How Good is Good Enough?

I'm sort of in the market for two things that make me wonder "How Good is Good Enough?".  My phone is a 5+ year old "Blackberry"-style dumb phone.  It makes and receives calls and texts and my bill from Tracfone averages about $10 per month.  It really does what I need it to do, at least most of the time. However, I realize that it isn't going to last forever, and every now and then I start thinking about getting a smart phone.  The question is how much to spend?  At what point am I buying power that I will never use (or at least will never miss if I never buy it in the first place) and at what point am I buying a piece of junk that will have to be replaced sooner rather than later after frustrating me it's entire life?

What Do I Want in a Phone?

I know it sounds silly, but I want something that will make and receive calls and texts.  I also want a decent camera, since another broken device here is my digital camera.  We are taking the Girl Scouts to New York this summer and I want to be able to take pictures, post them online and have the quality be good enough that I can print them if desired.  I want to be able to read my email and surf facebook, and it would be nice if the keyboard was easy to type on so I could reply, but for any substantial typing I prefer a real computer with a real keyboard. While I don't plan on using it for extensive web surfing, I do want searching the internet for something to work reasonably well.  I want it to run a few apps like Robinhood and I'd like one that can link to a Fit Bit or similar device. 

What Do I Not Need?

Obviously I don't NEED anything a smart phone does that mine doesn't.  I've lived without one this long, and I could continue to live without one for a long time.  However, as far as things I've seen or heard of people doing with their smart phones, these are some I don't see me doing:

• Downloading a lot of music.  Music just isn't my thing.  I listen to some but I can almost guarantee you that no matter what phone I have, I won't be downloading lots of songs and arranging them into playlists.
• Listening to podcasts:  Talk radio is annoying; amatures doing talk radio is even worse IMO.
• Watching videos:  Not my thing to begin with, but if I was going to it, I'd use my Kindle Fire.
• Reading books:  Love to read; that's why I have a Kindle Fire.  I may read on my phone if I'm desperate, but hopefully I won't be.

So, How Much Should I Spend?

I can afford to buy the latest I-Phone, if I wanted to.  However, I suspect that I wouldn't get my money's worth.  I have found that the easiest way to save money is to buy products that meet my needs/wants, rather than other people's.  So, how much should my new phone cost?  Are there any brands I should avoid?

Right now, Tracfone is selling smart phones for as low as $20.00 and as much as $530.00.  All are Android phones.  Will I be happy with a $20.00 phone?  How about the $80?  Anybody have any advice?

On to the Sewing Machine

The other thing I'm looking at is a sewing machine.  My current machine is an early-'80's White.  It sews straight stitches, zig-zag and a dozen decorative stitches I've never used.  Someone gave the machine to my father-in-law, who gave it to me.

I used that machine to make maternity clothes when I was pregnant with my now-25 year old, and to make the comforter, bumper pads and curtains for my nursery.  I've hemmed school uniforms, sewn on scout patches and done a little mending over the years.  A couple of weeks ago I was hemming a shower curtain to turn it into a window curtain and something went wrong.  I think the timing is off, but I don't know enough about sewing machines to know for sure. 

This machine is not used often nor do I do complicated things with it.  However, it is nice to have so I made a couple of calls about getting it fixed.  I'm basically looking at about $100.  With that in mind, I started looking at new machines and found they ranged in price from about $75 to several thousand dollars.  I'm not going to spend several thousand dollars, but how much should I spend?  How much is enough?

I posted on a couple of sub-Reddits, and the advice I got was to fix the old machine--that a $100 machine was junk.  Ok, that's what I'll probably do, but if I was in the market for a new one, how much is enough?  

Do You Get What You Pay For?

"You get what you pay for" is a favorite adage of those in sales.  The granite counter top will last much longer than the formica (but I've seen enough harvest gold formica to know that formica lasts longer than I am going to want the same counter tops).  The new car will be better than the old (but you can buy a lot of car repairs for the price of a car payment).  The clothes from Saks will last longer than the ones from Wal-Mart (but who wants to wear clothes more than a couple of years anyway?). 

My son needed a new mattress about a year ago.  We had paid good money for the one he was using but it did not hold up.  About that time I read this review on Frugalwoods and decided to give this mattress a try.  A year later when my daughter complained about her mattress, I ordered one for her.  Next time someone in my house needs a mattress, it will be delivered by Amazon as well.  I have no reason NOT to buy the cheap one from them.  At least at this point, I see no value added by a more expensive mattress.  

What Do You Think?

Any suggestions as to price range for phones?  Anybody want to chime in on fix the sewing machine vs buying a new one, or does anyone want to tell me the price range I should be considering for a sewing machine that is an occasionally used toy as opposed to a workhorse?  

Do you have any stories about picking an inexpensive model and finding out that you made the right choice, like I did with the mattresses?  What about a purchase you made where you could have afforded to pay more than you did--and after getting the product you wished you had?

Addendum

After I wrote this post and before I published it Cyber Monday appeared and I bought a $92 phone that came with 1,000 minutes of talk, 1,000 texts, 1000 MB of data and six months of service.  It is the same phone my daughter bought a year ago for $200.00 and she says she likes it.  

Also last weekend I was wrapping gifts at Barnes & Noble with the Girl Scouts and one of our customers was a seamstress (I don't remember how we started talking about that) and so I asked her what she thought about sewing machines.  She said to fix the old one.  

*Part of Financially Savvy Saturdays on brokeGIRLrich.*