Have you ever asked yourself why some things cost so

Have you ever asked yourself why some things cost so much more than others? Are name brands really that much better? I am a bargain shopper. I always look for deals in everything I buy. When I am grocery shopping I comparison shop for everything from toothpaste to cream of mushroom soup to get the best quality for the best price. I do not believe I have ever purchased an article of clothing that was not on sale. I like getting the most for my money. When we were first married this would drive my husband crazy. He was the kind of consumer that would grab the first brand off the shelf and not look at the price of the differences in size of container or ingredients. Through the years he has learned that the extra time it takes to do these things pays off.

There are times when you have to pay full price for things. My husband found this out when getting Johnson outboard parts for the boat motor. Last year during the fishing season a bolt was bent on the kicker motor when my husband for got to raise it while running with the large motor. As a result the kicker would not stay raised. He went to a marine dealer that carries Johnson outboard parts. They did not have the bolt in stock because the engine is several years old. The part would take five days to get in, and the one bolt was quite expensive. My husband was very upset by this because he had a fishing trip lined up with his buddies during that time. He told our neighbor about the length of time it would take to get the Johnson outboard part. The neighbors response was a bolt is a bolt. He told him to just go to the hardware store and find one with similar thread and put it in. My husband thought this sounded logical so he took the bend bolt to the hardware store to find a match. He found a similar bolt and bought it for much less than the price from the marine dealer. He and the neighbor put it on the motor and the motor held in place.

My husband and his buddies went out fishing and due to the conditions needed to use the kicker motor quite often during the fishing trip. This meant it was raised and lowered several times during the course of the trip. Towards the end of the fishing day my husband heard a snap when he raised the motor one last time to motor home. The bolt snapped off inside the motor. In order to repair this he had to take the boat out of the water, take it to the dealer, wait for additional Johnson outboard parts and pay the labor cost to fix it. This was one time that buying cheaper did not save money.