5 Items You Should Always Pay Full Price For
The frugal shopper knows that you can find savings almost anywhere. Coupon clipping and bargain-hunting are ways of life, and you earn every penny you save.
However, the frugal decision isn’t always about saving every penny possible. Although it’s smart to cut costs on most things, you should be willing to pay for quality on certain products. Now we don’t mean you should break your budget on these things, but consider these more as worthwhile investments.
1. Health Products
With the exception of a handful of over-the-counter drugs, you should always be willing to pay a premium for health-related products. That applies to things like vitamins, supplements, or probiotics. Whenever you’re putting something into your body, you should make sure you’re getting the highest quality. High prices don’t always mean good supplements, but be wary of anything severely discounted.
2. Self-Care Products
As with health products, when it comes to taking care of your body you should treat yourself. Toothpaste and toothbrushes, for example, get pretty expensive on the high end, but for good reason. You only get one set of teeth, so you should invest in taking care of them. The same goes for things like skincare, hair maintenance, and mental health. Taking good care of yourself should always be a priority.
3. Glasses/Contact Lenses
You can pick up cheap prescription glasses over the counter at plenty of drugstores, but you might end up doing more harm to yourself than good. The urban legend that wearing the wrong glasses will destroy your eyesight isn’t quite true, but a faulty prescription will have some negative side effects. Prescriptions can be expensive, but the cost is worth avoiding discomfort and blurry vision.
4. Mattresses
Good mattresses are costly. Many mattress companies have sales throughout the year, but even on the low end, you should expect to fork over a few hundred bucks for a decent mattress. Considering how much of your life you’ll spend on that mattress, we think it’s worth overspending a bit. A good mattress will last you roughly 10 years, and there’s almost no dollar amount you can put on a decade of good sleep.
5. Refrigerators
This goes for most major appliances, but a fridge is something you expect to have for a while. An average refrigerator lasts at least a decade, but a below-average fridge could break down on you. That would mean not only do you need to get your fridge fixed or replaced, you’re also dealing with potentially spoiled food. Investing more money upfront on a reliable fridge could save you repair or re-purchase costs down the line, and also guarantees you’ll never run into issues with your food storage.
