False economy (merged threads)

scrouge

I agree that you cannot and must not cut corners where toilet tissue is concerned.
But there isnt much difference between the 'brand names' and the shops 'luxury' range..
Best thing to do is head to wilkos.. bargain central for me!!
And you can also stock up on things like light bulbs, foil, sandwich bags etc.. These cost a fortune in the supermarkets!

Rabbit

We bought a kettle from Tesco's for about £5 which is still going strong, the old one packed up and we didn't want to spend loads on a new one.

Recently I bought a hand blender 'value' one from Tesco's again for £4.96. It is brilliant, but it's the first one I've owned so not sure how good other makes would be. I use it for blending soups and it does the job brilliantly.

I suppose time will tell - the kettle must be over a year old by now.

crana999

I have that kettle, I think! From Tesco Value..a white cordless one. I was very pleased with it, and it's held up fine so far (since Oct). I also have a £5 hand blender but from Argos. That's OK too.

Rabbit

Hi Crana999 - yes it sounds the same as mine, the kettle.

I forgot to mention that when our video ground to a halt, we went to one of the big electrical stores, I honestly can't remember whch one. Anyway, we ended up buying a Proline one for about £100 I think.

I asked the salesperson about buying a 'better' brand and he said that they are all built to last a short time now and there was no point in spending a lot and getting it repaired. We got the cheap video and it's been fine however when our tele broke (we had been given it from parents so it wasn't that new) we found a repair shop in Crewe who replaced a part and charged us £50. It has made another year so it was worth paying. These tales are both sides of the debate between repairing something or just buying cheap and disposable but I like to think it's worth repairing something if you can.

Sometimes you can be lucky with something cheap - I just think it's worth a try too. I hope the kettle doesn't blow up tonight!

emh_2

Another false economy that I have fallen for a few times...

Buying clothes in the sales (especially Debenhams 70% off stuff) and getting home to find out they are dry clean only!! That £7 skirt will now cost a fortune, and before you say you don't have to dry clean, I have ruined so many clothes by trying to see if they were really 'dry clean only' or not!

shlitz

To me it is not only buying quality that is important but it is also LOOKING AFTER WHAT YOU BUY.

Example i bbq a lot 2-3 times a week in summer and atleast a few times a month in the winter. when i bought my bbq i shelled out some £££ about 80 of them and bought a weber. my neighbour laughed at me and said her bbq was only a tenner. 4 years on i still have the same weber still going strong. my neighbour is on 4th in as many seasons.

i store it outside year round but bought a cover for it for £5. if it lasts anything as long as my dads weber. i will probably not have to buy another for 20-30 years. as he is using the same one as when i was a kid.

I think that is the most important thing my dad taught me is to look after your stuff. i used to laugh at him because his car was 15 years old. now its 20 years old and still going strong. mom still has the same hoover from when i was a kid as dad is always giving it a bit of a service.

thats a service not a repair.

LyndsayJ

Re loo paper; I HATE cheap stuff but find Nouvelle is great - comes in packs of 12, is quilted and more importantly is RECYCLED!

Who'd have thought - the first thing I ever put on here is about toilet paper?!! Need to get out more, clearly!

raeble

Yes I always buy Nouvelle because it is cheap and recycled, it's not the cheapest but its very nice and soft on the old bottie. I was buying it in Wilkos for 99p for 4 then spotted it in a saver store - 8 rolls for £1.49

optique

Re 5-a-day fruit and veg -- it actually *doesn't* have to be fresh. That's a common misconception. See Government FAQ on 5-a-day, question 1:

"Does it have to be fresh fruit and vegetables?

No. Fresh, frozen, chilled, canned, 100% juice and dried fruit and vegetables all count. Aim for at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables each day."

http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAndSocialCareTopics/FiveADay/fs/en

So plenty of money to be saved by using extremely cheap frozen spinach and peas, tinned tomatoes and fruit, etc if you like the taste.

Marigold123

Yeah, but the whole 5 a day thing has been largely discredited now as being far too vague. How is an orange or a portions of strawberries supposed to compare to a portion of canned carrots, for instance? (Don't listen to Government recommendations - they were the ones that for decades were telling us that poly-unsaturates were good for us because they reduce cholesterol - they don't! And, when heated for frying, they generate carcinogenic free-radicals.)

At best, '5 a day' is a (possibly) useful guideline to encourage people to eat a greater quantity and wider variety of fruit and vegetables. But fresh foods that have not been processed or heated are infinitely more useful in a healthy diet, (regardless of vitamin C content), in that they still contain valuable plant enzymes which are essential to support the digestive system. Frozen and sun-dried foods can also be good in this respect.