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Buy well, buy once

fellow.ventures

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Re: Buy well, buy once

#11

Post by s5300 »

Things I have bought well and once:

Vitamix 5300 - going strong after 13 years of near daily usage, 4 family blenders from department stores failed/poor quality blending before this

Zojirushi Rice Cooker - also close to 13 years, usage of a few times a week

Breville Burr Grinder - decade or a bit older, frequently used

Sonicare Toothbrush - $150ish or so model, probably 8 years of near twice daily usage. Presume I’ll have to change the battery sooner or later, but fine aside from that.

Being from poverty, I don’t think anybody in my family prior to me had ever spent nearly this much money on singular appliances. Having made the money spent on them on my own in my early teens, I consider it money very well spent - they’ve been with me in the Midwest, to the East Coast, and the West Coast (and through more than a few TSA baggage scans with people maybe wondering why is a young male flying with this kitchen equipment)

Re: Buy well, buy once

#12

Post by nextos »

bombela wrote: post #9
nextos wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done this, and it's very liberating. Basically, all things I own, including consumables, fit inside a small Org file. It's less than 100 items. I went this route because I wanted to emphasize some good habits, and de-emphasize things that I considered less valuable. The process I went through was basically thinking about my core habits, mapping said habits to some objects, and then thinking about extra objects t…

Something I am curious about. Does this list would include tools and all the thousands of parts and pieces one accumulates over the year when hobbying around?

I relocated and I no longer have any hobbies that involve tools.

For a different lifestyle, this list would be much longer and that is fine.

There is nothing special about having just 100 items.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#13

Post by [deleted] »

crazygringo wrote: post #7

> I even keep a record of all my worldly possessions in a visual catalogue spreadsheet on Airtable. 192 items at my last count. > I don't count hoodies, t-shirts, socks or usb cables but I really don't own many. I count a pair of shoes in a box as 1 item. Huh? Either you're counting things or you're not. Saying you own 192 items except for the 800 (?) you're not counting doesn't make a lot of sense. Why are shoes an…

[deleted]

Re: Buy well, buy once

#14

Post by skeeter2020 »

throwmeaway1212 wrote: post #8
gpspake wrote: post #2

I like the idea of cataloging all my possessions. It seems like a nice way to put that particular necessity of life (owning things) in a box that can be neatly put away when you don't want to think about it and quantify/measure it in a way that lets you manage it (I don't want to own 200 things, etc). It also seems like it would be helpful for legal situations like a manifest for a house fire or a will.

related useful post about insurance and keeping track of your possessions https://www.reddit.com/r/Tennessee/comments/fdju8r/cookevill...

My Hack: For insurance don't try and catalog everything in a spreadsheet or such; you're prematurely optimizing for a rare event that hopefully will never happen, you'll miss stuff or forget important details and it's impossible to keep it up to date.

Once a year walk through every room in your house with a video camera, openning all drawers and closets and record it all. Drop your 20-plus gigs of high-dev video somewhere (I use AWS glacier for pennies a month) and then IF you ever need to, you can painfully go through it and catalog everything.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#15

Post by FalconSensei »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #10

This article, and people posting in this thread are saying that they own 100 or 200 things. I can't believe this at all. My utility room, which basically just has stuff like cleaning products and rags/cloths etc, has more than 200 items in it. It's all useful, we're talking things like bleach, deodorant, shampoo, handwash, etc. My house probably has 50 or more pieces of art on the walls and then another 50 pieces of…

exactly. If you just count cutlery, dishes, pans, cleaning products, chargers, cables, etc... it goes up way too fast.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#17

Post by pers0n »

I’ve noticed some minimalists go to the extremes of limiting items based on numbers. In a way it’s a bit of a luxury.

Many people keep items or leftover stuff (one time use tools or extra glue, etc) because it saves money and time from having to drive to the store or order it online again incase they need it again. Those just incase items build up but they can end up being handy.

As someone that’s moved every year for like 6 yrs in a row, I sell about 95% stuff I don’t use but I still have a lot of things just in case that take up little space in junk drawer, etc. I think focusing on what you like and enjoy is better. Putting a hard round number on items is too much of a mental waste of time

Re: Buy well, buy once

#18

Post by nvy »

nextos wrote: post #12
bombela wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I am curious about. Does this list would include tools and all the thousands of parts and pieces one accumulates over the year when hobbying around?

I relocated and I no longer have any hobbies that involve tools. For a different lifestyle, this list would be much longer and that is fine. There is nothing special about having just 100 items.

>There is nothing special about having just 100 items.

Depending on where you are located geographically there may very well be something special.

I live in the PNW and I bet if I counted all my forks, spoons, coffee cups, pots and pans, etc., I'd have more than 100 items right there, to say nothing about my tool chest. Between my home office and my wife's purse I probably have 100 pens and pencils around the house.

To own a grand total of 100 items would be extremely spartan for just about anyone around here.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#19

Post by bombcar »

crazygringo wrote: post #7

> I even keep a record of all my worldly possessions in a visual catalogue spreadsheet on Airtable. 192 items at my last count. > I don't count hoodies, t-shirts, socks or usb cables but I really don't own many. I count a pair of shoes in a box as 1 item. Huh? Either you're counting things or you're not. Saying you own 192 items except for the 800 (?) you're not counting doesn't make a lot of sense. Why are shoes an…

I have two items because I count my house as one and my car as the other.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#20

Post by thfuran »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #10

This article, and people posting in this thread are saying that they own 100 or 200 things. I can't believe this at all. My utility room, which basically just has stuff like cleaning products and rags/cloths etc, has more than 200 items in it. It's all useful, we're talking things like bleach, deodorant, shampoo, handwash, etc. My house probably has 50 or more pieces of art on the walls and then another 50 pieces of…

No kidding. If you own 100 items, a made bed is like 10% of your belongings. That's nonsense.
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