Checkered Kilt Hose Etiquette?

[Clockwork John]

[QUOTE=Pleater;464818]So Sam Vimes' thoughts on boots are not current on the forum?

Samuel Vimes is the character on Discworld (a literary creation of Terry Pratchett) in charge of the city of Ankh Morpork Night Watch.

He points out that when a poor man needs boots he buys a pair for ten dollars, which begin to let in the water after a few months. In a year they are worn out and he has to buy another pair for another ten dollars.

When a rich man needs boots he buys a pair for fifty dollars which keep out the water and last a long time.

So, ten years down the line, the poor man has spent twice as much as the rich man on boots, and he still has wet feet.
QUOTE]

I know this thread is about hose, but since someone brough it up...

Here are my thoughts on boots and frugality:

I've been through several pairs of cheap boots. They might last a year if I go easy on them. But most people, myself included, don't wear boots to go easy on them.

Roughly eight years ago, I was given a pair of steel-toed Doc Martens. With a price tag of $130 retail, they were far outside of my price range at the time, and truth be told, they still are.

After eight years of daily wear, I have finally worn them into the ground. The soles are worn slick and no longer provide any traction on any surface, and the leather has finally given out and cracked.

I'm thinking that eight years of wear warrants the $130 investment for another pair. So I started myself a boot fund. I took an empty jar and started tossing all my change in it, plus a few dollars here and there as I could afford it. I had about $50 saved up, with the promise of a retroactive raise at work, so I started shopping for boots.

I found DMs online (not the exact style I wanted but close enough) for $79 shipped. I was all set to buy myself a pair when my wife let it slip that I was getting a pair for Christmas that she had purchased at that incredibly low price.

So now I'm looking at (hopefully) another eight years of boot wear, at a cost of roughly half of retail.

I'd say that hunting for a quality product at an affordable price is pretty darn frugal. Maybe not cheap, but definitely prudent,wise, and frugal.

And that $50 in a jar has been relabeled "kilt fund."

[Jack Daw]

I forgot that I have visual aids. My red-and-off white castellated are featured to the far left. I was a judge at the Houston Highland Games' shortbread contest.