If you haven't heard of it, the "Boots Principle of Socioeconomic unfairness" comes from a Terri Pratchett book:
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
After wearing through my third pair of shoes this year, I've been a bit shortsighted. I tend to buy inexpensive shoes and wear them into the ground, which happens fairly quickly, given that I walk everywhere and am on my feet while at work. I should probably be spending more on footwear, even if it means cutting in to my budget.
I have the same issue with a lot of "daily use" items. Towels, socks, sheets, cookware...
I'm thinking maybe it's worth it to buy shoes that cost more than $50, towels that cost more than $5 etc...
What everyday items do you think are worth spending more on to save money in the long run?
Submitted December 24, 2017 at 10:19AM by SlightlyTheCat http://ift.tt/2znMFHs
