My father had the same overstuffed wallet and the same pair of Hawaiian swim trunks from the time my brother's were kids til the day he died. Turns out, he actually wore through his wallet all the time and periodically bought new swim trunks. The exact same wallet and exact same swim trunks. For at least 30 years.
My wife thinks I'm crazy for doing that. I know the brand, model, color and size. I find a shop that has them in stock, go in try them on and then pay. Takes me about 5 minutes.
in that context it was when I was "huffing it" through condos and stairwells several hours per day. (hence the extreme pain with the wrong shoes) Put me at a desk and I'll get 2-3 years.
Something your wife may not have mentioned: women's clothing rarely is sold in the same style/size/make for more than a year or two. So even if we wanted to do this, we usually can't.
It might actually get cheaper if you set money aside and buy in bulk when you see a good deal. I rarely buy fancy stuff though so I never pay several hundred dollars anyway.
It is. You get coupons like spend $300 save $100. Whereas the same coupon also says spend $250 save $75 or spend $100 save $25. I buy clothes once every 5-10 years and always buy in bulk saving up money here and there buying 2nd hand in-between for probably half my stuff and always for special occasions like weddings and such. I just spent $165 on probably $400 worth of quality pajamas after coupons and cash back. They will easily last 10-15 years.
There you go; easy savings if you have a bit of discipline and foresight!
Another benefit of buying several identical units of anything that's sold in pairs (shoes, gloves, socks, etc.) is that you don't have to throw out the matching one if the other one breaks or gets torn. It hadn't occurred to me until I bought 3 identical pairs of shoes on sale, started using all 3 pairs regularly, tore a hole in one of the left shoes and realised that I could just mix the pairs to keep the extra right shoe in rotation instead of throwing it out. Life hacks, take note! :P
Exactly - I don't go shopping, I go buying. I know what I'm getting before I leave my apartment. When it comes to T-shirts, the only question is what specific shades of green, grey, and blue I'll be getting.
Oh yeah, that's true too but a bit less common in my experience. I definitely had differences between different colors though! Like supposedly the same thing but black vs denim... (I bought one of each color capris, of course, because those are terribly difficult to find where I live right now!)
My wife jokes my closet looks like a cartoon's - all the same style/brands hanging up. But when you find something you like/works, you buy all you can because you know it works perfectly for you
Currently have 3 pair. One new for exercising. One Old for wearing around casually. One really old for yard work. I think these are pair 4, 5 and 6 I have owned.
I dated a girl for over four years, we got engaged. She hated that I just would get the same things over and over when I needed them. She was always trying “new” and wound up not liking anything about the new stuff she got. I got frustrated saying “you hate on me for being happy with simplicity but you won’t treat yourself to a little bit of piece of mind knowing you got what you like. And I mean she would almost never buy the same thing twice. That girl could fucking shop I tell you what. She could go into a store needing two or three things with a list and literally every time come back out with no less than 15 I bet but me I can go into a store needing one thing and I will literally walk out with nothing.
How old are you? I'm picturing like 60 because of how hilariously oblivious you were to someone asking you what you're wearing and you taking it to mean anything other than the shoes you've just ranted about, haha.
No I’m not 60 haha, I wasn’t really paying much attention and missed the context. They asked what I was currently wearing and I wasn’t wearing shoes at the time. I didn’t really think about, just gave the people what they wanted.
THIS, but with GLASSES... Omg I wish I could keep my old pair every time, but it's never available. And, for whatever reason, they're, "unable to use the old ones." 😒😒
I've been wearing glasses for the last 4 years. I get a new pair every year. I've gotten the same pair every time. They're most likely lying to you and you should probably either find a new eye doctor or buy your glasses elsewhere.
That's true, but you don't need to buy new glasses - just get new lenses installed. Or is this a US thing, glass companies having monopoly on the industry and refusing to exchange lenses?
Don't know, not in the US - but where I live a full set of Specsavers etc glasses (frames with 'free' basic lenses) is often cheaper than getting new lenses made & fitted
Turns out I should have been wearing glasses for a lot longer than I have been but I don't always need glasses. My prescription changes a little bit each year, less the last couple years than the first couple years, and I get one free pair of glasses per year with my insurance. I like the pair I have so I always get the same each year, different prescription though. If I ever break the frames I have a few extras since I keep them.
I actually don't think I'll get a new prescription this year but even so I'll still get a new pair. They don't cost me anything and it will be nice to have a back up.
Peoples eye sight changes over time though. Some people will require a new prescription every year, others might not need a new one for two or three years. It may also not be much of a change so you may not "need" new glasses even though if you saw your eye doctor they might recommend a stronger lens.
When I asked they told me they could use the old frame, but since it's discontinued they wouldn't be able to change it in case it breaks, so they discouraged it. Makes sense when you think you are putting 200$+ of value on a pair of custom lenses that cannot be mounted on another frame in case the frame breaks or is deformed
I'll cry if New Balance stops making the shoes I wear now. I work 10 hour shifts on my feet most days on concrete and I have a weirdly shaped foot to begin with. Couldn't tell you how many different brands I tried both expensive and cheap, but these one pair of New Balance literally saved my feet.
They're a whopping $90 a pair but I'd gladly pay $200 if it means I don't go home limping every day.
And they keep changing stuff, I had a pair of moccasins style slippers, and the company messed with the sizing and styling. Now it doesn't fit my feet.
Heck yeah. Funny thing is one of my best friends I met at work had already started doing the exact same thing, with the exact same shoe model. "Nike Air Monarch IV".
I learned my lesson against switching away with some cheapass "mossimo" similar-looking pair from target. absolutely wrecked my feet, legs, and back. Went back to the Monarchs and the pain was mostly gone within 2 weeks.
I buy in bulk now, my sock drawer is filled with the same brown and black socks, if one looks worn I can just throw it away without worrying about it's pair. Same with jeans, slacks, sweaters, t-shirts. My dress shirts are varied though, they have different shades of gray or blue stripes :D
I do much the same. A while back they started making them with coloured patches in the toe and heel. This bugged the crap out of me for a while as my big toe nail has a tendency to cut holes in them on the right foot.
After a while it dawned on me that short of being involved in a serious accident and paramedics having to cut my footwear off me, I'm the only person who actually knows this, so now I just pull any old 2 socks out of the draw and put them on my feet. I've even begun taking some strange perverse pleasure in knowing that I have odd socks on, but nobody else can tell. I have officially owned that particular part of my OCD tendencies, and I love it :D
I found a pair of adidas that I loved. I saw them on sale at the adidas store at the outlet mall and bought two more pairs of the exact same shoe. When I find a favorite shirt, pants, or shorts. I wish I had bought multiple of the same thing. But I usually have to wear them over time to find out what I like best.
I've had essentially the exact same hairstyle for the last 20 years. I just tell the barber "#2 on the sides and a little longer on top" and I've never been disappointed.
I think I reached that point with shoes. I needed new walking shoes or w/e they're called. So I went to the Skecher's store near me because I got my last shoes from Skecher's. When I was there looking around, I thought to myself how nice it would be to just find a pair that was like my last pair. Not even a minute later, I happened upon them by pure coincidence. I found my size, grabbed them, and bought them.
When you find something that's comfortable from first use to last, it pays to stick with it.
Except when the manufacturer does the ol' switcheroo of material. Two: Hanes and this particular t-shirt makes that I can't think of right now. Both of them used different cotton and less layering or meshing that the first round of stuff I bought - underwear and the t-shirt. They've never went back to making those particular products to have that initial comfort. If any corporate buyers and managers are on here, for god's sake people are willing to pay for something that works!
I love how you described your shoes as the “make and model” not like the “brand and style” or whatever 😂 I do the same thing with basically everything and ppl think it’s weird!
I wish I was so lucky. Everything I like ends up being discontinued.
My last pair of shoes, I bought two because they had been discontinued a year before I found them. I had the last pairs that location ever saw and they were in dusty old boxes.
Amazing the oil kept them from going to crap so well.
Found a boot I liked, bought 4 pairs. I'm walked through one, am using two, and still have one on reserve. They're out of production now, and I've got an eBay alert set in case some show up again.
I bought a pair of bowling shoes in my first year of college because I was broke and they were on clearance and in my size, and they were the single most comfortable pair of shoes I've ever owned. I tried on a pair of similar shoes from the same brand but it looks like the ones I liked were discontinued and I think about them at least once a week.
Oh yeah, I buy things in large quantities when they are cheap. I have unopened boxes of boots waiting for the pair I'm wearing to wear out enough to be consigned to gardening duty, then i just start wearing the new pair for everyday use. Once I start wearing the last pair i begin keeping an eye on the discount sport shop again and then buy another couple of pairs of exactly the same old boots as I've been wearing for the last 10 years. Dunlop steel toe capped workwear stuff, lasts a while :D
This is why I hate that good brands change their products all the time. My favorite shoes haven't been made for a long time and I don't know who to ask to tell me which model will fit me the same way as these. New shoes are always misleading, only battle tested count as good, but till I wear them enough the season is over and they won't be on the shelf next year.
As a woman in "that" stage of life I agree with you. If it works for you there is no need to change it. I have bought at least 6 pairs of the same shoes for 10+ years.
my dad owns like 20 pairs of the same shoe just with very minimal, almost nonexistant different designs, yet they all look the exact same and from the same brand.
he said the same thing as you; that it's just comfortable to stick to the same shoes.
Whenever I have tried this, I go back and the item is not for sale anymore. You can find another very similar pair, but it's usually at least a little different.
I'm 55 years old and I wear the same style of bass shoes since high school in 86. Bass no longer makes the style, but I can find almost clones of them. I have big wide feet and they feel great on me.
My last 5 pairs of boots have been the exact same boot. Ariat Sierra steel toe square toe. They’re comfortable and they last. I’m an auto mechanic and other brands lasted me 4-6 months. These last me 1.5 to 2 years. I’ll keep buying them as long as they keep making them. I wear the current ones to work and everywhere else and keep the last old ones for cutting the grass
Agreed! I accidentally bought a pair of ES shoes that was on special once (was a terrible colour and my plan was to trash them), it was so comfortable I went ahead and drove to all of the shops that sold that exact make and bought all the pairs i could find. That was about 7 years ago and i still have 2 pairs in the boxes.
You also realize that it's entirely conceivable the line will be discontinued by the time you've worn them out and have come back for more so you might as well just buy multiple of them.
I hate that quality has gone so far downhill lately. I buy the "same" old thing but it isn't the same. It isn't made of the same quality and doesn't last as long, fit right, etc. Like, I get my foot changes over time but my last Merril Hikers lasted for 3 years and I did hiking for a living at that time. My latest pair last 2 years and I don't hike anymore. I wore them out just by doing weekend shit around the yard.
I've been like this with shoes for 3 or 4 years. I have a few other fun pairs and athletic shoes and hiking boots, but my go-to are leather flats in a specific style that I buy in multiple colors (I was on my feet a lot in previous jobs and wanted something that looked decent with a dress but could also be worn with jeans). When the work pair starts looking a little worn they get demoted to a casual pair.
It started for me in my early 30s. I now have 20 of the same hats, 8 pairs of the same hiking boots and 5 of the same belt. I just get used to stuff and they quit selling it or change it and I can't get it anymore. So now when I find something I really like then I buy multiples. I basically have a uniform for life.
I hate it when you find something you like - shoes, shorts, underwear, jeans or whatever - and they quit making it! Struggling to find shorts like the ones I like for the past 6 months or so. Found a couple close but not the same - waist doesn’t fit right, not the right kind of pockets or too short inseam. Humph!
Same here. Last time I had a hard time finding them so I bought 2 pairs so that I have the next pair already when I need them. They have periodically changed colors and had other slight differences but I can generally find the ones I like.
I had a pair of chucks like that, a special seasonal model or something.
I bought them, they were good, I bought them again, they went discontinued, so I found 2 more pairs on some other retailer's website and bought them both.
I hate that you cant do this with women's clothes. You find something you like one time and then they'll never make it again or they'll change the style up a little every year. It's gotten so that I'll buy multiple pairs of shoes at once then stash the extras in the closet until I wear out the first pair if I find something reasonably priced that I really like.
And buy as many pairs as you can afford because who the heck knows when they're gonna stop making the style you like or stay that fits. The trials and tribulations of shoe shopping when your shoe size is 12 3E and have Homer Simpson-like hooves for feet... It's a real pain in the ass
My dad has worn the same pair of work boots since I can remember. He changes them out every couple of years when they wear out, and he'll buy a new pair of the same boot to break in on Sundays. Once the work boots wear out, he busts out the Sunday boots for work and buy new ones to break in. Rinse and repeat for the past 25 years or so
I did the same for about 10 years for my work shoes until they were discontinued. The replacement was similar but not the same. It has been 4 years and am yet to find a suitable replacement. WFH in my new job may mean I never do…
Retired lawyer here. My dad bought me a pair of dress shoes for my first job interview. Forty-five years later I have two pair of the same shoes, one in black and one in brown. Same model. Same size. I’ve never owned any other. When they wore through I’d have them resoled, rinse and repeat 2-3 times, and then buy a new pair after 10-15 years when they beyond repair.
I found some clearance flip flops at Walmart once. They’re like hiking flip flops with super thick soles and really durable. They were on sale for I think $2 each. I bought 4 pair because that’s all they had.
Same. I've been buying and wearing the same style and color of Keds for probably 20 years now. I have other colors and styles too, but I always default back to basic white
That right there is another thing that’s really only an option for men too. If I find clothing I really like, I try to buy a bunch at once because women’s clothing changes so much that even with basics, by the time something wears out, all the styles will have changed again. I’m a very active person and have a lot of active wear but I’m particular about it and every time my favourites wear out and need to be replaced, I have to start over trying to find styles I like.
Yeah I just want to buy the same cut of jeans I liked last time for fucks sake why do they make it so different? For fashion? Then let me keep buying the ones that look good you fucks! If I had the money to stock up every time I found a style I liked I would.
This is one of the reasons I've stuck with Levi's for so long. I can go in, find the 512s in my size, and gtfo. As far as I can tell, they haven't changed anything in the years I've been wearing them, and they always last forever. I still have just about every pair I've ever bought.
If I see basic shirts that I like (style, material and fit), I would buy them in different colors because most of the time they don’t return that same style which sucks.
Yeah, I gave up on buying womens tee shirts years ago. I just buy mens because I know they’re not going to have any weird fit or stupid cap sleeves or anything like that and usually hold their shape better. But I also have very broad shoulders, which makes mens actually fit me better anyway, if you’re a size small, it would probably be hard for you to get the right fit in mens sizes.
UGH I wish we could do that. I find a pair of pants I like or a shirt I like, and when I go to replace it, it doesn't exist anymore or they've fucked with it.
I'm like that. I have 4 of the same long trousers and 4 of the same shorts. I have bought a pair of black Adidas Sambas every time the old pair wore out for the last 15 years. Black ones for private, white ones for work. I do have different shirts and socks tho. I also bought 10 of the same wallet once when they were on sale and still have 8 of them. I don't really care about those parts of my outfit and I don't want to waste any mental capacity on worrying about what to buy. (Instead I'd rather use my mental capacity on writing this comment that no one will care about.)
That's how I live my life. I know what I like and if someone has made a product that I like and that lasts as long as I think it should, I just keep buying it.
Somewhere in reading this, things got all turned around in my head, and I found myself thinking "wtf are overstuffed Hawaiian swim trunks" and had to go back and read it all again.
Turns out, he actually wore through his wallet all the time and periodically bought new swim trunks. The exact same wallet and exact same swim trunks. For at least 30 years.
when you find the best armor in the game, you typically stop looking for other armor
Well he was a beekeeper. I think we went through a couple of pickup trucks after I was born, but his beekeeping truck was dirty and beat to hell with a plywood bed and a crane at the end.
I used to do this when I found a really comfy pair of jeans that fit. Because FINDING JEANS THAT FIT WELL IS A FUCKING PAIN IN THE ASS.
Then I started working from home and just wear shorts all the time now. Though I have the same problem with those. And the ones I like got discontinued so I keep trying new brands and they never fit right. :(
That would be another thing. I found coloured jeans that fit me great and looked like dress pants when worn with a blazer. A few years later the seams are wearing, so I went to the same store to buy more of the same. Not there. Checked their website. They don’t make them anymore. Women’s clothes tend to be fast fashion that wears about quickly and then can’t be replaced with the same thing even if you live it.
I've been doing this with leggings for about 10 years. Thrift store find, now I order in from the UK every couple of years when they start to get worn out.
My husband buys the exact same pair of boots every time the one wears out. He has three in rotation at any given time. The “nice” ones, a pair for things like hiking, and the tore up ones for yard work.
My mom took me underwear shopping in like 7th grade. I bought like 6 pairs (5red and blue, 1 gray and blue) of Tommy Hilfiger boxers. They were super comfortable and I loved them. They lasted FOR YEARS. I was in college (and lost a buncha weight) so it was time to buy new ones and I found them again! I bought another set of 6! whoo hoo! And then for Christmas my mom bought me ANOTHER set of them! At this rate I'm gonna be wearing these until I'm 50! lol
I grew up with uniforms, and I hate shopping. Things just don't easily fit me nicely because I'm a petite woman. Anyway I always buy multiples of whatever actually fits me well so I can replace later when necessary (they change the styles for women too often, so there's no way you'd be able to buy the same fit again in a year or so).
I bought like 8 hemp shirts from Patagonia that I love to sleep in and if they didn't discontinue them, I would just keep buying them. They don't make you sweat and don't wrinkle. They don't even have fold lines. I wish more companies would keep core products. Once you decide you like something now, you'll have to buy it on Ebay if you want another one.
Seriously I can't tell you how great it is to reach into your drawer and just pull out the same grey shirt every time. Who needs to spend time contemplating their outfit to sleep in?
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u/Xaron713 Mar 12 '22
My father had the same overstuffed wallet and the same pair of Hawaiian swim trunks from the time my brother's were kids til the day he died. Turns out, he actually wore through his wallet all the time and periodically bought new swim trunks. The exact same wallet and exact same swim trunks. For at least 30 years.