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What are some things you can/should cheap out on? (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I often hear, "You should never cheap out on a good office chair, shoes, underpants, backpack etc.." but what are some items that you would feel OK to cheap out on?

This can by anything from items such as: expensive clothing brands to general groceries.

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[–] Devi@kbin.social 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fashion clothes, if you're getting something that you'll wear for one summer and then never again then Primark is fine.

Salt, sugar, most herbs and spices, it's all the same stuff regardless of brands

Some snacks, often crisps are the same Aldi own brand as Walkers or whatever, or they're perfectly good. Yes we all want some kettle chips sometimes but it's all good, same for jelly sweets, a lot of chocolate, etc.

Hobbies for beginners, if you want to take up knitting then start with a cheap kit and upgrade as you get more serious.

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hobbies for beginners, if you want to take up knitting then start with a cheap kit and upgrade as you get more serious.

This is the big one. If you're starting a new hobby, it's easy to fall into the trap of buying loads of expensive kit because it's shiny and new. Buy the cheaper versions first and learn what you actually need. If you need to upgrade then, at least you know what to buy.

Obviously this doesn't apply to safety kit 👍

[–] buzziebee@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I find the opposite with some hobbies. If you buy a cheap acoustic guitar it's going to be horrible to play and will probably sound crap. That might discourage you from continuing. More expensive guitars have a much better resale value too, so you'd probably be out of pocket for less if you buy a nice one and sell it again than if you bought a crap one and no one else wanted to buy it.

[–] twice_twotimes@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

I kinda agree. Knitting is the go-to for this advice, which makes sense. It gets crazy expensive crazy fast. But starting out with shitty yarn and needles makes the whole thing miserable. Same with a lot of other crafting and baking. Using low quality materials results in an unsatisfying product, and low quality tools make for an unsatisfying learning process.

I generally recommend letting yourself buy something nice-but-not-luxury that you’re excited about, but keeping those initial investments really limited in scope. Buy one nice(ish) pair of needles and just enough nice(ish) yarn to make a specific project. You don’t want to go broke for something you end up hating, but you do want to be able to know whether you hate the actual hobby or you just hate doing that hobby badly.