The recession has taught some of us to live more frugally (for some, this has always been a way of life). But if you’ve been choosing cheap products to save a buck, you might not be keeping that much more cash in your wallet if the things you buy have to be repaired often or replaced quickly. The key is to find quality products at budget prices -- and there is a Web site that can help you do that.
Cheapism.com lists the best cheap products in eight categories, including electronics, computers and kitchen appliances. It constantly expands its category list and will add reviews of snow blowers, online brokers, digital camcorders and more kitchen appliances over the next few weeks. For each product, Cheapism.com provides a price range, links to several retailers’ sites where you can buy the product and a comprehensive buying guide that tells you what features to look for and what sort of performance to expect.
The team at Cheapism.com uses a research-intensive process to select the best cheap products, says site co-founder Max Levitte. “If an extra LED light adds $30 to the price of a product, we want the writer to find that out,” he says. “If 14 cycles double the price of a dishwasher but most people only use one basic cycle, we want the writer to point that out, too.”
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Cheapism.com also has a blog that provides tips for frugal living and a list of resources to help consumers save.
For Kiplinger’s picks of quality products at cheap prices, see You Can Buy This ... Or This for Less.