Tech
Cost-per-wear: the math that stopped my impulse buys
The price tag tells you nothing. Divide it by the number of times you will actually wear it, and the expensive thing is often the cheap one.
The price tag tells you nothing. A $300 pair of shoes and a $100 pair of shoes are not $200 apart — they are however many wears apart, and that is the only number that matters.
The math is one division: price divided by wears. Three hundred dollars worn 150 times is $2 a wear. One hundred dollars worn 20 times, because they hurt or fell apart, is $5 a wear. The expensive shoes were the cheap ones.
The hard part is the honest wear estimate. Not how often you wish you would wear it, but how often your actual life calls for it. I count the days in a normal month the item fits, then multiply. Fantasy wears are how impulse buys justify themselves.
Run the number before you buy, not after. It takes ten seconds, and it has killed more bad purchases for me than any budget ever did.
Sample editorial content: this story was written to establish the site's voice and article template. It does not describe a real trip, purchase, or personal experience.
