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There are two types of people in this world – people who throw caution to the wind and buy what they want and need when they want and need it, and people who hem and haw over every purchase and every last penny, wondering whether or not it’s going to be worth it in the end.
If you’re the second type and have been eyeballing any of these 14 items, these Redditors say go ahead and click buy – because they will more than pay for themselves in the long run.
14. I remain unconvinced.
Maybe not what you’re looking for but cloth diapers. My wife and I cloth diapered with our first child, and are using them again for our second. The initial investment was hefty, we spent just shy of 500 dollars for about 30 diapers.
However, we don’t buy disposable at all. I have conservatively said we would spend 100 dollars a month on disposable. We cloth diapered till my daughter was 2.5 years old so 30 months. That’s roughly 3,000 dollars so saving about 2,500.
With our second child there is no up front cost since we still have the diapers and he turns 9 months old in 2 weeks, so another 900 dollars saved. Now this isn’t perfect, I understand the added cost of water and detergent but imo that’s negligible based on laundry for a 4 person household anyways when you figure bulk detergent and HE washers.
My wife would also say the environmental impact of not throwing diapers into landfills.
13. Your feet with thank you.
My boots. I was going through a pair of $120 boots every 6 months or so. I finally broke down and bought a pair of $400 boots from a local store.
Not only do they clean and oil them monthly (for free), they also re-stitch and re-sole them as needed. When they eventually do wear out to the point of no repair I will be buying the same exact boots from them again.
Edit to add: They are Red Wing Loggermax soft toe
12. This one checks out.
I went to one of those shoe stores that does a 3D scan of your feet. I got scanned and learned that instead of having flat feet (like I had thought for years) I actually have high arches.
I got a pair of $120 sneakers with a pair of $50 arch supports.
NO MORE KNEE PAIN!!
11. You only get one set of teeth.
Hydraulic floss has helped me keep my teeth so much cleaner saving so much on dental…
Also a Soniccare toothbrush over the cheap paintbrushSpinbrush. Rechargeable and it works so incredibly well.
10. Rainbow chickens for the win.
Not sure if this counts but I used to go to the zoo alot to check out their parrots. It was almost an hour by bus and a bitch of a walk up a hill, but i loved those screaming rainbow chickens.
Then one day I up and bought my very own rainbow chicken.
Now I visit the zoo maybe once every few months, but I bring my own bird to show them that this is the f**king jail she’ll be in if she ever bites me again. /s
i would die for my stupid bird. I saved bus fare and buckets of sweat i guess?
9. Found the Brit!
high quality kettle. technically I didn’t spend a lot money on it, but my grandma did and I got it when she passed away.
by the look of the handles it’s probably 20-30 years old, but the actual kettle is still in better condition than a kettle I purchased 5 years ago.
8. It takes awhile but it will pay off.
Espresso machine. I’m an ex barista so I know how to make most fancy beverages but I didn’t have the equipment. I’m also addicted to coffee so my household was easily spending $10-20 per day on beverages.
I bought a $90 basic espresso machine with foam wand and I spent another $60 in start up materials (nice coffee, milks, ice tray, reusable straws, and a few syrups).
I kept a detailed log of my expenses for the 1st few months and each drink came out to be about $1.60 in materials. I generally make at least 2 beverages a day and it saves us ~$300 per month.
7. You’ll never go back.
Bidet – Not super expensive, but saves on toilet paper. I’ve used it for about a year and I love it.
Just last weekend I was recommending a bidet to a friend, checked amazon, and the model I bought at $25 has been jacked up to $145.
The fancier models (which I actually don’t recommend) were over $300.
6. Scream it from the rooftops.
I WISH I could say heartworm prevention.
On chewy.com it’s like $30 for a pack of 6 or something like that—it turns out to $5 a month.
Now my dog is on his last heartworm shot. After buying into a wellness plan, his shots are still $250. This one is his 3rd in a month.
BUY HEARTWORM PREVENTION FOR YOUR DOGS, PEOPLE
ITS SO MUCH CHEAPER THAN THESE SHOTS
5. Thrift it if you can.
sewing machine
My mom bought her sewing machine at a yardsale for pretty cheap before I was born. She never did too much with it. Fast forward to now, i’ve put miles upon miles of stitching down with that thing, and I found the exact same machine at a thrift store for 8 bucks.
I bought it for parts (since its much dirtier and beat up on the outside than mine). Old cheap machines are the BEST. I don’t trust newer machines.
4. Be safe out there.
Climbing rope can be pretty expensive on a dirtbag budget, but it is significantly less expensive than a hospital stay or a funeral.
Follow guidelines (oop) and test regularly and buy new one after recommended time!
3. Those pods add up.
Years ago my wife and I had a Starbucks Verismo espresso machine. Each pod cost $1, and we’d each use 2 every day. That’s $4/day, so we were spending upwards of $28/week just on coffee. Still cheaper than Starbucks but we grew tired of the pod trash and having to find the coffee pods we liked.
So, we decided to purchase a Jura Ena Micro 1 coffee machine. It grinds and pressure-brews coffee and espresso. We were able to reduce our costs from $4/day to less than $0.20 per day (assuming $5/pound coffee bought in bulk) The machine was $800, but it paid for itself in less than 8 months.
That was 4 years ago this month. We’ve saved over $5,000 in that time. Plus no more pod trash, and we get to choose whatever coffee beans we want, rather than being limited to what was in pods.
2. It’s a lot up front, but…
I bought a pair of tieks. I was replacing my black flats twice a year because I wore them every day but these have been about a year and a half now going great, plus they’re super comfy.
I wore them two days straight at Disneyland and no blister, sores, anything.
1. A good pair of heels.
This one sounds extremely frivolous but just hear me out. For my high school prom, I rented my dress from a popular designer rental company, so that was cheap, but I decided to splurge on a $98 pair of black heels (I worked for my money). Before then, I’d never fathomed spending so much on shoes, but when I saw them, they were the perfect any-occasion-nice-heels. Matched literally anything, could be dressed all the way up to prom level, but the height was reasonable enough to get away with a more professional look, too.
Let me tell you, when I slipped those bad boys on, my life was forever changed and I learned an important lesson that has saved me hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars over the years since:
EXPENSIVE HEELS ARE EXPENSIVE BECAUSE THEY ARE COMFORTABLE. I REPEAT: EXPENSIVE HEELS ARE COMFORTABLE TO WEAR
I danced all the way through prom in those 4.5” beauties, and they remain in my closet, still regularly used at age 26 🙂
I can definitely vouch for a few of these myself – sometimes, you really do get exactly what you pay for and nothing more.
What other types of items would you put on this list? If we’re missing something, hit us with it in the comments!
