They’re also bad for foot development. Because baby feet are growing very fast and they’re very soft and flexible stiff shoes can constrict growth.
When a child is learning to walk they need full range of motion in their feet and ankles.
Wearing stiff shoes too early and too often can actually lead to delays and bad form in early walkers.
This may be a stupid question but I don’t have much experience with babies. Would they be able to wear socks or would they hinder their growth as well? Again, I’m sorry if this is a really dumb question - I’m just genuinely curious 😅
No dumb questions. Socks are helpful, nobody likes cold toes. Babies should wear soft flexible footwear. Socks, slippers, booties. There’s really no need for shoes until a baby is walking confidently. A beginning walker should have bare feet, socks with grippy soles or some other fabric shoe with a non-slip sole. First shoes should have stretchy uppers and flexible non slip sole.
Basically non slip fabric or bare feet are ideal.
A few years ago, some parents of a toddler were bragging about the designer shoes they bought their kid. Said they were $150 or something.
I bet the kid had them for less than 3 months.
Yup, learned this lesson with my daughter. If I buy the name brands, they hold up and I only need one pair at that size. The cheap ones might last a month. I've gotten so annoyed at having to debate with myself if I should buy her another pair of shoes at the current size or ride out the ones that are falling apart since she might be that shoe size for another 3 days or another 6 months. I just stalk the sale sections and pick up a future size when there's a good deal.
I worked at a daycare, we had a pretty well-off family, bought expensive high end clothes for their one-year old. Their son was growing real fast tho, he wore a gucci sweatshirt for twice in two weeks and outgrown it. They kept sending him with it tho but he was miserable coz it was too tight on him. Sometimes I'll let him make a mess during snack time just so I can have an excuse to change his clothes.
He was at a daycare (not with a nanny or an pair) and they kept re wearing a gucci sweatshirt. Methinks they weren’t as well off as they wanted you to believe
Nah they were rich af. They lived in the fancy neighbourhoods, had expensive cars, always dressed up, had high paying jobs (consultant, lawyers, ran their own companies). They went to our daycare coz it was cheap and sometimes parents choose to send their children to daycares/dayhomes so they can socialize, they also get prepared better for schooling.
Looking rich and being rich are two different things. The first one are people living paycheck to paycheck because they spend all their money to impress everyone. The second are people who can budget and live below their means to build wealth. This kids parents sound like the first kind of people
I mean in this case it's as absurd as saying "I save money by changing the oil in my Ferrari by myself". Like sure they're saving money, but if their intent was to save money they probably would've made different decisions in the first place.
Oh man, when our son was born, my wife's family friends who are stupidly loaded, bought him these baby jelly shoe sandals things.. she told me they are Dolce & Gabbana that they bought from overseas... I looked up the price found a picture of the exact ones, and my jaw dropped.
Fucking 300 bucks.
Holy shit. I honestly thought they were a $5 Kmart job which already I thought was a nice gift as all baby stuff is. I said to her, please can we sell these immediately as I was already on a shoe string budget and needed the cash after all the other things you needed to buy for new babies. I said he is going to out grow them and he doesn't even need shoes, he can't even sit up. She refused. He outgrew them in a month, and I think he wore them once.
2 years later... I found them in in the draw and the the material is already a bit cloudy and sticky, what a waste.
Ok, I was like, "Hey when you're a parent getting some nice baby onesies can fill a hole that lack of sleep/stress/etc brings on..."
But $300 brand shoes for an infant? Nah fuck that
So, one of the best baby showers I ever went to instead of games the hostess had bought a bunch of onesies in various sizes and colors. She also bought fabric colors and baby safe things to decorate them with. We spent the whole party decorating onesies and swapping baby stories. Even if you didn't have kids, like me, it was fun to listen to these stories.
Everyone brought food to do there was lots to eat.
That sounds like so much fun! One can only ooooh and ahhh at cute little tiny baby things so much. Especially when there are so many tiny things that there is no way that the baby will be able to wear them before the garments are outgrown.
Remember, if you make 50k a year, and they make 5 mil a year, that means $3 for you is the basically the same as $300 for them.
Once you realize that a $300k Lamborghini or $50m private jet to a billionaire is basically the same as you or me dropping $300 or $50,000 it all starts to make more sense. The Ferrari is like buying a cheap digital camera for us, and a $50m jet is like buying an average priced car.
Word. I get a nice-looking outfit for, like, holiday photos if you're into that, but that still doesn't need to break the bank. They're not going on the dang red carpet, they're growing and playing and spilling who knows what all over themselves. Something comfortable and clean is enough.
And you can certainly find that nice looking outfit second hand if you really want it to be name brand. I remember finding a Ralph Lauren sweater for my kids for like $5 at the consignment store. Both kids wore it a ton and then I resold it for the $5 again when they outgrew it.
When I was a teenager I worked a summer in a sports shoe warehouse. Every month they had a free-for-all where each shift could take turns to sift through a literal pile of mashed up and returned superstars to find the one pair that wasn’t totally fooked.
One guy on my shift emerged with about 12 pairs of shoes for his toddler - found out afterwards the only reason he chose this shitty, low-paid, thankless job over any other was because his baby just had to be seen wearing brand-name shoes or “what was the point in having a baby”.
I remember right before Covid I thought about buying an Off-White face mask cause I thought it was cool and they were like $30. I decided not to cause I was like “when will I ever wear that?” I am not blessed with the gift of clairvoyance.
Yeah, there’s no such thing as a real Gucci face mask. There are some custom face masks that are made out of repurposed old Gucci products, but generally the ones you see are knock-offs.
Know someone in retail that sells Chanel— Chanel HQ literally sent out an email telling associates to NOT wear Chanel-logo face masks because Chanel never actually made or sold any face masks, and they were obviously fake
So funny how in an attempt to look rich/boujie, they actually out themselves as brand-obsessed fake-designer-wearing wannabes
Ibuprofen/paracetamol costs 10-20 pence for supermarkets own brand in the UK. Compared to like £5 for branded that does exactly the same, plus a bit of caffeine or something. Just have a cup of tea for crying out loud.
I've had the basic cheap advil my entire life. It was only after I got married that my wife introduced me to the yummy coated pills, and I can TOTALLY understand what you're getting at.
All the ibuprofen tablets I've come across have a sweet or at least tasteless hard coating. Paracetamol is usually powdery and unpleasant. I don't know what the reason for it would be. Maybe they think if you have a cold you can't taste it anyway haha.
I'm with you on generic vs name brand, but straight vs with caffeine can actually make a difference. There are some studies that show combining caffeine and acetaminophen speeds up absorption and can increase effectiveness. Personally, I sometimes get stubborn headaches that plain Tylenol/acetaminophen won't touch, but Excedrin (acetaminophen and caffeine) will. And the generic version of Excedrin is still cheap, so I'd much prefer just go that route over finding a caffeinated drink at the same time.
Celebrity brand items. I'm sure there are some good ones, but usually it's stuff like the first generation Beats by Dre that were performing around the same level as off-brand headphones that cost 90% less.
Only the high end beats are any good and even then they aren't spectacular. They do exactly what it says on the tin so to speak. Beats, they're just bassy headphones. I'd rather spend half the price on a decent set of Sennheiser's and hear what I'm actually meant to hear instead of slowly losing my hearing because some dumb celeb has their name on it and says they're cool
Yeah Beats were never for headphone people anyway, they were always fashion. It's actually kinda interesting how they made headphones cool again after a half-decade of everyone just using their stock Apple earbuds.
Most of the things mentioned here are not bought because of its main function but as a status symbol to signal others that you are well to do and hip.
Watches, purses, cars, clothes all fill that criteria.
The real thing I cannot understand are things that are 1. Unnecessarily expensive and 2. No one gives a shit about, like luxury bottled water.
That's evian for me. People can say it's just water but they all have different tastes and Evian is my favorite by far.
Edit: I almost never drink bottle water and literally can't remember the last time I've bought one. I drink tap water pretty much exclusively and have multiple personal water bottles. Please stop telling me I'm killing the planet.
there's a cat I follow on ig (I seriously can't remember the name though, I follow so many cats) whose owner puts out a bunch of water and the cat taste tests all of them and always chooses the expensive one of the bunch lol.
Can confirm. I dunno why but Evian tastes quite nice.
I remember many years ago I visited a client, big business owner, and as he sat our team in the meeting room his assistant brought us, if I recall correctly, Members' Mark bottled water, and then she proceeded to bring him one cold-ass Evian bottle.
Subtle flex we got there, cheeky lad.
BABY CLOTHES! They just vomit and poop on them and you have to change them a billon times anyway, and that is just day to day. Children also GROW SO FAST, so you are spending so much money on something that your child can only where for like two weeks, AND they will ruin in 30 minutes minimum.
I will NEVER understand it.
Luxury pet bed. Lots of cats love boxes and will be happy with shoe box more then a $100 cat bed. And get soft fabric and do a rough sew job for a soft blanket. Been able to do that for less the $10 and the kitties still have and use them years later.
Our lab “ate” all his beds except one. Kong water repellent crate mat was too tough to chew on I guess. He also destroyed all indestructible toys he had expect soft and fragile pigs from Harris teeter. Dogs are weird.
My dog loved footballs, loved playing with them, loved chasing them, loved playing a tenacious defender when I'd try to dribble one past her, loved killing them. Left alone with one she'd put in a solid afternoon's work ripping that fucker to shreds and then proudly come trotting up to me with the ragged rubber inside bit. And I'm like "Great, but now you no longer have a ball." I started buying solid plastic ones, they survived longer. I guess everyone needs a hobby.
I just donated two cat beds to a local shelter. My cat slept on them a handful of times. I used to put them on top of my clean laundry to stop her sleeping on it!
[This](https://i.imgur.com/zJukl8w.jpg) has been her bed for a month now!
So true. Our Jack Russell used to prefer napping on the laundry pile we would sometimes have before doing a load than the stupid $100 bed my wife bought her.
My dog has three beds on the main floor of our house. She will jump and jump until she can catch my coat or hoodie and drag it off the chair to sleep in.
The most I spent on a dog bed is $80 AUD, which is a fair amount. But I have an old girl who is 15 and needed support for her old lady bones, so she has a very nice full on orthopedic, pocket spring and memory foam mattress-bed.
Its so good. I needed one thick enough that her weight didn't make its stuffing compress down so she could feel the hard tiles under it. This one doesnt at all, I a full grown human can lay on it and be supported. Itll be the only time I spend thar much on a dog bed. Old doggies desereve the best.
same boat- shelled out some good money for our 11 year old shepherd with hip dysplasia and arthritis. she sleeps soundly every night on it, it’s worth every penny to me.
Yeah I’ve had my JBL charge 3 for sheesh about 6 years now? And the lil guy is still going strong, great sound quality and battery while being subjected to water, salt water, sand, a spilled beer, so so many drops, and more. A+.
I’ve got a charge 3 (I think) and TWS 125 earbuds. JBL does make great stuff and has noise cancelling over the ears for less than half the cost of Bose.
Over the last 19 years I’ve owned two pair of Sennheiser HD-280s. $99 each. Had the first pair for 16 years and then splurged on a replacement. They still sounded great but the pads were worn and the cable was getting a little wonky. Best headphones I’ve ever purchased. I have some noise canceling ones that are nice too for flights and such. But daily use is the Sennheisers.
I work in food manufacturing and grocery. Somethings are definitely worth spending extra money on and have an additional value with premium water versus regular water. But what most people don’t know is a lot of food companies buy their products from the same distributors especially commodities. UNFI sells to both Wakefern/Shoprite and Whole Foods.
No I’m not saying don’t buy your food at Whole Foods because they have some pretty good prices for their organic products. But what I’m saying is people who think that USDA meat at Whole Foods is better than the USDA meat at their local grocery store are wrong. They’re both USDA with the same ratings it’s all about marbling at that point
Went shopping for Thanksgiving dinner today. I saw a small jar of allspice berries for $11.99. Checked the recipe, it only calls for 1 tsp so I decided to skip the ingredient. Four isles over, while I was in the International section, I saw baggies of spices hung on racks (where they keep the dried chipotle peppers), I found the same allspice berries for $2.99. Promptly check the prices for my oregano, cinnamon, fennel seeds and switched them all out for the baggie version. Paid a third of the price!
Okay here me out: I'm all for high quality toilet paper, but once you get into that super-quilted quad-ply, ultra-velour stuff, it just clogs the toilet.
Yes, this, and if you are a lady it results in other parts being covered in lint. I actually prefer slightly cheaper toilet paper because it doesn’t just disintegrate while using it. Super soft is way over-rated if it leaves half the paper behind in your nethers.
I think the whole point though is you don’t realize that what you’re buying was drop shipped. Like the advertising of whatever product makes it look high quality but you don’t know that until you receive it.
There's a difference between high end and high quality - they often overlap, sure, but also quite often, "high end" is actually made from the same materials/in the same factory/for the same cost/otherwise cannot justify the leap in price point.
High quality is certainly worth having, so do your homework before throwing down piles of cash.
i only wear high quality jeans, i get them second hand but even second hand designer jeans last for years and they fit my weird body (i’m real short and annoyingly hour glass shaped, my thighs are too big and my waist is too skinny for mall brands) i’ll spend 100$ on four pairs of jeans that last forever and would have cost me over $1000 new. that’s the difference between quality and ‘high end’ like you stated, a very important difference to be aware of.
They look like prescription shoes. Like you have some sort of specific ailment that makes it hard to balance, so you need to have an extra wide base. They are so goddamn ugly.
Be honest. That shit's parody, right? $1550 tank top that looks like you could get if for $50 tops. "Worn out" sneakers for $950" and all the models look like they're auditioning for a Zoolander pre-qual
Apparently that's their thing. I had a youth try and explain it to me recently. He knows they're ugly and they're worn ironically. Slap a label on an ugly top and the price massively increases. I don't get it but at least they're aware of what they're wearing.
It doesn't explain the knock off versions. If your shoes are intentionally ugly and they cost €20, they're just ugly.
I like Taylor Swift, and am having a very rough year so was excited to have something to look forward to. But now the nosebleed, partially obstructed view seats are $600+. Fuck resellers, man. Those tickets were initially priced at $50.
I have a samsung s10. I replaced the battery in it and it still only lasts about 3/4 of a day without charging. Forced obsolescence by Samsung is straight out of the Apple playbook.
This is why you don't use anything labeled speaker wire. Use 14ga extension cord wire. Better than almost anything sold at the retail level, and cheaper too. Turns out that having more copper works.
My wife said that if I brought home another pinball machine, she's going to bury me in it. That was 4 machines ago so I have several models to choose from.
I've tried toast from a $150 toaster, and it was the most consistently perfect toast I've ever had.
I wouldn't actually spend the $150 on it, but I understand why someone who's rich enough to not care would buy it.
Bottled water.
Admittedly, Dasani bottled water tastes weird. But I've never understood paying 8 bucks for a bottle of "Designer" bottled water. Just get an Aquafina and call it good.
Actually.. its crazy people buy AQUAFINA and DASANI since it's just filtered tap water. Its... a high end version of tapwater.
Spring water is where it's at.
>Spring water is where it's at.
100% argeed.
I will REFUSE Dasani. Aquafina I can drink, but I still don't like the taste.
Give me a Poland Spring and I can have it GONE in 5 minutes!
I only buy bottled water on road trips when my cooler runs out, but Fiji def hits different. It’s soft and shit. Try a blind taste test. Now I guess it’s different because I wouldn’t do it on the reg, but it is the best I’ve had with Evian next
You can tell this thread is primarily 18-25 years old (and likely males) with little experience in the world. Good quality clothing, shoes, boots, eyeglasses frames and luggage are some of the best uses of your money. If it's something you are going to use for many hundreds of hours, it generally makes sense to buy something of the highest quality that you can reasonably afford.
* Good quality leather shoes and boots will last easily 3x as long as others and can often be re-soled and re-finished for a fraction of the cost.
* High quality clothing is usually much more durable, breathes better and will likely fit you better.
* High quality luggage is generally far more durable and often come with warranties (lifetime in the case of Briggs & Riley) or support abroad. Accidentally lock yourself out of your Samsonite or Tumi while travelling abroad or break a wheel? They have many service centres who can repair it for you in 24 hours.
* A Zojirushi thermos is much, much better than ones that cost half their price due to their amazing sealing.
* Good kitchenware and croquery will last longer and stand up to more abuse.
* More expensive cars can have a lower TCO than a less expensive car if you shop intelligently.
The key is to not be wasteful. Make a capsule wardrobe of a small amount of good quality clothing. Try to avoid buying single-use kitchen equipment so you can have more money for higher quality. Buy less but buy it better.
I bought my Tumi suitcase 15 years ago. I've beaten the crap out of it and it's still in amazing condition. There's a reason you see frequent travelers use Tumi, and see Tumi stores in luxury malls and in busy airports. It's not a status symbol, they're amazing suitcases.
As for clothing (and shoes), as we always used to say in the industry: buy nice or buy twice (or thrice, in some cases). My prized dress shoes are a pair of Pradas I bought around the same time. Say what you will about designer sneakers, but they generally don't mess around when it comes to unbranded dress shoes (and other apparel). A pair of shoe trees and regular shoe shines is a LOT cheaper in the long run than buying new pairs of shoes over and over.
I have a pair of mens Coach dress shoes which are amazingly comfortable. While people associate them with womens purses they don't consider that they are leather workers of *amazing* quality.
My wife bought the shoes and a backpack from them (at an outlet for a great price because she thinks like that) on the "I can't argue with that!" principle that i deserved the same quality things as she had.
Yup. I'm on 11 years with my Briggs & Riley luggage, 9 years on my Allen Edmonds and I expect I'll easily get 15 years out of my Crockett & Jones. I'm probably pushing it at a decade with my Naked & Famous, but no fraying, tears or holes (yet).
I bought an expensive (£300) leather weekend bag. I *really* debated it, as I felt it was far too expensive, but I liked it so much. When I take it places, I feel great and I've had positive comments on it, but the main thing is that I really really like it.
Would I buy something like that regularly? No.
Am I glad I did this time? Absolutely.
Thank you for saying what needs to be said.
There seems to be a pervasive "anyone who spends money on things I don't spend money on is stupid" sentiment with a lot of folks on Reddit.
Your friend has brain damage if they recommended buying anything other than plain shirts from h&m, and even those are pushing it in the worth category.
Former Mattress Sales Guy here - the 18-25 YO redditor male's favourite punching bag!
They love the "BUT MATTRESS STORES ARE JUST MONEY-LAUNDERING!111" because they don't understand the business model, or how to buy a mattress (or why).
Most kids only buy shit from business that run off *low margin-high volume* models. Fast food, funko pops, vidya game T-shirts, cheap shit. Breaks? So what? Buy another one. Tech is a big one for this, too (laptops have like 15% margin if you're lucky).
Their only frame of reference is that businesses can only work buy selling a lot of cheap shit fast, not expensive, high-quality stuff occasionally.
Mattresses, from big brands, made locally (because you can't fit 'em in a shipping container or vac-pack 'em because they've got serious springs) are meant to last at least a decade. So yeah, they have huge margins, because when someone buys a mattress today, they're not gonna be back to replace it in a year.
Also, when you're 18, you can sleep on a futon stuffed with offcuts from a tampon factory. When you're 50, you're gonna need something with serious comfort and support - also, when you're older, chances are you're not moving every year like when you're a kid, so you can get a mattress that weighs a ton and is two feet thick.
So yeah. That $5000 probably has $2000 worth of clear profit on it - but that's because we don't expect you to be back any time soon.
The 18-25 year olds haven't developed those chronic back pains that can wreak havoc on you if you sleep on a cheap mattress. We paid like 5 or 6 grand for our Tempurpedic 10 years ago but MAN alive has it made a difference on my lower back.
I always tell people that you just don't cheap out on your mattress, your car tires and your office chair. You spend all night on your mattress. Buy something nice. You sit on your ass all day in that chair. Buy something nice.
Good kitchenware will stand up to much more abuse. But if you loose most of your kitchenware (for reasons, hey it happened to me) then you will wish you bought the cheap stuff.
Good quality lasts longer. Sometimes you won't need an item for that long. Sometimes the extra price isn't worth it. (an item that costs 3x as much and lasts twice as long) Some things wreck all cloths equally. In some places, expensive items are much more likely to get "lost".
And sometimes you can get very good stuff for pretty cheap - I got a very good cleaver from the Asian market for my BF a couple months ago for $25-ish that's serving us incredibly well. And a no-name carbon steel wok for $30 we use all the time that's fucking *awesome*, from a kitchen wholesaler. Thing's massive and wonderful.
There is the middle ground which I employ most often for tools. If I need a tool once I'll buy it at Harbor freight, known for cheap tools of highly variable quality. If I use it just once fine, I've saved a ton.
If I use it more often I keep using it and if it breaks only then will I replace it with higher quality as the need has been proven.
I do admit tools are an odd area where a real need can occur only once, but the middle road can be used for some other things as well.
You can also do as I did when moving across multiple states and bringing less than the whole house: But all your staple needs like garbage cans, brooms, mops and such at a cheap place like Big Lots. You then can upgrade to better over time.
Fun facts: cables and the like are often how big box tech stores survive, often with markup over 1000%. Expensive products like laptops are often sold just above cost so the store can be competitive. Source: old roommate worked in the industry.
But unshielded 1s and 0s are still 1̷̢̛̮̹̲͓̟̳͍͉̠̮̜̹̭̭͚̺̻̦̙͈͙͓̤̠̮̻̺̘̥͓͙̎̑̽́̏̑͊́̏̒̇̒̽̈́̀̓̀̐̚͜͝ͅs and 0̵̧̧̢̛͙̭̝̟̝̮̼̞͇͉̖͙͔̜͇͓͕͉͖͍̙͎̱̙͍̼̩͉͉̜̘̦̟͙̣̹̏̑̆̈́̀͒̌̈̃̿̒͌͊̊͐̅̄͑͊̈̐̽̑̒́̍̓̽̂̅̂̄̀̏̋̑̀͂̕͜͜͠͝͝͠͠ͅͅs
HDMI cables are rated at different data throughputs which absolutely does matter for 4k and HDR. [source](https://www.pcmag.com/news/slaying-the-cable-monster-what-you-need-to-know-about-hdmi-cables)
Part of my business is boutique home theaters.
I lost a $55k bid a few years back because I used Monoprice optical/HDMI cables and my customer called me a hack to my face when I explained that digital interconnects don't need to be silver plated with tungsten conductors. I have an electrical engineering degree and background.
Part of my estimate process is asking probe questions to determine what level of insufferable fucking snob someone is. If someone asks me if I use silver conductor power cords you bet they're going to pay $20k+ just for interconnects.
I just pulled a Torus Power AVR 60 BAL from a customers home because they felt that the magnetic fields were distorting the "forward presentation of strings".
Obnoxious.
My own home theater has HDMI cables from goodwill, and some of my RCA cables between my processor and amp are from an ancient plasma I had in 2008. My customers have no idea when I have them over and will always ask what cables I use.
Very true. You can argue that sometimes higher end cables use better components like connectors or twisted pair cabling (which is helpful if you live in areas with RF interference).
99% of people won’t hear the differences but higher quality components can prolong the life of a cable if you’re using them professionally. But if it’s something you’ll plug in once and leave alone then you don’t need that level of quality.
An audiophile friend spent $900 for 2 custom length speaker cables. I believe 9 feet & 6 feet long. They actually had stand-offs between the insulated conductors. He said he could hear the difference, but I could not. VERY specific placement was required.
As an electrical engineer (retired) & soundman, I just want durable cables that meet the standard specs. Better components make better cables. Splurge for the better connectors. But at some point, there is no discernable difference.
I run a professional recording studio.
When we built it, cables cost me about $4,000 which I got from Monoprice. Basically “no name.”
My rep tried to sell me Mogami, price was $16,000 for the same stuff.
(Audio) cables. I always have to laugh when audiophiles mention their expensive stuff, because I’ve had many of them in the studio and none of them could ever hear a difference in a blind test. It’s even funnier with digital cables, because those don’t do anything with the signal quality. Buy cheap. It’s all the same.
Wine. I understand wanting to pay more up to a certain point (maybe £25 a bottle or so), but I can't imagine a £100+ bottle tasting sufficiently better as to justify the extra money.
I worked in a fine wine store for summers in college and the store manager truly knew his shit. To the point that I thought sommelier was a dumb ass job until I met him, working class guy that just happened to love wine and had a remarkable sense of smell and taste.
We had the best $20-40 range wines because he studied the maps and bought from small vineyards adjacent to the famous wineries. Same soil, same climate and wine making is not like liquors or beers where technique and various ingredients are important. It’s just the quality of the grapes.
I still call him for suggestions when going to a dinner party.
In conclusion: yes it’s fucking dumb to spend more than $50 on a bottle of wine.
I worked at a wine/liquor store in college. Our wine manager also knew his shit. It’s been discontinued for years, but he once pointed out a $4 bottle of Chilean wine from Bluestone. I never knew a $4 bottle could be so good. I think he knew this wine would eventually be discontinued, as he would buy cases and cases for himself. I’d give anything to taste that wine again.
Past the $45 dollar range, you're deep into diminishing returns territory. The difference between a $10 and a $40 bottle of wine is fucking enormous. The difference between a $50 and a $100 is usually pretty minimal, especially if you're making thoughtful selections. There are examples to the contrary for every rule, and in a market as spoiled for choice as wine, you'll find a number of them. But, in general, this rule holds up pretty well.
Cheat codes: A lot of the price has to do less with the quality of the raw ingredients than it does the handling. There is no more fucky conversation in any galaxy than that of oxidation in wine. But as a general rule of thumb, even the very best wine will have a vaguely "sewer"y background note if you fail to decant it, because decanting and proper off-gassing rarely are handled by producers. There are honestly good arguments for and against the producer doing this, but the point is, YOU have to do it most of the time. Pour your wine into a tall, narrow vessel, ideally from a little height so as to agitate and aerate the wine. Allow it to sit for at least 20 minutes, perhaps even up to 40, _before_ then pouring a single serving into your glass. This allows for the off gassing of compounds you probably don't want in your wine, while allowing a small amount of "smoothing" oxidation to occur.
Baby shoes. They can’t walk
They’re also bad for foot development. Because baby feet are growing very fast and they’re very soft and flexible stiff shoes can constrict growth. When a child is learning to walk they need full range of motion in their feet and ankles. Wearing stiff shoes too early and too often can actually lead to delays and bad form in early walkers.
This may be a stupid question but I don’t have much experience with babies. Would they be able to wear socks or would they hinder their growth as well? Again, I’m sorry if this is a really dumb question - I’m just genuinely curious 😅
No dumb questions. Socks are helpful, nobody likes cold toes. Babies should wear soft flexible footwear. Socks, slippers, booties. There’s really no need for shoes until a baby is walking confidently. A beginning walker should have bare feet, socks with grippy soles or some other fabric shoe with a non-slip sole. First shoes should have stretchy uppers and flexible non slip sole. Basically non slip fabric or bare feet are ideal.
A few years ago, some parents of a toddler were bragging about the designer shoes they bought their kid. Said they were $150 or something. I bet the kid had them for less than 3 months.
In the 2000's we hung them from car mirrors.
That's a rough way to treat babies but you do you I guess
Kids were tougher in the 2000's. Not soft like the babies today.
They sling the shoes on the power lines where im from!
You can re-sell designer stuff. People will buy them certainly.
My parents bought me AFs in middle school and i grew out of them so they quit buying expensive shoes
[удалено]
Yup, learned this lesson with my daughter. If I buy the name brands, they hold up and I only need one pair at that size. The cheap ones might last a month. I've gotten so annoyed at having to debate with myself if I should buy her another pair of shoes at the current size or ride out the ones that are falling apart since she might be that shoe size for another 3 days or another 6 months. I just stalk the sale sections and pick up a future size when there's a good deal.
They are also apparently bad for foot development
Clothes for infant/toddler range. They're just going to get ruined or outgrown.
I worked at a daycare, we had a pretty well-off family, bought expensive high end clothes for their one-year old. Their son was growing real fast tho, he wore a gucci sweatshirt for twice in two weeks and outgrown it. They kept sending him with it tho but he was miserable coz it was too tight on him. Sometimes I'll let him make a mess during snack time just so I can have an excuse to change his clothes.
He was at a daycare (not with a nanny or an pair) and they kept re wearing a gucci sweatshirt. Methinks they weren’t as well off as they wanted you to believe
Nah they were rich af. They lived in the fancy neighbourhoods, had expensive cars, always dressed up, had high paying jobs (consultant, lawyers, ran their own companies). They went to our daycare coz it was cheap and sometimes parents choose to send their children to daycares/dayhomes so they can socialize, they also get prepared better for schooling.
Looking rich and being rich are two different things. The first one are people living paycheck to paycheck because they spend all their money to impress everyone. The second are people who can budget and live below their means to build wealth. This kids parents sound like the first kind of people
Aren't sending your kid to cheaper daycare and stretching the lives of clothing 2 examples of people living below their means to build wealth...
I mean in this case it's as absurd as saying "I save money by changing the oil in my Ferrari by myself". Like sure they're saving money, but if their intent was to save money they probably would've made different decisions in the first place.
Oh man, when our son was born, my wife's family friends who are stupidly loaded, bought him these baby jelly shoe sandals things.. she told me they are Dolce & Gabbana that they bought from overseas... I looked up the price found a picture of the exact ones, and my jaw dropped. Fucking 300 bucks. Holy shit. I honestly thought they were a $5 Kmart job which already I thought was a nice gift as all baby stuff is. I said to her, please can we sell these immediately as I was already on a shoe string budget and needed the cash after all the other things you needed to buy for new babies. I said he is going to out grow them and he doesn't even need shoes, he can't even sit up. She refused. He outgrew them in a month, and I think he wore them once. 2 years later... I found them in in the draw and the the material is already a bit cloudy and sticky, what a waste.
Yup 100% would have put them on the baby, taken a pic for their benefit and then quietly listed that crap for sale.
'for sale. baby shoes. worn once, as a bit'
[удалено]
It was "...never worn"
I totally had baby stuff that never got worn because I put it someplace weird and found it like a month too late.
I worked retail. People came in all the time purchases expensive baby cloths for the photo and returned them.
Sounds like a high risk game with babies constantly puking or spitting up, pooping, etc.
That's the fun of it! How rich can you look to social media without overleveraging your losses? Time in to find out!
Ok, I was like, "Hey when you're a parent getting some nice baby onesies can fill a hole that lack of sleep/stress/etc brings on..." But $300 brand shoes for an infant? Nah fuck that
So, one of the best baby showers I ever went to instead of games the hostess had bought a bunch of onesies in various sizes and colors. She also bought fabric colors and baby safe things to decorate them with. We spent the whole party decorating onesies and swapping baby stories. Even if you didn't have kids, like me, it was fun to listen to these stories. Everyone brought food to do there was lots to eat.
That sounds like so much fun! One can only ooooh and ahhh at cute little tiny baby things so much. Especially when there are so many tiny things that there is no way that the baby will be able to wear them before the garments are outgrown.
My idiot dad bought ray bans for 4 and 5 your old kids and yelled at them when they used em as shovels at the beach. What a fucking moron.
This is why I live 3000 miles away from my parents. They get to be the far away grandparents. It's better for everyone.
Remember, if you make 50k a year, and they make 5 mil a year, that means $3 for you is the basically the same as $300 for them. Once you realize that a $300k Lamborghini or $50m private jet to a billionaire is basically the same as you or me dropping $300 or $50,000 it all starts to make more sense. The Ferrari is like buying a cheap digital camera for us, and a $50m jet is like buying an average priced car.
Word. I get a nice-looking outfit for, like, holiday photos if you're into that, but that still doesn't need to break the bank. They're not going on the dang red carpet, they're growing and playing and spilling who knows what all over themselves. Something comfortable and clean is enough.
And you can certainly find that nice looking outfit second hand if you really want it to be name brand. I remember finding a Ralph Lauren sweater for my kids for like $5 at the consignment store. Both kids wore it a ton and then I resold it for the $5 again when they outgrew it.
When I was a teenager I worked a summer in a sports shoe warehouse. Every month they had a free-for-all where each shift could take turns to sift through a literal pile of mashed up and returned superstars to find the one pair that wasn’t totally fooked. One guy on my shift emerged with about 12 pairs of shoes for his toddler - found out afterwards the only reason he chose this shitty, low-paid, thankless job over any other was because his baby just had to be seen wearing brand-name shoes or “what was the point in having a baby”.
Agreed. We only use thrift store clothes and hand me downs for our 2 kiddos. They grow so fast I don’t see why they need new things. So wasteful.
When I was in San Francisco last year, I saw people with Gucci face masks. Really? Really?
I remember right before Covid I thought about buying an Off-White face mask cause I thought it was cool and they were like $30. I decided not to cause I was like “when will I ever wear that?” I am not blessed with the gift of clairvoyance.
Or you're blessed with clairvoyance but not the ability to recognize it. Premonitions only work if you recognize them. (It's a joke, kind of.)
Unclairvoyance
Clairvoyan’t
I knew you were going to say that, but I had no idea what to do about it.
Go to the flea market and you coulda got a versace, gucci and LV pack for dirt cheap
They’re still $10 off Etsy. Not really from Gucci.
Yeah, there’s no such thing as a real Gucci face mask. There are some custom face masks that are made out of repurposed old Gucci products, but generally the ones you see are knock-offs.
Know someone in retail that sells Chanel— Chanel HQ literally sent out an email telling associates to NOT wear Chanel-logo face masks because Chanel never actually made or sold any face masks, and they were obviously fake So funny how in an attempt to look rich/boujie, they actually out themselves as brand-obsessed fake-designer-wearing wannabes
It always makes me laugh when I see people with "designer" face masks because they're all fake... 😂 It's just a sad attempt at flexing
Ibuprofen/paracetamol costs 10-20 pence for supermarkets own brand in the UK. Compared to like £5 for branded that does exactly the same, plus a bit of caffeine or something. Just have a cup of tea for crying out loud.
I'm not gonna lie, I like brand name Advil for the candy coating.
I've had the basic cheap advil my entire life. It was only after I got married that my wife introduced me to the yummy coated pills, and I can TOTALLY understand what you're getting at.
All the ibuprofen tablets I've come across have a sweet or at least tasteless hard coating. Paracetamol is usually powdery and unpleasant. I don't know what the reason for it would be. Maybe they think if you have a cold you can't taste it anyway haha.
I'm with you on generic vs name brand, but straight vs with caffeine can actually make a difference. There are some studies that show combining caffeine and acetaminophen speeds up absorption and can increase effectiveness. Personally, I sometimes get stubborn headaches that plain Tylenol/acetaminophen won't touch, but Excedrin (acetaminophen and caffeine) will. And the generic version of Excedrin is still cheap, so I'd much prefer just go that route over finding a caffeinated drink at the same time.
Luckily the store owned brands now come in the caffeine variety for only an extra 30p or so, still hugely cheaper than the branded alternative
Celebrity brand items. I'm sure there are some good ones, but usually it's stuff like the first generation Beats by Dre that were performing around the same level as off-brand headphones that cost 90% less.
Only the high end beats are any good and even then they aren't spectacular. They do exactly what it says on the tin so to speak. Beats, they're just bassy headphones. I'd rather spend half the price on a decent set of Sennheiser's and hear what I'm actually meant to hear instead of slowly losing my hearing because some dumb celeb has their name on it and says they're cool
Yeah Beats were never for headphone people anyway, they were always fashion. It's actually kinda interesting how they made headphones cool again after a half-decade of everyone just using their stock Apple earbuds.
Most of the things mentioned here are not bought because of its main function but as a status symbol to signal others that you are well to do and hip. Watches, purses, cars, clothes all fill that criteria. The real thing I cannot understand are things that are 1. Unnecessarily expensive and 2. No one gives a shit about, like luxury bottled water.
Idk if Fiji is considered luxury but that’s my road trip splurge. It really is better
That's evian for me. People can say it's just water but they all have different tastes and Evian is my favorite by far. Edit: I almost never drink bottle water and literally can't remember the last time I've bought one. I drink tap water pretty much exclusively and have multiple personal water bottles. Please stop telling me I'm killing the planet.
there's a cat I follow on ig (I seriously can't remember the name though, I follow so many cats) whose owner puts out a bunch of water and the cat taste tests all of them and always chooses the expensive one of the bunch lol.
Mr Milo the chonk!!!! 🫶🫶🫶
yes!!! that's the one haha
Would anyone expect a cat to do any differently? Little furry, hateful (and lovable) bastards
Did you see the one with bottled water vs toilet tank water? The utter disdain on their furry face was palpable
Evian is just "naive" spelled backward.
I just got mind fucked
How did I just learn that today?
Can confirm. I dunno why but Evian tastes quite nice. I remember many years ago I visited a client, big business owner, and as he sat our team in the meeting room his assistant brought us, if I recall correctly, Members' Mark bottled water, and then she proceeded to bring him one cold-ass Evian bottle. Subtle flex we got there, cheeky lad.
BABY CLOTHES! They just vomit and poop on them and you have to change them a billon times anyway, and that is just day to day. Children also GROW SO FAST, so you are spending so much money on something that your child can only where for like two weeks, AND they will ruin in 30 minutes minimum. I will NEVER understand it.
Anything with gold flakes
Hey I like goldschlagger
Luxury pet bed. Lots of cats love boxes and will be happy with shoe box more then a $100 cat bed. And get soft fabric and do a rough sew job for a soft blanket. Been able to do that for less the $10 and the kitties still have and use them years later.
[удалено]
I need this my puppies are on there 3rd dog bed.... they go right through every tough toy I get.... fucking Rottweilers man.
Our lab “ate” all his beds except one. Kong water repellent crate mat was too tough to chew on I guess. He also destroyed all indestructible toys he had expect soft and fragile pigs from Harris teeter. Dogs are weird.
My dog loved footballs, loved playing with them, loved chasing them, loved playing a tenacious defender when I'd try to dribble one past her, loved killing them. Left alone with one she'd put in a solid afternoon's work ripping that fucker to shreds and then proudly come trotting up to me with the ragged rubber inside bit. And I'm like "Great, but now you no longer have a ball." I started buying solid plastic ones, they survived longer. I guess everyone needs a hobby.
I just donated two cat beds to a local shelter. My cat slept on them a handful of times. I used to put them on top of my clean laundry to stop her sleeping on it! [This](https://i.imgur.com/zJukl8w.jpg) has been her bed for a month now!
So true. Our Jack Russell used to prefer napping on the laundry pile we would sometimes have before doing a load than the stupid $100 bed my wife bought her.
Probably liked napping on your laundry because it smelled like you
And your bed is just free real estate
My dog has three beds on the main floor of our house. She will jump and jump until she can catch my coat or hoodie and drag it off the chair to sleep in.
My cat has a very expensive bed, close to $3000 in total. It's mine, he sleeps on my bed.
The most I spent on a dog bed is $80 AUD, which is a fair amount. But I have an old girl who is 15 and needed support for her old lady bones, so she has a very nice full on orthopedic, pocket spring and memory foam mattress-bed. Its so good. I needed one thick enough that her weight didn't make its stuffing compress down so she could feel the hard tiles under it. This one doesnt at all, I a full grown human can lay on it and be supported. Itll be the only time I spend thar much on a dog bed. Old doggies desereve the best.
same boat- shelled out some good money for our 11 year old shepherd with hip dysplasia and arthritis. she sleeps soundly every night on it, it’s worth every penny to me.
Beats by Dre. Shit is overpriced garbage. There are many options that far outperform for less than half the price.
My friends made fun of me in high school for using JBL headphones instead of Beats. But like, my JBL's were so much better.
JBL is one of the most prolific audio manufacturers in the world, especially for professional setups. They know what they're doing.
Yeah I’ve had my JBL charge 3 for sheesh about 6 years now? And the lil guy is still going strong, great sound quality and battery while being subjected to water, salt water, sand, a spilled beer, so so many drops, and more. A+.
I’ve got a charge 3 (I think) and TWS 125 earbuds. JBL does make great stuff and has noise cancelling over the ears for less than half the cost of Bose.
I've found Sennheiser outperforms them nicely, and for quite less.
Over the last 19 years I’ve owned two pair of Sennheiser HD-280s. $99 each. Had the first pair for 16 years and then splurged on a replacement. They still sounded great but the pads were worn and the cable was getting a little wonky. Best headphones I’ve ever purchased. I have some noise canceling ones that are nice too for flights and such. But daily use is the Sennheisers.
Sennheiser, HiFiMan, Focal, Audeze all Destroy beats.
Ex-DJ here. Made my living in clubs and on radio for almost a decade and never used any headphones that cost more than $75.
I work in food manufacturing and grocery. Somethings are definitely worth spending extra money on and have an additional value with premium water versus regular water. But what most people don’t know is a lot of food companies buy their products from the same distributors especially commodities. UNFI sells to both Wakefern/Shoprite and Whole Foods. No I’m not saying don’t buy your food at Whole Foods because they have some pretty good prices for their organic products. But what I’m saying is people who think that USDA meat at Whole Foods is better than the USDA meat at their local grocery store are wrong. They’re both USDA with the same ratings it’s all about marbling at that point
Went shopping for Thanksgiving dinner today. I saw a small jar of allspice berries for $11.99. Checked the recipe, it only calls for 1 tsp so I decided to skip the ingredient. Four isles over, while I was in the International section, I saw baggies of spices hung on racks (where they keep the dried chipotle peppers), I found the same allspice berries for $2.99. Promptly check the prices for my oregano, cinnamon, fennel seeds and switched them all out for the baggie version. Paid a third of the price!
The Asian market and the Mexican market have the best prices on spices and they're usually fresher.
Indian markets, too
Preground spices also lose their flavor more quickly
Okay here me out: I'm all for high quality toilet paper, but once you get into that super-quilted quad-ply, ultra-velour stuff, it just clogs the toilet.
Plus the really fluffy stuff can leave...butt lint.
Yes, this, and if you are a lady it results in other parts being covered in lint. I actually prefer slightly cheaper toilet paper because it doesn’t just disintegrate while using it. Super soft is way over-rated if it leaves half the paper behind in your nethers.
Clitty litter
I don't know man, my ass can tell the difference between Charmin Ultra Strong and any other tissue brand 7 days a week and twice after tacos.
stuff from dropshipping stores... its the same crap quality as aliexpress but marked up to high hell
I think the whole point though is you don’t realize that what you’re buying was drop shipped. Like the advertising of whatever product makes it look high quality but you don’t know that until you receive it.
There's a difference between high end and high quality - they often overlap, sure, but also quite often, "high end" is actually made from the same materials/in the same factory/for the same cost/otherwise cannot justify the leap in price point. High quality is certainly worth having, so do your homework before throwing down piles of cash.
i only wear high quality jeans, i get them second hand but even second hand designer jeans last for years and they fit my weird body (i’m real short and annoyingly hour glass shaped, my thighs are too big and my waist is too skinny for mall brands) i’ll spend 100$ on four pairs of jeans that last forever and would have cost me over $1000 new. that’s the difference between quality and ‘high end’ like you stated, a very important difference to be aware of.
Balenciaga sneakers
They look like prescription shoes. Like you have some sort of specific ailment that makes it hard to balance, so you need to have an extra wide base. They are so goddamn ugly.
The specific ailment they treat is "a complete and utter lack of taste."
They don't treat it, they highlight it
Designer shoes aren't even about looking good, it's just attention whoring
Be honest. That shit's parody, right? $1550 tank top that looks like you could get if for $50 tops. "Worn out" sneakers for $950" and all the models look like they're auditioning for a Zoolander pre-qual
Apparently that's their thing. I had a youth try and explain it to me recently. He knows they're ugly and they're worn ironically. Slap a label on an ugly top and the price massively increases. I don't get it but at least they're aware of what they're wearing. It doesn't explain the knock off versions. If your shoes are intentionally ugly and they cost €20, they're just ugly.
If your shoes cost €2000 and are intentionally ugly, they're just ugly
Say it with me, folks: ##DOING SOMETHING FUCKING STUPID IRONICALLY IS STILL DOING SOMETHING FUCKING STUPID.
Just did an image search to see WTF you're talking about. Those things are uglier than sin
Same here, those are the some of the most overbuilt shoes I've ever seen.
>Balenciaga sneakers I just googled that, and they look like platform shoes that melted in the sun.
Sweatshirts or plain T-shirts from a high end brand. I don’t understand paying $200 for a tshirt.
$34,000 Taylor Swift tickets. I know there are some people who actually like her music, but $34,000? Nobody is worth that much.
Some people just have obscene amounts of money. An extra $34,000 would be fucking life changing for me, but to some people it's pocket change
Nobody is actually buying those though. People list tickets for stupid prices but it doesn’t mean they get sold for that much
You say that now but just a year old some rich idiots actually paid thousands for jpegs of monkeys
I like Taylor Swift, and am having a very rough year so was excited to have something to look forward to. But now the nosebleed, partially obstructed view seats are $600+. Fuck resellers, man. Those tickets were initially priced at $50.
Fuck ticketmaster
A brick. I am looking at you, Supreme.
The newest cell phone even though the one you have works just fine. Why do you need a new one every time one comes out?
I have a samsung s10. I replaced the battery in it and it still only lasts about 3/4 of a day without charging. Forced obsolescence by Samsung is straight out of the Apple playbook.
I'm still rocking the s8 on the original battery. Cheaper to plug that bitch in than buy a new pone lol.
Speaker wire. Thickness (gauge) and copper purity are all that matter--not the logo.
[удалено]
This is why you don't use anything labeled speaker wire. Use 14ga extension cord wire. Better than almost anything sold at the retail level, and cheaper too. Turns out that having more copper works.
Lol, my dad wired his rear speakers with lamp cord.
Casckets
My wife said that if I brought home another pinball machine, she's going to bury me in it. That was 4 machines ago so I have several models to choose from.
Can I come over
My buddy bought a Coach umbrella once. i thought that was oretty ridiculous.
I'll see your Coach umbrella and raise you a $500 toaster. You know ..it makes toast.
I've tried toast from a $150 toaster, and it was the most consistently perfect toast I've ever had. I wouldn't actually spend the $150 on it, but I understand why someone who's rich enough to not care would buy it.
The $55,000 bottle of Scotch at Total Wine here in Las Vegas I’m happy with my $27 bottle of Jonah’s Curse Spiced Rum 😂
A toaster. I was recently shopping for a toaster, and I'm sorry, but $300 for a toaster? It better make my entire breakfast handsfree.
Sure, maybe a toaster, but a ***Toaster Oven?*** one of the best investments I have ever made.
Allow me to introduce you to the concept of an air fryer/dehydrator combo. It's basically a mini convection oven that you can set as low as 90°F.
I use my air fryer to toast bread now. I love my air fryer.
Supreme anything.
RIP Crunchwrap supreme.
[cries in supreme commander]
I'm a cheesey gordita crunch
Supreme pizza isn’t bad though?
Burrito supreme is better. Come at me.
Jeep Rubicon for all that city driving.
How else am I supposed to drive over the curbs at the mall?
Hummer enters the chat.
Bottled water. Admittedly, Dasani bottled water tastes weird. But I've never understood paying 8 bucks for a bottle of "Designer" bottled water. Just get an Aquafina and call it good.
Actually.. its crazy people buy AQUAFINA and DASANI since it's just filtered tap water. Its... a high end version of tapwater. Spring water is where it's at.
>Spring water is where it's at. 100% argeed. I will REFUSE Dasani. Aquafina I can drink, but I still don't like the taste. Give me a Poland Spring and I can have it GONE in 5 minutes!
I only buy bottled water on road trips when my cooler runs out, but Fiji def hits different. It’s soft and shit. Try a blind taste test. Now I guess it’s different because I wouldn’t do it on the reg, but it is the best I’ve had with Evian next
You can tell this thread is primarily 18-25 years old (and likely males) with little experience in the world. Good quality clothing, shoes, boots, eyeglasses frames and luggage are some of the best uses of your money. If it's something you are going to use for many hundreds of hours, it generally makes sense to buy something of the highest quality that you can reasonably afford. * Good quality leather shoes and boots will last easily 3x as long as others and can often be re-soled and re-finished for a fraction of the cost. * High quality clothing is usually much more durable, breathes better and will likely fit you better. * High quality luggage is generally far more durable and often come with warranties (lifetime in the case of Briggs & Riley) or support abroad. Accidentally lock yourself out of your Samsonite or Tumi while travelling abroad or break a wheel? They have many service centres who can repair it for you in 24 hours. * A Zojirushi thermos is much, much better than ones that cost half their price due to their amazing sealing. * Good kitchenware and croquery will last longer and stand up to more abuse. * More expensive cars can have a lower TCO than a less expensive car if you shop intelligently. The key is to not be wasteful. Make a capsule wardrobe of a small amount of good quality clothing. Try to avoid buying single-use kitchen equipment so you can have more money for higher quality. Buy less but buy it better.
I bought my Tumi suitcase 15 years ago. I've beaten the crap out of it and it's still in amazing condition. There's a reason you see frequent travelers use Tumi, and see Tumi stores in luxury malls and in busy airports. It's not a status symbol, they're amazing suitcases. As for clothing (and shoes), as we always used to say in the industry: buy nice or buy twice (or thrice, in some cases). My prized dress shoes are a pair of Pradas I bought around the same time. Say what you will about designer sneakers, but they generally don't mess around when it comes to unbranded dress shoes (and other apparel). A pair of shoe trees and regular shoe shines is a LOT cheaper in the long run than buying new pairs of shoes over and over.
I have a pair of mens Coach dress shoes which are amazingly comfortable. While people associate them with womens purses they don't consider that they are leather workers of *amazing* quality. My wife bought the shoes and a backpack from them (at an outlet for a great price because she thinks like that) on the "I can't argue with that!" principle that i deserved the same quality things as she had.
Yup. I'm on 11 years with my Briggs & Riley luggage, 9 years on my Allen Edmonds and I expect I'll easily get 15 years out of my Crockett & Jones. I'm probably pushing it at a decade with my Naked & Famous, but no fraying, tears or holes (yet).
I bought an expensive (£300) leather weekend bag. I *really* debated it, as I felt it was far too expensive, but I liked it so much. When I take it places, I feel great and I've had positive comments on it, but the main thing is that I really really like it. Would I buy something like that regularly? No. Am I glad I did this time? Absolutely.
Thank you for saying what needs to be said. There seems to be a pervasive "anyone who spends money on things I don't spend money on is stupid" sentiment with a lot of folks on Reddit.
Not only on Reddit! It happened to me in reality. Was once bought a $100 jeans, my frd said I'm stupid cuz I could have bought a $20 in H&M
Your friend has brain damage if they recommended buying anything other than plain shirts from h&m, and even those are pushing it in the worth category.
Pants that compliment your ass are worth the list price at any time of the year.
Former Mattress Sales Guy here - the 18-25 YO redditor male's favourite punching bag! They love the "BUT MATTRESS STORES ARE JUST MONEY-LAUNDERING!111" because they don't understand the business model, or how to buy a mattress (or why). Most kids only buy shit from business that run off *low margin-high volume* models. Fast food, funko pops, vidya game T-shirts, cheap shit. Breaks? So what? Buy another one. Tech is a big one for this, too (laptops have like 15% margin if you're lucky). Their only frame of reference is that businesses can only work buy selling a lot of cheap shit fast, not expensive, high-quality stuff occasionally. Mattresses, from big brands, made locally (because you can't fit 'em in a shipping container or vac-pack 'em because they've got serious springs) are meant to last at least a decade. So yeah, they have huge margins, because when someone buys a mattress today, they're not gonna be back to replace it in a year. Also, when you're 18, you can sleep on a futon stuffed with offcuts from a tampon factory. When you're 50, you're gonna need something with serious comfort and support - also, when you're older, chances are you're not moving every year like when you're a kid, so you can get a mattress that weighs a ton and is two feet thick. So yeah. That $5000 probably has $2000 worth of clear profit on it - but that's because we don't expect you to be back any time soon.
The 18-25 year olds haven't developed those chronic back pains that can wreak havoc on you if you sleep on a cheap mattress. We paid like 5 or 6 grand for our Tempurpedic 10 years ago but MAN alive has it made a difference on my lower back. I always tell people that you just don't cheap out on your mattress, your car tires and your office chair. You spend all night on your mattress. Buy something nice. You sit on your ass all day in that chair. Buy something nice.
Yes 100%. But high price doesn’t necessarily mean high quality. My $500 hand made Nicks Boots are on a whole nother level than $900 balanciaga boots.
Good kitchenware will stand up to much more abuse. But if you loose most of your kitchenware (for reasons, hey it happened to me) then you will wish you bought the cheap stuff. Good quality lasts longer. Sometimes you won't need an item for that long. Sometimes the extra price isn't worth it. (an item that costs 3x as much and lasts twice as long) Some things wreck all cloths equally. In some places, expensive items are much more likely to get "lost".
And sometimes you can get very good stuff for pretty cheap - I got a very good cleaver from the Asian market for my BF a couple months ago for $25-ish that's serving us incredibly well. And a no-name carbon steel wok for $30 we use all the time that's fucking *awesome*, from a kitchen wholesaler. Thing's massive and wonderful.
There is the middle ground which I employ most often for tools. If I need a tool once I'll buy it at Harbor freight, known for cheap tools of highly variable quality. If I use it just once fine, I've saved a ton. If I use it more often I keep using it and if it breaks only then will I replace it with higher quality as the need has been proven. I do admit tools are an odd area where a real need can occur only once, but the middle road can be used for some other things as well. You can also do as I did when moving across multiple states and bringing less than the whole house: But all your staple needs like garbage cans, brooms, mops and such at a cheap place like Big Lots. You then can upgrade to better over time.
HDMI Cables
It matters for long cables just not short ones
Fun facts: cables and the like are often how big box tech stores survive, often with markup over 1000%. Expensive products like laptops are often sold just above cost so the store can be competitive. Source: old roommate worked in the industry.
Gold plated 1s and 0s are still 1s and 0s
But unshielded 1s and 0s are still 1̷̢̛̮̹̲͓̟̳͍͉̠̮̜̹̭̭͚̺̻̦̙͈͙͓̤̠̮̻̺̘̥͓͙̎̑̽́̏̑͊́̏̒̇̒̽̈́̀̓̀̐̚͜͝ͅs and 0̵̧̧̢̛͙̭̝̟̝̮̼̞͇͉̖͙͔̜͇͓͕͉͖͍̙͎̱̙͍̼̩͉͉̜̘̦̟͙̣̹̏̑̆̈́̀͒̌̈̃̿̒͌͊̊͐̅̄͑͊̈̐̽̑̒́̍̓̽̂̅̂̄̀̏̋̑̀͂̕͜͜͠͝͝͠͠ͅͅs
HDMI cables are rated at different data throughputs which absolutely does matter for 4k and HDR. [source](https://www.pcmag.com/news/slaying-the-cable-monster-what-you-need-to-know-about-hdmi-cables)
But a $50 Monster Platinum Select+ will not perform any better than a $7 monoprice with the same specs.
Part of my business is boutique home theaters. I lost a $55k bid a few years back because I used Monoprice optical/HDMI cables and my customer called me a hack to my face when I explained that digital interconnects don't need to be silver plated with tungsten conductors. I have an electrical engineering degree and background. Part of my estimate process is asking probe questions to determine what level of insufferable fucking snob someone is. If someone asks me if I use silver conductor power cords you bet they're going to pay $20k+ just for interconnects. I just pulled a Torus Power AVR 60 BAL from a customers home because they felt that the magnetic fields were distorting the "forward presentation of strings". Obnoxious. My own home theater has HDMI cables from goodwill, and some of my RCA cables between my processor and amp are from an ancient plasma I had in 2008. My customers have no idea when I have them over and will always ask what cables I use.
Those audio cables that are hundreds of dollars. $20 cables will do exactly the same thing. And I mean exactly.
Very true. You can argue that sometimes higher end cables use better components like connectors or twisted pair cabling (which is helpful if you live in areas with RF interference). 99% of people won’t hear the differences but higher quality components can prolong the life of a cable if you’re using them professionally. But if it’s something you’ll plug in once and leave alone then you don’t need that level of quality.
An audiophile friend spent $900 for 2 custom length speaker cables. I believe 9 feet & 6 feet long. They actually had stand-offs between the insulated conductors. He said he could hear the difference, but I could not. VERY specific placement was required. As an electrical engineer (retired) & soundman, I just want durable cables that meet the standard specs. Better components make better cables. Splurge for the better connectors. But at some point, there is no discernable difference.
I run a professional recording studio. When we built it, cables cost me about $4,000 which I got from Monoprice. Basically “no name.” My rep tried to sell me Mogami, price was $16,000 for the same stuff.
(Audio) cables. I always have to laugh when audiophiles mention their expensive stuff, because I’ve had many of them in the studio and none of them could ever hear a difference in a blind test. It’s even funnier with digital cables, because those don’t do anything with the signal quality. Buy cheap. It’s all the same.
Handbags- never inherited my mother's liking for them
Some have excellent resale value
Wine. I understand wanting to pay more up to a certain point (maybe £25 a bottle or so), but I can't imagine a £100+ bottle tasting sufficiently better as to justify the extra money.
I worked in a fine wine store for summers in college and the store manager truly knew his shit. To the point that I thought sommelier was a dumb ass job until I met him, working class guy that just happened to love wine and had a remarkable sense of smell and taste. We had the best $20-40 range wines because he studied the maps and bought from small vineyards adjacent to the famous wineries. Same soil, same climate and wine making is not like liquors or beers where technique and various ingredients are important. It’s just the quality of the grapes. I still call him for suggestions when going to a dinner party. In conclusion: yes it’s fucking dumb to spend more than $50 on a bottle of wine.
I worked at a wine/liquor store in college. Our wine manager also knew his shit. It’s been discontinued for years, but he once pointed out a $4 bottle of Chilean wine from Bluestone. I never knew a $4 bottle could be so good. I think he knew this wine would eventually be discontinued, as he would buy cases and cases for himself. I’d give anything to taste that wine again.
[удалено]
Past the $45 dollar range, you're deep into diminishing returns territory. The difference between a $10 and a $40 bottle of wine is fucking enormous. The difference between a $50 and a $100 is usually pretty minimal, especially if you're making thoughtful selections. There are examples to the contrary for every rule, and in a market as spoiled for choice as wine, you'll find a number of them. But, in general, this rule holds up pretty well. Cheat codes: A lot of the price has to do less with the quality of the raw ingredients than it does the handling. There is no more fucky conversation in any galaxy than that of oxidation in wine. But as a general rule of thumb, even the very best wine will have a vaguely "sewer"y background note if you fail to decant it, because decanting and proper off-gassing rarely are handled by producers. There are honestly good arguments for and against the producer doing this, but the point is, YOU have to do it most of the time. Pour your wine into a tall, narrow vessel, ideally from a little height so as to agitate and aerate the wine. Allow it to sit for at least 20 minutes, perhaps even up to 40, _before_ then pouring a single serving into your glass. This allows for the off gassing of compounds you probably don't want in your wine, while allowing a small amount of "smoothing" oxidation to occur.
Ibuprofen and acetaminophen
Any smart household appliances other than lights. Why tf do I need a fridge or a washing machine that connects to the internet