are the one item that has never changed in 30 some years.

I still have the speakers I bought in the 80's - and they sound great.

The problem is they are each 3 foot tall and weight about 40 pounds.

Now I can get a 3 inch speaker that puts out the same sound quality. And if I got ones that are wireless I would have to have cables running everywhere.

So speakers have changed in the last 30 years.

 

[Kahaih]

/\ But, 3 inch speakers don't share well. Not nearly as well as the old 3 foot tall 40# ones.

You can't make the neighbours' Hummel collections dance with a 3 inch speaker.

 

[me203]

You can't make the neighbours' Hummel collections dance with a 3 inch speaker.

I remember seeing an ad for used speakers at one dealer. It began with: "Hate your neighbors?"

 

[me203]

So speakers have changed in the last 30 years.

Oops...I did a poor job of wording in my post above. I didn't mean to say that speakers in general haven't changed in 30 years. I meant to say I've had the same speakers for 30-some years.

have cables running everywhere.

The plus is that I'm gay, so I don't ever have to worry about a wife whining about "those big, ugly wires!"

The minus is that I'm gay, so I want a tasteful living room, and big, ugly wires don't help achieve that goal!

 

[jjonn3]

The plus is that I'm gay, so I don't ever have to worry about a wife whining about "those big, ugly wires!"

The minus is that I'm gay, so I want a tasteful living room, and big, ugly wires don't help achieve that goal!

The other problem with being gay is if you tell someone you are going to spend the evening laying cable they don't think you are hooking up a stereo!

 

[unloadonme]

I definitely steer clear of anything suspiciously cheap. On the other hand, I don't like getting ripped off and will research proposed purchases at my leisure rather than rush into a deal I later regret

 

[TickTockMan]

I definitely steer clear of anything suspiciously cheap. On the other hand, I don't like getting ripped off and will research proposed purchases at my leisure rather than rush into a deal I later regret

For me the research is the best part.

 

[me203]

I do tend to do research (even with fairly trivial purchases these days). Although sometimes, even with research, I can feel torn between options, or not quite sure if I want to go ahead with one clearly defined option. And as I do more research, this can only get worse...

 

[me203]

Thinking of 40 pound speakers... The audio dealer I used back then would only have one pair of speakers at a time in his good demonstration room. He had some speakers that must have been a huge pain to move in and out all the time...

 

[NotHardUp1]

My underbuying is a bit like mass marketing, but on a vastly different scale. By that, I mean that I often find used items in thrift stores, or sometimes even in yard sales, and take a chance on it being what it appears to be. Usually, I am buying for myself, but also buy for friends or family when I find nice things.

Occasionally, I'll find a latent or hidden defect later, but that is very rare. On the whole, I save probably 80-90% over retail, plus I don't have all that waste that Americans now take for granted with Amazon and others shipping individual items, wasting vast amounts of resources like fuel to do so. I'd rather buy 2nd hand as an alternative to items being discarded as intended by the manufacturers, so recycle them into a 2nd or 3rd life.

While I was in Dallas, my friend insisted on walking me through two levels of some upscale mall where she took me to eat at Eataly. She kept remarking that she didn't see anyone buying anything in the many couture shops, wondering how they could stay open. Brand after brand was unknown to me, and I told her I never go to malls, which just didn't seem to register. The whole concept of malls has always been anathema to me. It breeds children to believe that recreation is wasting time throwing money at overpriced crap, and that their future is dependent upon having all the crap everyone is out there buying.

 

[me203]

I often find used items in thrift stores

Thrift stores are now my primary shopping destination. In part, this is thanks to my current "I'm a Piece of White Trash" budget. But even if finances improved, I'd probably still shop thrift stores--partly because reusing a usable item makes sense, partly because thrift stores often support a worthwhile cause, and partly because one can obtain things that can't be obtained new.

Occasionally, I'll find a latent or hidden defect later, but that is very rare.

I've had very good luck overall. I figure one will come out ahead in the long haul, even if there is a fatal flaw in the occasional item. And there are times I've gotten things that only partly function as new--but that's good enough. For example, one toaster oven served me quite well, even though at least one function no longer worked when I got it.

The whole concept of malls has always been anathema to me. It breeds children to believe that recreation is wasting time throwing money at overpriced crap, and that their future is dependent upon having all the crap everyone is out there buying.

But buy! buy! buy! is the American way!

It's been a long time since I went near a mall. I'm guessing more than a decade, and I can't say I miss them that much.

 

[Thad1527]

I spent 20+ years doing inventory work and waaaay too much time in the mall at King of Prussia. It's America's largest mall based on retail space alone...that theme park at Mall of America makes it bigger, granted.
But I do thrift shopping. My favorite t-shirts are thrift shop purchases. Here's my latest, from a Catholic charity thrift shop in Joliet, Illinois.

 

[rareboy]

We are incredibly fortunate, I realize in having inherited so much from at least 5 generations of stuff.

We regularly use kitchenware including knives etc. and othe tools and linens and stuff from my gparents and even gg parents. A lot of these items are over 100-150 years old. And it is because they were able to buy quality.

I have clothes that I still wear that are 30-40 years old.

I get very cranky if anything doesn't last 20 years.

Meanwhile, we have written off and junked at least a couple of hundred thousand bucks worth of electronics and computer equpiment and software over the last 2 decades .

But if our stove gives up at 19 years...i am IRATE!