Some things are simply worth spending money on; a pillow that doesn’t break your neck every night, for instance, or comfortable hiking shoes that make hiking… well, bearable. And while splurging might not be the right way to go about everything, most of us likely have things we consider worthy of a higher investment.
The ‘Ask Reddit’ community discussed what things they wouldn’t go cheap on, and their answers go far beyond pillows and shoes. While some appreciate the longevity—they say ‘buy cheap, buy twice’ for a reason—others simply enjoy the feeling such items entail, be it the softness of quality toilet paper or the satisfaction of using a good set of headphones. Scroll down to find the redditors’ answers and see if you’d spend your hard-earned money on any of the same things.
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For example, mine is a bed. I’ll never buy a cheap bed again.
I love my Saatva bed…pricey but the sides will never collapse under my fat a*s. Worth $3000.
Knives.
I stayed with my brother and sister-in-law briefly between apartments. I brought my set of Wusthofs. She has a congenital birth defect that affects her fingers. She was worried about having sharp knives in the kitchen because she didn't want to slice off what was left of her fingers. She had always bought cheap knives for that reason. But she found using good knives, she cut herself much less because, shocker, the knives cut better so they were easier to control.
Plus, these knives will last forever. It's one of those things that you can buy crappy knives every few years, or spend a little more and never have to buy them again.
I think everyone should buy a decent chefs knife. Unless you are super rich, the one thing you will do on a daily basis is prepare food. Your don't have to buy a 300 dollar hand forged Japanese knife, just a good quality one from a known brand. And also, get some sharpening stones. Every knife eventually gets dull and being able to sharpen them every couple of months keeps them at peak performance. My personal favorite knife brand is Robert Herder. The only western knife company that grinds their knife very thinly, just like expensive Japanese knives. They can get crazy sharp, are easy to sharpen and cut very nicely because of their thinness.
My cats. Whatever they need they got
My dog, she's on special dog food because she has a bowel condition, it's expensive but she is worth every penny!
Cheese. You don't know bliss until you have tasted parmigiano reggiano. It is worth every extra penny + it is so satisfying to grate it yourself.
Ice Cream.
GTFO of here with that Blue Bunny Chemical Cream polymer or that Nicotine yellow Walmart Vanilla.
We're not big ice cream eaters, but when the mood strikes, I've got the ice cream attachment for my kitchen aid. Not to most conventional way to get ice cream, but it works for an infrequent snack, and we can control the ingredients & make up our own flavors 😋
I knit as a hobby, and I always buy the best materials I can afford. I have a budget for the year, and I try to choose projects that will last a while. It's just no fun to knit with crappy materials, and a hobby is supposed to be fun. I also want to be proud of the finished object.
Wait, so I'm not supposed to just have an endless stash of yarn that I'll never actually use just waiting for the perfect project to come up??!
Pillows. My neck thanks me every morning.
The most important thing is to not buy pillows that are higher than your shoulder height. If your head is on an angle either up or down, you are bending your spine. This shows up as headaches and spine, back/neck problems.
Winter clothing, when you are going to be outside for a while, trust me, it is a life saver.
Pay to not see ads. My quality of life has significantly increased not being exposed to them
Someone told me once you spend most of your life on your feet or on your back. Always buy good shoes and good bed.
Boots. I have my work boots, my hunting boots, my deck boots I wear when on my boat fishing, even a pair I call my “town boots” which are just a square toe I wear out of the house to run errands or go out. It saves your feet, back, and knees so much over a cheap Walmart pair.
Toilet Paper (Cottonelle Ultra); Hiking Boots (Columbia or other good brand); Boxers (Poly Satin); Car Maintenance (Spend the money on the "extra" thing your trusted mechanic suggesting getting done when you bring it in. Get the good oil.); Home repairs (Same as the car. Get it done right so your f*****g wall doesn't cave in.); Wife (Get her what she wants and you will be happy.); Ancient weapons of warfare (Just kidding. I'm not sure if anyone will actually read this.)
Bed sheets. A nice set of cotton percale sheets will help you sleep better.
Food, my father always told me we can cut this or that but never cut on the food
There’s a common wisdom that says you should never cheap out on anything that goes between you and the ground for long periods of time.
Shoes, tires, mattress, and desk chair if you sit for hours a day. There’s probably some others as well.
Oh yes desk chairs! Don't buy the $100 one off [favourite e-retailer] if you can avoid it. Most chairs at that price point are shoddy and if you're using them more than a few hours a week the foam compresses to nothing, the "leather" wears and tears and they get rickety so fast. Or do buy them, just expect to replace them every 12-24 months.
SCUBA gear. It's life support equipment and I'm taking it into caves. Cheap is suicidal.
Steak. A bad cut of steak can always be made good with proper preparation and seasoning (within reason), but a good cut of steak is something else entirely with or without seasoning.
Legos. They are pricy, but the quality is worth it.
Laptops. Never buy a cheap one. Those €500 things tend to age like milk. Double the budget and you'll still enjoy it after 6 years like you bought it yesterday.
I disagree. People spend 2-3 times the price of a basic one thinking they’re future-proofing but by next year it looks slow compared to new models. Plus most are only used for email and surfing. Not to mention they are not hard to drop or damage. I always recommend low to moderate price and save the money for the replacement.
Socks! Athletic socks (I like Balega Silver) in particular. There's no going back. But there's also no blisters.
Mayo. I went cheap a lot before I realised it just wasn't worth it. It may be white and say Mayo on the jar. But most cheap stuff is just nasty as f**k
Sushi, high quality jackets/coats, mattresses, and shoes.
Tools
I tell my son, get the best tools you can afford, it's different than buying the best.
ALCOHOL. I refuse to die with cheap booze in my bloodstream
The tip portion of a transaction, preferably cash. There is no better way to put your money directly in the hands of a working person than to literally put your money directly in the hands of a working person
a bicycle. there's a monumental difference between the $150 Wally World special and a $600 trek from a bike shop or online.
A good pair of practical shoes. As a barber, I live in my doc martens and don’t skimp on insoles.
Still got my doc martens from the 90’s…I still can rock that look at 51.
Chocolate
If you live in Europe, yes. But beware, great chocolate is instant diabetes.
A house. Better than paying rent month after month
You'll still be forking out a lot of money for maintenance though. Granted, less than rent but still a lot more than I thought!
Paint
This used to be much more important in decades past than it is today. Every time I buy paint I stand in awe at how much better it is than it used to be: non-drip, non-toxic, smells nice, covers well, covers a wider area, doesn't dry out, doesn't go mouldy, UV stable, resistent to scratches, easily washable, better sheen control, more vibrant colours. These days you would have to go out of your way to find a bad paint.
Divorce, priceless
I can't help smiling at this one. Pay more for an amicable divorce. Don't fight a bitter divorce over every last cent.
Suits, can’t show up to court looking like an ambulance chaser
At school we were taught that if we ever go to court we should show respect by wearing a suit, or at least decent shirt & shoes etc. So in my early adult years I had to go to court over a driving offence (driving with no road tax). So I turned up in my best white shirt. Best, well only, shoes and trousers. Worst mistake I ever made. Everyone else there looked scruffy, either in ripped jeans or nasty stained tatty tracksuits. And when it came to them paying fines they were offering to pay something silly like £5 a week which the court accepted every time. So when it was my turn I Stood up and offered to pay everything I could afford (£80 a week until £400 was paid off) but they turned it down and said I HAD to pay all of it there and then. This is despite me showing my wages and proof of outgoings which all showed I had £80 spare a week. They saw me in a decent outfit so thought I had money when I really did not. So next time... Dirty clothes full of holes it will be.
Tampons has to be top brand
Always gotta mention: if you can, get yourself a reusable menstrual cup. I haven't bought feminine supplies in a few years now (except emergencies where i didn't have my cup/a way to buy a new one). And I've found it's much more comfortable, and sanitary as long as you take care of it. ETA they are getting a little cheaper too, 20-30$ at the Walmart here, last I saw.
A good quality instrument with all the bells and whistles.
Annoyingly, the more a piano costs the better it sounds and longer it lasts. Musical instruments seem to be the only branch of sales where price and quality are identical. And if you can afford top of the range then you're richer than I am.
what I feed my animals and comfortable shoes.
House Cleaners to come every two weeks. We pay $115 and it means we rarely have to mop a floor, vacuum, clean a toilet, or a bathtub.
I'd have to have them over every few days just for the floors with our dogs running in and out of the dog door lol
Dental floss. Generic floss breaks and frays mid-floss, splurge on the Oral-B
Splurge on Piksters, both floss and inter-dental brushes. At least ten times as good as Oral--B, and much more fun to use.
Coffee, if possible. If there is a micro next to a timmies or dunkin I will go for the good stuff.
Bandaids
Jaffa Cakes
If it isn’t McVities, then I’m sorry, but you must die. I didn’t make the rules.
Frosted Flakes lol it's Tony the Tiger or nothing in my house!
Flight tickets.
The mental wonders you get from going on a trip, whether closeby or far, cannot be understated. Especially as a young person.
I had some mental wonders on a trip once. Didn't even need to travel.
As someone who, for years, suffered through cheap phones, I implore you all, whenever possible, get the best damn phone you can get.
Not the most affordable, not the flashiest, the best.
To the point where I'd say this: if you have a budget of $350 and you have a choice between a midrange phone that came out this year for $200, or last year's flagship for $350, and both are brand new, in box, get that flagship.
It'll last longer, perform better, and if its from a bigger, reliable brand like samsung, apple, oneplus, etc, will continue to get updates longer and more consistently than the midrange phone.
There are plenty of places that do comparisons between devices. If you're buying last years flagship it will *not* be a $350 phone. It'll still be an $800 phone, maybe more. Current flagships are well over a $1000 and some are round about the $2k mark. I use GSMArena https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=12024&idPhone2=11251&idPhone3=10596 (That link shows the specs of the last three samsung flagships side by side.)
Lodging.
I used to stay in cheap motels until a friend I was traveling with booked a night at a "W" hotel. I splurge now whenever I travel and stay in nicer places.
Cars. I always buy used cars, but we spend way too much time in life driving so the ride might as well be fun and comfortable
Skateboard parts. Decks, bearings, trucks, SHOES. Been doing it for 20+ years and I learned early you can't be buying clearance shtuff. I guess this would apply to most sports equipment.
Gamecube controllers, I like a good controller, and those cheap knockoffs are GARBAGE, I never wanna do that again
This thread just shows how expensive it's to be poor.
I prefer: Splurge on items that are going to last 50 years. Be miserly on everything that's going to be gone within a day and a half.
Load More Replies... This thread just shows how expensive it's to be poor.
I prefer: Splurge on items that are going to last 50 years. Be miserly on everything that's going to be gone within a day and a half.
Load More Replies...