Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett brought us the Vimes Boots Theory! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_t... It's used in economics classes today. He was a satirist, but he was so sharp that he cut through the literary world into the academic. TLDR: It's expensive AF to be poor.
Satire is underappreciated. You have to understand an idea fully to take it more seriously than it's being taken by the originator. You also have to be perfectly honest. In this case, buying something new is the same cheap thrill you have to pay for over and over. The rich can buy something else.
Yes. I remember this. Literally watch my husband deliberate. I tell him to buy the expensive ones. What's it matter because can't afford either of them anyway. You spend 16 hours a day in them, it matters in that way.
I quote the Vimes Boots Theory whenever it's appropriate which is surprisingly often.
It crossed my mind not too long ago when I was trying to justify buying, believe it or not, expensive boots
Dude was also a complete gentleman. I had the pleasure of speaking to him and despite his obvious grumpy jet lag, he still engaged with his fans like he was genuinely happy to see them. Hint: he was.
When we bought our last bed I couldnβt tell the difference between two models but my wife could so we bought the better one. I learned the lesson.
My dad used to say that he is not rich enough to buy cheap shit.
I have always bought better quality when I could. When I read Vimes "boot theory" I immediately understood its basic truth. I wish I knew a good way to fix our consumer culture so that folks with less resources are not trapped in an expensive cycle of replacing cheap goods.