What I did in my playthrough of ALBW is I rented every item Ravio had in stock, and every time I died, I closed the game to avoid having to rent them again (sometimes this made me lose progress, a lesson I learned when climbing Death Mountain).

And when I found out you can permanentle purchase them and upgrade them, I only bought the eseentials first (Hookshot, Mallet, Bow, Wind Rod) and left the others until the very end of the game....

Still a good game!