…to a reasonable degree, at least.
Hot dog buns. In my opinion, the generic, white, store brand buns make the best hot dogs.
I like top split buns. They don’t fall apart
Reading glasses.
Aliexpress has really cheap ones. Buy 2 as sometimes they’re not up to scratch (1/10 I’d say).
deleted by creator
Plus buy only one pack ahead of time since you don’t know if they will even fit. None of my newborns came out small enough for newborn size anything.
I actually had the opposite experience with my son. When he was a newborn and wasn’t eating solid food yet he didn’t have any solid poos and was blowing out the Pampers at least once a day.
Once he was size 2 we started buying store brand but it was also the same time he started eating real food so he would blow out far less often. Now he’s 11 months old and hasn’t had a blowout in probably a couple months and we’ve been using store brand diapers with great success
Video games. Unless it’s a game I play with friends I typically wait for it to drop in price significantly.
Yup. My strategy has long been:
- Put game in wishlist.
- Wait for it to drop to under 20$ (or close)
- Profit. Well maybe not profit, but save money.
Waits and waits but Nintendo won’t budge.
Nintendo’s stuff is free on day 1, or a few years after release if it’s their Wii U stuff. I think the first Wii took a year before the Twilight Hack happened.
Let’s hope they fuck up again on the Switch 2!
Also, if you’re not going to play it this week, think twice! And, if you’re not going to play it this month, think a third time!
Also good to wait until all the bugs are worked out. Been playing Cyberpunk recently and it performs really well!
College books.
Yar har libgen be free
Most people are being very specific, but I’d say consumables in general. Rarely is a name brand food or medicine any different than generic. Often they’re literally produced in the same factory. Stuff that’s meant to last, generally a more expensive product will be made more durable (not always), but this isn’t a consideration with consumables. If it’s a one-time use or edible, I’m going with the cheapest option 99% of the time.
It’s funny how people won’t cheap out on something like a mattress or clothing but consistently buy the cheapest food possible which is going into their bodies.
You spend at least or about a third of your life on a mattress. That shit’s important.
And most people eat food at least 2 times a day.
Yeah, but you don’t eat the same meal every single day, and you don’t purchase several years worth of food all at the same time.
I agree with eating healthy, but if you’re buying cheese-it’s, as an example, the generic brand is equally bad for you as the name brand. You should still try to make healthy choices, but name brand doesn’t make anything healthy.
I think it’s funny you used cheeseits as your example because that’s one of the few things I won’t buy generic of because they’re just different. Little cookies, crackers, chips, and chocolates are usually brand specific in taste (though don’t assume you prefer the name brand, you may prefer the generic!) so they’re not fungible. I’d rather skip the calories than have generic cheeseits or Doritos.
I agree except for condiments. They’re cheap enough already compared to how long they last that I think it’s worth springing for the good stuff. Duke’s Mayo, Grey Poupon mustard, Cholula hot sauce, Ken’s Steakhouse salad dressings, etc. If a bottle lasts you six months, what difference does a few dollars make?
For staples like flour, bread, canned products, OTC meds, who cares. I’ll go as cheap as possible.
You’re calling Ken’s good?
My friend once wrote a letter to them about how bad their blue cheese dressing is. In return they gave him a voucher for a lifetime supply of it. That shit is disgusting, IMO.
That’s a “lol eat shit” response if I ever saw one.
Their blue cheese is terrible, but some of their dressing varieties are quite good IMO. I consider their Lite Caesar and “Simply” Greek some of the best off the shelf brands. Come to think of it, I don’t know of any blue cheese that isn’t from the refrigerated section that is worth eating.
removed by mod
As an asexual I agree.
Apparentlyv Mr Clean MagicErasers are just melamine sponges which are actually mucho cheapo
I buy the giant blocks of 100 generic melamine sponges from Amazon.
However, having a couple of the Mr clean versions around is prudent. They are slightly different. They deform more easily and disintegrate faster but they get deeper into crevices. It’s super rare that I find something that generic ones won’t do a great job on but it’s good to have a couple of the name brand ones for that time when they don’t cut it.
Yeah, great for cleaning, and I got a pack of 100 for like $4
Mr Clean is like $4 for 2 if you’re lucky
Headphones. Once you get to the $300 range, the more expensive ones sound different, not necessarily better. I have some electrostatics that have great extension, but the “real” sound is so harsh after a few hours.
Yeah, I’ve noticed this too. I’m not an audiophile, but I do enjoy quality audio. Everything seems to plateu around the 300$ price point. At that level, the sound is reproduced with as much accuracy as reasonably possible, and the build quality is pretty good. Anything beyond that point is basically added “features” and does not reflect improvement in sound reproduction.
I don’t want “Tripple bass rumbler”, or “Crisp treble supercharger”. I want my headset to reproduce the audio as perfectly as possible, without altering it.
Come to think of it, adjusted for inflation, the Roland headsets I’ve had for the past 20 years have all been around 300$
I can’t say I necessarily agree on this one as I really enjoy my nicer headphones, but $300 is probably the price where you hit some serious diminishing returns. It could also be argued that many (most?) of the more expensive headphones have no business being priced like they are.
Yeah, I’m in pretty much the same agreement. As long as it’s tuned well, comfort takes top priority for me. Sometimes though, the right combination of things can cost a bit more.
I’m not sure you should “cheap out” on headphones per se. The really cheap ones are usually horrible, both in terms of sound quality, usability and comfort (well, except for wired Apple ones, allegedly, though they never fit me right). It’s just that it makes no sense to go for really expensive ones, unless you’re really into audio and love hearing the tiny sound reproduction differences between them, or enjoying the different tech etc. The middle ground of $50-$100 for in-ears and $100-300 for over-ears will often offer you good/great/excellent sound quality and the same usability&comfort as more expensive ones.
Power tools. If you are not a professional and need to buy a tool (if you can’t borrow one), buy the cheap one.
I used a $30 Ryobi drill for over a decade and it was fine.
deleted by creator
Ironically, it didn’t break, but when I was on the road and needed a power drill to fix something, I didn’t feel bad about dropping $500 on a new Milwaukee from Ace hardware.
But don’t cheap out on drill bits, nor should you try and use the same drill bit for like a decade without sharpening it.
Think of drill bits like a good, sharp knife. Knives cut far better and far easier when they sharp, exactly the same with drill bits. If you trying to cut something you would normally pick the right type of knife to do the job, exactly the same with drill bits.
If you driving screws or other fasteners with your drill consider better quality driver bits if you have a lot of them to drive, such as building a deck. Good quality driver bits cam out far far less and will take more torque so be faster/go in better. Using cheap driver bits is probably worse than using cheap drill bits.
Is there a sharpener you recommend? Drill Doctor?
Never tried sharpening them myself, always used a service as standard jobber bits are less than a pound to get done for you. I normally save up a bunch of stuff including saw blades and get them done at once to save on shipping at hit the low volume discounts.
However, its only worth doing on quality components, I wouldn’t pay a pound or waste my own time to get a cheap ass drill bit sharpened, I would just replace it.
My saw blades start at like £70 so paying £12 to get it sharpened is good value, but a £30 blade is not really worth it, not least for which it won’t cut anywhere near as much material before getting blunt between sharpens. Same logic for drill bills, some of my SDS ones are over £30 each, my augur bits can be over £50 each, so those are worth looking after, not going to bother for a set of 10 bits for £20.
I wouldn’t even call Ryobi the cheap one, they are good quality and cost more than many others. Harbor Freight is what I’d call cheap - my rule of thumb is that very simple hand tools from HF are OK but anything complex is probably not
We needed a router for one job. My boss got a router from Harbor Freight. Burned through the brushes halfway through (same day). Swapped brushes. Finished the job.
His alternate plan (if we burned through the second set): return it as dysfunctional. As it would be same day, replacement would be natural.
I think he ended up taking it back for a refund after the job was done.
I bought a cylinder head pressure gauge from HF and took it home, didn’t work at all. When I looked at it closely I could see that it was completely missing the core valve that is supposed to be in the bottom. It was just a hole instead of a valve. Took it back for a refund next day.
Not sure if this counts as cheaping out, but wait a year or so before buying computer games, when the price drops by 50% or more. Some never seem to price drop and others get really cheap right before the sequel comes out.
Toilet paper, trash bags, paper towels. If you go the absolute cheapest, they’re arguably defective, but the second cheapest is usually ok.
Alkaline and rechargeable NiMH batteries. The price per hours of use favors the cheap brands. A top brand might last longer but you are paying a premium for it. Rechargeable NiMH batteries with a good price to battery life ratio are from IKEA.
New cars. After a car has been owned by one owner, for however short a period of time, it dramatically reduces its price. At least in the UK.
Cloths, headphones, handbags. Anything that’s just buying the brand.
I don’t get why I should want these high end brands when the only thing I can afford from them is plastered with their logo.
I’ve seen the Gucci tracksuit, the Jordans, the Beats, everything and I’m not impressed. Even though luxury things are luxury I don’t even agree with the luxuriousness of many of these products. For example, if I’m going to wear a Gucci tracksuit covered in the Gucci logo and using Gucci colors then it’s gotta look good first and foremost. If I’m going to hold a Hermes bag that’s not comfortable, or durable, or robust but is just supposed to look cool, then it’s gotta actually look cool! Not like something Shien could design.
And yes I am aware of the concept of buying a store of value: diamonds, expensive watches, actually rare and valued handbags. But most of the famous luxuries I see in public are not that. They’re literally a poor man’s status symbol IMO.
Why are you talking about Beats like they’re real headphones?
They are categorized as headphones
For headphones, DEFINITELY not true in my experience. There’s cheap and gimmicky (like Skullcandy), there’s perceived “luxury” brands like Beats (which aren’t actually worth their money) but then there’s brands that actually offer significantly better quality and longevity for the price, like Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Audio-Technica and Sony to name a few.
I bought some $50 open back headphones a while back and they a just worlds better than anything I’d had before. Is there a step up from there that’d similarly rock my world?
My mic is pretty similar. $100 got me an SM58 and it’s wonderful. You have to basically eat it and I can peak it if I’m loud. But it sounds so much nicer than most things. I know there’s a few steps up from there. But I don’t sing so think I’m fine.
Planar magnetic headphones that start around $200 (monolith m1060) will do that
The headphones: Depends on what they are. Likely, not a better pair without spending $300+
Sm58s are the standard. Some (myself included) prefer sm57s. Though the 58s are the ‘hammer’ (many have used them as such, they still function well after if you don’t absolutely destroy them with the hammering).
Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Audio-Technica and Sony aren’t famous luxury brands in the same way that Beats are.
huh… in hindsight I didn’t think about my position about headphones all the way through, I was just mad about the existance of beats.
sry
You forgot Bose their ANC is insanely good. Sennheiser aren’t impressive to match their high price at least not the model I tried speakers are good but fitment and feel they put all the money into drivers and sound rather than comfort wait for gen 2 or 3. I tried the newest Sony 1000xm5 earbuds and headphones and they didn’t hold a candle to jabra, crapple, Bose. Only kind I tried and didn’t like was the JBL (mid brand), and Samsung buds.
And still, Koss rocks hard with their same for twenty years headphones
Lol, Koss! I think I have a pair from 1978 floating around
I stand corrected: their 40+ years same as always headphones (with exception for detachable cord)
