Blog Swap: What brings you the most value?

It’s a Blog Swap! Today, we’re answering the question “What do you spend money on that brings you the most value?” Make sure to hop on over to her blog to read my post on my love for this Wheaton Terrier. For more fun, go on over to Narrow Bridge Finance for a round up of all the posts in this blog swap. And be sure to comment and let us know what you spend money on that gives you the most value.

I often run the dollar/value equation when I am buying something.

Tires that are guaranteed for 70k miles are $800 while tires that are only rated for 30k miles cost $600. One is obviously a better value for your dollar. At the same time, I do not often compare my expensive tires to my expensive mattress (okay, so my mattress was not expensive as our roommate works for a company that makes memory foam mattresses, so we got the employee deal, but it would have retailed at a pretty high price) to figure out which one has the most value to me.

There are all sorts of quality items where I spend more to get better quality. But what do I spend money on that brings me the most value?

I think I am going to have to answer: shoes- specifically Dansko clogs.

In order to understand exactly how much value they bring to my life, I have to tell you a little bit about myself.

At any point in my life, if you asked me if I cared about shoes, liked buying shoes, needed a different pair of shoes for each outfit- anything like that, I would have told you No. I need a pair of flats to wear with skirts, a pair of sneakers for running around, and maybe a pair of hiking boots.

However, for years (and I mean years) if you had looked in my closet, you would have called me a liar. I had all sorts of shoes- way more than the 3 pair I would have told you I needed. In fact, I was buying new shoes every few months.

Why? Well, it starts with the fact that I have big feet- bigger than average. Not as big as my friend who turned to drag queen sites to get her dress shoes, but big enough that even now, most department stores do not carry shoes in my size, even if the manufacturer happens to make them (which they often do not). And trust me, shoes are something you want to try on before you buy.

Going in to a department store to buy shoes was a traumatic experience. I could not just look for something cute and ask a salesman to get it for me. No, I had to track a salesman down and ask if they carried any shoes in my size, and if so, which ones. I felt like a freak.

Enter my emotional savior, Payless Shoe Source. They carried shoes in my size. They had all the shoes out on display, so I could walk in and find something I liked, try it on, and buy it. No hassles, no feeling like a mutant. Life was good.

Well, except that you get what you pay for. I walk a little funny, carrying my weight more on the insides of my feet, and over the course of a few months, my shoes would deform based on weight distribution. Or the arch support would fail, or the sole would wear out, or any of the myriad things that shoes do when they wear out. And I would end up needing to go buy more shoes. But I never threw out the old shoes. (I am getting better, but I think if you were to search my basement, you would find Payless shoes that are unwearable that have been moved at least twice.)

Besides spending money every few months on shoes, I was also left with a lot of foot pain.

Finally, I got sick of it. I was working in a professional environment and needed a good every day shoe to wear with my slacks. I had good quality sneakers because I could buy those in men’s sizes, but not anything dressier, and I needed dressier. So I asked around.

I worked with a lot of nurses. They all recommended Danskos. I mentioned my big feet, and they assured me, Dansko made shoes in my size. But where could I try them on before I bought them? I did not just want to order a pair of shoes off the internet without knowing they would fit. The answer was Nordstrom’s.

This next bit is going to sound a bit like an advertisement for Nordy’s. Trust me, I do not get any money from them. But for someone like me, for whom shoe shopping had been an emotionally challenging event, this is big. Nordstrom’s website lets me search shoes by size, so I only see the styles that will fit me. In addition, it will tell me if my local store carries what I want.

This means I can walk in, find the shoe I am looking for, then flag down the sales guy and tell him what I want, as confident as anyone who wears a size 7 or 8, that they will have it in my size.

It also means that I now pay $120+ for a pair of shoes, where before I had been paying $30 or less. Of course, I also only need to buy shoes every 18 months or so, so I am actually saving money (or at least breaking even), and my feet do not hurt at the end of the day- which is worth paying extra for.

The sad part is, this has kind of turned me in to a shoe girl. Luckily, the expense is enough I can keep my desire to own something just because it’s cute, will fit, and will not hurt my feet under control.