I have been trying to shift my mindset on how I spend. In the past, I tried to save money by buying cheap things that ended up failing me. "Buy once, cry once" is a good adage. Now I am taking time to research because while money is scarce, spending it wisely is a kind of investment in eliminating future inconveniences and expenses. Good tools, good boots, and good books are all better investments than most people know.
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It seems so obvious, doesn't it? Why don't we do it when money isn't scarce? That is when it would have the most impact on our ability to save to invest, right?
For sure. I have tried to build a better basic toolkit, since I own a house that needs a lot of work done. Our neighbor has a decent set of crap tools - always having to replace something.
When isn't money scarce? Maybe if I make better long-term plans, it won't be one day.
Back when Sears still existed as a major US retailer, I bought a decent starter set of Craftsman tools. Ratchets and sockets, wrenches, pliers, and so forth. You have it easier if everything is metric-only.
There is a place for both "good enough to do the job once" and "will last a lifetime." I'm not a mechanic. The guys I know who work on cars all day every day consider my tools bare minimum at best, and they own a lot more of everything. But I have had very bad luck with the cheapest tools I have bought from time to time at stores like Harbor Freight. Those are the ones to take when you might lose them before you break them, I suppose.