When to Splurge and When to Skimp

MSN Money has some suggestions on when you should splurge on an item and when you shouldn't. In other words, when is it worth paying more for an item and when is paying more a waste of money? Some of their examples:

• Mattress: SPLURGE. You sit, sleep and God knows what else on this item. Get a good one.
• Men's dress shirt: SKIMP. If your suit is well-tailored and the tie spectacular, the shirt will be an afterthought.
• Chef's knife: SPLURGE. One 8-inch chef's knife is all you need.
• Women's shirts: SKIMP. Cute tops from H&M will go out of style before they fall apart.
• Overcoat: SPLURGE. First impressions mean a lot.
• Accent chair: SKIMP. If it's cool and rarely supports a rear, quality can come after design.
• Table linens: SKIMP. Choose inexpensive table cloths and napkins to keep your tabletop trendy.

Here's my take on their list:

• Mattress: I'd certainly splurge if I could find a good one, but how does one know what is good? My experience here is that you can pay a ton and get a lemon or pay a bit and get something that's comfortable -- or anywhere in between.

• Men's dress shirt: I don't wear dress shirts often and many of mine are from several years ago. But if I was to buy one I'd go for decent quality as very few people (including me) ever wear suit coats.

• Chef's knife: I probably should splurge, but we get our knives at Walmart, Target, or the like.

• Women's shirts: Yes, skimp. Or is that skimp-y? ;-)

• Overcoat: Again, I don't really wear a traditional overcoat, but I'd go for medium quality/price.

• Accent chair: Ha! Need I even comment on this?

• Table linens: Yes, skimp!

To me, they are discussing the give-and-take between quality and price. For example:

My friend John Rizzo, an economist, points out that you can buy a $1,050 winter coat today or a $70 coat every two years for the next 30 years.

But there's a fallacy in their line of thinking. They seem to equate "expensive" and "good quality." But quality and price aren't always related. If you shop smartly, you can get some very high quality goods at reasonable prices. Readers of Consumer Reports will recognize these as "best buys". These are products that CR thinks are among the best performing in their class, yet usually sold at a much lower price than comparable items. This is how we buy most of our stuff -- we look for good-quality products with lower prices. For everything else, we usually skimp. ;-)

Comments

[Kevin]

Mattress - we got a couple year old Select Comfort mattress for $500 from my wife's aunt, which was a huge discount over what they paid.

Men's shirts - I rarely pay more than $25 and usually get them from Gap, Banana Republic, etc, heck even Target sometimes. They seem to last at least 5 years which is fine with me.

Chef's knife - still using our set we got as a wedding gift in 2005. I'll probably replace next year when we move and actually have a nice kitchen.

Women's shirts - same as men's - the wife rarely spends over $20 and she rarely buys "nice" shirts since she works at a pre-school

Overcoat - Spent $100 on an Eddie Bauer down coat a few years ago and it is great. I usually get a $20-30 jacket every fall since styles change. My wife calls me a "jacket junkie".

Accent chair - wouldn't spend over a couple hundred bucks

Table linens - we don't have a "nice" dining room so we don't use linens. If we did I'd go cheap.

[pink panther]

Splurge: Tools, work gloves, Bible, shoes

If you're seriously going to use any of these frequently, it's worth every penny to get the best possible quality. Because they will fall apart if they're not quality.

Also splurge on a quality knife of any sort.

Also splurge on power tools - to an extent - get quality ones - when you're drilling into a concrete window casing inches from your face, that's not time to skimp on electrical parts! Ditto for drill bits.

[Mark]

Knives - We got ours at Linen's and Things. I think I spent $40 (probably less because I never go in that store without a handful of 20% coupons) for a CuisineArt brand, came with 4 knives (sotuku, chef, bread, and paring). They seem to work just fine for me. When I get married I'll register for a few fancy ones but they do the job very well for now.

[guinness416]

With mattresses, I know from experience of many nights staying at sheraton hotels that their sweet sleeper mattresses are heaven. So I know that's the one I'll be splashing out on when our current mattress needs replacing. I wouldn't spend that kind of money on any other one.

The food snobs will hate this, but my husband loves to cook (and is wonderful) and entertain but we've never spent big money on knives, and it doesn't slow him down.

[Hondo]

Mattress: Every time I've been mattress shopping I've been so tired of shopping around that everything feels good when you lay on it. When my mattress was wearing out, I decided instead to try a memory foam mattress topper for $100 from Overstock. If it worked, great. If it didn't, I was only out $100. Let me tell you, that thing is awesome! Make sure you get a dense foam and one that is thick enough. Mine is 4 inches thick. Saved me a ton from buying a new mattress.

Men's dress shirt: No need to buy Hugo Boss shirts but a nice neutral color dress shirt is very versatile and can be worn over and over. It also depends on what kind of job you have. If you work in an IT department and play dungeons and dragons with your fellow co-workers, who cares what you wear. If you meet investment bankers on occasion you need to look the part.

Chef's knife: I bought one good Santoku chef knife and it is all I use. I even clean my fingernails out with it.....kidding

Women's shirts: I'm a man baby!

Overcoat: I almost bought a trench coat for a cruel Halloween party costume but my better judgment got the best of me.

Accent chair: Why buy a chair when you can sit on an ice chest?

Table linens: Again, my ice chest is versatile and can be wiped off easily.

[Valerie]

We buy my boyfriend's dress shirts at Costco. They have Kenneth Cole, Calvin Klein, and other designer shirts at low low prices. He always wears an undershirt when we go so he can try them on right in the store! Women's shirts: I never pay retail. It's just not worth it with styles changing. I feel like there's no excuse for not buying exclusively from the sale rack. (And since starting my "watch every penny" budget two months ago, I have not bought one iota of clothing!)

[Ggrrl]

The knives comment really stood out to me. I absolutely splurge in knives, but I only have three - a chef's knife, a small paring knife and a bread knife. I haven't found much use for any other ones. I buy really high quality knives at Marshalls and keep them for years. Not only is it better, it's safer. I've hurt myself too make times on dull, cheap knives to ever go back.

[Bad_Brad]

On the mattress, it depends on the person, their build, if they have back problems or sleeping problems, etc.

For me, I had spent countless hours and dollars trying to fix lower back problems that were probably largely caused by buying a cheap mattress when I was just out of college 15+ years ago and then never replacing it. My wife and I splurged on a memory foam mattress, and my back (and my sleeping patterns) have been much better for it. I would say, based on my experience, it is worth every penny to splurge on a mattress, or at least, not to skimp.

[Lord]

How expensive are table linens? I imagine there are some ridiculous designer versions out there as there are for everything but they are not generally very expensive. OTOH paying 10 times the price is always a waste. Don't splurge if that is what it means.

[Lauren]

We splurged like crazy and got a Sleep Number bed. It has a 20 year warranty - they'll replace anything that's broken for free, and in a timely fashion - and provides the most comfortable sleep we've ever had.

Santoku knives are the best creation and I love mine and will never part with it.

As for clothes, I love shopping at cheap stores like H&M and Forever 21. I am also checking out bridesmaid dresses on Ebay for an upcoming wedding.

Chef's Knife: I got a chef's knife for $2 at a garage sale. Best knife I have ever used, even better than new Cutco knives.

[Sara]

I think for knives, you can get quality and save money by NOT buying a set. Buy only a couple, that you will actually use. For paring knives, I LOVE these, that you can get from Williams & Sonoma, for about $9 each. They won't last forever, but I have had one stay very sharp for over a year, and I can just throw them in a drawer because it has a cover.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku5177480/index.cfm?pkey=ccutpar&ckey=cutpar

I also bought two nicer J.A. Henckel (that's probably spelled wrong) knives from Target that you can buy individually. Way better than the knife set I had from Kohl's, and I didn't spend much more.

[a]

I'll splurge on things I want to last a while and on things related to my hobbies. Otherwise I'm not too concerned.

I'll be honest and say that I don't know enough about every product I buy to make a fully educated decision about which brands are the best buy. Of course I do more research the more pricey the item. My usual strategy for most small purchases is to go for the middle of the road price wise and try to buy things from brands I have at least heard of. I really have no desire to buy things that are a complete POS, because all that means is that you'll be buying them again, two weeks later after they fall apart.

I'm also a guy, which by definition means I don't understand much about fashion, style and interior decorating. I think this can save me a considerable amount on things like table linens. "I dunno, just get the white one." And honestly, I'm not even sure what an accent chair is or where I would fit one in my other wise tiny apartment.

[DivaJean]

A few comments-

@ Pink Panther: WHa? Splurge on a Bible? The words are the same at the Dollar Store, from the library, or a leather bound, artisan paper edition.

An accent chair is one you find by the side of the road and maybe cover with a slipcover. So buying doesn't really enter into it.

The only splurge I see is a good mattress.

Splurge on a coat? It could get ruined regardless of "quality" with a bad coffee spill, car grease or an unforunate tear.