If buying cheap causes a cascade of negative effects, what to do if you're on a budget?

Interesting question. It makes me happy to see people being conscientious consumers. I have a lot of hope for our generation.

One option might be to try to make as much stuff yourself as possible. I have some friends who do this with their food: they have two gardens, one in their backyard in a major city and another larger one outside of the city. They grow the majority of their own food this way.

Avoiding chains is another good solution. Walmart and Target are chock full of cheap shit. Independently-owned stores, while more expensive, are better for everyone. And you are doing your community a favor by keeping them in business. Spending your money there keeps your dollars in the community instead of giving them to the Walton family. I think this has the potential to cause a cascade of positive effects.

Recycling and reusing goods is also a good option. I have the benefit of living between two large cities, so if I want furniture I turn to Craig’s List first. Cheap for me, less shit in the landfills, and no international repercussions.

Good luck. I look forward to seeing more responses.

In the US there is too much emphasis on low cost vs high quality.
Most people in America are more concerned with the price they pay than the quality of the product which is why we’re inundated with cheap disposable junk and Wal*Marts.

Spend a few bucks extra, do good research and buy superior products instead of settling for the cheap stuff you can have right now.

We need to reward quality performers instead of rewarding manufacturers of cheap consumer goods which will need to be replaced in less than 3 years.

Dr. Bronners soap can replace all your soaps and shampoo. It is fair trade, organic, and reasonably priced. My gf has knitted amazing blankets and my favorite hats. Craigslist is a great idea for furniture. Research all your purchases (especially footwear).

heh craigslist

Most of what I own I have had for a long time, as in years. I don’t buy very much very often, and when I do, it’s usually from Goodwill and The Salvation Army, except for lingerie, hosiery and certain other products that are rapidly consumed or for a particular need.

I am fortunate that I live in a city where there are a large number of extremely rich people and they cast off many, many high-quality goods that I can buy for very little money; though what that says about how people live here isn’t good. I do a lot of research before I buy new.

I can’t afford to buy cheap crap.

What I mean is this. If I buy $10 shoes that wear out so fast that I have to buy five pair in the time that it takes to wear out a pair of $40 shoes, I’m ten bucks in the hole. Sure, the cheap shoes were cheap, but I spent more total money on shoes than if I had just bought the good pair. Moral of the story, is you save money with quality.

If you don’t mind secondhand, that can save you a lot of money. Rich people (and people who are at the bleeding edge of fashion) will donate their gently used clothes which are eventually sold to people like me at resale shops. You can get quality things there if you go often, and know what to look for.

I agree with @laureth! Not only do I hate having to break in new jeans, but I also hate paying full price for them. Instead, I know what size and style I like, then look for that at secondhand shops. Usually, I pay about 1/5 of the original price, sometimes less.

I do buy most of my shoes new, but then I wear them until they die (3–5 years, or more).

More OT: I like to buy things from small, independent shops whenever possible. I’ve found many a great soap/bath, craft, clothing, bag, etc. item on Etsy. They’re usually reasonably priced, and last longer or are better for me (especially in the case of soaps and bath products), and are more “individualized” than buying, say, Dove soap and shampoo from WalMart. And it’s fun to get things in the mail.

I also agree about looking over reviews and similar products before making a purchase. For instance, a while ago I was lusting after a Bialetti Moka, and through research and reading reviews (Amazon.com is great for reading reviews, even if you don’t buy from them), I found out that knock-offs rarely last as long as the real thing, and the real thing, if treated right, will last your entire lifetime, with the occasional gasket replacement. (Also, switching to the Moka means I’m using less coffee, it has better flavor, takes less time, and I no longer have to worry about filters—all money-saving things.)

So, in many instances, it pays to know whether or not a knockoff or less expensive item makes more sense than a higher priced item. (i.e., if you go through white shirts very quickly, why would you pay full price for them?)

Is this completely off topic? It might be. :D

This has been a constant source of concern with me. I was raised to live a very frugal life style, and that meant saving up to buy quality products. One of the first purchases I made as a young homemaker was a teak table and chair set. I still have the table, and the chairs were used, and repaired several times before they finally became firewood.

I used a few cinder blocks and a door that I found in the street for a table until I could afford the table set. I have examples like that for all my furniture and most of my belongings for the last sixty years, which includes from my childhood up to now.

I frequent charity thrift stores, and Freecycle for most of my needs.

Oh, yes, Freecycle’s big in NYC, too.

Our family believes very strongly in recycling furniture and other household goods. That is why my many-times great grandmother’s love seat from the 1840s (and still upholstered in the original yellow silk) is sitting in my living room. I have it thoroughly covered so the cats can’t find it.

We also love to check out Goodwill for clothing, but give our gently used clothing to the local Ronald McDonald House or the Women’s Shelter.

On a related note, I have found that when you are poor, you often have to spend more in the long term because you can’t afford to spend a bit more upfront. Examples: Using payphones instead of having a landline, using taxi cabs rather than owning a car, buying cigarettes by the pack rather than by the carton, buying cheap clothes and shoes rather than quality, going to the emergency room rather than the doctor’s office. It seems upside down to me.

It’s like @augustlan says. Even those poor folks who rent cheap motel rooms by the week are paying more than they would in rent on an apartment, most of the time. What better way to stay rich and keep the poor as cogs in the wheel than to have the current system?

Another answer that I haven’t seen brought up is, maybe we don’t need as much stuff. People didn’t use to have the vast pile of things that we have today, and that is possible in large part because of the cheapness and low quality of mass-produced stuff. Ask anyone with a closet full of this year’s throwaway fashion if they realize that people used to have only 2–3 changes of clothes, and they’d probably be shocked.

More stuff isn’t necessarily more wealth. Or necessary.

When I was a kid I generally had five dresses for school, one “party” dress for church and parties, two pairs of jeans, two pairs of shorts (generally leftover from the summer’s camp uniforms), t-shirts also from camp, and three pairs of shoes (sneakers, school shoes and church shoes). And that was it, other than whatever jacket or coat I might need, depending on where in the country we were living.

My daughter cannot believe that I had such a spare wardrobe. She certainly doesn’t. She would be even more amazed to know that 1) most of the dresses were not store-bought but made by my mother, and 2) my mother had even fewer items in her wardrobe when she was growing up. We do have a rule, though, that because she is no longer growing much, whenever she gets something new an equal number of old things need to go out the door to charity.

I don’t like to have a bunch of cheap clothes either. A few really nice pieces is more my style. No matter what, I tend to wear the same thing over and over, my favorite outfits. My husband teases me and calls me “retrato” coined by his nephew, which means picture or portrait in Spanish LOL. Interesting the OP pointed out that the middle quality items are harder to find, I completely agree with that. For children who are going to grow out of things I can see buying cheaper, but for adults it makes no sense, and you can tell the items are low quality. I mean you can see right through some of these garments the fabric is so thin. I try to buy American, except for cars (which would not make my MI friends happy). But when it comes to food, plates, glasses, gadgets, I do look at where the item was made, and will pay more for USA.

As for the issue of how the people in other countries are treated and paid. In some of these countries that low wage by our standards is a good wage for them. But, I will never be ok with people working in unsafe conditions, or treated like slave labor.

@Darwin – must have been great parties, if you’d wear the same thing to them as you’d wear to church. ;)

@laureth – They were kid parties in the 1950’s. How great could they be?

I was lucky that they weren’t dotted swiss – that stuff itched

I bought bookshelves for a lot cheaper on Craigslist. =)

edit: reading responses it looks likes this point has already been hit up several times.
And great question!

Fact from fiction, truth from diction. BUY LESS. When you buy less crap you save money to buy the quality stuff. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for. As been said before if you know how and where to work the discount and thrift avenues you can get many slightly used items that might have some small cosmetic blemish but in every other way perfectly functional. Craigslist, garage sales, flea markets, online auction sites, etc. If you spend money to buy new get the quality stuff built to last, many usually have long warranties, life time warranties or limited life time warranties, then you are protected somewhat when it breaks.

The problem with American is most want it cheap but great. You can get anything 3 ways; cheap, well done or fast. You can get any 2 but you can’t get all three. You can get it fast and cheap but it won’t be very good. You can get it cheap and well done but don’t expect it very soon. You can get it fast and made well but prepare to dig deep in that wallet. If you can find something well made and cheap that you don’t have to wait a long time it is usually the product of slave labor, child labor or someone getting rooked on their wages.

@Hypocrisy_Central – Or used, as on Craig’s List or Freecycle.