Examples of false economy where cheap means crap

My daughter is wearing my French connection tshirts bought in late 90s have worn to death and still nice with cotton good stretch sadly I’m no longer a size 8. They were expensive at the time but wow they have lasted.

Nasty. You are talking about people.

Yes this, aldi bin.bags in particular are awful and split.

@Tollington , I was looking for weedkiller and most of them seem to be acetic acid based. I'm not paying ££ for vinegar.

I still have Harris bristle brushes that must be over 40 years old...looked after and still going well.

Coffee and tea...i wont economise there....but have to say that a set of diy filling tools from poundland, years ago are excellent quality and still in use after over 10 years for diy jobs !

Wish we still had the 😂reaction!

My late aunt aunt to say never buy cheap shoes or cheap mattresses - because if youre not in one, you're in the other 😊

Shoelaces

Good point. You very quickly regret buying cheap bin bags

Weed killer

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow you've got the job, first official Stitch Quality Inspector!!!

You do realise that those scuffs on leather are normal wear and tear and that’s when shoe polish and brushes come into use. They will then look as good as new when polished and buffed.

So much this.

This. My DH insisted on buying this pack of four massive rolls of cheap tape on Amazon and it shreds into tiny bits. And it's going to take me about a decade to use the stuff up.

My GF used to say he was too poor to buy cheap things. Never understand it until I got my own money and realised how much replacement cost overall😒

Sadly even pricier versions are now shit. Looking at you skechers....

Bed linen 400 thread count from John Lewis on sale, still feeling luxurious after 30 years.
Ultimate towels from Dunelm - previously sold by BHS, soft and long lasting. When I changed the bathroom colours, I gave the old ones to a friend for her dog but she said they were nicer than their own towels so she used them herself.
Bought a Burberry Mac 35 years ago, still looks brand new, just passed on to DD. Also a silk Liberty scarf, still looks luxurious after 45 years

Mason Pearson hairbrushes, used several times a day, lasted 45 years until rubber started to perish a little.
Fairy Liquid but Aldi biological washing powder for whites and liquid gel for colour.

Supermarket paracetamol and ibrufen have the same active ingredients as branded.
Tu children’s clothes but good shoes and trainers.

Coffee and teabags
cheap are blurgh

Crisps

Moons ago,I had a cheapskate boyfriend (now thankfully an ex)

Everything he bought was the cheapest of the cheap (unless others paid) and I needed to redecorate my lounge

He insisted on going to the pound shop and buying rollers/brushes from there

Waste of money-the rollers fell apart as I took them out of the wrappers and the brushes fell apart as I painted-there where dried in bristles on the walls (and they are properly still there)

When I moved in with my now dp,I asked his builder father what he thought where the best brushes (he said either Harris or Harrison-I can't remember)and paint-he said dulux,johnstones⁰ or farrow and ball and to avoid crown or b&q's colour match paint (can't remember the name)

What a difference-he was bang on

See also
washing up liquid
Bin bags
Paint
Bread
Jam
Picture frames
Coke/diet coke
Margarine
Shampoo/conditioner (the washing up liquid type)
Shoes
Nail hardener

Oddly I use cheapy perfumes from Ebay and always get comments on how nice they are and I use aldis own hairspray which does the job and smells nice

Most thread is polyester based, so it’s quite strong.

The issue is the stitch sizes and tension.

I don't know anymore. I bought Clarkes school shoes for my two right up to the end of primary school (youngest now in year 11) so I must have spent a fortune but they lasted the whole school year! The leather was buttery and beautiful quality so even if they went up half a size the shoes just gave that little bit so they got more wear out of them than they would from a PU Deichmann offering.
I have bought clothes of Shein that have lasted years and still look new, I have also bought some that have barely survived the first wash 🤷‍♀️
I work in the footwear industry so I rarely buy shoes from actual shops but if I did I would carefully inspect the stitching, make sure they haven't just relied on glue to hold them together and only buy leather or suede.
I have just ordered an £80 coat for my daughter for school....I am holding my breath, if it arrives and is shit quality I might cry. Perhaps we need some tougher regulations insisting that price is equal to quality NOT equal to whichever brand name is fashionable at the moment.....have actual inspections of goods to check that cheap thread hasn't been used to stitch a £100 item of clothing for example.

Not sure about this one. I find expensive/thick foil is great for some tasks but too stiff for others. When you want to wrap foil around something, you want thin foil. I keep rolls of both 'posh' and cheap foil for this reason.

Terelyne was just a brand name for polyester.

Pretty much everything. I'll add to the list laptops and mobile phones.