Worthy Splurge: 5 Things That Are Never Worth Skimping On

In the midst of all this talk about budgeting and saving money, it’s important to realize that not everything can be done on the cheap. There are areas of your life at home where more money equates to better quality. Not just better quality construction, but also a better quality life (and sleep!) for you. These are five things around the house where you should put price aside and buy exactly what you want—even if that means saving up for awhile.

It’s tough to get your head around the idea of putting cost aside when money is tight. If you’re on the fence about a splurge, know that you’ll get a bang for every extra buck you can manage to spend in these five areas of the home. Don’t use it as an excuse to live extravagantly; spending outside your means is never a good idea, but trying to scrimp and save on any of these things would be an even bigger mistake.

The average person sleeps 7.5 hours per night. The average mattress lasts more than 10 years. You do the math. For the lazy: You’ll probably spend close to 30,000 hours on that $300 mattress you’re thinking about buying. Don’t you think your sleep quality is worth more than a penny an hour? If you don’t believe me, check out these love letters from Apartment Therapy readers to their favorite comfortable mattress.

A good chair provides lumbar and pelvic support; it’s not only more confortable, but better for your back. If you spend more than an hour in your office chair each day, you should splurge on your task chair (and make sure you’re seated ergonomically). Here are 6 things you should look for in a home office chair.

Cutlery is one of those areas where you can spend a lot upfront to save money in the long run. A good-quality chef’s knife will give you ten times the life of a knife at half the cost, if you take care of it.

Access to the web is becoming a basic utility. If your day-to-day routine—or your work-from-home job—relies heavily on internet use, cutting back on high-speed internet to save money might not be worth it. Don’t think connection speed affects your quality of life? Tell me again when you’re trying to stream Game of Throes on 3Mbps (Then I’ll point you to this post about how to speed up your connection).

Getting the good toilet paper isn’t going to break the bank. But if you’re trying to curb your grocery spending, it can be tempting to grab the bargain stuff. Repeat after me: Two-ply; because I’m worth it. (Same goes for garbage bags, too.)