Long-term purchasing.

Posted by Matt
I've found a helpful tip for making purchasing decisions, though I'm sure it is probably starting to bother my wife. Whenever I'm faced with a purchase (and I'm talking more like long-term items like housewares than groceries here), I try to remember to ask myself "Is this the last [blank] I'll ever buy?"

First off, it means I shop with durability and quality in mind, and am willing to pay a little more for those attributes if it means I won't have to re-purchase the item when it wears out or breaks.

Next, I try to think about how well the item covers all of our requirements and whether I think I might get sick of the style eventually.

Now, admittedly, long-term purchasing is easier when you can actually afford to buy quality and when you are in a stage of your life where it makes sense. For example: when I was young and single, trying to find the perfect dinnerware was very low on my priority list and I probably couldn't have afforded it anyway. When my future wife and I first moved in together, we bought an inexpensive set of plates that we later grew tired of. We next received a very nice set of dishes as wedding gifts, but later discovered that they were very difficult to fit into our dishwasher racks and they also chipped frequently. That's when I thought, "okay, let's just find what we need already." Someone recommended Corelleto us and I'm SO glad they did.

1. The stuff is practically unbreakable.
2. The design is plain, simple and classic (all white).
3. They fit well in the dishwasher and our cabinets.
4. The set was relatively inexpensive.

I NEVER want to replace this stuff. I will concede that all the other dishes I've owned or used in my life helped me define exactly what types of dishes I was looking for and there is definitely value in that. I'm just saying that I try to think ahead.

So far, I've got a fairly short list of things that I think I'll never buy again (my cast iron skillet, wedding ring, some furniture and some tools to name a few items), so I hope that other people will post suggestions in the comments.