What’s something you absolutely won’t cheap out on?

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  11. Spectacles. Not brand names or fashion, but function and comfort. After all, I wear them in all my waking hours, easily for 17 hours a day. I change them every two years, so that makes about 17 x 365 x 2 = 12,410 hours of use.

  18. Tools are a big “buy once, cry once” purchase area for me. Tools can last your whole life if you buy quality.

  21. power tools, computers, certain snack foods. Most of the time I don’t buy prepared foods, I buy ingredients to make it myself (bread, pizza dough, chili, pasta sauce, peanut butter, etc). It may or may not be cheaper that way, but it costs more time. Completely worth it though.

  22. Door locks. The cheap ones prevent people from walking in accidently but not much more.

  24. Tools. Anything I know I’m going to use more than once, I buy quality. Projects are always faster and ultimately cheaper if you do them once correctly instead of twice half-assed.

  26. Tools. Just buy the right tool, and get one that’s durable. The time and pain you save is worth it.

    Same applies to the kitchen. Get decent cookware and a good set of knives.

    Food. Buy the good stuff. The cheap, processed stuff tastes like crap and isn’t good for you. If you’re broke, buy what keeps you alive. But otherwise, get good ingredients.

  30. Liquor.

    Cheap liquor doesn’t even taste like whatever kind of alcohol it is, and has a lot of impurities that ruin the flavor profile. Some cheap liquors CAUSE headaches and hangovers in my experience.

    Middle of the pack and up though? You can really start to taste differences not just between styles, but also between brands. Nicer products barely even burn and make wonderful sipping cocktails.

    Edit: to any college aged folks out there- just skip the cheap liquor phase. I know lots of people that have had an entire kind of booze ruined for life for them because they took too many shots of something cheap that came out of a plastic bottle a few weekends in a row. Experiment making drinks over ice, see what you like, alternate with water, and you can get plenty intoxicated and still make it to class the next day.

  32. Booze. If I’m going to be hungover in the morning then I want to actually enjoy the drink, not choke down rubbing alcohol.

  35. Computers. I’m an IT pro, and I absolutely will not use anything made by Dell or HP, or any brand of Chromebook.

  36. Boots and winter clothing, summer clothing i dont give a shit since i usually just wear a t-shirt, shorts and flipflops.

  39. This is frivolous, but cocktail cherries. Luxardo or nothing.

    And shoes. Well-made shoes are worth spending the money for, both for comfort and for longevity. I *have* cheaped out on them, but I prefer not to.

  42. Bed.

    And I mean all of it, Mattress, pillows, sheets, comforter. All of it. High quality, high thread count.

  43. Shoes.

    I don’t get expensive shoes just for the sake of expensive shoes like some people. But I have an abnormally wide foot and have had issues with bad ankles and plantar fasciitis in the past – issues that rear their heads again if I’m not wearing the right footwear. So when I bought my last pair after a well thought out searcy and they ended up being about twice as much as any previous pair I’d bought, I happily put down the extra cash because I’m in my 30s now so my body has way less margin for error.

    Also, a mattress. Same principle applies. If you can’t get good sleep, you’re not working at full efficiency. And you spend a third of your life on that thing, more or less. Get one that’s comfortable for *you* and built to last, even if that means paying a little more short-term.

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