CHEAP. Want to find the cheapest of some product? Easy - I can go to Wal-Mart and find something for about as cheap as I can get in this country. Most likely it will be made in China and most likely I will wear it out soon. No problem right? Just throw it away and buy another one. Except I'm contributing to a throwaway culture, wasting resources, and often I may be spending as much or more than if I just bought a higher quality item in the first place. I can get some beach sandals for $2 and when that plastic strap breaks toss it in the trash and buy another pair. There is also no satisfaction of using a quality product.
BEST. Finding the "best" of some product is pretty easy too. Spend lots of money! When there is an unlimited budget, it is easy to get the highest quality, top performing product. One can also spend the money to maintain the item.
GOOD ENOUGH. The hard part is recognizing that I can spend more money but past a certain point there are diminishing returns. I first need to define what I am looking for in an item. Hmm, let's use cars as an example. What is the sweet spot in buying a car? I want a daily drivable car that can seat four people comfortably occasionally, a roof rather than convertible in case I want to use a roof rack, as light as possible, reasonable gas mileage (30 mpg hwy), low maintenance, can carry a fair amount of gear, and fun to drive (defined as an involving drive). My current thoughts is that a used 5th Generation four door, manual transmission Volkswagen GTI is the sweet spot. It has the performance, efficiency, and practicality I need. It also has the luxury features found on more expensive cars. The only question mark is reliability, based on VW past performance. ANYONE HAVE A BETTER SUGGESTION? I also like the Mini Cooper S but it is less practical.
Again, the hard part is recognizing that sweet spot and not spending more money.
