10 Things It’s Better Not to Save on, Even If You Have a Limited Budget

Frugality is a commendable character feature. However, sometimes we forget that saving on something is good only when it’s reasonable. This means that you should think a few steps ahead before making the final choice between something cheap and something expensive. That’s because there’s a chance you won’t gain anything, and your comfort level will decrease significantly.

At Bright Side, we decided to figure out what things are worth spending more money on. And we found out that this approach is more frugal than counting every nickel.

10. Light bulbs

At first glance, it seems that traditional incandescent bulbs are much cheaper than LED bulbs. However, they consume more energy, which affects your electricity bills, and, even worse, they burn out quickly and require frequent replacement. LED bulbs last much longer, which fully justifies their higher cost, and most importantly, saves you from the hassle for a long time.

9. Trash bags

Cheap trash bags often fall apart when you try to tear them off the roll, let alone the fact that they can’t hold a more or less decent amount of garbage. As a result, some of them have to be discarded at once, while the others have to be used in twos to be durable enough, which negates all the savings. Of course, this does not mean that you need to buy construction bags for ordinary household needs, but it still makes sense to give preference to more elastic and durable options.

8. Pans

Cheap pots and pans have a very short lifespan because they are made from inferior quality materials. They also have a questionable non-stick coating, which is quite susceptible to scratches and rust. All this leads to the fact that you’ll have to either continue using this scratched cookware or spend money again on its replacement. Higher-priced pans are more durable, last longer, and are easier to clean.

7. Handbags

A cheap bag made of low-quality materials will lose its look pretty quickly because the material chafes in different places. As a result, you’ll have to replace it, which requires additional expenses. To break this vicious cycle, it seems more logical to save up for a really high-quality bag that will serve you for more than one season, and pick something neutral that you can combine with all your outfits.

6. Soap

The skin is the body’s largest organ, so caring for it is really important. In this regard, using cheap soap is not the best idea. Cheap soap can damage your skin by drying it out or causing irritation, which can lead to much bigger expenses on care products and medical procedures. On the contrary, more expensive options of soap containing moisturizing and nourishing ingredients will support the natural oil barrier and keep your skin silky smooth.

5. Weighted blanket

Do you remember how you’d get covered with a heavy blanket at night in childhood, and your whole body would immediately relax? This effect helps relax the nervous system, reduce anxiety, and improve mood, and it’s definitely worth paying for. A weighted blanket is potentially beneficial for everyone in today’s stressful world. In fact, overpaying for it is a contribution to our own health, which is priceless, as we all know.

4. Shower head

Another necessary investment in your mental well-being is a high-quality shower head because it’s really enjoyable to stand under a wide and dense stream of water. Given that most people shower every day, this is a relatively small contribution to drastically improve the experience and relaxation after a hard day at work.

3. Headphones

Cheap headphones can damage your hearing due to unequal range of pitch and volume, so you get sudden spikes in sound. Also, poor quality and weak noise cancellation make you play music louder than you’d do with more expensive, high-quality headphones. Not to mention the fact that cheap headphones have to be replaced way more often due to all kinds of malfunctions.

2. Toilet paper

Cheap toilet paper also doesn’t save you money at all. As a rule, it contains fewer fibers, absorbs less moisture, and has only one layer. Altogether, these features lead to more wasteful use, so you have to buy more toilet paper than you would with more expensive options.

1. Sockets

Many household appliances are notorious for consuming large amounts of energy, even when turned off. Smart plugs that work on Wi-Fi solve this problem and even more. With their help, you can control devices through your phone, track their energy consumption, check whether you’ve forgotten to turn off any of them before leaving, and even create a schedule of when some of your devices should turn on and off.

What are other things you wouldn’t recommend to save on? Why? Tell us in the comments below.

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