This post is about quality vs quantity.
These days, people say quality is more important, than quantity.
But it's not always true. Different arguments for different scenarios.
In my previous post, I commented about not wanting to eat at Michelin starred restaurants.
I've eaten at some expensive fancy restaurants before, and after a few experiences, came to the conclusion that the price/value ratio was unacceptable to me. Usually a Michelin starred or any fancy restaurant would serve basic food cooked well with impeccable service and whatever. This could cost something like SGD300. I would prefer to use this SGD300 and eat some premium food at 3 different occasions at places, and I would get stuff like lobsters, crabs, steak, etc.
So in this Michelin starred example, I do not have much desire to eat at such a restaurant and I can find many other uses for the money. So I prefer quantity rather than the perceived quality.
Same as bags and shoes, male or female. I prefer have have a few different shoes and bags of lower quality than to have 1 bag of superior quality and cost. Basically, with the same amount of money, I could get more items which I can use for different occasions. Note, I don't mean poor quality. I've bought some rubbish leather shoes on Taobao at cheap rates which I wouldn't buy again for half the price.
I use a good enough XiaoMi phone. It's new cos of the phasing out of 2G network. I estimate I will be using it for the next 3 years or so. It cost me SGD260 I think or something like that without a plan. I would compare this to an iPhone which would probably cost SGD500-700 depending on the plan purchased. Now, that's not to say iPhones aren't good. I just don't appreciate it as much. The thing is, different people perceive quality differently, they value different things in differently as well.
For me, I need a phone for calls, Whatsapp, pictures, internet etc. And with a XiaoMi phone, I can get sufficient utility.
Or for travel, I have an annual budget of around SGD6000. So I can either take 1 big trip to the far west or take multiple trips around the region. Yes I do want to go further every once in awhile. But more often than not, I will decide to take short trips more regularly, as compared to only taking one trip per year. So in this case, for me, quantity wins again.
One thing I feel really strongly about is time spent with children. I see many parents. Friends, family, etc. They don't spend much time with their children, but they try to spend "quality time" with their kids by doing a lot of things, going out, going overseas, activities together, etc. The thing is, kids don't have a sense of quality time. Kids don't understand how hard it is to earn money to go overseas or to go somewhere exciting, etc. So they don't value the experience as much as adults think it is worth. ie, adults value the activity cos it costs money and cos they know how much effort it takes to earn the money. However, kids don't know this cos they have no sense of money and value yet. So, yes, they appreciate the time spent with their parents going overseas. But they value it the same as doing normal stuff with daddy and mummy. So spending time around them more often just doing normal stuff and being responsive and giving them the attention which they want would make them happier than bringing them to trips once in awhile. In this case, I think the quantity of time spent with children far outweighs the quality time spent with kids.
Hmm after typing half my post, I realize I don't have much instances where quality outweighs quantity. It's like I always prefer more good enough items than one superior item.
I just walked around the house trying to find a good quality superior item. And I finally found one...
Soya sauce... I think I use the highest grade soy sauce available at regular supermarkets.
Tiger Brand Super Grade Dark Soya Sauce
SGD3.90 for 320ml
As compared to
Tiger Brand Special Grade Dark Soya Sauce
SGD4.30 for 640ml
or
Tiger Brand Top Quality Dark Soya Sauce
SGD3.20 for 640ml
This is not an advertisement for Tiger brand. I just happened to use the Super Grade Dark Soya Sauce
This is the same for my oyster sauce.
It looks like my mental analysis goes something like this...
If it costs only a couple of dollars more and lasts for very long, then it's ok to get a good quality item.
However, if the item costs a few hundred or a few thousands of dollars more, then I'll prefer to get a lower quality item and change it if/when it gets spoilt. (Note, lower quality does not mean poor quality.)
Which is slightly different from my wife's analysis.
She tends to have a tenancy to look for deals. But the deals may not be cheap. She's taken liking to Rabeanco bags. Cos the bags are lightweight, which are a plus point in female bags and real leather. I think it's goat skin. Not the best quality, not cheap, but a good alternative compared to the other bags which are available on the market.
She used to look for good restaurants to go to with really fancy food. Lobsters, steak, you know the stuff we like... They aren't cheap. But they're the best deals in town. Still costs around SGD70-80 per pax. Lucky for me she has stopped looking at these for the time being.
I have a question for mothers. What about formula milk? How does it work out? Cos in the papers, recently there was some news about formula milk being overpriced and that the cheaper alternatives are just as good. And that there wasn't much difference. Is there any conclusion to this? Or will we ever know? Cos no one really knows until the kid grows up right? And even after they grow up? How would a parent know cos they did not try different milk on different babies? Maybe a controlled experiment would be twins where one of the twin drinks branded formula milk and the other twin takes a normal brandless formula milk? Then 18 years later we run tests on them? But then again there would be so many other external factors like the environment, the teachers, the friends, who would affect the development of the children.
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