Household products divide roughly into things that solve a specific irritation and things that seemed like a good idea in a shop. The first category is worth spending on and the second fills cupboards.
The Test
Does it solve a problem you have actually encountered, repeatedly, and that annoys you? If the answer requires imagining a scenario, it is the second category.
The most useful household purchases are almost always responses to a recurring irritation rather than anticipations of a possible one.
Replaceable Parts Again
Where a single-purpose product has a consumable component, whether it can be replaced determines whether the purchase lasts.
A shower head with a replaceable hose, a fountain with replaceable filters and pump, an adhesive shelf with replaceable pads. Ranges that list those components separately, of the kind in the veken catalogue, are built around replacement rather than disposal, and it is worth checking before buying anything with a wearing part.
The Ones That Consistently Earn Their Place
- A pad that stops a rug sliding, which is a daily annoyance removed permanently
- A shower head that works, used twice a day by everyone
- Storage in the one place that is always cluttered
- A doormat, which reduces cleaning across the whole house
- A squeegee for the shower screen, which prevents a permanent problem
- Felt pads under furniture, which prevent damage rather than fixing it
What these share is that each addresses something encountered daily. A product used twice a day for five years is a different proposition from one used twice a year, whatever it cost.
Why Specific Beats Multi-Purpose
Products designed to do several things usually do each of them adequately. Where a task is performed daily, adequate is noticeable.
This runs contrary to the instinct to consolidate, and the resolution is frequency: consolidate the things done occasionally, and buy the specific tool for the things done daily.
The Ones That Do Not
Anything named after a single ingredient or a single scenario. Anything requiring assembly before each use. Anything solving a problem you have had once.
Also worth being wary of: products bought during a burst of organisational enthusiasm, which have a poor track record of being used once the enthusiasm passes.
Buy One First
For anything you intend to buy several of, one first and a fortnight of living with it prevents the expensive discovery that six of something are wrong.
This applies particularly to storage and organisers, where the specification that matters is frequently not obvious until you have used one.
The Waiting Rule
Waiting a week before buying anything that is not replacing something broken filters most impulse purchases.
The ones that survive the week are almost always the ones that solve a genuine recurring problem, which is exactly the filter you want.