I usually wear my shirt loose around the waist. No one actually sees my belt when I'm walking around. All it needs to do is keep my pants up. Purely utilitarian.
Walmart had belts for sale from anywhere between $9.95 and $14.95. I bought a stretchy belt that was reversible for $12.99. Black on one side, brown on the other. That's like two for the price of one. Problem solved. For about a month. Then the belt started to fall apart. The two layers began to come apart and the buckle began to get rusty. What a piece of junk.
Now I needed a new belt already. I felt like I wasted my money on the last one so there was no way I was going to return to Walmart. I still didn't want to spend a lot so I drove to a Ross clothing store. This is a discount chain so I was sure I could obtain a cheap belt. I found a nice belt by Steve Harvey for $14.99. It was also reversible and made of leather this time. After waiting in line for 20 minutes I took off my old belt and threw it in the trash right in front of the store. Once I put on my new belt I discovered that I had bought the wrong size since it was a few inches too short. After sheepishly exchanging it for a belt of the correct size I was on my way.
The very next day I was going out to lunch with my girlfriend. I showed her my new belt. She agreed that it looked sharp. As we were getting out of the car I heard a popping noise. My belt had broken. The part that spins to allow the belt to be reversible had snapped. I took it off and left it in my car while we had lunch. I had to physically hold my pants up as we walked back and forth from the restaurant.
Lucky for me there was a Target across the street from the restaurant. I picked out a new belt. Brown, stretchy and not reversible this time. The sticker price was $19.95 but when I arrived at the register it was on clearance so it ended up costing $7.95 plus tax. So far this current belt has been going strong with no signs of damage for two weeks now.
If you add it all up I have spent about $40 and 3 hours on belts in the last two months. I also suffered the mild embarrassment of my belt breaking. Not to mention the anger I feel at being suckered by shoddy belts. My original belt lasted for years. These others have been a huge disappointment. If I took all the money I spent on inferior belts and spent it on a higher quality belt this could have all been a non-issue.
In the future I need to remember to include a vision of the bigger picture. At each incremental step I made a logical decision to save money. When you look at the series of events as a whole my actions seem idiotic. This comes up a lot in sales. "Mr. Customer, are you buying for price or value?" It can be hard to know. The most expensive item isn't always the best value either if it is over priced. It is easier than ever to buy crappy merchandise and then just return it when it breaks. You get your money back but you do not get your time back.
I don't really have a good way to determine how to get the most value out of each situation at this time. It is something I will be reflecting on this month.
