Frugal vs. Cheap: Using Tools That Work Well

Posted on September 2, 2009 by LJ

Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Photo by tao_zhyn Sometimes, even in a quest for frugality, it is best to spend the money on tools that will work well. Sure, you can pound a nail in a wall with a shoe, but you will spend a lot longer doing it. (And you will leave footprints on the wall. I know. From experience.)

This is a good manifestation of the concept of frugal versus cheap. The cheap person will make do with a broken or inefficient tool, either taking much longer than with a good tool, or having to re-do parts of the work. The frugal person will wisely invest in a good quality tool to make the job easier.

My husband and I have both run across instances lately where it would have been better for us to go out and get a replacement tool rather than working with the one we had.

The first example is the reciprocating saw. My husband was doing some deck modifications and needed to cut a hole through the deck. His old reciprocating saw wasn’t working well and jammed frequently. After cutting through the deck (a task which took almost an hour due to the jamming), he then spent the next three hours widening the hole and smoothing the edges using manual tools.

My example had to do with a pair of scissors. In a recent spate of creativity, I decided to make some reusable cloth napkins for the house. While I used my rotary cutter to do the initial cutting, I had to miter the corners of the cloth, and that required a scissors. My sewing scissors have some nicks in the blades where my daughter used them to cut wire. Needless to say, they don’t cut well anymore. But I have put off replacing them, telling myself it wasn’t that big of a deal. Well, having to make 96 corners with the tip of a scissors is no fun. Replacing the scissors would have made the job faster and less frustrating.

I bring up these examples because I wonder if anyone else has experienced this as well? Please share! (And if not, I’ll just chalk it up to being raised by a Depression-era baby.)

Photo by tao_zhyn

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