Guide
How to judge whether a purchase is actually worth the price
A practical way to test purchase decisions using cost per use, honest joy factors, and whether you would choose it again cold.
Cost per use is the most honest number
A £200 item used twice a week for two years costs less per use than a £30 item used twice and forgotten. The sticker price tells you almost nothing about value. The cost per use — price divided by total expected uses — gives you the actual running cost of owning the thing.
Joy is a legitimate input, but optimism is not
Genuine, durable enjoyment is real value. The problem is that the joy we feel when looking at a product in the store is often the joy of imagining using it, not the joy of actually using it regularly. An honest joy factor means asking how much you will enjoy the thirtieth use, not just the first.
Would you buy it again at full price?
The cleanest test of whether something was worth the money is whether you would choose it again cold, without a sale or novelty premium. If the honest answer is no, the purchase delivered less than the price suggested. That does not mean you made a mistake — but it does mean the category is not earning its spend.