• Signtist@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    I realized this was a significant part of my expenses about a decade ago now, and started researching and budgeting for higher-quality products that don’t get as much advertisement as their cheaper counterparts. It’s been great! What started as a larger expense on the front end has already broken about even on potential replacements that I didn’t end up needing, plus I get high-quality items to use the whole way through as well!

    It’s definitely a good thing to pay attention to just how much you spend on replacing things that broke down unexpectedly quickly. The higher-quality items often exist, but a lot of times you need to seek out the niche communities that focus on those products to help find them and parse through the available options. I’m sure a lot of people just aren’t able to front the charge to make the change, though.

    • Ech@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Got any tips on researching these things? I’m always concerned that “buy-it-for-life” testimonials are only so trustworthy when the item was made years ago already, and the manufacturing process could have changed since.

    • XTL@sopuli.xyz
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      9 months ago

      Buying expensive things and imagining that they last longer just because of their price tag is also a good way to lose money faster.

      • Signtist@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Correct. That’s why I talked about finding niche communities to help find and parse through options. For example, I didn’t just buy an expensive vacuum, I found a few vacuum enthusiast forums and looked through several threads discussing the best products for my budget price.

        • model_tar_gz@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I’ve spent the majority of my life connected in some way or another to the internet, starting as a kid on niche bbs in the 90s, and it never ceases to amaze me that there are vacuum enthusiast forums.

          • Signtist@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            Everybody’s got a thing, and they’re usually happy to talk about it to someone who’s genuinely interested. Definitely helpful if you’re looking into that exact thing.