Over the years, I’ve learned that quality makes a difference. There are some items that you can purchase and you can go with the less expensive item and it won’t negatively affect anything. Other times, it makes a big impact.
Last year, I had two sons get married. This required some serious shopping. Dresses, shoes, etc. Believe me, I was up for the challenge. I’ve established that I love shoes. I have on occasion purchased shoes that I loved but they ended up being uncomfortable to wear. With wedding shoes, you need something pretty but that you can wear for a whole day. I found a pair of shoes that I loved that were made by Ivanka Trump. The heel were pretty high and I planned ahead and had back-up flats, for non-shoe lovers, comfortable but not as pretty shoes to change into later. This is where design and quality come in. I wore my Ivanka shoes for fourteen hours! They finally became uncomfortable at 11:45 PM. I looked at them and found several reasons that they were comfortable that long. Mainly, engineering and materials. I have another child getting married this year and no doubt the Ivanka brand will be my first choice.
Which brings me to windshield wiper blades. I never cared about them. They were attached to my car and swept rain off my windshield. Several years ago, a salesman came in with a new type of blade he wanted us to try. I expressed that we carried perfectly good wiper blades and thanks but “No.” He asked if I would try them on my own car for a week and I said yes.
That same night, I was in Holland for one of my kid’s soccer games. There was a torrential downpour, the game was cancelled and I had to drive home. Did I mention torrential? I ate my words while I was driving home. The new trial wiper blades did such a good job that it was “clearly” noticeable.
I’ve learned in auto world that there are items that are worth investing in and ones that you can go with the less expensive version, just like shoes. It depends on what you expect from them.