海角大神

Two of the biggest principles of frugality often seem to point people in opposite directions.

On one side, we have the idea of聽minimizing the amount you spend.聽It鈥檚 often a good goal to plan nutritious meals for the week with minimum expense, seek out needed household supplies at the lowest possible rate, reduce your monthly bills as much as possible, and, in short, do everything you can to minimize the amount of cash that flows out of your wallet.

On the other side, there鈥檚 the idea of聽buying it for life.聽It makes sense to spend more to buy an item that you鈥檒l be able to use for a very long time. For example, buying a cast iron skillet might be more expensive than buying a Teflon-coated skillet, but after five years, that Teflon coating begins to peel, requiring a replacement, while that cast iron skillet will last for many, many years.

One idea pushes you to spend less on your items, while the other pushes you to spend more on the items. How do you determine which is the right approach for a particular purchase?

For me, I use a few easily determined factors to figure out whether I should buy an item for life or minimize the cost of the item.

贵颈谤蝉迟,听is the item consumable?聽Generally, if I鈥檓 consuming an item with every use, I鈥檓 going to be focused on minimizing the cost while still getting the quality I need.

You鈥檙e not going to be buying a box of trash bags for life, after all, though you may discover that the cheapest bags don鈥檛 necessarily do the job that you want. If I鈥檓 uncertain about a purchase and I know that I鈥檓 going to gradually be consuming the item, I鈥檒l buy the cheapest version I can.

厂别肠辞苍诲,听how often am I going to be using the item?聽Is this an item that鈥檚 going to receive daily use? Weekly? Once a year?

The more frequently you use an item, the more sense it makes to buy a highly reliable version of that item that will last for a very long time. If you rarely use the item, then such reliability is a lot less important.

The third question is thus connected to the second one:聽is this the first time I鈥檝e owned an item like this?

When you buy a new type of item for the first time, you have聽no idea聽how it will actually integrate into your life. You might have visions of using it every day, but will you actually use it every day? That remains to be seen.

For example, let鈥檚 say you don鈥檛 own a smartphone but you鈥檙e about to try one for the first time. It does not make sense to buy the most expensive smart phone at the store. In fact, your best move is to get the best free phone that your cellular provider offers and see, over the next year or two, how it integrates into your life. If you find yourself using it all the time, you can then select one that will last for a long time and match your needs. If you rarely use it, then your next one should be another freebie.

A final thing to consider:聽how devastating is it if this item doesn鈥檛 work when you decide to use it?聽Is this an item that you only pull out in emergencies and you聽need聽it to work? In those cases, don鈥檛 skimp. However, if you could pull out the item to use it and nothing goes聽really聽wrong in your life if it doesn鈥檛 work, then the reliable version is a bit less vital.

Overall, my breakdown on when to buy it for life and when to buy it for cheap is pretty simple. If it鈥檚 an item that I鈥檓 replacing in my home that I have witnessed myself using repeatedly and it鈥檚 not a consumable item, I buy it for life. Otherwise, I buy it for cheap.

Thanks to that philosophy, I end up having very high quality versions of the items I use all the time, like kitchen knives and plates. For other items, I have the cheap version.

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