The case for buying fewer, better things
This is the argument every workshop on this marketplace is quietly making, so it is worth stating plainly, including the part where it is not always true.
The arithmetic
A $40 bag replaced every year for eight years costs more than a $220 bag that lasts a decade, and produces eight times the waste.
Where the argument breaks
It assumes you keep the thing. If your taste is still moving, or the item is genuinely a passing need, buying cheap is the rational choice.
What we would actually suggest
Spend properly on the five or six things you touch every day. Be relaxed about everything else.
