When to spend and when to save

mippy

I was reading this quote today and it made me think:

"
"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness."
— Terry Pratchett (Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms)"

So which items are worth buying to last, and which are not?

Takecareofthepennies

mippy wrote: »

So which items are worth buying to last, and which are not?

1) Value-for-money is not always cheap;
2) In terms of economy, anything that, at a higher price, lasts longer than several cheaper items in succession, are worth buying;
3) 2) does not necessarily apply when fashion or technological progress come into the equation.

You have picked up on a most interesting point.

tabskitten

things that you need to last the test of time are worth spending more on- houses, cars, furniture, watches and jewerelly........
clothes that will come and go with fashion, and short lived items- not.

Clowance

But cars, jewellery and furniture all date : just got rid of some yew veneer stuff on ebay for peanuts for example. Solid pine is also out of fashion, but I have switched to it as I love it and it will indeed last my lifetime - but most people will get shot of it becuase its "old fashioned". Jewellery does have fashions, probably wouldn't want to wear 30's stuff or Victorian unless you are a fashionista trying to be different. cars : are you kidding, they are designed to date. Austin Allegro anyone? Old BMW? Old Roller?

tabskitten

Clowance wrote: »

But cars, jewellery and furniture all date : just got rid of some yew veneer stuff on ebay for peanuts for example. Solid pine is also out of fashion, but I have switched to it as I love it and it will indeed last my lifetime - but most people will get shot of it becuase its "old fashioned". Jewellery does have fashions, probably wouldn't want to wear 30's stuff or Victorian unless you are a fashionista trying to be different. cars : are you kidding, they are designed to date. Austin Allegro anyone? Old BMW? Old Roller?

Date yes- but that is you changing out of choice rather than because the item is 'worn out'.

Any

Clowance wrote: »

But cars, jewellery and furniture all date : just got rid of some yew veneer stuff on ebay for peanuts for example. Solid pine is also out of fashion, but I have switched to it as I love it and it will indeed last my lifetime - but most people will get shot of it becuase its "old fashioned". Jewellery does have fashions, probably wouldn't want to wear 30's stuff or Victorian unless you are a fashionista trying to be different. cars : are you kidding, they are designed to date. Austin Allegro anyone? Old BMW? Old Roller?

Disagree on the jewellery...

Our family diamonds never dated. Each generation changed settings for few pieces (ie my engagement ring is currently 3 diamonds out of 1 ring and earings, because I don't wear earings).

That costs peanuts in comparison with buying a new piece.

Fashionable jewellery is just that - fashion. Meaning it constantly changes and quite often there is no real quality in the making. And for some it is not even classy. My sister's ring was made by designer - massive gold bands with few tiny diamonds in it. Cost absolute fortune and few years down the line it doesn't have nowhere near the same value as they paid for it. That is unless the designer will REALLY make it (famous death?). What are the chances of that.

It's about knowing what to buy cheap and what is worth paying for. And consider whether you have to go with the fashion or not (some last long time and some die off soon...).

Bronnie

tabskitten wrote: »

things that you need to last the test of time are worth spending more on- houses, cars, furniture, watches and jewerelly........
clothes that will come and go with fashion, and short lived items- not.

.......nor does it necessarily make sense to spend as much as you possibly can on a house. Not if you want quality of life as well!

sillywilly

Clowance wrote: »

But cars, jewellery and furniture all date : just got rid of some yew veneer stuff on ebay for peanuts for example. Solid pine is also out of fashion, but I have switched to it as I love it and it will indeed last my lifetime - but most people will get shot of it becuase its "old fashioned". Jewellery does have fashions, probably wouldn't want to wear 30's stuff or Victorian unless you are a fashionista trying to be different. cars : are you kidding, they are designed to date. Austin Allegro anyone? Old BMW? Old Roller?

Swings and roundabouts. 60s and 70s furniture like G plan and Ercol went completely out of fashion in the 80s when black ash, Ikea and the like came in and in the 90s when Changing Rooms took over and the country was awash with Beech laminate and veneer furniture.

You search Ebay for Ercol Pebble tables or simply Ercol or G plan and decent examples won't be cheap. Stuff that 10 or 20 years ago people had to pay to get carted off and dumped!!

Austin Allegro - that wil always be a big no thanks no matter how mint. But a mint old BMW or Roller - if I could afford to run it I wouldn't turn my nose up if it was being given away.

Personally I don't like the orangeness of pine furniture but what is one mans rubbish is anothers treasure. Each to their own.

sillywilly

mippy wrote: »

I was reading this quote today and it made me think:

"
"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness."
— Terry Pratchett (Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms)"

So which items are worth buying to last, and which are not?

A pair of decent branded jeans WILL last longer than a pair of Primarks but if you shop canny you can get them for around the same price. I have bought decent branded jeans Pepe and Full Circle from M&M for £3.50 - actually cheaper than Primark and 10 x better quality.

I started a thread to find out which clothing brands are good posted on this board. And you can get decent brands cheaply. I have no idea how places like JJB keep going TBH.

A lot of it depends on how much use you are going to get out of an item and how much it is going to cost to maintain.

Is a £250 32" Supermarket LCD TV with a 1 year warranty going to be OK for you? Probably yes if you don't watch much TV. However if you do would it make more sense to pay £400 for a similar sized branded TV with a 5 year guarantee from somewhere like Richer Sounds?

You could buy a pair of UGG copies from the high street for £10 and wear them until they were knackered and then buy a new pair. Or you could buy a pair of genuine UGGs for £150 - they would probably last longer than the cheapies and you have the cachet of wearing that little label. Personally I would bury all UGGs and their take offs consigned to the dustbin of shi7e "fashions" that really shouldn't have been.

But that is just me.

tabskitten

Bronnie wrote: »

.......nor does it necessarily make sense to spend as much as you possibly can on a house. Not if you want quality of life as well!

excuse me?!? have i missed something?

when did 'buying to last' turn into 'spend as much as possible'?!?

Clowance

sillywilly wrote: »

Is a £250 32" Supermarket LCD TV with a 1 year warranty going to be OK for you? Probably yes if you don't watch much TV. However if you do would it make more sense to pay £400 for a similar sized branded TV with a 5 year guarantee from somewhere like Richer Sounds?

Its a gamble but we bought a 32" LCD TV about 4 years ago for £400 from T J Hughes. This was cheap at the time, its still going strong and its unbranded. A branded one would have been twice as much. And between the four of us its switched on a fair bit. If it conked out today I would feel I had had my moneys worth considering things are not built to last anymore (fridges being a good example, mum had a Fridgidaire for 25 years but ours seem to conk out after about 3 years).