I do that in regard to knives. Moras and a Becker are in the car. Bark River knives are in the house as are my Ritter knives - only going outside in a backpack, purse or jacket.

Other than those knives I do not buy cheap to protect the expensive. Because I have so much stuff after 20 years of buying camping gear, I can usually substitute old (old JetBoil and sleeping bag, for instance) for new and put those in the car - which is most vulnerable to theft.

I'm not in the habit of losing things so I don't worry about that. I do have to worry about theft in this area (property crime here is up 30% in the past year!).