My only rationalization is that paying now is cheaper than paying twice. Once now for something cheaper and then shortly after for what I really wanted because when all was said and done, I could not live with the compromise. I would rather do without than compromise.

Zalco just said mostly what I was going to say...

I have learned not to compromise on what I want, or to get the cheaper thing just because it's cheaper. If I'm torn between 2 whatevers then yes I am fine using price as the decider. But if there is a clear winner, then once I make that decision I'm done with it.

I have also noticed (for me anyway) once something is installed, I'm happy, it's over, and the cost of it is no longer in my conscience. However if I cheap out and don't get what I want, it bugs me until the end of time.

(Side note - I have no children so I'm not raiding someone's college fund here, and I've spent the majority of my adult life saving for my retirement which is, more or less, funded. I am grateful to be in this position and am well aware so many others are not. I am in this position partly because I was lucky and partly because I have worked my Hoazz off to get here. No grief, no guilt. ;) )

I always naturally like the most expensive things. Always been that way. So I pick and choose after trying to find the best deal on the thing I really want, even if it’s used or has a ding. Sometimes I spend all the money for my favorite and sometimes I get the next best thing I like and can commit to. I don’t buy temporary.

Lately DH talks in terms of “how many pizzas”😂

To answer your question, yes I go through a lot of gymnastics in the decision making process and usually get frustrated and end up buying the wrong thing.

I too, do the mental gymnastics and comparisons, but also know that buying good quality once is usually cheaper than buying mediocre quality twice. It is becoming more and more difficult to rationalize some decisions, given the ever increasing inflation and our fairly new retiremet status along with our indecision about when/where we will move in the next 5 years or so.

Yes, absolutely. Sometimes it's comparing what else I could do with the money or comparing the cost of the thing now vs what I paid for something similar so many years ago. When making the most expensive furniture (sectional) purchase I've ever made earlier this year, I even talked with my parents to compare how much their high quality upholstered furniture cost them in the 1980s and how that compares to income and prices today. I need to look into some new flooring soon and I'm avoiding even getting a quote because I know I'll be shocked and horrified.

For a very big purchase, I like to wait and get the sale price. Still expensive, just less so.

But to answer your question, no I don’t compare prices to unrelated things.

Yes, and I don't have an answer.

I have plenty of things I regret indulging in, and plenty of things I regret cheaping-out on!

Mental gymnastics is my best sport! I would be a gold medal contender in the Olympics. When it comes to buying something high quality like wool carpeting I would do the amortization rationale. This is something you will use every single day for x amount of years so what's the cost per day?

As soon as you said you had both fallen down the stairs, I thought whatever the price is for the carpet is reasonable.

I have been sitting here thinking.

Really, I am going to carpet these stairs.

I am going to carpet the stairs in one of these two choices. It's not like I am going to go to Home Depot as an alternative. (Not that there is anything wrong with that if that's what you want).

I want wool. I am locked in to a specific color.

So it's not a choice between $0 and $X

It's not even a choice between $1000 and $X.

It's a choice between $X and $X + (.25 *X)

I do; however however, it is often based on what it is worth to me. I really wanted a new glass front door to bring in more light. The estimate was much, much more than its value to me. But, I also have been going ’round and ’round about paying $400 a month for a housecleaner. While that is worth it to me, I am still mulling whether something else might be worth more to me.

I amortize the cost over the number of years I’m likely to be in that house. 😎

For something like carpet I would spring for a quality wool. Those stairs will get a workout and you want something that won’t crush or stain. Wool cleans beautifully and ages well.

My mental gymnastics are usually calculating the cost per year — total cost of object/improvement divided by the expected life. (Better materials = longer life.) Usually a much more palatable figure than a lump sum in the thousands. In the specific case of stairs where I had already fallen once, I would also consider the cost versus a potential broken bone.

I agree it will wear much better which is why I want it. And I have 100 year old wool rugs that have a lot of wear and I think they are still nice looking. I am just a worst case scenario thinker about some random damage and replacement.

We do not wear shoes above the first floor of the house so the actually daily wear should be minimal, I just envision some bizarre accident ruining part of it.

I had a wool/olefin blend carpeting in my condo, which was three floors of carpeted stairs. The blend held up really well and still looked fabulous - like wool, but with a little more fortitude. just a thought…

adding that is was a very low loop beber carpeting

My father used to say, the first cost is the least cost.

These are both velvet cut, very low pile, which is a pretty uncommon style at this point. I think the big difference between the two is tufted vs. woven.

For me (I recently completed a renovation that wound up costing twice what I expected) I want what I want. I always have a vision, and I have good taste (at least I like it). To choose something cheaper still isn’t free. And doing it the way I want it done now means… it’s done, and I love it, and therefore I have peace of mind. But my current situation is that my children are done with grad school and are now self supporting, I can reasonably afford it, and I’m a widow so I get to make all the decisions myself. No one gets to say no except me!

To choose something cheaper still isn’t free.

This is an excellent point, and it is why I probably "overspend" on big ticket items more than on small ones. Eh who is kidding who I overspend on both.

But like, if you are buying a car even a cheap car is a big expense.... so why not buy one you want?

I usually find what I want...then ask when is it going on sale. Then....I ask if that's the lowest they'll go....and they usually say if I pay cash they'll give me so much off...then I just dive in. Kind of like jumping off a cliff...but with a flying fox suit on. Then enjoy.

I'm a little confused. Are you trying to decide on A or B given the difference in cost or is this a general question about how we make spending decisions and justifying them in our heads?

Me - I always go for a quality even if I have to wait. And no, I don't compare the cost against anything else. No one else may notice the difference or care but I do.

First, I consider how long I'll use and enjoy the purchase, like most do.

Then, my mind resorts to recent decisions where I have saved money not already spent. So, my sister and I planned a hiking vacation in August, but last month we both decided to cancel for various reasons.

Then, friends who recently downsized generously gave me their very nice but very dirty gas grill. I was going to purchase a much smaller one, but I decided to clean the one they gave me (a few dirty hours of my time that I hope never to do again ), and when I priced what their grill cost new vs. my cleaning supplies, I saved myself $1500. Mind you, had I decided to forego the cleaning and just buy one, I would not have spent $1500.

But in my mental gymnastics, those 2 decisions mean I just saved about $4k.

You passed on the Bergdorf's windbreaker. Get the carpet you want.