Use it until it breaks? The pros and cons.
At first glance, it makes good frugal sense to continue to use an item until it is no longer functional. But waiting to replace something until it breaks could mean having to buy something at a less than ideal time.
Men stand beside a broken down US.-made car on a street in Havana in October. In some cases, Hamm explains, waiting to replace an item until it is no longer usable could mean having to make an ill-timed purchase.
Desmond Boyland/Reuters/File
Jerry writes in:
鈥�I was reading on another blog about replacing things that work with better versions of the same item like clothes hangers. To me, it makes more sense to just keep using something until it actually breaks, then replace it, but that鈥檚 just my sense of wanting to get every last drop out of something I put my money into. What do you think?"
Although Jerry didn鈥檛 mention the blog article he was referencing, I would guess that he was talking about 鈥溾�� over at One Frugal Girl.
Anyway, Jerry makes a valid point and asks a good question. At first glance, it makes good frugal sense to continue to use an item until it is no longer functional. Otherwise, as Jerry says, you鈥檙e not extracting the full value from that item.听I am completely on board with using an item until it鈥檚 no longer usable.
The question, to me, really is about聽replacement.听I do not think that the best time to replace an item is when it is no longer functional.聽In that situation, you ideally need something to perform that task that聽颈蝉听functional, which means that you have a pretty small timeframe to make a purchase.
Ideally, when you鈥檙e buying a new item, you鈥檒l take advantage of two things.
贵颈谤蝉迟,听you鈥檒l have a research opportunity.聽You can spend at least a bit of time figuring out what the best version of the item is as well as perhaps the best 鈥渂ang for the buck鈥� version of the item is. You can figure out things like that from reading聽Consumer Reports聽or other reputable publications and asking around in your social network.
This is an opportunity to really figure out what it is that you鈥檙e buying and isolate it down to a few options that will really work and solve your problem.
狈别虫迟,听you can look for sales and discounts for those specific items.聽This can take time, but it鈥檚 well worth it, especially if you鈥檙e shopping for a pricier item. If you can shave $50 off of the cost of the item you鈥檙e buying, it鈥檚 well worth a few internet searches every few weeks for a while or checking out sales flyers.
The end result is that you wind up with a quality item that will last for a very reasonable price.
The problem is that this process takes time.聽Although you can do the research fairly quickly if necessary, it does take time to wait on a sale.
If you鈥檙e buying out of necessity, you can鈥檛聽wait聽for a sale. You鈥檝e pushed yourself into a situation where an immediate buy borders on necessary.
Thus, for me,聽I try hard to identify items that may fail in the fairly near future, but still have life left in them.聽Those are the items that I focus on for the buying process.
If a sale on the right item happens to come up before I need a new version of that item, I鈥檒l still go ahead and pull the trigger. Then, I鈥檒l take the new item and store it for a while until the old one fails. I鈥檝e done this with blenders, umbrellas, and pots and pans, among other items.
This works even for inexpensive items, like clothes hangers. If you鈥檙e like me, you鈥檒l eventually bend a wire hanger enough so that it doesn鈥檛 hold an article of clothing well or you鈥檒l accidentally break a plastic one on occasion. Thus, if I ever notice that our hanger count seems to be getting low, I鈥檒l just simply watch for a sale on them and add them to the mix.
Occasionally, I鈥檓 still pushed into situations where I have to make a quick replacement purchase, but I don鈥檛 like to be in that situation. A little bit of advance planning, as described above, can help you avoid it most of the time.
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