Can High Priced Luxury Goods Actually Be Frugal?
Yes and No… How’s that for a Definitive Answer… LOL.
If you don’t want to read further it can be boiled down to three corollaries:
1. In order to be frugal, a luxury good “must be able to outlast / outperform the total number of cheaper alternatives you can buy for the same given amount of money.”
2. “You must anticipate using the item to the extent that corollary one is fulfilled.”
3. Aesthetics should not be allowed to completely override corollary 2.
It’s really going to depend on what the luxury goods are too. This post is also going to be biased on what “I” consider to be luxury goods. Since quality is subjective I define luxury goods as those that cost at least 10 times that of the equivalent item that will fulfill the same purpose.
There are also things I don’t ever consider to be luxury goods. I don’t consider a $3000 man’s suit or woman’s dress to be any better than its $300 cousin and thus not a luxury good no matter how good it looks. It won’t last, is easily ruined, and will probably be out of fashion in six months. I consider such a suit/dress to be a waste of money.
Then again if you travel a lot a $500 leather suitcase / trunk used to carry your wardrobe that is well made should last you decades… perhaps you’ve even seen one in your Grandparents attic or basement. They weren’t considered luxury goods in their day and were much cheaper but that was the only style made… often sewn by hand.
With the advent of nylon and other synthetic plastics you can buy a cheap suitcase for $25 but it won’t be around in 5 or 10 years… Heck it may not make it through the baggage handlers at the airport even once… let alone be able to be passed down to your own Grandchildren… but the one your Grandfather carried all through Europe would today, because of its cost and the time it takes to make. I consider it a Luxury Good.
I have no doubt that a properly cared for $500 leather suitcase will outlast 20 cheapos costing $25.
First one must understand that people look at such goods most often as status symbols… either rare, handmade, or from a famous designer and thus are willing to pay sometimes outlandish sums (again a personal value judgment as to what is “outlandish”) for the privilege of owning them.
For some of us though it’s not that it’s rare, handmade, or has a famous name attached to it but that many luxury goods are well made and will last many years where the “frugal” mass produced cheap items that fulfill the same function wear out or break in a short time leading to spending to replace them along with the headache of the time and effort to do so.
Another, just as important thing, is an intangible and almost impossible one to put a dollar figure on… that is aesthetics.
Luxury goods are called that not just because they are almost always well made but because they are aesthetically pleasing to the eye and the hand and it is a joy to use them… not to say the cheap items can’t have the same quality but it is much more prevalent in luxury goods. Being aesthetically pleasing is part of the reason they are “luxury goods” and command the prices they do.
So how can they be Frugal?
First by being “well made” they will last a very long time… sometimes for generations… think of the leather suitcase. You might replace the cheap nylon one enough times paying enough to equal or surpass the cost of 1 leather one. (Don’t forget the time and trouble you have to go through in the replacement process too.)
Think of the aesthetics as well… soft leather that will acquire a distinct patina and feel and that feels like an old friend from carrying it everywhere your boss has sent you around the world and the memories that will become attached to it. Nothing to do with frugal but something that can be priceless.
It’s NOT frugal if you buy it for only one or two uses… no matter how aesthetically pleasing it is. Which is why you must be careful when looking to buy luxury goods.
You must not let corollary 3 gain the upper hand over corollary 2… then you are nothing but a spendthrift.
Never let aesthetics completely override quality.
So what do I personally think of as luxury goods that I’m willing to purchase because I believe them to be actually frugal???
- Furniture
- Suitcases
- Hand Tools
- Pots And Pans
- Silverware
- Fountain Pens
Based on your lifestyle what would you consider a “Frugal Luxury Good”?
Photo credit: stock.xchng.
I love this post.
You are so right about quality (but frugal) goods such as hand tools, kitchen utensils or SOME furniture.
To be honest, IKEA is perfectly fine for furniture for me. My parents have had IKEA furniture in their bedrooms for 30 years now and it’s still going strong and it looks great. *shrug* I don’t see furniture as a big one on the list.
As for other luxury goods, I’d say electronics only because you end up learning the hard (slow) way that a cheap laptop will break, the screen will fade and it won’t last the beating you’ll be giving it because you wanted to save $200….
Great post!!!!
Fabulously Broke in the City
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver…
I spent $3000 on knives when I started culinary school. But seeing as my knives are my livelihood, this is an investment well worth the money. My knives are something I will use for the rest of my life. Those $20 cheap pieces of crap you get at Target aren’t worth it. Spend the money on good knives.
Serena: I know all about that…I furnished my kitchen a knife at a time when the Henckels went on sale. I don’t think I spent as much as you did..but then it was almost 30 years ago too and the knives are still going strong.
In my own opinion no tool is “Too Expensive” if it makes your job easier.
Fabulously Broke: As far as electronics go I never considered them a Luxury Good…at least as far as price points are concerned. I’ve always just looked at purchasing an item that will do what I want it too at the cheapest price…though it usually means I have to wait a while until its “obsolete”. My brother scarfed up a perfectly good Dell laptop that was a year old from a friend because it didn’t have enough memory according to the friend…as if 120 GB isn’t enough…sheesh!!
For furniture since I intend to buy solid wood the price differences between brands aren’t all that great..thus I will allow Aesthetics to dictate the purchase even if the “Aesthetically Pleasing” one is more money. If you are even a little unhappy with even one aspect of an item…say you don’t like the way the feet look on the table or the color is just a tiny shade off what you want…eventually you will become unhappy with it and want to replace it. Its better if your are happy with ALL aspects of the item.
~ Roland
When I first started reading this, I thought of big-screen TV as the stereotypical luxury good and then when I read your three corollaries, I decided a big-screen TV could be a frugal purchase if it prevented you from spending much more on other luxury items. For example, you might rent IMAX movies of exotic places instead of going on exotic vacations and you might invite friends over for movie night instead of going out drinking.
To answer your question, I have paid extra for
* longer-lasting knit shirts (my LLBean shirts keep their shape longer than my Old Navy shirts) and sneakers (Reebocks last three times as long as the shoes I used to get from Kmart and cost only twice as much.)
* pans that are easier to clean (my Revereware pans, which are now considered cheap by people who use AllClad, are much better than the crappy aluminum pans I learned to cook with at camp and are good enough for my constant-stirring cooking style; glass bakeware is easier to clean than metal ones)
* cheese grater – this is a luxury item (did I mention I learned to cook at camp?) but it makes me very happy and more likely to do my own cooking than to go out to eat
* good knives that stay sharp (actually, I use my roommate’s Henckels, which are free)
* Furniture made of materials other than cardboard. It lasts longer. In fact, I won’t even buy pressed board furniture any more–any replacements will be made of something longer lasting like wood, glass, or metal.
* A house with a solid foundation (unlike my poor parents) close to downtown (which saves me lots of transportation costs) (although I paid for the good location by going smaller and older rather than by paying more cash)
Most of what I spend extra for in money nowadays are things that reduce nonmonetary costs:
* Things that recycle easily such as food in glass containers instead of plastic
* Things made from recycled materials such as paper goods
* Things grown in renewable and humane ways
I am going to write on something similar myself. My parents craved Eames chairs when they married in 1952. They bought the cheapest ones (wood with metal legs). I just brought them home (56 years later!). The chairs are now $425–but if they last 50plus years, I would say they are a frugal choice.
I agree with your choices–knives, pots. I’m not sure about luggage, however.
Great post.
My hubby travels extensively and we’ve found that Hartmann luggage far outlast the cheaper suitcases. I find it on ebay at a fraction of the cost of a new case.
Cast-iron pans provide unusually even heating and are indestructible, easy to clean, and often quite cheap – for around $15 I can get a new one pretty much indistinguishable from the ones handed down by my grandmother, and they seem to be easy to find for much less than this at thrift stores. So I will have to disagree with you on pans.
LOL…you can’t be a “starving student” if you get to have good pans…and cast iron like Grannys ARE good pans…though in my case Aesthetics Hammer Locked then Body Slammed Frugal until it cried Uncle and I went with what fit both categories.
Cast Iron pans have gotten a bad rap because they are often the choice of the poor (because their cheap) and because they require some fussy care (like don’t soak in soapy water) because of the porosity of the iron and the tendency to rust if not used/cared for regularly.
I really think most people go with the pans they buy not on price but on how light they are…most quality pans, regardless of price, tend to be heavy. Even heavy aluminums used in restaurants…and not just because of their size…are still on the heavy side.
Le Crueset pots and pans are Porcelain Coated Cast Iron but from friends I know who have them the porcelain is fragile and can be chipped on the rims…especially the lids.