Scrimp or Splurge - What Is A False Economy?

ancientofdays

Books and knitting wool are my spendy things, and I do like decent perfume

moneyistooshorttomention

Free-range eggs (obviously).

Decent bread (usually made by myself - but, if I'm buying, then it's decent-quality/sourdough/etc/etc).

Real coffee (can barely even drink instant - far too weak for me).

Decent loopaper

Food being as organic as the shops will provide (particularly dairy). One can't put a price on health.

Being warm enough in my own home (I had too many years of being brought up in a cold house).

Decent haircuts (gawd knows my hair was never my "crowning glory" anyway - so at least a good haircut keeps it looking remotely passable).

lozzy81

Coffee and over the last couple of weeks the central heating!

Also candles, i buy yankee or simiar

pollypenny

Yes, bedding, definitely - except that I now have to iron the Egyptian cotton sheets, duvet cover and pillowcases, of course.

Good coffee, too. We've found Millicano to be nearly as good as real stuff, money.

I've spent all my life juggling pennies, especially during the 15% era and paying for kids in uni. Now I buy what I want - without being extravagant, of course.

Franalamadingdong

I have found cheap pot and pans are simply awful and need replacing in less than a year. I remember as a student replacing my crappy non-stick pans with the black coating peeling off with judge pans and I'm still using them now. Tesco was great in having those coupons to go towards fisler pans and Pyrex products a few years ago.

Carpet is something that you should invest in. When I first moved house I couldn't afford much so I did the lounge and bedrooms with some cheaper stuff. When I'd saved up I got some really good thick stuff and super underlay for the stairs and landing. We'll replace the cheaper stuff with good thick carpet at some point, but it's doing us ok for 3.5 years.

On the flip side my Vax vacuum crapped out after one year and my parents gave me an old £25 Argos thing. It is amazing and tries to suck up the floorboards!

Caterina

Over the years I have come to the conclusion that it is better to invest in a few good items (clothing, household, tools etc) than buy cheap and have to replace repeatedly. The trick is to get the good quality items cheaper than their full price. Using vouchers, shopping at the sales, jumble sales, bout sales, charity shops, vintage shops, even freecycle offers amazing treasures sometimes.

Very often I find that second hand is better quality than new, especially clothing, as there is such a throwaway culture these days. It is possible to find gems among the tat. DH wears a beautiful Crombie tweed coat, £15 from a Red Cross shop plus a few quid for new buttons, value several hundreds.

Food quality is also very important to me and I always try to buy the best I can afford, for me this means fresh, organic, local etc, but non necessarily with a premium label. Certainly not with a supermarket premium stamp on! To get that at an affordable price I shop carefully, buy in bulk, cook from scratch etc.

Floozie

Teabags-i know when they do the taste tests some of the supermarket own brands are supposed to be as good but I don't think you can beat teabags from T

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s from Harrogate
Cheese-I love a good strong cheddar and I find cheap cheese has no flavour
Toilet roll-don't like cheap flimsy stuff

jackyann

Definitely agree with shoes & bedding - as they say, you're always in one of the other!

Thing is that some 'splurges' are actually 'scrimping'.
I use hard olive oil soap (and usually costs very little as friends give me it as a gift!) but even when I buy it, I see how long it lasts - I use the old French housewives' trick of storing the spares in the airing cupboard to harden it!)
Really good Cheddar stretches further
I buy free-range, mostly organic meat, but also mostly the cheaper, tastier cuts, and cheap sausages shrivel to nothing.
Free range eggs are so tasty that 2 can make a lovely meal.

I don't 'splurge' on out-of-season food - it's not that nice anyway.

A few good knives that can be sharpened, and do a good job.

And, at a different level, a really good cooker. It's difficult to know exactly whether my wonderful Miele has, over the years, cost less than replacing cheaper ones - but I do know that it cooks reliably. Having cooked in cheap and unpredictable ovens, that is worth a lot.

Similarly, my reliable and smooth sewing machine allows me to make lovely clothes.

I do buy good make-up (since hitting 50, cheap looks cheap) but can get away with cheap moisturiser (whatever's on offer)

moneyistooshorttomention

Grinned in recognition at "hitting 50 means cheap looks cheap".

I've now got a policy decision in place that "important" items of clothing must be decent quality and if it costs it costs.

Think it must be that "cheap looks fun" and one maybe doesnt expect clothes to last long when younger. But, at a certain age, cheap looks like "all you can afford - you've spent your life being badly paid".

Errrrm...I have spent my life being badly paid (and single) - but, at our age, it just tends to look "baglady" if not careful.

Motto for getting older = Youth has its own attractions but once one gets older, then you have to be prepared to pay (if necessary) in order to have any "attractions". If people aren't going to admire your hair/skin/etc any longer - then at least they can admire stylish clothes.

Houseplant26

I splurge on good quality skin care as you only get one face.

I'm quite young and currently rent but good advice on here about buying good bedding, carpets and pans. We do have some better pans OH got for Christmas but we'd love to invest in better ones when we get a bit older and have a bit more money!

I'm trying to make a conscious effort to buy less 'cheap' clothes and rather plan to save up for a beautiful pair of boots/ jumper/coat. My winter coats have pretty much always been from charity shops but I think my current one is wool and have worn for last few years non stop.