“Nice or Twice” Is My New Golden Rule for Buying Things for My Home

I adore a good aphorism, and when I find one I haven’t heard before I’m always delighted. So when, I was perusing my TikTok feed and heard a video begin, “You know that saying, ‘buy it nice or buy it twice?’” I instantly stopped scrolling. And I’m so glad I did, because now I have a new phrase to add to my repertoire that doubles as a rule I’ll be sticking to in my home from now on. 

The pleasantly rhyming adage pretty much means: You get what you pay for. If you buy a low-cost item, it could be more cheaply made and wear out or break more easily — aka you may have to go out and buy it again. Whereas if you invest a bit more in an item that has used higher-quality materials and spent more time on the labor, it’s generally prone to lasting longer. 

In Jaime Elana Pelletier’s TikTok video, she explains that she’s been trying to upgrade all of her “everyday items,” so when her can opener broke, she embarked on hours of research before landing on the one she felt was best: the Rösle Can Opener with Plier Grip, which she says she spent $60 on. It’s made of completely stainless steel, so there are no plastic bits to crack under the pressure of opening a can. Not only that, but Pelletier says in the video, “Since it has a lifetime warranty, I should never have to buy another can ever ever again.” 

I have been in a big decluttering mode lately, and as I’ve been going through my things I’ve noticed the items that I can tell I’ll use for years to come versus the ones whose days are numbered. For instance, the wooden stirring sticks my mom gave me for Christmas, hand-hewn by her woodsmith friend, which I use while cooking every day? Those bad boys are only going to get better with age. But the plastic spatula that melted a little bit when I left it too close to the stove once? The microplastics floating around my body are begging me to replace it. 

In fact, learning this catchy “buy it nice or buy it twice” phrase has really just given me permission to double down on a mentality I was already employing around my home, particularly when it comes to household items I use nearly every day. For example, a couple of years ago, I replaced my ice cube tray. To use the hard plastic one I had, I usually twisted it around and then lightly banged it against a surface until some cubes dislodged, inevitably sending some flying onto the floor. A waste of water, an inefficient use of time, and an all-around exasperating experience. 

So when I decided it was time to replace it for good (I think it had started leaking, too, awesome!), I took my sweet time researching. Eventually, I landed on the W&P Peak Silicone Everyday Ice Tray, and I haven’t looked back since. For one, it’s adorable. I have the pink speckled version, which looks like a giant cupcake and makes me happy every time I open my freezer. It also comes with a lid that sits on top to help keep any pesky freezer smells from seeping into the ice cubes.

The product description says that it has a stainless steel internal frame, which I didn’t believe until I went to the freezer to look at mine, and indeed it does — an extremely nifty feature because that means it doesn’t flip-flop around while I’m trying to fill it up with water. The rest of the tray, though, is made of (BPA-free and dishwasher-safe) silicone, which means I never have to bash it against my counter to get an ice cube out. Instead, I civilly push on the bottom of the cubes and release exactly as many as I need (it makes 12 at a time). 

The W&P Everyday Ice Tray costs $16 and took a while to choose, but it’s one of those little upgrades that really has saved me so much time already and brings me genuine joy each day. I won’t have to buy it twice, but I certainly would if I needed to.