Buy quality. Quality lasts.
This doesn’t mean buy the most expensive item, because cost and quality aren’t always directly related. But it does mean to take a good look at what you are buying, and if there is an affordable, better quality, but somewhat more expensive choice, buy that.
Here’s an example: when I was a student living on my own, I purchased the very cheapest vacuum cleaner that I could find; I paid $80 for it. But it broke after six months. I purchased another, which also only lasted six months. This went on for a few years. Finally, I caught on and purchased a vacuum cleaner that cost me $450—about five times as much as the cheap ones were costing me. I had that vacuum cleaner for thirteen years, and it was still going strong when I gave it to my oldest brother. The only reason I replaced it was because I wanted a model with a HEPA filter; I still have that one, it still works perfectly, and it’s been sixteen years since I purchased it. I am sure you can do the math, but I’ll spell it out anyway: $80 every six months = $160 a year = $1,600 every ten years. That’s not counting the sales tax on each purchase. Or, $450 + $600 (the cost of the newer model) = $1,050. Maybe a savings of $550 doesn’t seem that much, but each year that the newer vacuum cleaner keeps going adds to that amount.
