Based on the excerpt from this Discworld book, what other items do you use regularly that would fit in this theory? (Boots and shoes are fair game!)
Text transcript for people who want it:
[The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.]
Bonus: suggest ways you can repair/restore your item/other people's items.
My problem is I don't know what products are expensive because they are good, and what products are a scam. No idea how to even search to find out either.
Oh easy, I just check for a thread on reddit where two guys are at each other's throats arguing the merits of different crescent wrenches
...oh, wait.
Find people on the internet who seem similar to you and see what they did and what the result was, see what the best result was and do that. Takes a long time, and may or may not be worth it, but for expensive purchases it may be.
It depends on the category of the item you are planning to buy, there are lots of gear reviews blogs/sites for outdoor gear as well as tech. As for clothing, I YouTube the brand for review videos... A bit more time consuming than just impulse buying on the spot but this way, you can make an educated guess on the quality of what you are planning to spend your hard earned money on.
Consumer Reports had been around for a long time and should be available at any library. There is the NYT Wirecutter and r/BuyItForLife. You can also see what friends and family have night and how it worked out. On YouTube, Rose Anvil cuts apart footwear of all price points to see what is worth it, and Project Farm tests tools and some household items.
You'll always find people saying brand A is great and brand B stinks and then someone who says the opposite, but after a while you'll notice some names that just pop up as good or bad a lot. Also keep in mind some stuff will fit one person better or be more ergonomic for them, so keep that in mind when you see the brand A or B is better or worse discussions.
Tldr, don't buy the cheapest or the most expensive thing. One is cutting corners, and one has extra behavior and whistles that are nice but not necessary to function.