In that case I’d strongly suspect that pricier shoes would also have a shorter lifespan for her than they do for me. If I pay 5X as much for something and it doesn’t last at least 5X as long, I got ripped off. And I’ve never found a consistent correlation between price and comfort when it comes to shoes.
I generally buy cheaper shoes because I am very hard on shoes. However, I recently purchased a pair of sandals that were very expensive, and they are the most comfortable pair of shoes I’ve worn in years.
Partly because it’s a good quality brand (some expensive brands are about conspicuous consumption rather than actual quality) and partly because this brand has actual double-wide sizes.
I doubt it will last the 5+ times as long as a cheaper pair of shoes, but in this case it was worth it.
Mind you, the reason why cheaper shoes don’t last as long for me is in part because I can’t find the width I need in cheap shoes.
Being more comfortable is something that is valuable. Even if they don’t last 5x as long as the cheaper versions, you might enjoy wearing them 5x more. Consider something like hiking shoes. It’s probably counterproductive to get super-cheap hiking shoes. Expensive shoes might mean you can do the whole hike without any discomfort in your feet, while cheap shoes might be painful and cause you to cut your hike short. Even if the expensive ones didn’t last 5x as long as the cheap ones, the cheap ones could be essentially useless even if they were free.
I haven’t found a consistent correlation among expensive shoes: some don’t last, some do; some are comfortable, some aren’t.
But I have found a consistent correlation in that cheap shoes are far more likely not to last and/or to hurt my feet.
Cheaper shoes with double or extra width can be found at Walmart, but I’ve only seen them in black.
Dollar stores sell serviceable glassware for much less than any home furnishings store.
I buy a lot of food from a chain called Aldi which specializes in non-name brand foods which nevertheless are very good quality and often much cheaper. For example, a pint of heavy cream for $2, or a double pack of fig cookies for $1 that are just as good as Fig Newtons, etc. Aldi has the highest ratio of quality to cost that I’ve ever seen.
I’ve bought some things from Aldi that were pretty good quality. I’ve also bought some things from Aldi that turned out to be absolute junk.
If you look at the clothing in any “dollar store” a lot of it is marked “irregular” or the manufacturer’s tag has been sliced or removed, which means the same thing. The rest of it is pure junk.
As for stuff like household cleaners or rubber gloves, there’s usually a hierarchy even among name-brand products. If you see something like Tide or Dawn at a discount store, look for a qualifier like “simple,” “just” or something else to indicate this isn’t the manufacturer’s best stuff. The dishwashing detergent I buy at a supermarket, or even Wal-Mart, is “Dawn Ultra.” The stuff at the dollar store is “Dawn.”
One trick I’ve noticed is that the ultra-cheap dish detergent is much more watery than name brands. One of many ways for a product to be invisibly lower quality.
Walmart, Dollar General, & even Goodwill’s clothing is normally on the cheaper side of the bill. Yet, if you see someone wearing Gucci, Supreme, or any other popular mall/outlet brands out in public, would you judge them on being too superficial about their fashion? Or would you not care because it doesn’t matter to you at all? It’s not your money/fashion style, so who cares?
However, I see it first hand with my youngest brother who’s about to start high school: He only cares about what everyone else (stereotypically) wears in high school, even though I didn’t care at all back when I was in high school, & no one said anything or cared about my own personal style.
Furthermore, I decided to continue this thread because outside of saving money, I feel like our younger generation cares too much about style to the point of spending too much on a simple pair of jeans. Even though I’m slightly picky as well, I’ll never spend over $100 on a pair of jeans. Going on, sales & discounted prices are important ways to save money. For example, I found a nice pair of Adidas shoes for only $20, even though the final price was only $11-12 during a current discounted sale period.
Overall, you can still look presentable (& fashionable) by spending less on clothing. Just look out for deals, sales, & discounts.
Some people have weird ideas about “quality” and think higher prices mean better stuff even for the same thing. I remember friends who refused to buy records from K-Mart for $7.98, but happily forked over $12.98 for the exact same album at Sears or Wards! I currently know people who think Publix is worth the extra 50-75% for everyday groceries such as rice, potatoes, bread, and chicken. Sure, you won’t wait in line at a Publix, but I’ll gladly wait a few minutes for 50% lower prices!
Is it actually the same rice, the same potatoes, the same bread, and the same chicken, though?
Because none of those things is a flat out uniform commodity with no differences in variety, in growing practices, in processing practices, or in degrees of freshness.
Some people’s cooking styles disguise the differences, and some people’s taste buds don’t notice them much. But for other people there can indeed be quite a bit of difference.
If it’s all a matter of the same loaves of Wonder Bread of the same degree of freshness, then you’ve got a point.
The best thing about finally reuniting with relatives in Tokyo was that I got to stay right next to a 99 Yen Store
(I tell ya, a good Daiso store is like an Ikea compared to this “Yen Tree” cheapo store).
I got a kick out of which corners they cut to keep the products cheap. I wanted quirky souvenirs to give my quirky co-workers, so I bought some rulers… which had no markings. Lines, but no numbers.
I paid half price for ginger root down the street from Publix. It had the same stickers on it. How much difference can there be in plain white rice? I bet it’s not as much as Publix charges. They also charge more for stuff like Kraft mac and cheese in the box which IS IDENTICAL to the ones for 1/3 less everywhere else in town. There’s no way you can convince me that the $2.39/lb chicken thighs at Publix are worth that much more than the ones on sale down the street at 89 cents per pound. (And yes, they are both bone-in, skin on!)