To ask what you think is worth spending a bit extra on?

[ethelfleda]

And what you think isn’t?
Can be anything - food, clothes, holidays etc etc?

For example, I’ve just bought some socks that are a cashmere blend and wonder how I could now ever go back to boring old cotton.
Likewise, I usually spend a bit more on coffee for good quality. But some food items such as tinned pulses - I don’t think it matters buying cheap.

What items do you spend a little more on because you think they’re worth it? And which do you buy the cheapest of because you can’t notice any difference?

Thanks for taking part in a mundane thread

Fairy Liquid. And I'm very anti-big brand. I have found no washing up liquid that comes close.

CLING FILM.

Seriously.
The cheap ones always have the shittest 'cutting edge' you've ever seen THAT CUTS NOTHING.
I will downscale on lots of other things. But not that.

Whiskey

Always ALWAYS buy own brand/cheapest otc medication. Horrified at the price of eg Nurofen (up to a fiver a pack)and it does exactly the same job as 35p for 12 ibuprofen

I blow the cash on:

• meat & fish
• underwear
• knitwear (but regularly buy top quality cashmere and cashmere/silk blend woolies on eBay in the summer months
• footwear (again, though, I buy very lightly used high-end stuff on eBay and found a top-rated seller who offers Jimmy Choo, my favourite brand, at around half to a third of the price of new)
• the odd designer handbag; once again, never 'new'. Recently nabbed a longed-for Alexander McQueen 'knuckleduster' number in mint condition for less than a sixth of the original retail price. Delighted was an understatement!
• bed linen; I love, love, love proper linen, silk pillowcases and high thread-count sheets. It's everyday luxury to me to slide into a freshly made bed with beautiful linen.
• plumbing, gas & electrics; total false economy to have 'cheap' trades do anything on your house, imho - and this also extends to car maintenance. I never trust a 'cheap' mechanic and I never miss the annual full service (and I save throughout the year for it, a few quid every month makes it easier to bear)!
• paint; as in 'decorating paint'. Cheap emulsion triples the effort. Fired Earth's 'Turkish Blue' is my latest obsession!

And I'm a complete Scrooge on:

• wine - because when you've got Aldi....
• furniture; I never, ever buy new furniture. It's reclaim, restore and re-use all the way for me
• decorating; I'll never pay anyone to scrape wallpaper, sand or paint woodwork or emulsion walls
• all other household stuff; mirrors, lamps, cushions, rugs, throws, cutlery, crockery, cookware, glassware - none of mine was ever 'new' to me. I love old stuff and my favourite pastime is rooting around charity shops, brocantes and boot fairs for interesting pieces
• tinned tomatoes, pulses, vegetables
• greengrocery; I love that supermarkets are now offering 'misshapen' produce at knock-down prices
• art; I dabble in a bit of collage and assemblage and husband paints and draws, plus loads of our friends are artists with whom we're always swapping bits & pieces and 'buying cheap' when we're all clearing out our studio spaces!
• houses; I'm house-hunting and refuse to spend more than £250k in the south of England.... luckily, I've found a secret place where a 3-bed, detached with a massive garden is absolutely do-able.... although my decorating skills are about to be very well tested!

Have you not seen the video on how the cashmere is removed from the animal??? 🙄🙈🙈

@threatmatrix - no, but I'll do my research now..... and suspect I may not be buying any more cashmere clothing thereafter!

I think I always want quality with most things but I would achieve that often by 2nd hand toys and clothes etc.

I wanted to get the kids cheap hats and gloves but was disappointed in primark as lovely hats but not lined. You do get what you pay for! However, if I can find things 2nd hand I will, my hat was £3 in a charity shop and I found a nice wool coat a couple of weeks ago.

It's not the price for me but the quality. I'm pretty fussy on food shopping too tbh. I get all fruit and veg in a local market though which is cheaper and better quality than the supermarket.

I've realised I'm a bit snobby but would never just pay for a name or certain brand without good reason. When my middle DD was a baby I actually tested store nappies and pampers with water and measured at what point they leaked. I determined that pampers baby dry held the most liquid over all store brand nappies-so always bought those! I buy them in bulk, it's actually NOT more expensive.

It's all relative!

Coffee.

@threatmatrix - no. Thank you for letting me know about this. I thought it was just supersoft wool. Is it not?

@threatmatrix - yep, that's me done with cashmere for good! Now wondering what to do with the huge stack of the stuff I've accumulated over the years.... I might sell it off an eBay and donate the money to a goat welfare charity. Absolutely horrendous and thank you for flagging it up.

I always knew about the horror of angora, but (naively) didn't think about cashmere and assumed it was harmlessly shorn in the same way as sheep wool.

Rabbit food - nothing but the best for my bun

Gold blend coffee
Fairy
Free range milk/eggs etc

coffee, make up, tonic water, shampoo for me, laundry detergent, loo roll, hotels, most clothes (Primark for pants, vests, pjs)

cheap stuff - shower gel, medications, pasta, kitchen roll, flights, butter

Look for cashmere that has a welfare certificate, the stuff produced in Australia is lower quality (because shearing includes old hair) but high welfare.

Make up, cream, sunglasses, handbags, hair colour and cut and hotels. I sound like a celebrity 😂, but I can have a handbag or pair of sunglasses for years and years before I replace them (or DP replaces them for Xmas or my bday 😁). Hotels for very special occasions, not a regular expense.

Bread
Tea
Bags
Kitchen appliances
Sunscreen
Coats and jackets
Jeans
Knitwear
French butter
Jam

Decent bedding.
You spend so much time in it every night, rely on having a good nights sleep so you can function the next day, usually spend more time than you spend sitting on the sofa, or in your car or anywhere else in your house so I've never understood why people shell out tens of thousands for a car then buy a cheap & nasty bed sheet for a tenner.

Silk pillowcases make the world of difference to my hair too (can't afford silk sheets yet but I'm saving for them)
I almost don't need to brush it when I get up in the morning ( my hair is very long but I leave it loose) if I've used a silk pillowcase.
Polycotton or fleece pillowcases leave my hair matted.

Wellington boots
Tent pegs

I almost always buy own brand food except for:

• Philadelphia (in foil wrappers)
• marmite

-good quality chocolate

Sofas and some other quality pieces
Art
Foundation
Hotels ( not the characterless mega hotels)
Shoes and boots (though I have cheap ones too)
Handbags (recent)

People complaining about cashmere and angora and not bothering about silk. Poor worms.

Binbags
Toilet paper

Shoes and your bed. If you're not in one, you're in the other.

Cornflakes (Kellogs) and coffee.

Toilet roll! Cheap stuff is just false economy anyway, as you need to use twice as much.
Ditto kitchen roll.
I bought myself a North Face jacket a few years ago, which was expensive, but still looks virtually new, and actually keeps me warm. Ds1 is done growing and I got one for him too, as he walks / cycles to college in all weathers.
I like my brand of coffee, and try to buy when it’s on offer.
Most other things I’m happy with own brand.