1y ago

What is a product you'll pay a little more for?

Where you absolutely refuse to go the cheap way.

For me its deodorant. Everything else I've found but my chosen brand fails me.

181 comments

Everything that is under you. Shoes, mattress, bike, car, desk chair etc.
Cheaping out on the above will cost you more in hospital and physical therapy bills.
- Good comment! It’s a great rule of thumb.
  I’ll add: a good bike helmet, which is a single-use item. One knock to the head and the helmet’s dead: if you are okay it’s done its job.
  
  The rule I use is anything that goes between you and the ground. A bike helmet fits that category.
  
  No
- "Don't skimp on things that seperate your ass from the road."
  Includes tires, helmets or PPE, furniture and what you said.
  One of my dads advice nuggets. Has yet to fail me.
- I wanted to buy new good shoes, but I can't find good ones. 😫 to be fair though, my feet are weird sizes.
  
  See if you can get Joya shoes where you live. They're like walking on clouds. I've recommended then to everyone I know, but most ignore the tip. The ones who's gotten a pair thanks me afterwards. You'll NEVER hurt under your feet, no matter how much you walk in a day.

PC power supply.
Never, ever skimp on a power supply. Get one from a reputable brand and with a rating above what you may actually need.
A failed PSU can in principle wreak havoc on any other components in the system, many of which are far more expensive than the PSU itself.

Toilet paper
- Get a bidet. Trust me
  
  Still need good paper to pat dry. I've yet to find one that has a dryer function that actually works. A slight breeze of warm air ain't gonna do it.
- Cheap toilet paper just means I'm buying preparation h later. Good toilet paper is an investment in my butts health.
  
  Plus it takes enough more it's not really saving that much.
- This is the first thing I started buying the good stuff on when I became not-poor. Never going back!
  
  "Became not-poor" Fucking life goals.
  
  Never go back!! And always buy it on sale! It's not like it expires.

A computer chair.
As I get older my back is really happy that I spent a bit more on the chair I spend almost all my time in.
- Aeron chair for life.
  
  Meh an Aeron feels “fine”……. And 8 hours later still feels “fine”.

Disclaimer: my wife has a chronic neck injury.
Car! We've had Renaults for years, but last time we went for a BMW and the difference is night and day. My wife had to do lots of stretching exercises just to go and buy bread. In the BMW she can happily drive 5-6 hours with no (extra) discomfort.

Laptops that are designed to support Linux
- Framework FTW
- Don’t forget laptops you can repair
- But how are you supposed to learn kernel patching if everything works out of the box?
- Hell yeah

I totally get why you might not but for me, quality underwear has been a great purchase. They last longer, breath better, stay put, and synthetic ones are washable in a sink in a pinch when traveling(I mean they all are but these dry really quick)
- I've found my expensive underwear to not last all that long, but to be amazingly more comfortable. There's no going back, especially when it's hot out.
  
  What is expensive underwear to you? Curious on brands and different qualities.
- I only buy ones certified by inspector 34.

Office chairs are important, but people tend to overlook the rest of their office ergonomics. If you work at a computer you should spend money on an adjustable keyboard tray and monitor arms. Then buy a good ergonomic keyboard and vertical mouse or trackball to go with them. My back and wrists used to get sore by the end of the day. That hasn't happened since I upgraded my gear.
- Just out of curiosity, do you have any recommendations for specific products?
  
  I recently bit the bullet and bought a Kinesis Advantage360. Definitely interesting to get use to and eye wateringly expensive, but my wrist pain went away within days.
  
  I can tell you what works for me.
  I have an Uncaged Ergonomics Adjustable Under Desk Keyboard Drawer and Mouse Tray (KT2-b v2). It has a wider range of adjustment and is easy to change. I spent a week tweaking the position and it's been perfect ever since.
  My dual monitors are each attached to a Jestik Advanced Flex 1.0 Single Monitor Arm. I can position them anywhere I want at any angle and they will stay there.
  My keyboard is a Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB with Cherry MX mechanical switches. I also use their Lift Kit. The keyboard is split in half and the lift kit raises it in the center at a 30-degree angle. There is a wrist rest built into the front the of the keyboard. All of that minimizes how much my arms have to rotate without making me learn a completely different mode of typing.
  I switched from a mouse to a trackball decades ago when I started to have sore wrists. My long-time driver is the Logitech MX Ergo Trackball. I put it on a stand that adds 20-degrees of tilt to get the best angle for me.
  I also have a small trackpad on a small pedestal between the two halves of my keyboard. It allows me to do simple cursor movements without taking my hands of the keys.
  On the rare occasions when I want a mouse I use an Anker Wireless Vertical Mouse.
  It may be overkill, but I use it for eight hours a day and do not feel any discomfort.

Coffee beans for sure (gotta love freshly roasted specialty beans!), but also vegetables (organic & local are the best). Oh, and also headphones, for sure.
To me these are all totally worth it because the jump in quality is very noticeable. After a certain price point, though, the law of diminishing returns kicks in hard
- I unfortunately can't tell the difference between organic fruit and regular fruit.
  But I can tell the difference between fresh eggs from somebody's lawn and cost like $6-8 and supermarket eggs that's like $3. Fresh eggs is so good

Anything that connects me to the ground. Shoes, Mattress, Tires, etc.

Sushi

Pretty much everything, nowadays.
I came across a saying "Buy nice or buy twice" and that resonated with me. Another variation I have seen is "Buy once, cry once".
Getting cheap trash that will fall apart in a few months that you will have to eventually re-buy isn't going to help, but that doesn't mean you buy gold-plated or diamond-encrusted items. Spending a little bit more for most items usually gets you something that will work better, last longer, or both. Good quality stuff is usually backed with good warranties too.
I spend my time researching to see what product is the best for me, look for deals online, or even buy used if I have to.
- No problems paying for quality. We need more of it in this world. But when they market themselves as such but aren’t… now that ruffles my jimmies
- Consumables are a great place to save. 99% of the time, the store brand cookie, or whatever, is mostly the same as the name brand. A lot of the time they're even coming from the same factory.
- I generally only follow this for things that are luxuries anyway. If I'm buying tools I buy the cheapest, crappiest version of it I can find. Then if it breaks, it means I've probably used it enough to warrant the expensive version.

Any tool I'm going to use more than once.
- I buy the cheap stuff first, then when it fails or i otherwise end up using it enough to know what I'm looking for, I'll spend good money on good tools
  
  I call that the Adam Savage approach from some half-remembered statement from him.
  
  Same, honestly if you treat the cheaper tools half decently they last forever

Underwear and socks. PC desk, don't trust a 50$ folding table with your midlife crisis gaming rig.

Never skimp on what you apply ON or put IN your body.

Stuff from locally-owned stores. Tools, supplies, car parts, food... if the markup isn't egregious, I'll always try and get from them before a big box or online. Not only does it help the owners, but they're frequently knowledgeable and can sometimes work stuff out for you.

Sandpaper. Cheap sandpaper loads up, and wears out so fast that it's never worth the savings. Spend a bit more and it will last 3 to 5 times longer.
- Recs? I just buy whatever home Depot is selling when I need to sand something.
  
  I've never had much issue with Home Depots sandpaper. I get 3m when I can afford it. Avoid Harbor Freight sandpaper at all costs.
  
  3M cubitron 2 is the best value to performance I've found and I'm buying it for a fabrication shop that goes through hundreds of discs a month on sanding aluminum, steel, and stainless steel.

Good cookware. Non toxic stuff and good knives.
- I use a lot of cast iron which is cheap and the only chemical is...iron.
  
  Don't forget carbon steel. My carbon steel pan is 100 years old!

As some have mentioned, OEM car parts, particularly anything electrical. It’s just not worth the money saved on cheaper aftermarket parts that may not work even though they are new. It often leads to unnecessary troubleshooting and sometimes even more parts, only to land right back where you started.
- Really not worth it imo. When my front left speed sensor went out it would have cost ~$160 for the OEM replacement part. The $6 sensor I bought on Amazon works fine.
  
  To be fair, it also matters where you buy them. Prices can be all over the place - dealer, retail, and online. I've seen a difference of up to 300% between sellers of the same type. But you can also often find quality brand stuff (denso, ngk, etc.) for a few bucks more than the chinese stuff that'll last 10x longer and perform better from a few usual suspects (rockauto, parts geek, fcp, etc.). Old or cheap fuel pumps, oxygen sensors, injectors, and plugs may be functional, but putting in a brand new quality part will make the engine run better and stronger than a lower-quality part. Not to mention I've seen a lot of cheap alternators, starters, ignition coils, cv joints, and suspension components have to be changed out within a year because the parts failed again just due to a crappy build quality. That includes AutoZone brands. There are some parts I would be ok with cheaping out a little bit more than others, but it's not a rule of thumb I would recommend by any means.
  
  Correct answer, and ESPECIALLY automotive electronics are insane for OEM...

I use the saying quite often: "You can buy something nice, or you can buy something cheap and then something nice."
- Buy it nice, or buy it twice
  Brady "Hard as Nails" Harran

Helmets

Honey and Olive Oil. Not always, because the good (i.e. real) stuff can get pretty expensive, but for uses where it's centre stage, the difference is massive.

Hot dogs. I do not trust cheapo hot dogs.
Also, I rarely eat pop-tarts anymore, but when I do I get the name brand. I've never had an off brand pop-tart that wasn't complete garbage.

PC power supplies. God, do not cheap out on them. That and a bed mattress. A good sleep is more important than money.
- A good sleep is definitely more important than money - when you have money. Until you have money your sleep doesn't matter, you get to lay in the filth of others or sleep on a mattress that will slowly poison your lungs with fibreglass.

Not a product, but tattoos.
It hurts to hear the price from some artists, but you absolutely get what you pay for.

Dildos. I need one that has some mass and I can use as an improvised weapon when shit gets real.
- Missed opportunity on your username!
- The difference between cheap and quality here is really noticeable. But there's def a ceiling though.
  I mean, the pure wand is like 150 monies and that thing will take down a bear and then take down a Bear

Wood screws. Makes life so much easier than using cheap screws

Food. I’ll give you everything else I own for food if I really need it.

Headphones. I first used some cheap ones and then switched to Bose. The difference was significant. Never again cheap headphones.. Also my ears thank me because I can listen to music with lower volume than with the cheap ones.
- Oh Bose? I mean it can be an upgrade, but wait until you buy actual good headphones.
  
  Yeah. Bose spends a lot on marketing, whereas high end headphone brands (Hifiman, Audeze, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, etc.) spend more on R&D.
  
  Well, what a coincidence that I need new ones. Which one would you recommend
- I decided that if I could keep a pair of cheapo ear buds for a year, I would get myself a nice pair. (This was about 3 years ago)
  Last year I got myself the top of the line Sony ear buds. But they hurt my ears (not the newest ones that hurt people's ears, the year before model, c'mon Sony, what are you doing), and my cheapos still work wonderfully, so unless I'm in a noisy environment and I need the noise cancelling Sony provides, I just roll the cheap ones.
  Over the ear are another story though, those you go good or go home.

I'm bias due to my profession, and regularly get attacked for this point on the Internet by people who think they know better, but glasses.
My eyes aren't even bad, but when I wear them, holy shit is there a difference between the high tech new stuff and basic lenses.
Anyone that tells you online glasses are just as good has never had a 600$ pair from a real (not chain) optical. Anyone who says they have got ripped off by Pearl vision or LensCrafters.
- So what's the difference exactly? And how do you know you're getting the good stuff?
- Absolutely. In addition to the lenses, I've had the cheapo online ones and they're simply not as comfortable as high end glasses. I wear these things all the time, every day. I'm not skimping.

Cheese

Mattress. Spend the extra to get the one that feels best for you if it comes down to that being part of the purchase decision. Thank me later.

Plastic bags. Zip-Loc or Hefty all the way. All the store brands I've tried are just trash.
- This is true, but then I feel guilty throwing the bag away because it's thicker, reusable, and more expensive. If I'm bagging a cinnamon roll, I want it to be cheap and less guilt not washing it out and re-using it.

A bicycle

YouTube premium. I'm too old to hassle with extensions, and I really don't like ads. And I like to support my content creators without going to twitch or clicking on any links in their descriptions.

Anything that I will experience the use of a lot. Computer, shoes, daily bag, etc.
I think a daily takeout coffee that lasts just half an hour a day, on the other hand, is an expensive luxury.

A good backpack.
I looked a very long time after my backpack of 10 years broke and found one with a lifelong warranty that feels like I‘ll have it for at least 20 years.
- I went with a Cotopaxi 35L for my solo travels. It's been amazing! I highly recommend.

💀
- 1 on that, had a chrysler from a dealership that only lasted a year before it totally shit the bed. I have a subaru forester now that I rebuilt the engine for, and it feels like it will last even after death.

HOTAS for flight simulators. I had a few cheap ones, but getting a quality one is simply worth the extra 50-100$.

Everything. Almost.
I'll go for $20 sunglasses because I lose them constantly and Costco cheap for a lot of stuff because they have enough customer service (that I won't exercise) to think it's not bottom of the barrel, but there's just a bunch of stuff where the money you save by buying the cheap version disappears when you have to replace it.
Specifically in terms of spending more than most would, my ereader is up there. It was like $700 for the discounted "refurb/open box/whatever" version, but it's 13.3" with great sharpness and Android so I can get content from a broader variety of services without jumping through hoops. It wouldn't be worth it for most people, but I've read enough books through it in the time that I owned it that I don't regret it at all (and wish I spent more for the newer version that has a light).

It's pretty niche and it's not "a little more"..more like double...but as an equestrian I will always go big name for a saddle. Spent too many years compromising and there is SUCH a significant difference that I will never go sub $2000 for a new saddle.

Shaving cream and razors
- Safety razor life FTW.
  
  feather blades
- Switching to double edge razors costs more up front, but you save so much on blades.
- I don't have much facial hair so I get away with the cheapest bulk razor in groceries/drug store.

toilet paper

So I'm a writer, and I've paid like $50+ for a software called Scrivener. I like Google Docs for the odd write up here and there. But when I'm writing something fiction, non-fiction, fanfiction, Google Docs slows TF down. That and Scrivener has different pages for each chapter, and character pages. I love it.
It's super expensive but I've been able to move the key from my laptop to my PC and I have it on another PC, I even bought the iPad version for $30aud. Like it's expensive but you only pay once and if you enter Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month -- you write 50k words in a month) you get a 10% discount and if you win you get 50% off. There's people who have won before who give out their win code.
Highly recommend Scrivener for my writing stuff.
- Thank you for giving a unique answer! Never heard of that but it sounds really helpful.
  
  Haha no worries. I was trying to think of something that I would pay extra for. And obviously, there's shoes and clothes, but everything is expensive in Australia, on top of that the type of clothes I like are niche and being a bigger size it's hard to come by clothes of my size.
  So the only thing I could think of is software.

Electronics.
Generally speaking, electronics are the one thing that almost always follows the "you get what you pay for" rule. To a point, though. Headphones, for example, are better the more expensive they get. Up until they're about $200, that is. Anything higher than that is just wasted money.
- Just chiming in with an alternative perspective on headphones.
  I personally disagree that anything higher than $200 is a waste. Diminishing returns is subjective relative to one’s enjoyment, but I think I’ve landed on a few headphones around $300ish I am very happy with.
  I own headphones significantly more expensive than that, but I wouldn’t call them a waste of money since they bring me tremendous joy and they are better at reproducing sound to my preferences than my cheaper pairs.
  But for me, if I had to somehow objectively quantify my joy-per-dollar between some of the really good $300 pairs and my top of the line pairs, it wouldn’t be so significant that my quality of life would be dramatically altered.

Motor oil and oil filter. I only use mobil 1 and their extended life filter.
Edit to add: I don't know of any shop that will use that oil/filter so I do my own oil changes and even with the "expensive" oil (5 qt. jug from walmart is about $29 and free delivery) it is much cheaper to diy this than have it done.
ETA: Just looked up that price and I was off by $2 so updated it to $29.
- I'll run the cheapest oil I can find but I will only buy Mobile 1 filters. I can't remember the YouTube video I watched but the conclusion was Mobile 1 were almost the best and Fram are crap.
  
  That is interesting.
  It took me a while to land on the mobil 1 filters. I think I was using wix before. Glad to hear they're good.
  I assume you change your oil often? I only do so every 5k with the mobil 1 oil ( extended mileage). That still makes me a bit nervous but no problems. The (haynes?) manual I use says not to go more than 5k even with synthetic.
  Edit to add: Those videos where they open the oil filters are really interesting. So much marketing bullshit on the outside and very real differences on the inside.

Pet food. I have done a lot of research into the pet industry in general and there are a lot of things being sold for pets that are literally unsafe for them. Like cages that are too small, treats that aren't safe for them, chew toys full of toxic shit they shouldn't invest, food that is the equivalent of McDonald's every day, etc
Don't get me wrong, there's good quality pet food you can get fairly cheap and bad quality pet food you can get that is very expensive. It comes down to research. But if you're just grabbing whatever is cheapest is most likely setting you up for potential health issues down the line.
This is speaking as someone who has experienced this with both cats and rabbits. The cheapest food for rabbits is usually full of alfalfa and whatever else weird ass colorful shit they threw in there that is not healthy for adult rabbits. And cat food is usually too high in carbs, too high in salt, or both. Diabetes and kidney failure in cats fucking sucks, it's not worth it.
- We cook our pups' food with human food from the grocery store using BalanceIT recipes developed by UC Davis veterinarians, and supplement with the BalanceIT vitamin and mineral supplement to make it nutritionally complete. Dry dog food is like feeding your 3 year old kid mac n cheese for 10 years.

Ketchup. Brand name only.
- I used to be super loyal to brand name ketchup but in the UK at least, the brands are taking the piss with their pricing. Since then I tried supermarket own brand stuff and for me it tastes miles better and I think it has more % of tomatoes vs brands.
  Not saying you’re wrong! Just my experience recently :)
  
  No worries! I'm glad to hear you doing a supermarket version that tastes better and is cheaper! That's awesome!
- If you give me ketchup that's not Heinz or mayo that's not Hellmann's I can't eat it. (OK, there are some more expensive premium options I'm also good with for mayo, or making my own, but I think anything else in that tier or below is extremely gross).

Generally I'd pay a little more for almost everything, unless I'm absolutely sure the cheap thing I'm about to buy has been a staple in the community and got recommended a tons. I found midrange priced stuff to be the sweet spot that give you a lot more quality and longevity compared to the cheap stuff, while not landing on the other end of diminishing return and overpay for something that's overkill for my needs.

Shoes! I buy expensive brands lightly used via ebay. So I spend the same amount as I would on a shitty pair from a random department store, but I buy Magnanni (best sneakers EVER), Allen Edmonds, etc... They last for years instead of months.

Bounty paper towels.
Everything else is a fucking waste of paper.
- This along with toilet paper for sure. I did paper towels once that reviews said they were just as good. They lied. They weren't close. It isn't worth the price difference as you go through so much more.
  
  my wife insists on trying cheaper brands and then telling me they’re just as good.
  i do most of the shopping now.

181 comments