What is something you SHOULD cheap out on?

Weddings.

Yes, It IS a big day. It's not such a big day that you spend your entire life savings, and have no future.

Get a DJ, get a cake, get a hall, get a photographer.......forget the doves, forget the ice sculptures, forget the wedding planner, forget the genocidial mimes, forget the big limo, keep it small. Do you really need to invite your great aunt, who you've seen 3 times in your life?

You should NOT be spending like $20,000 on a wedding.

If you're not a contractor, power tools. Buy the harbor freight version first when you need it. If you end up using it enough to break it, then you get a quality one.

Unpopular opinion but wine.

From my experience majority of people can't distinguish between 5€ wine and 500€ wine. And even if they do, they say it tastes "a bit better", not worth the 495€ difference. Pick one that tastes good to you and don't be ashamed if it's cheap.

Video games. Unless it's a game I play with friends I typically wait for it to drop in price significantly.

Apparentlyv Mr Clean MagicErasers are just melamine sponges which are actually mucho cheapo

Over the counter medications. Store brand ibuprofen, allergy meds, cold medicine, etc. Sometimes as much as 1/7th the price, just make sure the active ingredients match amounts and you're set.

College books.

pets.

Former chef: Knives. My most expensive knife is $80 with a lifetime warrantee. Most are $10-$20. Instead, learn how to use and take care of a knife.

Cell phones and plans. Any phone is good enough for regular use these days. And any carrier uses the towers of all the other carriers, it's not like the old days where there was CDMA vs GSM.

The first round of tools for any hobby or DIY project.
If you don't know what you want from a screwdriver, snips, circular saw etc. then there is no point in buying the super primo bells & whistles expensive stuff.
Once you've used a tool and learned what you don't like about it, or what you actually use it for, or how often you actually use it... Then you can make the informed decision to just buy another cheap one, or splash out on something that's actually fun to use.

Buy the 2nd last tool you will ever need.

There are rare occasions where "buy once cry once" apply. But it's rare

Wrapping paper and bows/ribbons. THey're just gonna get torn up anyway, no reason to spent a ton of money to make it fancy

Power tools. If you are not a professional and need to buy a tool (if you can't borrow one), buy the cheap one.

I used a $30 Ryobi drill for over a decade and it was fine.

Clothes and housewares. Buying secondhand is vastly cheaper, better for the environment, and can get you surprisingly high quality sometimes.

Over the counter medications. If the active ingredient is the same, delivered in the same way and in the same dosage, the effects will be the same.

Games. There's no good reason to not wait for a price drop and/or sale unless it's some multiplayer thing and you want to play with friends. In the modern day, you'll even usually get an improved product after more time has passed for patches and updates.

Wine - it is full of marketing gimmick and usually the mid range is best. The same is with whisky, rums and other alcohol.

On the other hand, at least here, is better to pay premium for craft beer.

Canned fruit salad, the ratio of ingredients is for some fuckdamn reason federally mandated so there's little difference between brands.

Possibly an unpopular opinion among parents, but: Diapers. I've noticed no negative effect on my kids when going offbrand.

Generally, medications. It's pretty rare you have some sort of specific metabolic issue which calls for the branded version; the generic is usually just as good. I have a note in my medical records to NOT give me the branded version of my meds because there's something in the expensive ones that gives me horrific reflux, while the others don't.

Most people are being very specific, but I'd say consumables in general. Rarely is a name brand food or medicine any different than generic. Often they're literally produced in the same factory. Stuff that's meant to last, generally a more expensive product will be made more durable (not always), but this isn't a consideration with consumables. If it's a one-time use or edible, I'm going with the cheapest option 99% of the time.

My default is to buy the grocery store's house brand unless I can tell the difference.

A 26 ounce can of Morton's iodized salt at my local grocery store costs $2.19. The Food Lion brand costs $0.79. Explain to me why I would pay more than twice the price for name brand salt?

Especially in goods where I know the complete chemical formula of the product like salt and sugar, until I encounter a serious problem with quality or unethical sourcing I'm not going to pay for the brand name.

Tbh about everything. Most of retail is just an industrial scale of the addage "a fool and his money will soon be parted".

Buy second hand, its fine. You probally can figure it out yourself, try to diy. Look at what people are actually doing not the brand of tool they are doing it with. Its a saw, you saw with it, you can get away with sawing a lot of stuff with the same cheap saw.

Soaps are just collections of chemicals, powerwash for example is just dish soap plus water and isopropal alcohol.

You can probably cook it at home. It will probably be better and better for you, because a pound of lard or cup or sugar looks like the red flag it is when you go to cook with it.

Your bed might be better on the floor, then on a frame.

You are probably better off walking or biking then driving.

You probably don't need to watch more shows anyways so why get fleeced to subscriptions. You probably don't need to play games as much so you can pass on that game. You probally don't need to go out for a drink. You probally don't need to go out for a meal. Etc etc

Honestly, I'm a hypocritical ass saying some of this, but its true. The urge to go spend spend spend, isn't a fluke its just successful sociol engineering to separate us fools from our money.

Mascara. There are some $6 mascaras that are way better than the $25 ones.

Newborn diapers.

Get the cheapest Walmart special you can find. Newborns don't poop or pee enough to warrant fussing over fancy diapers.

Once they get bigger and the contents start getting...bigger, then spend more on better diapers.

Not sure if this counts as cheaping out, but wait a year or so before buying computer games, when the price drops by 50% or more. Some never seem to price drop and others get really cheap right before the sequel comes out.

New cars. After a car has been owned by one owner, for however short a period of time, it dramatically reduces its price. At least in the UK.

Generic medicines

Water

Lotion. I have eczema, and when my doctor diagnosed me she said to "just get the biggest, cheapest bottle they have. All the same stuff."

Dishwasher rinse aid.

Reading glasses.

Air filters. For car, HVAC, etc. Branded or OEM stuff is usually overpriced.

Things like gift bags, disposible table cloths, tableware.... Get all that at the dollar store.

Hot dog buns. In my opinion, the generic, white, store brand buns make the best hot dogs.

I don't cheap out on things. Rather, when I'm shopping I'm already looking for something that fills the need and is inexpensive. That's the goal. The default stance is to spend as little money as reasonable.

Liquor in general. Don't buy the cheapest shit on the shelf, go for the 25-50 range and you'll be set. Unless it's something you're passionate about and enjoy exploring there's no need to spring for the expensive booze. Liqueres and assorted (non liquor) cocktail ingredients on the otherhand... go for the genuine article. 99% of the time you'll still be in that 25-50 range so I hardly see a point in being cheap with them

People are gonna pillory me for this, but flashlights.

First off, you want something that runs off two AAAs, regardless of price. If you can't walk into any gas station, or any grocery store, or what have you, and buy batteries for your flashlight when it dies, it's not gonna matter how bright it was before it died. You also don't want anything brighter than ~200 lumens at the very most, unless you actually need one brighter, for some reason; they drain batteries way faster. You want something thin enough that you're able to clip it inside your pocket and forget it's there. You also want one that has an end switch that toggles between two modes: "full power" and "turned off." If you have one that toggles between low and high settings, you will only use the high setting. If you have one that toggles between low and high settings, and strobe and SoS, you will only use the high setting. Every additional step in between "all the way off" and "all the way on" is just friction you don't need, that will do nothing but piss you off every time you use the damned thing.

The features that make big, fancy flashlights expensive, are anti-features.

T-shirts. Get a 5 pack each of white, black, and another color you like. There, you're set for like a year for $30.

For most people, tools. Most tools will be able to complete the essential tasks. Most people will get by with cheap or used tools.

I have a motto "cheap gets the job done, expensive does it faster". If you are a hobbyist working on your own time there, feel no pressure to get a "real" tool. Additionally if you are a hobbyist short on personal time, you might want something better.

Headphones. Once you get to the $300 range, the more expensive ones sound different, not necessarily better. I have some electrostatics that have great extension, but the “real” sound is so harsh after a few hours.

Toothbrush. Anything you'll use comfortably will do the job.

Alkaline and rechargeable NiMH batteries. The price per hours of use favors the cheap brands. A top brand might last longer but you are paying a premium for it. Rechargeable NiMH batteries with a good price to battery life ratio are from IKEA.

Saline nasal spray. Just get the generic. It's just freaking salt water.

Toilet paper, trash bags, paper towels. If you go the absolute cheapest, they're arguably defective, but the second cheapest is usually ok.

Cloths, headphones, handbags. Anything that's just buying the brand.

I don't get why I should want these high end brands when the only thing I can afford from them is plastered with their logo.

I've seen the Gucci tracksuit, the Jordans, the Beats, everything and I'm not impressed. Even though luxury things are luxury I don't even agree with the luxuriousness of many of these products. For example, if I'm going to wear a Gucci tracksuit covered in the Gucci logo and using Gucci colors then it's gotta look good first and foremost. If I'm going to hold a Hermes bag that's not comfortable, or durable, or robust but is just supposed to look cool, then it's gotta actually look cool! Not like something Shien could design.

And yes I am aware of the concept of buying a store of value: diamonds, expensive watches, actually rare and valued handbags. But most of the famous luxuries I see in public are not that. They're literally a poor man's status symbol IMO.

You should just stop spending money in general if you can. So many responses are like "buy literal garbage like disposable decorations at the dollar store," do not do that. Stop spending money on garbage. Every dollar you spend is damage to the environment and more power for the wealthy, just stop it. Stop spending.
Don't buy entertainment, use archive dot org. Read more. When you like something culture you consumed, give it to somebody else so they don't try to buy it. Pass entertainment around to your friends.
When you have to spend on things like haircuts, repairs, etc, keep the money in your social network. If you don't cook, learn. If you aren't a part of your local grocery distro, join it.

Avoid giving corpos money whenever you can and you'll save lots of money.

Dollar store seasonal garland. By the time it's up in your home, it looks about 2/3 as real and costs 1/10 the price.

As I also saw mentioned, medicine. Buy it purely on price by volume and disregard the brand entirely. The only medicine I buy name-brand is Flonaise, because most generic brands of fluticasone spray have the most low-functioning applicators I've ever seen.

A lot of basic foods, for instance: tuna, Pop Tarts(toaster pastries), Frozen Veg, Dry Pasta.

The store brands are so much cheaper and often higher quality.

A fuck

Oculus Quest headstraps.

The official "pro" headstrap (~$70) is cheap quality for an expensive price point and isn't as comfortable as the stuff you can find on Amazon for, like, thirty dollars.

I usually by the house brand of anything the first time I buy anything. Cooking ingredients, household chemicals, drugs, tools, and anything else you can think of. I have found a number of places where saving money is not worth it, the difference between organic tomatoes and the conventional ones is huge for example but if you don't care about tomatoes you may be fine with the cheap ones.

There are a few things I will spend good money on first time through. Basically anything I am not going to have a chance to replace if I don't like it. I had to replace the floors in a few rooms in my house. When we first moved in and could not afford nice carpet. It took 10 years to wear out the carpet and for us to have enough to replace it. If I had to do it again I would have stuck with the original longer to save a bit more and put in better flooring.

Jean creamer. Even the cheap stuff works wonders.

Ingredients. Who the fuck cares if your bread has a pretty pattern on the packaging or not, you're gonna turn it into shit. Minmax your groceries.

Sandwich baggies. They're dispose anyway, no need to go for the name brand when there's usually a cromulent generic at the store.