I sometimes buy expensive products. Not because I am wealthy, but because I know that I will use it for a long time.
We tend to calculate our budget, counting the money in and the money out each month. If you buy something expensive, you might go over your budget for that month.
That is why we avoid buying something expensive and buy cheaper things instead. But did you know that it might be more expensive to buy cheaper products?
The real cost of what we buy
When we want to save money, we compare prices and aim for buying something cheaper. It’s a good strategy for disposable products that need constant replacing, like toilet paper. When we run out of toilet paper, we have to replace it.
For the other products like clothes, shoes, furniture, cooking utensils, we shouldn’t calculate their price in the same way as disposable products.
We need to calculate the price based on how long we use those products, so that we know the real price of what we buy.
If we buy a shirt for 10 euros, it is really cheap when we purchase. If we only wear it for 3 months, then the shirt costs 3.33 euros a month.
If we buy an expensive shirt for 70 euros, it obviously costs more than the cheaper one. Even if we wear it for one year, then it costs 5.83 euros a month, so it iis more expensive than the shirt that costs 10 euros. But if we wear it for 2 years, then it costs 2.91 euros a month. It is actually cheaper than wearing the 10-euros shirt for 3 months.
The longer we use the product, the cheaper it will become. In fact, I am not against buying cheap products. I am against not using the products long enough.
I actually bought a peeler from Japan’s famous 100 yen shop. It cost less than 1 euro. I bought it when I moved into this apartment 5 years ago. I am still using it.
Disposable products are expensive
When we rely hugely on disposable products, we notice that it costs more than the products that we can utilize for a long time.
Single-use cups don’t seem so expensive. A set of 50 cups costs about 6 euros, making it 0.12 euros a piece. If we buy a mug for 10 euros, it will cost more if we only use it for a month. Mugs usually last longer. If we use this mug for a year, it costs 0.83 euros a month. It is still less expensive than using one single-use cup a month, which comes to 1.44 euros for 12 months.
We usually use mugs and glasses longer than one year. If we can replace single-use products with reusable ones, we can save so much money.
Think about the environmental costs
Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we have been throwing out an enormous amount of objects, making the earth a huge dumping ground. Our way of always renewing what we possess has a huge environmental cost.
Our earth can’t take the way we keep buying new things and throwing out the old ones. It is time to slow things down.
There is a way to save money and also save the future pollution. The only way to do it is to stop replacing things constantly.
Ask yourself before you buy: will you use it for 5 to 10 years? Even longer?
