Fill in the blanks: I'll never buy cheap _____ or expensive _____.

In My Humble Opinion
41

Never buy expensive:

golf balls: I’m an inveterate ballhawk, so I play what I find. Anyway, all new balls are so similar and so well made, you are a fool to buy the current hype and think it will improve your game.

coffee: I’m a coffee slob. For me it is all about volume and strength, not taste.

aspirin: if it is chemically aspirin, the name doesn’t matter.

hobby supplies - for me fish, plants, and aquarium supplies: this one might be a little obscure, but it may have analogues for some of you. I keep several planted aquaria which I treat with various fertilizers. You can buy these little bottles of diluted liquid at fish stores, which would probably cost me @ $10 a month to treat my tanks. Instead, I was able to mail order the chemicals and bought a several year supply for $25 (including shipping). There are substrates I can buy locally for 1/10 the price of commercial products. I trade weeds with folks on-line for no cost other than mailing. And a local fish club has periodic swap meets where I can get just really healthy fish for a fraction of the price at fish stores.

Never buy cheap:

chocolate: My wife, the chocoholic, has quite discriminating taste in this area.

ice cream: Anything lower than Edy’s isn’t worth the calories.

furniture: once you have had nice furniture, you not satisfied with the cheap stuff again. With uphostered, you will be feeling the frame on the Crate and Barrell stuff within the year. Unuphostered, get something you really like and you will be able to hand it down to your kids.

butter/shortening: cheaper just doesn’t bake or taste right.

paint: nice paint applies and wears much better than what is on sale at Sears.

42

I don’t do tequila but I feel the same about gin and vodka. While Belvedere has a better taste straight than Ketel One, it still isn’t tasty enough to drink straight, and tastes nearly the same as Ketel One in a mixer. And anything cheaper is just varnish.

Or I use Saphhire – not the cheapest gin but has the least nasty-to-price ratio of the gins.

43

I’ll never buy cheap:

  • vodka
  • coffee (for my wife)
  • beef (only grass fed)

I’ll never buy expensive:

  • sunglasses (I destroy sunglasses; they’re like some disposable paper product to me)
44

I’ll never buy cheap…uh…let me think about that one a while.

I’ll never buy expensive toilet paper. My criteria for TP is, “Does shit stick to it?”

I’ll never buy expensive booze. I only drink to get buzzed, and I think it all tastes like cough syrup or horsepiss.

I’ll never buy expensive coffee. Starbucks holds no allure for me. Although I’ve been a coffee drinker for about 25 years, I’m just not very discriminating. I rarely meet a “bad” cup of coffee.

I’ll never buy expensive handbags or designer clothing. I don’t even grasp the concept.

Okay, now that I’ve established myself as a poverty-stricken low-class hick…I’ll never buy cheap cat food.*

*That’s a lie. But I don’t do it very often. Most weeks I go out of my way to get to the pet store to buy Hill’s Science Diet for the kitties. They hate it.

45

Now THERE’S a classy chick for ya! I think we have a tagline for those wedding photos featuring that angel in white…

OTOH, she drinks indiscriminately to get drunk, and swills cheap joe.

Let me know if that thing with cellphone guy doesn’t work out!

46

[Bugs Bunny]He don’t know me very well, do he?[/BB] :smiley:

47

I just got home from the grocery store, and came back to this thread just to say, “Oh yeah, and I’ll never buy cheap ice cream.” :slight_smile: It’s Breyers or Ben & Jerry’s for me, bay-bee!

48

I’ll never buy cheap chocolate, cheese, cereal, bread, pens, toilet paper, paper towels, ice cream, crackers, plastic wrap, sheets, clothes, socks, shoes, or anything scented. Cheap chocolate is a waste of money and chocolate. Cheap ice cream is yucky and pointless. Cheap plastic wrap doesn’t stick, and cheap shoes and clothes fall apart (I found that out the hard way with a chenille sweater in a very nice color that started developing holes all over the first day I wore it–stuck at work all day long, with nothing else to change into). Cheap is not good for most things–you do get what you pay for. But it’s fun to buy mystery cheap things at Big Lots sometimes–if it turns out bad, at least you haven’t wasted much money.

I’ll never buy expensive china, salad dressing, toothpaste, or underwear.

49

I think she doesn’t actually know how cheap TP can be. Store brand stuff here would be considered solid gold after some of the stuff I have used in E. Europe.

50

I will never buy cheap:

Pens - Too many fifty-cent Papermates have ruined shirts that cost almost fifty dollars or more. Sampiro, I feel your pain … I’ve lost my share of fine writing instruments. When that happens, though, I wait for Office Depot to have its once-in-a-powder-blue-moon sale where chrome-plated Cross pens will go for bargain basement prices.

Paper - On a whim, I switched to 24 pound, 95+ brightness paper; I never looked back. It improves the look of everything from letters to term papers to quarterly reports. I like Xerox and IBM (never knew Big Blue made paper!) but will settle for Hammermill or even HP stock (overpriced as it is).

Dress shirts - Any guilt over buying cotton shirts (since they involve pounds of pesticides, scary bleaches, and planet-killing chemicals) is rationalized by the fact that I dress conservatively and, therefore, will keep wearing these shirts until they disintegrate. Can’t wait until I can afford that trip to Europe to get more of the good stuff.

I will never buy expensive:

Computers (from now on) - Remember when a 486DX66 was $3000? I will never spend that much on a computer again.

Watches - Had a moment of enlightenment when I read that real fashion advisors stated that dress watches should be elegant yet understated. Too many Rolexes and Omegas are ostentacious to the point of being gaudy or “blingy”. Give me a classy looking Timex anyday. Besides, do I really want to wear a watch that screams, “Chop me off at the wrist!?”

Cars - I already have a car. If I get a midlife crisis attack, though, let’s hope there’s still some of these left at the retail price of 25K. Or maybe I’ll get a used one for less.

51

I’ll never buy cheap perfume or expensive jewelry.

Case in point… simwife’s and my wedding bands… $15 at walmart… 15 years later still wearing them.

Recent Fishing rod I purchased for simwife… $350 (not counting reel)…and yes… she is into fishing as much/more than I am so it wasn’t a ‘self present’.

I’ve got my priorities.

52

Well, I certainly believe you. Odd that we should have such vastly different experiences with it, especially since I (like you) lurve their headphones, music players of all kinds, and cameras, and home theater and TVs etc. etc.

Laptop-wise, it’s all ThinkPad for me. I’ve inflicted heinous amounts of pain and suffering on my ThinkPads while under a variety of substances and through daily wear and tear (I lug mine around the house a fair bit) and they’ve always taken it like champions. Never had a problem except that I’ve charged my battery too much and it doesn’t last for shit now, but the house I live in now has more outlets than oxygen, so it’s alright.

Yeah, my friends have had even worse luck with HP laptops than Sony and your experience is really common AFAIK. But again, I will go to my grave as an HP calculator owner, no exceptions ever.

:eek: I would hate to wipe my ass with solid gold! :wink:

I found a fantastic leather jacket in Israel that was ridiculously cheap compared to the price the same one would go for here. I didn’t buy it because I didn’t have shekels on me, I had forgotten my PIN and I didn’t want to charge my credit card as I had no idea what the status of my bank account was. What a shame. Free trip, too.

53

I don’t buy cheap:

Shoes. Not that I buy from Gucci or Chanel, but I am willing to pay quite a bit for nice shoes. I’m really hard on my feet, and experience has taught me that cheap shoes aren’t worth the pain they inflict on my tender toes. (Plus I have tiny feet, so cheap places usually don’t have my size.)

Makeup/Skincare. It’s going on my face - I’m not going to pinch pennies at the cost of my skin.

Sunglasses. I’ve broken all my cheap ones, but my Versace sunglasses have lasted me over two years with minimal damage.

Cigarettes. Korean brands are cheaper than imported ones, but I stick to my Malboro Lights.

Perfume. I like subtle, light scents; cheap stuff tends to be heavy and obvious.

I don’t buy expensive:

Coffee/Wine. I’ll splurge once in a while, but I’ll be perfectly happy with a latte from Starbucks or a sweet German riesling.

Lighters. Always losing them anyway.

Cameras/MP3 players/Cell phones. Minimal features make me happy.

54

No cheap:
Knives - You can only afford a $25 knife if you only have a $25 life. There’s a point of diminishing returns, of course, but the quality jump once you break about into three digits is really something. A bad knife is more dangerous to you than to anyone else - I have a friend who nearly lost a finger when his cheap linerlock collapsed.
Shoes - How do you think I got the nickname? I believe in solid leather construction and nailed-on soles you can replace once they wear out.
Alcohol - Life is too short. I’m not snobbish about it - there are a lot of solid, modestly priced wines. But I’ll pass entirely before I drink something that doesn’t pass muster.

I don’t buy expensive:
Music - eBay and iTunes cured me of this one. There are very few CDs that I want to hear that I can’t pick up for under $10 shipped, and the ones that cost more I buy on iTunes. How many times do you actually go appreciate the extras in that “limited collector’s edition” anyhow? How many extras do they even have?
Pens - I used to collect nice fountain pens, but then I lost my carry case with two very nice ones and realized I couldn’t afford to replace them. I carry a draftsman’s pen now anyways (.18mm Rotring Rapidograph), which suits my handwriting better, doesn’t bleed, and lasts forever on one cartridge. I can’t take it on airplanes, but I have a pencil for that.
Watches - A little weird, this one, considering that I don’t much like digital and I categorically refuse to wear quartz. I wear a lower mid-range Trias automatic. Like twopiecesofeight, I like an understated watch; I’m going to keep it until I can afford a Hublot, which is way out in the indeterminate future.

55

My husband is a shoe freak as well. But he does get boots that don’t have the soles nailed on and he has them re-soled. Just sayin’. He prefers military style boots, but has been going for the cooler “fabric” construction and the last pair was retired after 10 years of daily wear. And two re-treads.

I also refuse to buy cheap shoes. My dress shoes never come in under about $70, and my dress boots run anywhere from $150 - $225.

56

I never buy expensive… most things, actually. Almost everything I get at the supermarket is the supermarket’s own label, and it seems to do the job as well as the ‘name brand’ stuff. Maybe I lack taste and discernment.

I never buy cheap… restaurant meals. My one and only indulgence in life is to occasionally indulge in a really expensive, luxurious meal where the service, cuisine and ambience are all perfect. With the right company, this is close to paradise. I don’t do it often, it’s a ‘rare treat’ kind of thing.

I would never buy a cheap… guitar. Absolutely no point. It will always sound cheap, and what’s the point of that?

57

Some of the DVDs that come with turntable-heavy stuff (the Chemical Brothers and DJ Shadow come to mind) include some pretty awesome videos. Other than specific examples like that, though, I do agree.

58

I never buy cheap whiskey. Good whiskey is worth the price.

I never buy expensive pens. What’s the point of an expensive pen?

59

There are a large number of foodstuffs that the name brand isn’t any better or worse than a generic. Common flours, for example, as well as sugar, beans, pastas and other bulk items all seem nearly identical to me as the more expensive name brands.

Having said that, there are also a great number of things where a relatively small increase in price yields great differences in taste: IQF seafood; specific brands of pickles taste very different to me; spices are usually vastly better for the investment of going for the name brand, as are seasoning sauces. Generic Worcestershire “style” sauce is an abomination before Og and all his Hamsters, for example.

60

I’ll never buy cheap:

. . . shoes. I’ll never pay for anything other than performance or quality, but good shoes are worth what you pay. Seven years ago, I paid $160 for a pair of hiking boots. They’re still with me, they’ve carried me over many miles of territory, urban and wilderness, and they’re still basically as sound as the day I bought them. I might have to get them resoled in a year or two. I have a pair of Teva sandals that I bought at the same time as those boots. I’ve worn them about half the year or more and the velcro just recently started to go to hell. The straps and soles are still fine. I’ll get around to sewing a new velcro strip sometime soon and they’ll be back in business.

That means the boots have cost me about $22 a year, so far, and the sandals $12. Show me where you can buy shoes for anywhere close to that price. If I’d bought crap, I’d have to replace them probably once a year or more, which would cost me a lot more in the long run, and I’d hate wearing every single pair because they’d tear up my feet.

. . . alcohol. I’ve had good beer, scotch, and wine. Once you’ve had the good stuff, you’re spoiled for the rotgut. I’ve gone to tastings for wine that I could probably not afford otherwise and there is definitely a reason it’s expensive; it’s damn good.

. . . gear. Anything you want performance from is probably going to cost you. I’ll gladly pay for jackets that keep the rain off and breathe well, packs that fit and last, and climbing gear that won’t break when your life depends on it.

. . . knives. Pocket, kitchen, whatever, good steel is so worth it. Cheap steel never gets sharp enough, or if it does, doesn’t hold an edge worth a damn.
I’ll never buy expensive:

. . . brand-name clothes. I’ll never buy an Armani. Why? Because I won’t pay $1,000+ for what is essentially an off-the-rack suit. Nothing off the rack has ever fit properly. I swore that my next suit was going to be bespoke because I’m sick of having suits that don’t fit quite right and that still cost me hundreds of dollars. For less than an Armani, I can get custom-made, with probably higher quality fabric and trim. For about $10-20 less than a Donna Karan dress shirt, you can get tailored shirts made exactly how you want them, monogrammed and everything. Clothing designers can bite my hairy nutsack, I’m never buying anything from them unless they start offering a lot more than a name on a label.

. . . dishes. As long as they look nice, they don’t have to cost a lot. They get broken and chipped anyway because I’m a klutz with delicate things sometimes. The exception is stemware, but even then I’m not going to blow a couple of hundred a glass on really nice crystal for the same reasons.