Sta.sh
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Forgive the following much overused quote but,
I just don't know what went wrong!
My scroll saw broke on me while working on a fixed mane Derpy. The beveled pin holding the saw blade tightening knob snapped in half. Non-repairable without a welder, no amount of wrenching and plier-ing has been able to twist it without the knob. (Which doesn't surprise me. The torque on the knob was absurd. I occasionally had to use a wrench to turn it in any case.) Now, I admit, it was the absolute cheapest one I could find, but I expected it to last more than 13 months. I wasn't even using it for about 4 of those.
So now I am left with a choice. I can: run and get another scroll saw today, probably of the same quality but hopefully with a longer lifespan. (It was not great quality as far as excess vibrations, stable cutting plane, ease of blade exchange etc. were concerned, but it certainly did it's job.) And I could get a new one for probably about $90, which I can afford at the moment out of my woodworking budget. Or I can dip into the Not-woodworking budget to get a nice, beautiful scrollsaw for, oh somewhere upwards of a considerable amount of money. On the assumption that I wouldn't have to buy a new one in a year and that it would be a better machine. It would certainly not be the first time I've gone hungry to do woodwork. But it would also probably take a week at least to arrive.
For now I'm going to go try to make a delicate pair of wings using a skip-toothed, 8tpi blade at 3/4 tension, since that's what was loaded in when the tension knob broke. (Sidenote: If I succeed in making a good pair of wings today I'm throwing myself a party.)
On less depressing matters: BOOKS!
I finally grabbed some books I've been wanting to read (and one that just looked interesting) from a clearance sale last week, which means, although I love me some Terry Pratchett, nothing is interesting the 9th time you read it for something to read. So my week has been full of Karen Horney's Neurosis and Human Growth, a book I've really wanted to read after just loving her personality theories in undergrad. And guys, guys it is so good. I love the psychoanalysts, and Horney has just a beautifully self-contained and relevant theory. Along with some novels it's been a good week for literature.
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Not Impressed 
But thank you very much.
It's been my own experience that it's often better to bite the bullet and spend a bit (or a lot) more to get something decent that you'll be happy with; not just because it may actually save you money in the long run when you don't have to replace it all the time due to wear and tear, but also because, well, you WILL be happier with it.
This is especially true for things that you'll use a lot. And since you do a lot of woodwork, I'd say you can justify getting quality tools.
Just my two bits, of course.