Rare cases of things that are both cheap and good.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I am a champion cynic. One of the main manifestations of that cynicism is the firmly held belief that you get what you paid for. (and sometimes less, but never more)

In other words if something is cheap it’s probably worth every penny, i.e. crap.

But the other day I came across something whilst shopping for a new lamp that has shaken my belief. It is a gold-coloured egyptian statue ornamental figurine. I can see it as I type this post. It stands on my spotlessly clean (OCD is creeping into my life) desk top next to my 200gb Western Digital external Hard Disk.

It is weighty, elegant (not boorish) and stands up to close inspection.

It could easily pass for an item costing 30 or 40 quid.

It cost 10 quid.

(That’s 19 dollars)

2

“You get what you pay for” is generally not true when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables. Quite the opposite, actually. When (say) tomatoes are cheap at your market, they’re likely in-season, local, and good, and when they’re expensive, they’re likely to be out-of-season, shipped in from God-knows-where, and not so good. This is one way I determine which vegetables are in season, and therefore which ones I should buy.

3

He. I have another example. The food-place down the street sells economy bags of incredibly cheap nachos (something like 1 dollar (?) for a huge bag), that, according to my boyfriend are the best nachos you can get around here (I’m not really that into nachos).

Sometimes, things just don’t cost too much.

Comgrats on your nice new…thing. Things are nice.

4

I agree about the fresh foods. I’m making cabbage (and sausage) for dinner. YUM! And only 33 cents a pound.

5

You just have to look around a bit. Cynical is good, but it can make you miss true gems. Old Weller Antique bourbon is $17.95 at the local supermarket, but tastes like bourbon 3 times that price, and it’s 107 proof to boot.

It’s almost a law that cheap veggies = good veggies.

6

I used to work in an office that was across the street from a lumber yard/hardware store. A guy set up a street stand selling breakfast burritos every morning. Eggs, chorizo, rice, veggies, hot, hot, hot salsa. For $1.

To this day I have never seen a better bargain.

7

American Furniture Warehouse, in Denver.

We bought a dining room set. 6 chairs and a table that expands with a removeable leaf in the middle. The leaf stores in the table if you don’t want it. Tile top. Chairs are cushioned, and have the micro fiber cover on them which is great for us (and the cats, they don’t seem to claw at it.) It’s built like a tank.

$900 and change.

It’s Oak. Solid. Oak. Not veneer. Weighs a ton.

8

Food in general seems to be the case where there are the most exceptions to cheap != good without having to bargin hunt. Some of the best food I’ve had has come from holes-in-the-wall, or has been in-season produce from a farmer’s market.

Beyond that, cheap can be very good if you know where and when to look and have both the time to spend looking and willingness to deal with the duds.

I have a really nice pair of wool-blend slacks from Banana Republic(a chunky tan plaid with a faint and thin light blue accent stripe in them), fully lined, for $2 that I got from an estate sale. Never had been worn, as the tag was still attached. (I forget what the original price was, but similar ones are going for $128 on their website.)

One dud, however, was a tin of English Breakfast tea (high-end brand, the kind you’d see sold at a good tea shop but the name escapes me at the moment). In this case, the reason why it was so cheap was because it tasted like soap. Uggg. I think I ended up using the tea for other purposes besides drinking.

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9

There are probably lots of things you use every day that are both cheap and good. But, since you’re so used to having them around, you don’t think of them as any sort of special bargain.

Bic pens–the little clear things with hexagonal prism-shaped barrels–are cheap, but they work great.

Little, pocket-sized Swingline staplers. I’ve had mine for years, and it’s put up with tons of abuse. I think it cost me a whole of $1.50 at Staples about 5 years ago.

Simple, cheap, and tasty Louisiana hot sauce. It even stayed cheap after Katrina hit.

Cheap veggies, in season, as many other posters have mentioned. In winter, though, sometimes you have to pay a premium for good fruits and veg.

If you’re in the South, you get cheap and delicious Cajun boiled peanuts at the side of the road. Those things are delicious. Delicious and cheap.

Googletalk–cheap, with great sound quality. Can’t beat it for long-distance calls, I think.

Baking soda, vinegar, borax, hydrogen peroxide, isopropanol–cheap but incredibly useful things. They’re often better for cleaning than the expensive stuff is.

The tamales you get from the Mexican ladies selling lunch out of the trunks of their cars. Man, those things are good. And, man, are they ever cheap.

Basic Carmex and Blistex lip balms.

Duct tape.

10

In California (and I don’t know if they are in other states) a liquor and food chain called Trader Joe’s carries a brand of California wine known locally as "two-buck Chuck because the first name of the maker is Charles and it costs $1.99 per bottle. I’m not an expert, but I know what I like. These wines stand up to my personal taste test against wines that are many times more expensive, and win against most. They have a cabernet sauvignan (forgive me if I spelled that wrong), a merlot, a shiraz, a zinfandel (in season) and a nice gamay beaujelet (again with the spelling . . . I do not know from French). They have a couple of whites, too, but I haven’t tried them because I prefer red wine. I’m guessing they are pretty good, too.

I used to assume that cheap wine was drek, but “Two Buck Chuck” has changed my mind.

11

I bought a matching set of sofa, loveseat, chair, and coffee table for $375 years ago. It wasn’t being sold out of the back of a truck, but it wasn’t far removed from that. Some dude, living in a huge McMansion out in the New Jersey countryside, had placed a classified ad to unload brand-new furniture. He was liquidating dozens of pieces (and sets) of furniture from his house! Everything was new and wrapped in plastic, but I was walking through his living room, etc., and found this set in the basement. My set even came with extra sets of legs, of different heights. Just for the sake of visual interest, I’ve got my sofa on the taller legs, the loveseat on the short ones, and my chair flush on the floor. :slight_smile:

12

There are tons and tons of software out there that is FREE and good. See AVG, SpyBot, AdAware, Firefox, et al.

I think store-brand macaroni and cheese is amazing. Can be had sometimes for like 33 cents a box. If you don’t have 1/3c of milk no worries. As long as you have half a stick of butter and some water you’re good to go. You can even make it over a campfire if you have a pot. Mmmmmm.

When I bought my house everything I furnished it with was cheap & good. I got some huge (8’ long) roman blinds, new, at Home Depot for $10. My throw rugs are all discarded discount store jobbies for $10-20. My dining room chairs which are completely un-scathed, made out of heavy metal and are quite stylish, were $25 apiece. My curtains in all the rooms are leftovers from KMart and Penny’s. Probably $5 each.

My favorite jeans which look teriffic and fit me perfectly cost $1 on a clearance rack at Wal Mart.

I love cheap :slight_smile:

13

My last date.
Wasn’t really even gonna be a date bleh.

Ran into this woman I know (we share a casual interest in each other) at the huge night spot book store. Her kids practically fell all over me and asked if we all go for pizza. so we did. The girls (her two and a friend of theirs staying over) played video games and danced by the jukebox while the adult babe and I shared small talk, deep and meaningless both, for a couple of hours. She suggested we go out this weekend, which I agreed to happily. Everyone was all smiles as we left and I was plastered with kisses. Yeah, by the kids. Cute. So, I gave adult babe a very slight peck on the cheek, arousing hoops and giggles from her girls and bringing a blush and a smile to her face. Mine too.

Best $7.95 book value I’ve had in a while, I’ll tell you whut! And the pizzas and cokes cost all of what, $20.00?

Yeah, a pretty good evening. Took me a little bit just now to even think of any monies spent bleh.

(yes, bleh, I am a vampire bleh)

14

Lots of things are cheap and good. I often find expensive things to be of shoddier quality and poorer value than I would expect. There are plenty of exceptions, and I’m pretty cynical, but I don’t buy the argument.

Not for hotels. I don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars a night for snooty staff or overpriced restaurants. I’ll gladly pay for helpful service, a better location and more basic comforts.

Not for clothes. My cheap pinstripe H&M suit looks as good, but less fancy, than my Zegna suit; both are good quality.

Not for vacations. I’ve enjoyed my jaunts to South America as much or more than my European excursions.

Not a big coffee drinker – but I prefer Tim Horton’s to Starbucks by a factor of 10.

Anyway, here is a list of things I find cheap and good – I’m admittedly thrifty.

  • vegetables
  • “ethnic take-out food”: cheap curry, simple shwarma, austeric antojitos
  • a cuppa, of tea or hot chocolate
  • a bowl of good soup or chili
  • a good newspaper
  • the cost of renting a movie
  • popcorn
  • mass market chocolate
  • basic camping equipment
  • hobbies like hiking, weightlifting, road hockey
  • frozen fishcakes
  • local library card
  • local hospital cafeteria
  • local chippie
  • the Internet
15

I bought one of those Tide “pens,” you know, the little detergent pen that’s supposed to take stains out of shirts almost instantly, when I dropped some food on my shirt at lunch. Didn’t cost much and I expected little, but I figured, what the hell, it’s cheap, maybe it will make it less noticeable.

Let me tell you, it WORKED. It was amazing. Phenomenal little product; it works precisely as advertised and it’s inexpensive. A rare occasion where they came up with a consumer product that was effective, inexpensive, and actually filled a useful need. I carry one in my briefcase at all times.

16

I got an unfinished bedside table and magazine rack/end table from Garden Ridge for under 50 bucks for both. My mom and I sanded and stained them. The bedside table matches my desk perfectly and looks good, and we matched the end table to the coffee table.

We looked around and couldn’t find a decent bedside table for under 100 bucks.

17

Sometimes, the inverse get-what-you-pay-for addage as it pertains to fruit doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The recent example in my neck of the woods would be peaches. While they were $0.79/lb, they would have been fatal if you tried pelting a poor stage performer with them. Hard as bullets they were. Then they went up to $0.99/lb. The few soft ones I came across turned out to be dry and mealy. Yecch. Now they’re $1.29/lb, and finally they’re soft, juicy (though the occasional mealy one will sneak in) and deliciously sweet – the kind you can peel the skin off of easily, the way a good ripe peach ought to be.

However, there are some things I’ve come across that defy the too-good-to-be-true axiom:

  • Chelten House salad dressing. $2.50-$3.00 per bottle, incredibly low calorie (on average 4-6 Calories per 15ml) due to being water-based instead of oil-based, and yet inspite of that, incredibly tasty. (Except for the ranch. The ranch is just nasty.) It’s a little thin, but in the Battle of the Bulge, that’s a small price to pay for a zesty salad, especially in the face of so-called “diet food” that costs a great deal more and often tastes like feet.

  • New York Famous (Brampton, ON) meatball sandwich. $5. Cheese and roasted red peppers extra. This meatball sandwich is absolutely orgasmic. It isn’t filled with meatballs. It’s filled with meat clouds. I don’t know how they make them so melt-in-your-mouth tender yet so tasty, but no weight loss sponsor in the world could blame one for indulging. They’re just that good. And big, too.

  • The computer desk I bought last Christmas. It’s massive, plenty of room, huge hutch with a ton of storage both above and below, and despite being a DIY chipboard job, it’s extremely sturdy and has a beautiful honey maple finish. Only cost me $250, to boot.

18

Ramen noodles. I can buy them for 7 pence a pack, and, whilst they’re certainly not a gourmet feast, they’re worth more than 7p in terms of satisfaction.

XXL clothing; I’m only size ‘L’ myself, but I love to wear my shirts, sweaters and t-shirts really, really baggy - at the end of season, it’s always S and XXL garments that are left, and are being sold for next to nothing. Right now, I’m wearing a plum-coloured XXL sweatshirt/top that cost just a quid.

19

Fifteened or something on the veggies.

I spent a month in Ireland when I was 15. My “mom” (Finnish born and married to a Cockney, yeehaw) would buy the glossiest, biggest fruits, including the biggest oranges. One day I was at the supermarket with her and I convinced her to buy Navelinas instead: they’re small, but juicy and sweet. Best oranges she’d ever had. She asked me how did I know. My answer: “well, it’s us who sell them to you.”

I always prefered plain dolls to the expensive ones that dance, sing, pee and poo. The ones that dance, sing, pee and poo stop dancing, singing, peeing and pooing if you shake them too hard (say, against the head of your cousin who’s trying to grab them from your hands) and the have hard parts. And the ones that don’t dance, sing, pee and poo do those things and more, you just have to work a bit harder at it.

20

Our local ShopRite has baked good that are as good if not better than the fancy bakeries, at half the price.