• salt

  table salt, iodized salt, himalayan... they're all the same for me. I don't think my taste buds are adapted to the subtle differences so cheaper ones are better.

• show-off jewelry, wallet, purses

  showing off jewelry is an invitation to be mugged (again, imo. ymmv) so the cheaper ones are the better options.

• coffee

  if only you're fine with cheaper ways to wake yourself.

• wax-based lip balm

  anything beeswax is good. then again ymmv since people can be allergic

• pure or as-is things like land, electricity, internet, water, oxygen cans, gas/ heating, alcohol (disinfectant)

Tools and sports equipment especially if it's something niche.

People shit on harbor freight but if you need a new tool or something for a hobby it's probably not something you're going to use often if youve already soent any significant tiem doing that hobby.

Buy the cheapest version of it and of you use it enough to either break it or figure out what parts of the design you don't like it's a good sign spending a little extra on a better version isn't a waste.

Especially getting into a new hobby avoiding the urge to buy expensive shit right at the beginning because you think it'll make you better at the thing.

Stuff that is used and immediately disposed of like trash bags, paper towels, and toilet paper. You need to be a little more careful with the cheapest trash bags and toilet paper, but it will still get the job done.

I don’t think this is much of an issue for anyone here but… expensive wrist watches. I am a reformed watch guy. My $11 Casio F-91W keeps better time than my FIL’s $6,000 Omega. Quartz and batteries were a real game changer when it comes to watches. I really like having a watch but there is no reason for anyone to spend real money on a watch that doesn’t use quartz.

If you want/need a watch, to me the sweet spot are those Casio G-Shock squares. Totally bullet proof, can last a lifetime, and you can spend as little as $35 or up to about $150 if you want solar and atomic time. But spending any more than that and you’re really just buying jewelry, not something to keep time.

wrapping paper

Most stuff on a bicycle for the average person unless it's carbon, plastics or electronics. Including safety stuff. Some caveat if you wanna huck yourself off a mountain or do like 100kph descents on your roadbikes.

But for the most stuff? The cheap shit works absolutely fine because at it's core it's bits of formed metal with threads attached connected by steel wires. Very hard to fuck any of that up to the point it becomes dangerous. I keep seeing parts being rated as SAFETY LEVEL 5 E-BIKE READY as if the metal rod that is my handlebar usually disintegrates once I hit the ludicrous speed of [checks notes] 25kph. Your $2 Alibaba Special V-Brakes are, at worst, gonna have garbage springs so it doesn't return to not-braking great, but you're not gonna like snap them in half even if you were a gorilla riding a bicycle.

On phones; while you don't need a flagship model if you are privacy conscious it is worth seeking out a platform that will work well with degooglified OSes; ironically the Pixel is one of the best thanks to GrapheneOS.

Cosmetics. Maybe not women cosmetics, but the expensive moisture cremes and so on only add stuff you don't want on your skin. Btw, "natural" marigold cremes are really bad there.

I buy good brands from China for my professional tools, phones, laptops, and gadgets. The key is knowing which brands in China are good. Nothing else can compete in terms of value for money.

Motorbikes (for commuting). My midrange motorbike cost under 2k USD brand new, and it gets me to work at the same speed as an expensive one (Asian traffic, haha).