Submitted by knowhow_LM t3_10mryjh in BuyItForLife
I feel like everyone approaches this differently. What made you start buying better things and really thinking about buying things for life?
What's your personal philosophy on how to buy better objects?
If you are looking for usability the Japanese Swinger clones are a great buy and hard to beat because they are generally all metal. Post war, Swinger gave Japan their old blue prints to help reconstruction and the Japanese took that and ran with it. Japan was not big on branding in the 50's so it's next to impossible to figure out who made what and they'd stamp a lot of different labels on machines. Because of the lack of branding they are not collectable at all today. This makes them dirt cheap tanks if you want to actually use it :)
Mine is also a ZigZag model to compete with Swinger but unlike swinger's more elegant design my Japanese machine moves all of the internals back and forth instead of just the needle LOL.
Hell, and at that point, you could probably have a simple metal version milled instead.
I don’t know sewing machines but plenty of mechanical gear trains have one component designed to fail in order to save the rest. Like a shear key on a lawnmower. Might not be a bad idea to keep a spare around though
Be careful with that — the machine is already going to be mostly metal, but they made that part plastic for a reason. Most presumably, because it would be difficult to oil it as needed as time goes on.
I have a vintage Bernina with a plastic cam gear that also can break over time — still going strong! People have figured out how to mill new ones from plastic, and are experimenting with strength of resin-cast and 3D-printed versions.
Interesting, I'll keep this in mind!
I've thought about that or looking for aftermarket steel ones, but at like $10/pop and the fact that they last over a decade it's probably not worth it
For me, besides quality, BIFL is also about minimizing waste. One downside to BIFL that I don't see talked about a lot is that, once you've bought it, you have it for a really long time. For example, I have some kitchen knives that have lasted me over 10 years, and they still work great. But now that I've gotten more into cooking since when I bought those knives, I wish I could upgrade to nicer ones. But the moment that I do that, I'd have to find a way to get rid of the old knives that are not wasteful. So, BIFL isn't just about buying the nicest quality things, it's also a bit about making a commitment to the things that you buy.
That means trying to figure out how the thing you buy might be maintained and repaired into the future, buying things that have a design appeal that is timeless, or at least not so aesthetically tied to a trend that they become undesirable or unfashionable in a short amount of time, and spending the effort to find appreciative homes for the objects that you do want to get rid of. And, it also means, if you can't make that commitment for a specific purchase, to try to just not buy it, and buy less stuff.
>For me, besides quality, BIFL is also about minimizing waste. One downside to BIFL that I don't see talked about a lot is that, once you've bought it, you have it for a really long time. For example, I have some kitchen knives that have lasted me over 10 years, and they still work great. But now that I've gotten more into cooking since when I bought those knives, I wish I could upgrade to nicer ones. But the moment that I do that, I'd have to find a way to get rid of the old knives that are not wasteful. So, BIFL isn't just about buying the nicest quality things, it's also a bit about making a commitment to the things that you buy.
this is awesome. what a good point!!
Agreed. This also means you need to put a lot more care and intention into your purchases. I have put way too much time into thinking about what combination of pots and pans I'd like to own, so that I end up with enough to cover all the things I'd like to do with them, but not too much. Would be easier if cast iron worked better as a pan for infrequent use.
I'm in a similar situation with kitchen knives. I have a very nice 5 year old 8" german chef's knife, which is amazing as a single knife for everything. I've gotten a little more into cooking now, and would like to get more specialized knifes: a slightly larger japanese chef's knife and a cleaver… but that would render the one I have redundant.
I've found no-longer-wanted bifl items make great gifts to friends or family who share the same values (i.e. who wouldn't be offended by getting a secondhand item as a gift).
I mean...where are you located? If you're local, I've not managed to thrift anything better than a wusthof with a broken tip thus far.
My mom always told us to buy the best quality you can afford without going into debt. My husband & I have this philosophy as well. So, for example, we’d save or use year end bonuses to buy nicer furniture a piece at a time versus buying a cheaper set of furniture all at once.
Growing up poor I learned the hard way that cheaper is more expensive.
Say I needed to buy a tool that I expected to need regularly and my options were $20, $40, $60 or $100. When I was dirt broke and couldnt afford anything else I'd choose the 20 buck option which would soon break and wear out, so I'd replace it with another one and another one. Eventually I'll get tired of it breaking and get the upper mid range/lower upper range tool for $60 and be set but it cost me $120, more than if I'd picked the most expensive one right out of the gate.
It is expensive being poor. It became frustrating knowing I'd pay more but not being able to afford the upfront cost. These days I try to automatically pick the upper mid tier or lower top tier of all products and look for the best quality for cost, above that for most things you are getting significantly less gain in quality for the money.
> It is expensive being poor.
That, of course, is by design.
Reminds me of the Captain Samuel Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness from the Discworld series.
Man, so true. My father always said…
“A poor man can only afford the best”
Your father is a wise man.
If you buy quality you only cry once.
Wait, you guys are only crying once?
I don't like shopping, so I'd rather do it once. And wasting stuff bugs me.
Repairability is the main thing for me.
I am more than willing to pay for quality. Good quality products cost more and that’s fine. Where I draw the line is where the quality stops increasing and the price increase is simply branding/marketing.
Cheap products are cheap at first but they break more easily and you’ll need to replace them. That hassle of having something (half-)broken, trying to replace it etc. is simply no lt worth. It also ends up being more expensive in the long run when you factor in how often you have to replace it plus your time and effort to replace it.
I rather buy the more expensive product knowing that it’ll last. I do proper research online including here to see what lasts.
I look for high quality, value, and products that will last. Not always the most expensive but usually closer to the higher end of the range. Another good tip, if you can’t pay for it with cash, you can’t afford it. The only exception is generally a house
Buy used stuff. The older stuff is made better.
I hear it lot. People complain “They don’t make it like they used to do”.
But for the most part it’s not true, they do. It’s that we are flooded with Chinese garbage because every one wants cheap.
That’s my personal approach, I just hate buying cheap garbage.
Bingo.
Time and time again, we’ve voted with our wallets that we prefer price and convenience over everything else.
Most stuff they do not make like they used to.
Depends on how often you’re gonna use it for me. If it’s a tool I use to make my livelihood, I want the best or close to it. Some other tools, I will buy lower quality cheaper as chances are I won’t wear it out or break it. I’m old and have most tools I will ever need and then some. You got my upvote, “ only the rich can afford to buy cheap”
To many used tool salesmen to weed through. Time suck.
Estate sales and online auctions.
Estate sales are fun.
I don’t have a complete philosophy but a big part of my approach is buying things I LOVE. The Marie Kondo concept of sparking joy really resonates with me, if I buy something I don’t love it inevitably will not be with me for life!
It’s really sad what happened to her.
What is sad about it?
I guess you weren’t a fan. Me either. But I don’t wish tbi on anybody. What happened to her should be a warning to everyone who thinks exotic animals make good pets. Nobody needs that many cassowaries.
I really really dislike the mindset that prioritizes finding joy in stupid stuff around your house. It strikes me as selfish. It’s like the best we can do is be joyous. How ineffectual.
If you believe joy is so important, take meth. Take meth all day and mix it with antidepressants and when you get tired, take Xanax. When you wake up, just take meth. A lot of meth brings a lot of joy. That’s why people do it. Yay meth. Brings joy. So important. Meth. Dumb. Marie Hondo.
Besides my environmental concerns, I’m blessed with an absolute loathing of shopping.
I buy old stuff. I love estate sales. If an item lasted someone their entire life, it should last one more lifetime.
The less I replace objects in my life, the less I fill the landfill.
In terms of what to look for, while I always do research one of my general approaches is not to fall for 2-in-1 products or products with tons of attachments. I feel like the more attachments something comes with or additional features they are added to it the worse quality it is. I just want it to do what it was traditionally built to do
Real BIFL items seem extremely difficult to find so I usually cheap out on everything until it breaks. Thats when I start looking for better quality. If that better item breaks then maybe its worth going ham on that one thing. Its really easy to do that with of all this extra money I have from cheaping out.
"Buy a cheap set of tools, replace the ones that break with the expensive stuff." Or something like that is the saying I believe.
That’s actually how this started, I just applied it to everything lol
in my hobby, there is a saying, buy once cry once. you either buy cheap and over and over, or buy expensive once (or twice or whatever, you know what i mean)
It really depends on the product.
I’m super picky about materials. I know the difference between durable leather and the cheap stuff.
Other than that, I look for brands I trust. I use Google and Reddit.
If it’s made from cast iron or other solid metal, that’s a good sign.
Some things are better when they’re disposable. Sponges, for example. These items, I order in bulk.
I like the sponge example.
Amazon sells magic erasers by the hundred. Worth it.
I want to mention that I have enough money to buy nice things.
There’s so much talk on this sub about the advantages of buying expensive things. Ultimately, bifl is a way for people with extra money to buy nice things. That’s it. We consider quality and durability a justification to spend our extra money. Other people care more about brand names or resale value. It’s a personal choice rich people get to make.
My grocery shopping bags are bifl. They’re Filson totes. There are more than a dozen of them stuffed in my trunk and another handful in the closet I use just for bags and briefcases. To top it all off, I have all of my groceries delivered.
I’m probably going to get a bunch of flak for this. I just wanted to be clear why we do this. None of us are living on food stamps.
That’s one view point. It sounds like your grocery bags are overkill, but you can afford nice things and that’s great.
Everything is a tool for me. I prefer to get as cheap as i can while still accomplishing the task with a significantly low failure rate. And if it’s visible all the time then aesthetics come into play. Such as furniture.
Funny you mention overkill. I bought the totes after intending to buy a bunch of bags from a brand called saddleback. I wanted leather. But when I saw the leather bags in real life, they looked too fancy and adorned. So I gave them to my mom to use as log carriers.
Years ago, I saw some incredible full grain shopping bags that looked a lot like regular paper grocery bags. I wish I would have scooped them up.
Speak for yourself.
Bifl on a budget is hard to reconcile. I just don’t want to give anyone the impression that we are average joes who are casually interested in quality. Or that spending countless hours searching through the shelves at a second hand shop is worth the time spent.
Bifl isn’t a standard that can be applied for most people or most people’s things.
Example: pencils- Troika or Kaweco and 5.6mm 8b leads. They work. They also cost 45 dollars. Bifl.
Other pencils work, too. It doesn’t mean they’re buying substandard product because they buy Blackwings or whatever brand of wooden pencil they can afford. They’re just pencils. Can we please stop larping as regular people who only care about quality?
Can I have some?
You want some food stamps? Filson bags?
Filson totes if you’re not using em
I love those dumb bags. When I’m away from home, I take them into health food stores and fill them with Hildon. Handing a black Filson tote full of black Filson totes to the cashier is a strange flex, but a flex nonetheless.
Have you seen their pullmans? I don’t think they make them anymore but they’re so nice people stare.
A very fine chainmail scrubber (example) can replace a lot of what you'd use a sponge for. Not everything, but it's surprisingly gentle. The seller says not to use on enamel or polished stainless steel, but I absolutely would, you just need to be careful not to push too hard. It's like the back of a spoon. Possible to make scratches with just because it's hard, but if you're gentle, in practice you can rub it over things without scratching.
Still worth having a sponge or similar alongside it, but you won't need to use it as much, so you won't go through them as quickly.
I use melamine sponges. I eat off of this really cool, super thin. bone china and it’s pretty easy to scratch. If I cooked at home or had pans that I used for cooking or washed dishes, I’d still use melamine sponges. But chain mail sounds cool af. I wonder if I can buy chain mail towels for the beach or just to throw around.
For pretty much everything, I look for the value for money aspect. Usually objects are low quality, middle quality and high quality (premium). I think for most things, a middle quality is where the best value ratio lies.
For example, when my wife and I purchased a new Honda minivan, there were several trim levels to consider. We ended up with mid-level package because that’s where the best bang for the buck was. Leather interior, plenty of bells and whistles and $thousands less than the vehicle that basically added a dvd entertainment system.
Buy from smaller, even local brands. Bigger companies will buy/be bought and be focused so much on profits that even the thing that made them famous will be costed out.
Buying small/local helps ensure that company will be around longer and continue to make good products.
I start with do I really need this? Often times my wants are disguised as needs. As such, I try not to make purchases on a whim. I'll usually carefully consider the purchase for a week or more before pulling the trigger. If I determine that I need something, I weigh up how good the quality needs to be. If it's something that I will use regularly, I buy the best quality item that I can afford. I also try to buy used as much as possible.
I discovered this subreddit when I was 18, now I’m 30. I’m far from from old, but I think I have some life experience that I can give some perspective to young guys reading this comment. Buying nice things or “BIFL” as a mentality has been amazing for me to get to a point where I don’t really buy a ton of stuff anymore. I don’t find myself shopping much because I was really intentional about finding the best products for my needs and saving slowly to buy them.
I like nice things that last not because it’s cheaper in the long run, but because it’s nicer for the long run. I bought a pair of redwings when I was 23, and wore them pretty much exclusively for like 5 years. I have friends who could have probably spent less money in total buying vans once a year for that span of time, but I was wearing a much nicer pair of shoes that entire time.
The BIFL influence also kept me happy with what I have because I love the stories all my things have to them. I hold onto stuff that I had to save for or be intentional in purchasing.
In summary, BIFL as a consideration when buying things is really good. There is no shame in loving your stuff when your stuff is worth loving. Buy less, buy nicer, buy it for life (ish).
If a product is not superbly made, make it yourself.
Made from “real materials”. Made in a country with proper labor laws. Expensive because of the quality and time required to produce, not just the marketing.
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It’s more about quality to me. anything that’s not solid metal and gear-less will wear out.
It depends how much I plan on using it. One time use? Example is a staple gun to hang insulation in my attic. One time job for me by me. Couldn’t justify high quality like Mikita. Bought black decker. Used it once and it’s been in the drawer for ten years now. Probably still works.
Time maters too. Repairs are expensive time wise. As I move up the pay scale time becomes more valuable. A tool I can depend on earns me more money. Clients don’t want to pay for my time spent repairing tools so it becomes unpaid hours for that day. or buy dependable tools.
A balance within these constraints is how I make my decisions. Economics.
I like having something reliable that won’t break when I need it the most. I also like the feeling of using an item that is truly well-designed. I like the feel of quality as well, especially for clothing and shoes. It truly makes a difference. I also enjoy knowing that I’ll keep these items longer instead of filling a landfill with several cheap iterations of the same thing. I’m blessed that I have the money to spend on quality stuff. I don’t buy a lot but when I do, I really take into account durability.
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one interesting thing that has evolved for me- I used to think BIFL was a universally good strategy for reducing waste and saving money. buy everything for life, never have to buy anything more than once! an exaggeration but that was my approach.
Now I realize that BIFL is more than just buying stuff that will last. Its buying atiff that will last and that I will use. Turns out those high end BIFL bean bag couches dont fit with my lifestyle anymore. I try to be more choosy now and conservatively do the BIFL thing on things that won't go out of style or that aren't specific to my current lifestyle.
I'll always need to eat so kitchen stuff is good. clothing/furniture/ anything that follows trends and life stages are hit or miss.
I hate buying things, I want to buy things less.
I got a job working for the Ironworkers Union and that in turn made me want to support my brothers and sisters and buy American wherever I could. When you buy American high quality is the standard for the most part, and I can finally afford to buy it for life instead of buy it for now.
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buy less
It started for me with buying new office chairs every year since they were cheap and the padding would wear out and pleather would peel off. This branched into ergonomic office chairs from steelcase, hermon miller, and humanscale among others for sitting for 10+ hours a day and having 15 year warrenties.
Still using my chair for 10 years almost. This then translated to other stuff like buying a CNC machined safety razor instead of plastic disposable cartridge razors and everything else now.
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stereolithography t1_j64txlf wrote
For me, BIFL doesn't mean that it'll last forever, because nothing will, it means that the likelihood of things breaking are low and that finding parts to fix it and it's serviceability are easy. That usually means doing a bit of research, sometimes through here and sometimes through sources like YouTube, where people will torture test and break down items.
An example of this would be the sewing machine I just bought, a 1960's Singer ZigZag 457. Reviews on here are mostly good, except a few people who swear them off because of a plastic gear that can break. Looked it up and yeah, the gear can break but the replacement and general serviceability are easy. So at $30, including the table, I felt like it was a great price and fit within how I define BIFL