I have to admit my wife taught me this one, for which I am eternally in her debt. To me it seemed a natural thing to shop for price. Perhaps this is what chaps do. I would work out what I wanted and then go and buy the cheapest items I could and feel really pleased with myself for saving money. And then I was always dissatisfied with what I had. Stuff broke or didn’t work or wore out quickly or looked shoddy after a very short time. I was living in a mess – and a cheap one at that. What I needed to learn was the art of quality shopping.

Basically:

• Accept only the very best – second best is not for you, ever.
• If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it, or wait and save until you can.
• If you have to have it, buy the very best you can afford.

There, that’s pretty easy, isn’t it? Well, for me it wasn’t as easy as that. It took me quite a long time to really get to grips with this one. It isn’t that I don’t – or didn’t then – admire quality or appreciate excellence; it was that I was impulsive. If I thought I needed something, I wanted it right then and there. And if I couldn’t afford the very best, I would settle for the cheapest. In fact, in a very English sort of way, I thought that ‘getting a bargain’ was what it was all about. We don’t like to talk about money and we don’t like to brag about how much something cost, too tacky by far – better to buy tacky in the first place. I think not.

Going for quality doesn’t mean we’re stuck up or a load of toffs or living beyond our means. Going for quality means you appreciate the finer things, can see the sense in buying well-made, well-produced things, as they will:

• last longer
• be stronger
• not break so easily.

And this means they will not need to be replaced so often, which means you might actually be saving money. They will also make you look and feel better.

Now that I’ve latched on to this Rule I really enjoy that anticipation before I buy something. I make sure it really is the quality I am going for and not just the price. I still shop around for a bargain though – it’s just now I look for the quality items but I’m prepared to find them at the lowest price.