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The original was posted on /r/lifeprotips by /u/SinkMince0420 on 2026-04-10 20:27:32+00:00.
This tip has saved me probably thousands of pounds and only took me til the end of my 20s to realise..
Examples:
I used to buy £200 bottles of perfume, my favourite being Spring Flower - Creed, I concede I am an idiot. I found a dupe online, for £20 that honestly noone tells the difference. But it took me down the rabbit hole of, how often do you tell truly expensive perfumes when you're out?
used to buy sanctuary or bodyshop body wash, when in reality, unless it's medicinal, firstly we're covering it with perfume anyway, and/or who else notices others body washes when they are outside? Noone is sniffing you that closely. Granted, for yourself when you're in the shower it's nice, but the scent wears off so fast it's not worth the extra money.
past home I renovated with purely luxury paint, Little Green, Farrow and Ball etc. Then realised.. Who walks into someone's home and sticks their nose up at dulux? I've never done it, noticed, or cared. I'll agree quality when applying is nice but dulux is also fine and so much cheaper!
Same rule kind of applies to everything really, before I spend on something, I ask if Ive ever noticed it or cared for it on other people. If yes, then I will spoil myself, otherwise, I'll 'settle'. Because ultimately, who really cares!?
A tip I wish my younger self knew 🙃.
Edit: this blew up may more than I thought for an off the cuff thought, so:
Firstly, I am not some kind of dictator here to your luxury goods away. You keep buying things for yourself, that is so perfectly fine. I buy stuff for myself too.
Secondly, this isn't black and white, I'm not advising to buy 1 ply toilet paper (although if I'm honest, if you are buying 1 ply, I am judging so I guess this does apply), I'm just saying certain things are superfluous. Another example is the £20 Molton Brown shampoo I tried, thinking it would make my hair smell amazing, which it did, but did anyone else notice? Not really, did I enjoy it enough for the cost? Not at all. Olaplex hair oil though, did make a difference to my hair and it was noticeable to others, I was told my hair looked good that day and that was nice.
Thirdly, I don't live for the validation of others, again to the black and white, I do do things for myself. Even wearing perfume really, that's for me. Ive been pulled aside for one scent, which is a nice bonus. And being honest, I can tell the difference between the true cheap, but true cheap is not what I've said! However your £200 versus your £80 one, no offence I can't tell the difference. And very few people can or even care!
Fourthly, paint 🙄. Back to the point of not saying to buy the cheapest, that is not what I'm saying. Don't do that, you'll have a headache painting it. But there is a middle ground. And at the end of the day the aesthetic is the same and as long as a room is painted well, I can't tell the difference between Dulux or Lick, F&B etc and noone else can really.
My little tip is purely an extra filter when buying superfluous stuff. Enjoy your designer bags and 3 ply toilet paper, but don't spend £20 on mascara when I've never looked at someone's eyes and said 'that's the YSL mascara', when drug store mascara does the same thing.. Or OPI nail polish I used to collect when I've learned it's watered down and there's better quality for much less.. I've also never looked at someone's nails and recognised that it's OPI. And lastly to finish this off, all the people pretending they don't care at all about anything, if we're going black and white here, ok, well the whole base point of perfume was literally to cover your smell up for the sake of other people - when someone compliments your look, you don't care and it has no effect on what you'd purchase or not? Or going on a date with another person, you don't care what they or even your family think of you? Crazy thought, some less than others and it's dependent on what it is, but we all care what others thoughts are.