Quality vs Cheap

Well, it happened yet again. I returned from my vacation in Oklahoma late Thursday evening. When I left, I was worried about the ceiling in my bathroom as I have developed yet another leak from the ceiling. It was getting so bad that I was about to start putting an umbrella in the bathroom again when I would be caught in a position (or place) where I couldn't get out of the way when the water began to cascade from the various cracks in my ceiling.

I returned to find that the cracks had gotten bigger and the cascading water was more like a waterfall than a continuous drip. So it wasn't that much of a surprise when about 3 hours ago, I heard this loud "CRR-AAA-CCCKKK!!" and then "KKAA-PLOSHH!" The ceiling collapsed. And boy what a mess it made.

As I was cleaning up the mess and later stapling garbage bags to what little of the ceiling remained to cover the huge-ass hole, I began to ponder, "I knew that there was a reason I was only paying $950 for a 1 bedroom apartment in Manhattan." Everyone I know (except for two church members who have both cheap rent AND a nice apartment) pays a lot morerent than I do- and they have pretty nice apartments, and their bathrooms look nice (I seem to always want to check out their bathrooms, and I promise, I never look in someone's medical cabinet).

My point is that I am caught in a pattern. I seldom buy the best quality of anything, whether or not I am renting an apartment, buying a new computer, or purchasing new clothes. I usually buy what's on sale and/or what I think I can afford at the moment. I know that quality should always be my first concern. And, to make matters more difficult, since I usually buy crap- when the crap unexpectedly goes "Kaput!" I don't have enough time to save for a better replacement. It's a vicious circle.

Of course, one's amount of income plays a factor, but you know, that's really not a good excuse. What I need is more patience. Patience to not buy that fancy gadget that I think I'll need and instead put more in savings and just let it sit there for when such a time arises that something cheap I've bought quits working and I then go out and buy something of greater quality to replace it.

Rent of course is a different matter. Since rent here is so frickin' crazy, I need to come up with a better plan altogether. Unfortunately until I do, I'll have to put up with falling bathroom ceilings, rats as big as cats, and merenge music turned up so loud that you can hear the bass skreetch from my neighbor's speakers two floors away at 1:00am in the morning.