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
• Cling film (also saves my bp as I'm not clawing at a roll of cheap stuff trying to find the end..!)
• Crunchy nut cornflakes - own brand just aren't the same
• Knickers. Sloggi are expensive but last for YEARS

NEVER buy cheap poo bags.

No siree.

Spend money on:
coats for me and my daughter
Good quality meat
Coffee
Shoes (doc marten/ kickers/clarkes, not louboutin!)

Cheap on:
Tinned tomatoes
Baby wipes

Food, as am concerned with health, so buy organic meat, fruit and veg.
Apparently it is particularly important with nuts (as they contain a lot of oil and pesticides lodge in the fat content), also lettuce which takes 10 weeks to grow and gets doused ten times in that time with pesticides).
I know food is a major expense, especially on a very low income, but unfortunately we have got used to over cheap food, and the real cost of it is high - worse health for us, depleted soils that crops are grown in, and poor animal welfare.

Bin bags
Baked beans
Dental care
Shoes
Certain make up products. Not necessarily top end prices but just above high street prices.

Clothes shoes and bags. I buy at sample sales and end of season sales to save money.

• Somewhere to live - currently that means rent/commute costs, but could in the future mean mortgage
• Jeans
• Coats
• Shoes
• Meat
• Anything that to me is already expensive - e.g. I got a Garmin recently, I find them expensive, but I'd rather get a more expensive one which I know will last me for ages and I won't want to then 'upgrade'

Hair and eyeliner.

Colmans mustard
HP sauce
Fentimans or Fever Tree tonic
Fairy liquid
Decent bin bags

Like most on here I buy good quality over cheap, not high end, and don't understand how primark do so well when most of the items they sell are cheap.

NEVER buy cheap poo bags.

I use Morrison's/Sainsbury's cheap ones, never spent more then 50p and not had a problem 🤷🏾‍♀️ we chuck them straight out into black bin though

Shop at Lidl, only clothes and shoes in sales or outlets (better quality than I can get at full price) but always buy original art now. No prints ever again

Beauty services eg highlights/going blonde or even dermal filler....you get what you pay for.

I only buy soft quilted branded toilet roll. Ever. Always stock up when on offer, and always white.
Fairy liquid - PPs are right, anything else is pish
Always spend money on shoes and coats.

Otherwise I'm a yellow sticker/own brand shopper.

Tea. Good quality loose leaf.
Chocolate.
Holiday

Spend:
Whisky
Hairdresser and haircuts
Boots (docs or Duo)
Mascara and lipstick
Butter
Always free range eggs and high welfare meat
Chocolate (I rarely have it so want the good stuff when I do)
Washing up liquid

Save:
Wine (you get very decent wine here for under a fiver) though have been known to splurge
Skincare - the Ordinary or TK Maxx
Veg - local farm shop very good and sometimes amazingly cheap

For a lot of things I get the best I can for as little as I can get away with paying for - good hotel deals and train offers, cash in loyalty points for flight upgrades, get good quality brands in TK Maxx and on Ebay rather than paying full price. We do not badly.

Bin bags
Loo roll
Foundation
Scent
Tonic water
Coffee
Free range or organic meat
Organic milk
Tinned tomatoes/passata/tomato purée
Shoes/boots/wellies
Mattresses

Quality doesn't have to be expensive.

With consumables like bog roll and washing up liquid don't chop and change between qualities, or you'll use too much of the better stuff.

Another Aldi/Lidl/Wilko shopper.

@TheoriginalLEM what on earth are you doing with your docs for them to only last a year! I have a pair that are older than my 20 year old son 😛

Pillows, shoes and haircuts - get the foundations right and life is better.

Splash the cash

Organic meat, fruit, veg, dairy
Good plumbing
A good coat
Good soft leather shoes
Good haircut
Natural fibres
Wine
Tights

Scrimp on
The car - always secondhand
School uniforms - always secondhand
Books - we get through loads so charity shop
Heating we always wear jumpers and hats inside because the house is draughty
Shampoo - genetics blessed everyone in our house with good glossy hair

Tinned tomatoes
Knickers
Toilet roll
Tinned kidney beans

well-fitting bras, well-fitting shoes and boots, warm or waterproof coats. Apart from the bras, I've been lucky over the years to find good quality stuff in charity shops, although I am more than happy to have last season's colour bra the important thing is the fit. Camping gear for a fortnight's camping, once got a second-hand top of the range trailer tent which went on forever, well until it was too big, replaced by a Vango [second hand] one, super quality, I've seen people who've spent out on a cheapish new one which has worn badly on its first outing. I had a John lewis washer which lasted absolutely ages, and when it was on it's way out I got a second hand one more or less the same, hardly used, if I can get something electrical at Costco or john lewis I seriously consider it even if it is dearer, because of the guarantees and good service. I've never spent more than I need to on a phone, as long as it does the job I need it for who needs a top of the range one or an iPhone. I have a sim only phone and the sim I have gives me enough data etc for £12.50 a month. Leggings, the ones I've spent more money on [in the sale too] have lasted so much better than cheap ones, and do not bag as much as the cheap ones do. With the family once when I bought Waitrose wafer-thin ham for sandwiches they said that is really nice ham [ not knowing it was a different sort] so I've got that subsequently. Nice tomatoes are good sheepskin slippers too, but not in a salad lol. I don't much like cheap jumpers and cardis, that bobble after a few wears and washes, if I can't afford nice ones I'll get second hand. I really hate it when I buy something that while not that dear is not that cheap either, and it wears badly. After some years of cheap handbags I've worked out that better ones last longer and look better, Decent coffee is good,

Only if the extra price means quality or comfort. Shoes, handbag, key items of clothes, meat and fish.
I'll pay for coats and winter tops with wool in them.

Bin bags
Cling film
Cherry tomatoes
Shoes/boots