It’s the trap so many of us fall into when we are trying to cut back on outgoings, living the frugal lifestyle appears to be the general consensus when it comes to looking after your finances and better preparing for the future. But does cutting back end up saving us money in the long term? If you think about it, by finding ways to cut corners, you will invariably find products that are cheap. But in finding these cheap products, are you setting yourself up for shelling out more money in the long run?
quality
The Big Debate: Price Vs. Quality
Regardless of the type of product you are buying, it will always be down to the price and the quality of the item, whether you are buying a pair of trousers, a boat or a property. Think of it in terms of when you buy a big product, like a car. If you were to buy a cheap car purely to save money, the amount of issues you would have in fixing the car up would be on a regular basis. Throw into the mix fuel economy because, no doubt, the cheap car you have bought is a lot older than standard models, and you’ve got yourself a big money drainer. Even the insurance can be a pain, and if you look at a massive investment like a boat, and you look on the boatfinancing.co website, you can see that there are many restrictions for owning something as lavish as this. For any vehicle, it makes more sense to buy according to quality rather than buying cheap for the sake of it. And this is something we struggle with on the most part because we are hard-wired to look for the bargain, and this, unfortunately, spills over into our general attitude towards money, thinking that cheaper is infinitely better because, well, it costs less!
Buying Cheap Can Be Inconvenient
This can be viewed as a crass generalization across the board, but if you go with the analogy of driving to two supermarkets. One supermarket is 5 miles away and is cheap across the board, and the other supermarket is one mile away and is costlier. Instinct would tell you to go to the cheap supermarket, but when you weigh up the cost of fuel, time to get to the supermarket and back, does it work out cheaper overall? And you run into an issue with one of your items, the hassle of going all the way back will mean you have paid double in fuel costs and the item in the more expensive supermarket, when coupled up with the cost of fuel, works out cheaper in the end. Having a simple calculator like on markporthouse.net will show you exactly how much fuel you’ve spent on a journey for the sake of one measly item!
We are programmed to spot a bargain, but if that bargain is so far away or it’s of questionable quality, does that make it worth purchasing in the first place? It’s always worth thinking about buying quality products that last longer rather than forking out for cheap products every couple of months.

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