Every once in a while I manage to forget one of the basic tenets of personal finance:  You get what you pay for.  One of the places I always seem to fall victim to this is “fast fashion.”  About a year ago, when it became clear that I would be wearing sneakers nearly every day of my life whether I was working or not, I bought myself a pair of cheap sneakers from Amazon.  They were really cute and super comfy.  And the tread wore off the bottom, turning them into a slip hazard by the end of November.  March to November is not a particularly good lifespan for a pair of sneakers—especially when they are predominantly worn sitting at a desk.  I decided that I would try a different brand, and I bought another pair of cheap sneakers from Walmart.  These were cute and comfy….until my feet started sweating in them.  But I dealt with it because they were new.  Until the tread started wearing off the bottom after only a couple of months.

You get what you pay for.  Cheap sneakers are exactly that.  They’re cheap.  They are not good quality.  They are not made to last.  And I should have known better than to buy them.  What I really wanted was a pair of Allbirds wool sneakers.  Cute.  Comfortable.  And quality. But at $100 a pair I couldn’t justify it.  But having just spent a total of $50 on two pairs of sneakers that now live in a landfill a year later, I decided I needed some quality sneaks.  I turned to my favorite clothes re-selling website, Poshmark. I found a pair of very lightly worn previously owned Allbirds in my size for $55 and took the plunge.  I know some folks are averse to previously owned shoes.  But it doesn’t bother me with shoes that are machine washable like the Allbirds are.  I’m always going to have a layer of sock between my foot and the shoe regardless.

In retrospect I should have bought the good sneakers to start with.  Even if I were not ok with wearing used shoes, it would have made more sense to spend the $100 on good sneakers up front rather than wasting money on poor quality shoes.  As it turns out, I spent over $100 on shoes anyway.  And I contributed to the waste in landfills because I bought shoes that were basically garbage to start.

You get what you pay for.  I remember that now.  I hope you can learn from my mistakes.  Next time you pick up a piece of cheap clothing, think about whether it will last.  It may make more sense to spend more on something better.