Picture yourself in the center of Target, gazing at a line of vacuum cleaners. One is priced at $50, another at $500. All you really want is a machine that won’t fail and dump dust all over your rug.
When you’re deciding on a purchase, your budget helps point you toward a price that fits your means. But it’s tough to plan for something when you’re unsure of the actual worth of the purchase you’re considering.
How can you tell which product offers the best value given what you can afford?
Use Cost Per Use When You’re Buying Expensive Items
In those awkward aisle moments, I rely on the “cost-per-use” idea. I appreciate how Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar lays it out:
How much must I pay for each time I’ll use that item (before it wears out or breaks)?
I don’t apply this approach to perishables or groceries — the calculations would drive me nuts. But when I’m buying something I expect to serve me across weeks, months, or years, I reach for the calculator.
With cost per use, “An item’s value is directly tied to how often you use it,” Hamm writes in a guest piece at Christian Science Monitor.
“The more you use something, the more you should be willing to pay for it. The ideal purchase is one that delivers the highest number of uses for the price.”
How does the cost-per-use idea play out in real life? Here are three examples where calculating cost per use helped me make smarter purchases.
The Winter Coat
A few seasons back, I went to a department store to pick up a new winter coat. I knew what I wanted: a durable wool pea coat that would stand up to chilly, damp Mid-Atlantic winters.
A quick scan of brands and styles I liked put prices around $200 to $250. Before you cry “too much,” consider: you can’t piece together a wool coat as quickly as you can throw on a T-shirt. While I wasn’t expecting bespoke tailoring, I did expect to pay more for a coat that looked and felt like it would last several seasons.
If you’re heading to a department store, don’t leave without checking for the retailer’s current coupon or promotion. Sometimes whole sections go on sale spontaneously; sometimes helpful cashiers will apply a discount even if you didn’t bring an ad.
For me, a store promotion dropped a nice $225 coat down to $175. I estimated I’d wear the coat nearly every day for three months each year (December, January and February), roughly 90 days. That put my cost per use for the $175 coat at only $1.94.
Would you spend two bucks every time you walked out the door knowing you had a warm coat on? I would.
To my mind, that coat paid for itself by the end of its first winter. It’s still going strong, and I expect to wear it for many more seasons — a sensible outlay that eased my cold-weather worries.
The Ladder
My new apartment has very tall windows. I’m talking lofty. As I signed the lease, I craned my neck, wondering how I’d ever hang curtains. More pressingly, how would I swap the batteries in smoke detectors placed high on my loft-style walls?
Buying a ladder for $80 to $150 felt impractical — I’d have no room to store it beyond the handful of times per year I’d actually need it.
Renting one didn’t seem economical either, though it solved the storage problem: Home Depot would rent a ladder for $21 per day plus a $50 refundable deposit.
I figured the smartest choice was to pay roughly $85 a year to handle a few odd jobs across four days (cost per use: $21, as long as I returned it intact). It still didn’t feel like the best financial move.
Then luck intervened: I found a couple of ladders in the building’s storage. Management only taps them for painting and maintenance. So instead of dealing with the hardware rental counter, I simply ask my landlord and use the building’s ladders gratis.
Even better: the prior tenant had already hung curtains for me. They look fine considering they were free and required zero setup. When I saw those curtains on move-in day, I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t impulsively dropped $100 on a ladder.
The Wedding-Guest Outfit
I recently got an invite to a friend’s wedding. It included an unexpected dress code note: black tie optional.
As I examined the invitation, I mentally scanned my closet. My minimalist tendencies meant I owned very few dresses — none appropriate for a formal wedding.
I first thought about taking a fashion leap and buying a “women’s tux.” I’d channel a sharp, tailored look I could wear repeatedly. Comfort, style, and ready for the dance floor.
But would I really wear it more than once? If I don’t normally keep formalwear in my wardrobe, how often would I wear a suit that would start at $500? I couldn’t justify that price given I’d also be covering airfare and a hotel to attend the celebration.
My fix: consignment shopping. I set a $50 cap and began visiting my favorite resale and secondhand shops to hunt for formalwear. A chic tux might be a stretch, but a flattering dress that fits? Totally doable.
I may not show up in the absolute latest style, but I’m confident I’ll find something comfortable — financially and on the dance floor.
The cost-per-use method isn’t something I obsess about for every little purchase. As noted above, I don’t fuss over groceries.
But when I’m evaluating options for an item I expect to enjoy or use for years, I grab the calculator. No shame in running the numbers.
Your Turn: Do you rely on the cost-per-use idea to steer your buying choices? Do you use it across the board, or only for specific categories?
Also consider approaches like cost per wear and general smart spending tips to help make more informed purchases.
