In a 1993 novel, Terry Pratchett described a theory about boots. Good leather boots cost $50 and last for years. Cheap ones cost $10 and soon start to leak.
A poor man can only afford the cheap pair. So he keeps buying them, and over ten years he spends about $100. His feet are still wet.
The man who paid $50 once has dry feet. Pratchett's point: being poor costs more.