Monday, March 21, 2011

Price vs Value


There's a huge difference in being cheap and investing in quality and buying wisely. I often say I'm cheap, but as a long time subscriber of Consumer Reports I still think it is wise to invest in quality. The value of a product is so much more than just the price tag.

Let's take toothbrushes for example. Over six years ago, shortly after we were married, my husband went to the dentist for a check-up. He came home and told me he needed a new toothbrush, because they had told him he had early signs of gum disease (ugh!). The toothbrush he wanted was a fancy sonic toothbrush with a price tag of around $100.

My reaction, "Whoah! A hundred dollars? That toothbrush better clean the bathroom for us."

He convinced me it really would make a difference, so we started reading reviews and settled on the Oral B Sonic Complete. The main selling point for that toothbrush was that Sam's Club was selling a two pack for the same price one cost in other stores. And if these toothbrushes were so magical I wanted one too!

Now, over 6 years later, our toothbrushes are on their last leg and we are talking about replacing them. And do you know what, in those 6 years neither of us has had a cavity (although we've each had a filling replaced) and there's no sign of gum disease anywhere. So, as we are starting to research new toothbrushes, it is obvious to me that the initial $100 investment potentially saved us much more than that in dentist bills. And when you do the math it works out to about $16/year or $8/year each. And that's not bad at all.

Do you have a sonic toothbrush recommendation? We are leaning towards these.

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