Many of us think that prices are inflexible. Walk into a retail store and the price on the shelf is how much it costs. However, there is very little in life that you can’t choose to spend less money on if you really try.
Photo by Richard Masoner
As financial independence blog The Escape Artist points out, you can always find a more expensive way to buy something. If you really wanted to pay obscene amounts of money for Coke, you’d only ever buy your supply from a theme park. If you want to spend a cheap car price on a watch, you’d buy the Apple Watch Edition. You can always find more expensive options.
It stands to reason that the same is true in reverse. If you want to find a cheaper version of something — whether it’s an off brand, a different store, or just hunting for a bargain price — you probably can. It’s up to you:
A holiday can be as cheap or as expensive as you choose to make it. If I wanted to waste €10 for a beer, I would look for a hotel bar. If I want to pay €4 for the same beer, I’ll go to a local bar. If I want to pay €1, I’ll get it from the shop. The same goes for accommodation which I prefer quirky, authentic and low cost rather than corporate and soulless.
Most of the time that we buy something expensive, it’s not because there aren’t cheaper options available. I tend to buy what I find to be quality gadgets because they’re worth the cost to me. But there are always cheaper phones out there. As we’ve talked about before, even if you’re broke, it may be worth spending the extra money on something if you need it or it makes your life significantly better. Recognising those purchases can help you prioritise which things are worth cutting back on.
We All Need a Mountain to Climb [The Escape Artist via Rockstar Finance]
Comments
2 responses to “You Can Choose To Spend Less For Nearly Anything”
Well sure, there are always cheaper options but I think value is way more important than cost.
In most cases of buying anything retail, there’s cheap, then there are alternatives at steadily rising prices. As a good rule of thumb, a slightly higher price means you get a slightly better quality item (and often that should translate to better value). However there is usually a point where an increase in cost does not increase the value (remembering value is subjective of course).
An example might be with a man’s suit. Maybe I can get a suit for $79 but the quality is most likely low. I can spend a bit more on a bit better, and a bit more again on a bit better again. Maybe I’ll spend $250-300 on a good quality suit. For off the peg, that is probably the limit for me. Then above that, sure I could go and spend $2000 on an Armani suit but for me, that would represent very poor value.
So sure, save a few dollars looking for cheaper but don’t complain when the $10 bargain widget doesn’t do all the things the $25 counterpart does, or breaks the day after the warranty expires.
hard to tell what you get by paying more for shoes, better quality or ‘stylish’ shoes.
Some shoes might look good and cost more but may wear our quickly or are dress shoes and not too durable. I know some people know what to look for ie stitching and so on. Most shoes need a Topy or the sole wears out real quick.