Steal vs. splurge | Comparing pricey items to affordable counterparts

You don’t need a magazine to tell you it’s cheaper to buy jeans at Walmart than at Nieman Marcus. But if you’re angling for quality, expensive-looking jeans without going broke, well, that we can help you with. In this issue, we compare splurge-worthy expenses such as massages, mobile devices and tropical vacations with their similar, less-pricey counterparts. A poor man’s take, if you will. Because while this economy may prevent us from buying $500 Proenza Schouler jeans, we’ll be damned if we’re going to trot out of the house wearing Wranglers.