Comments on: The Gray Area Between Want And Need

By: Paul Freeman

Paul Freeman — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:29:57 +0000

Ashia: is it possible you could borrow one from a friend to see how you’d get on with it ?

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 01:11:13 +0000

True. As long as we have a proof that the expensive stuff is worthy of its high cost, then we can make a safe choice.

By: Ashia

Ashia — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:01:38 +0000

Ah yes, but it is deciding if you actually need the product in the first place that trips us up. We have been debating, for example, the merits of buying a pressure cooker or a crockpot in my house for a year. Ultimately, my husband believes we will save time and money on dinners while I believe we have lots of quick and cheap dinners already and we dont need to drop 120 on a pressurecooker or even 40 on a cheap crock pot.
So, ultimately, we purchase neither and every time we see one in the store we debate it.
now what?

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:21:13 +0000

I am also of the buy the cheap brands camp. I apply this mostly to food stuffs as this is our biggest reccuring bill (other than rent). Every once and again you end up with a dinner that wasn’t everything you wanted. Research done ques. answered and at 2@$.89 you can’t go that wrong. For the rest of my shopping Needs\Wants research can just mean asking around “hey you bought the …. didn’t you?” We all have our “car guy friend” Our “Techy Friend” ask around and then compare your buddies against someone reliable like consumer reports. for me most times the store labels are just fine.

By: Kenny

Kenny — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:45:48 +0000

On board with the “when you don’t know what your’e buying, buy the cheap brand” plan. Actually we did a taste test once, and both my father-in-law and I preferred the “el cheapo” whiskey, whereas both of our wives chose the very expensive brand.

My father-in-law was surprised, because up to this point, he thought the expensive stuff was worth it.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:54:16 +0000

I agree that there is a very definite gray line when it comes to a lot of shopping. When you realize that you ‘need’ to buy something to what level of quality do you go to? I do pretty much the same thing as you unless I know about a specific product I go with the cheaper version (I’m also very picky about my pens and pay $20 a pack for them and think its a great purchase).

I’ve always found that there are many gray lines between our wants and needs especially when our needs start becoming our wants.

By: Paul Freeman

Paul Freeman — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:28:22 +0000

You should also take into consideration the amount of use you will put to the item. If you rarely write a cheap pen is the way to go as you will not get enough usage out of your fancy pen. If you write all day you’ll want to spend the time researching for a good pen.

So instead of deciding on the basis of how much you know about an item, decide on the usage as well.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 03:39:38 +0000

MW, do you have a good recipe for mac’n'cheese? Most Significant Digit keeps trying different saucepan recipes, and they never quite come out, not sure why but maybe the “healthy” recipes he finds at RecipeZaar are no good? He sometimes has migraines or gets crashy if he has too many carbs.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 03:34:20 +0000

Maybe I was cursed… they knew about the temp assignment during college I spent singing “Copacabana Disco” in the filing room at Newell Rubbermaid.

Actually, the Cristals weren’t too bad, but various people kept buying the Round Stics and they drive me absolutely buggy–black ink would barely write gray when they wrote at all. The only thing worse was the Corporate Express imitation, and even faculty would rarely take those off my previous desk.

By: Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 03:33:27 +0000

I use real cheese to make mac and cheese, I don’t find it any more expensive than the boxed Kraft product, and it doesn’t have any of those funky additives and such.

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 03:05:28 +0000

Oh, see, I love the Bic pens! I can’t stand writing with anything else, I don’t know why. They are just my very favorite kind of pen.

By: Javi0084

Javi0084 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:31:34 +0000

Oh, and as for pens, I grab a hand full from work. Cheap marketing swag for the win.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 21:08:48 +0000

I’ve bought cheap Bic stics, and a third of them don’t write out of the box. Instead I’ve bought cheap Papermates stick pens every few years, but mostly I use fountain pens. Right now my Rotring fine (I think it’s the 600 series) is my favorite, probably cost me about $40 on sale a few years back, and my $4 bottles of ink (50 mL) last over a year, for home and work. It’s reliable, it writes sensually as silk, it makes me think more carefully, and the marginal cost is about the same as the Papermates and much less than, e.g., the fast-dying gel pens in so much favor of late. Yet people are afraid of it and think I’m eccentric. Maybe I am.

By: paidtwice

paidtwice — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 21:04:44 +0000

I’ve read your recommendations for Pampers diapers before, and if I only had my first child I would wholeheartedly agree. We tried numerous different brands and types with my son when he was born (I actually had a big chart and everything lol) and only the Swaddlers and then Crusiers worked consistently for him. Other brands were not at ALL worth the money it took to clean up the messes they made. Even the other expensive ones like Huggies.

Enter my daughter two years later (whom I intended to use Pampers and only Pampers on…) and the hospital we were in only used Huggies. And unlike my son, the Huggies didn’t leak everywhere! So I got curious. We slowly purchased some generics for her…. and by and large, they worked. We had some mishaps along the way (not every single diaper worked great) but for the most part… we can use a generic on her just fine without leakage or issues. So she’s in generics and my wallet thanks me. Now if only my son would cooperate with the potty training….

Just a tip from a two time parent. Your daughter may be just like your son in that only Pampers work well. Or she might save you some $$ if you end up not going the cloth diaper route and use disposables, and take to generics just fine. I have no explanation for this phenomenon at all.

Good luck to you :)

By: Jared

Jared — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:35:13 +0000

My wife and I do a lot of this type of thinking – some things we buy in name-brand, some things we buy generic. For example, we only buy Kraft-brand Mac and Cheese (it’s the cheesiest! now ever cheesier!) for no reason other than we think it tastes better than the generic, and we’re willing to pay the extra money for what we feel is a better product.

I also like expensive pens. I’m the type of person who always carries my own pen, and I don’t like to use other people’s pens (especially ones at places like fast food restaurants!), so I always sign with my own.

By: Javi0084

Javi0084 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:55:23 +0000

If you want cheap quality diapers, look no further than Target brand. Not even Costco sells cheaper diapers. They are about $7 cheaper than the national brand and my toddler can’t tell the difference.