Sometimes the “investment Part” Is Just a Waste of Money
It often makes sense to invest in quality . If you have a cheap pair of boots that only last for a year, you may end up paying more over time than if you bought a more expensive pair that would last for years. This is a great theory. However, in practice this does not always work out.
As part of the money competition this month, I spent the weekend picking up trash. I threw away quite a few items that were “investment items” or items that were quite expensive but were meant to save money over time. It turns out, despite my best intentions, they were a waste of money.
When the content isn’t worth it
I’m not a big fan of soda, but I love soda. So when I found a great deal on the usually expensive Sodastream, I thought, “Hey, I could save some money over time by lighting my own water at home!”
It was like that for a while. I took regular old tap water and turned it into delicious bubble water, which was cheaper than buying it from the store. After a couple of months, the CO2 bottle ran out, and my handy gadget turned into a routine. I had to make a special trip to Best Buy and buy a new one or figure out how to create my own system , but I didn’t want to do either. It was easier to just get some water on my regular grocery trip, or just skip the bubbles and (choke) drink plain water.
If you have Sodastream you might be thinking, “Wow, she’s lazy. I have one and it really isn’t that much of a job. ” And you’re right, it isn’t. But I find it quite difficult to deal with mundane things like grocery shopping, so the savings are not worth the upkeep to me . The point is, I could have avoided this by thinking about how the current content would actually fit into my own schedule, habits, and budget.
When buying unnecessary shit is an excuse
Many years ago my husband and I were addicted to juice. We watched the documentary and, like a couple of tools, went out and bought a juicer. Nice documentary. Drinking juice is good. However, we didn’t have to spend $ 100 to start drinking more. It was a false first step towards healthier habits.
We’ve convinced ourselves that buying a beautiful, high-quality juicer is an investment in our health and will likely save us money over time as we buy fewer processed snacks and eat more fruits and vegetables. Not to mention, we already had a blender – it wasn’t a juicer. We needed juice! Sure, we could mix and then strain the juice, but ugh, that was too much. The juicer will save us time, money and make us super healthy. It was an investment .
We used it for a while. Of course, over time we got tired of it. Cleaning and maintenance was time consuming. (At one point, I said, “I’d rather buy juice than ever clean this thing again.”) But more than cleaning, we couldn’t keep up with this lifestyle. We just weren’t really interested in this juice thing. We used this documentary as an excuse to waste money on crap we didn’t need.
To avoid this, we could test a new habit before investing. We could at least try mixing and filtering, for example. Of course, it would be no less convenient, but it would show whether we have a desire to continue this habit or not. However, even that was too much for us, which should have been a signal that we were going to waste our money.
When cheap doesn’t mean bad quality
I also threw away some expensive plain T-shirts. I bought them because I expected them to last longer than the cheap T-shirts I usually buy. They didn’t. After a couple of years, they developed the same underarm spots and moth holes that had formed on my cheap items over the same time.
There are, of course, other good reasons to pay more for quality. Maybe you want to buy from a fair trade company. Maybe expensive things are more suitable for you. However, one of the main arguments for spending money on quality is that quality lasts longer. The thing is, sometimes cheap things last the same or longer! My oldest handbag is the one I found on sale at Target ten years ago. I just recently threw away a pair of cheap unbranded boots that I’ve had for just as long. The chair I use every day was $ 25 on Amazon, and I have had one for many years too. The thing is, being cheap doesn’t always mean you have to replace it after a year.
All in all, what I’ve learned from seeing all this garbage in a heap is that splurging on quality is not inherently a smart decision. You should consider other factors as well, such as your own habits, current service, comparison with other subjects, and of course your own intentions. When you want to spend on impulse, quality is rarely as important as an excuse.
As with any spending decision, you need to think it through and make sure it’s not just a quality product, but a quality purchase.