When it comes to owning and maintaining a home, you quickly realize that there are certain things that are appropriate to save money on, but also certain things that may make more sense to splurge on. They old adage “buy nice or buy twice” certainly holds true for some things, emphasis on the *SOME* part. Here are my top picks on items worth the extra few bucks.
- A quality vacuum. Kids, animals, or just plain messy adults can turn a tidy home into a pop-up zoo, let’s not kid ourselves. Having a vacuum that’s light, quick, easy to use, and effective can go a long way towards alleviating clutter stress, and can even be satisfying to use. We recently invested in the latest Dyson cordless vacuum for our home, and let me tell you, with 3 cats, a dog, and a baby, it’s made a HUGE difference.
- Top of the line lawn mower. When I say top of the line, I mostly mean from any of the big name manufacturers you see at home depot. Some of these items you can get for less than 500 bucks, especially the battery operated ones if you don’t have a massive lawn to take care of. I’ve had a good experience with these so far, and honestly, anything cheaper than this price point tends to be junk.
- Mattress. I’m not sure about you, but quality sleep can make or break my day. Chaotic work schedules, young children, and other life responsibilities can also get in the way of good sleep. If you’re already getting limited sleep, you don’t want to further hinder your rest time by getting poor quality rest. For something you may only buy once every 5-10 years, I think it is well worth it to splurge on some of the premium mattress lines, many of which can be found discounted at outlet stores. I recommend going to a mattress store and physically trying out what you like. I definitely do not recommend sacrificing quality rest for a few dollars.
- Power tools. This one should speak for itself. As a homeowner, there is truly no telling when something might arise causing you to go looking for tools. When that time comes, you don’t wanna go scrambling in your junk drawer for that old screwdriver or relying on ineffective power tools. I recommend going to the store, picking a set (again, many of the big name brands are reliable and affordable). Just pick one and go with it.
- Key-Pad locks. Feels silly to even put these under this section considering you can get them for under $100 on Amazon. Might sound extravagant but it’s really not, it’s 2024, why are we still frantically looking for our keys? These locks, as inexpensive as they are, are a game changer, especially for you always-running-late folks. They are also super easy to install. Now, that being said, if you really wanna get fancy, these do go up to $500 or more with sophisticated features like smart phone integration and code changes from afar. These features are great, but to be honest, just a plain old key pad so I don’t have to carry keys makes a huge difference for me.
There are many other things you can justify adding to this list, these are just the ones that pop into my mind based on the things I prioritize and value the most. What do you value and prioritize the most in your day to day life? The answer to this question can help you strike a healthy balance between spending on saving on the things that matter and the things that don’t.