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Buy well, buy once

fellow.ventures

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Re: Buy well, buy once

#191

Post by wrp »

pwpw wrote: post #141

An observation I have made of my grandparents, who certainly had a bit of money, is everything they own is high quality and has lasted them years. My grandfather still has his Hickey Freeman suits and sports coats tailored and repaired by a local menswear shop. Their Dualit toaster still works while I have personally gone through many Cuisinart toasters. Their technics AV components still work with their high quality…

My very-elderly parents have a house full of stuff, from appliances to towels, that they bought as a young couple on a tight budget. They were always the type to buy the cheapest thing that would do the job. Even that stuff, though, would last practically indefinitely if you didn't abuse it. Except for some cameras, all the old items I can think of there were made in USA. My own view on this is that manufacturers didn't necessarily have more integrity, they just hadn't yet figured out how to make things more cheaply.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#192

Post by nicbou »

Gigachad wrote: post #86
nicbou wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buy used. You pay less and nothing gets produced. I have the same obsession as you and this is how I reconcile with it. If I'm not ready to meet someone across town I probably don't need it.

Buying used has become a huge pain. The platforms are absolutely full of scammers and time wasters, the items are either overpriced or immediately purchased by flippers, and they often aren’t very accessible without owning a car. I prefer to just buy new, where I can have stuff delivered, and then use it until it’s completely worn out or obsolete.

In Germany (eBay) Kleinanzeigen works rather well. People are still people, but at least the platform is good.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#193

Post by carlosjobim »

dublinben wrote: post #60
mberning wrote: post #56

In a way I admire committed minimalists. But I often wonder what their long term lifestyle is like. Surely many of them are single (or they only count the items which are solely theirs). They surely rent at a higher rate than own property. They surely own vehicles at a lower rate. And so on. I just get this picture of a person in an urban area, living alone in a studio apartment, dependent upon everyone else for basi…

I’m fond of the conspiracy theory that the rise of minimalism is actually propaganda to placate Millennials who can’t afford the same level of material comfort as their parents and other earlier generations enjoyed.

The massive carbon emissions campaigning seems to be this. Since generations of young and hard working people are being so heavily exploited that they can't afford things, blast out the message that they are saving the world from being doomed by not having a vehicle, not traveling, not having land, not eating quality food, and most importantly: not having children so that they aren't interrupted in their duties of paying taxes and profits.

It is completely free to convince people they are saving the planet by living less than others.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#194

Post by nicbou »

v-erne wrote: post #188
Gigachad wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying used has become a huge pain. The platforms are absolutely full of scammers and time wasters, the items are either overpriced or immediately purchased by flippers, and they often aren’t very accessible without owning a car. I prefer to just buy new, where I can have stuff delivered, and then use it until it’s completely worn out or obsolete.

Depnends on the item I suppose - half of my small board game collection (100+ titles) is used games bought from local eBay equivalent. And almost all of them were in perfect condition but half the price.

Same! I paid 5-10€ each and slowly acquired most of the Spiel des Jahres winners.

You can often find near-new Apple products and great tools at a steep discount too.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#195

Post by KronisLV »

hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #166

I'm not a fan of buying it once. I prefer buying on feedback. Here's my daily wardrobe: - an oversized plain black T shirt, - a pair of jeans, - a belt, - black socks, - and a pair of boxer briefs. I wear these almost every day. Every single one of these items is cheap enough to buy in bulk whenever I want them. So: If I ever walk into my closet and find myself missing any one of these items due to them all being in…

> Every single one of these items is cheap enough to buy in bulk whenever I want them.

I apply something like this to most of my purchases. If I am buying a new phone or some computer hardware, I want to be able to fit another replacement for what I'm about to buy into whatever my budget is. The same goes for clothes, tools for the garden like a tiller or a chainsaw or whatever.

And you know what? It's a decent approach: I have a used Ryzen 5 1600 in my computer now (upgraded from Ryzen 3 1200), as well as an RX 570 (and a spare RX 580 for similar price, bought recently as new old stock), because under that reasoning that's all I can afford, yet it's all that I realistically need. Some spare HDDs (those die more than most other hardware) and a mobo and everything in the shelf next to it. If any one of those parts die like they have in the past, I don't have to cry about how expensive replacing everything will be, nor wait for shipping, just spend 30 minutes swapping out parts.

As for longevity of various items: I don't quite buy it. Sure, there are also people with Stihl chainsaws that have lasted them decades, but why would I spend 5-10x more money, when I can get a new Chinese chainsaw for about 100 EUR that will be enough for all of my casual usage needs around the farm? And once it inevitably stops being useful, I can get a completely new one without a worn engine, while still having some spare parts for repairs. I can think of very few items where I'd want the latest or greatest, even my daily driver phone isn't top of the line and only stands out because of IP 68 and being shock proof (up to a degree, dropped it out of my pocket and on concrete while doing pull ups, didn't even crack the screen).

Perhaps the only exception to this is something like services: dental care and other healthcare procedures, no reason to go cheap on either of those, but then again, I live in Europe so that's not a very contested subject for me due to the overall affordability. Still pondering these thoughts in regards to food, but store brand food is generally both affordable and reasonably healthy over here.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#196

Post by asddubs »

metadat wrote: post #101
throwaway74513 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I used to be interested in minimalism, but I realised that they just obsess over objects in a different way. This is really interesting, particularly since you use the word “obsess”. I meet all of the criteria for OCPD (obsessive compulsive personality disorder — NOT the same thing as OCD), except for “unwilling to throw out broken or worthless objects, even if they have no sentimental value”. In fact, I’m quite th…

In case you haven't already, please consult a professional. Do yourself the favor, you're worth it. Edit: @asddubs: thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, though you never know what reality faces the person on the other end of a link, which is why I still try. Sometimes you might be surprised. And thank you for helping get my karma back to an even number, all is well again. Your friendly friend, MD.

I didn't downvote you if that's what you mean. Sorry if my post seemed rude, but I think the other side of the coin is that it can be a little grating to talk about yourself without requesting help or indicating that you're not already getting it and be offered extremely obvious advice, so I think your post just rubbed me wrong a little.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#197

Post by Ryoung27 »

charlie0 wrote: post #55

I like the concept, but this reeks of native advertising.

Agreed, it just comes off as really odd. They don't want random stuff, but now they all of a sudden have two random wallets that they are grateful to have. While they "luckily" have a blog where they can thank the random stranger they sent their old leather to, who happened to take their time to handcraft them new objects out of it. It just seems too coincidental, and I don't believe that would ever happen to someone without advertising potential.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#198

Post by throw0101b »

Thorrez wrote: post #134
0xr0kk3r wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"rather than getting the $70 replacement part" Appliance repair usually starts at a $100 house-call fee and goes up from there. It is cheaper to buy a new dishwasher than get it repaired.

When I moved into my apartment, the racks in the dishwasher were badly rusted. I told the management. They replaced the entire dishwasher. They said they couldn't get a replacement rack.

> They replaced the entire dishwasher. They said they couldn't get a replacement rack.

What are the margins on replacement racks?

Someone would have to pay for warehousing, stock tracking, employees for packing/shipping, then add shipping costs. Why would anyone offer them?

Re: Buy well, buy once

#199

Post by Ryoung27 »

bombcar wrote: post #59
hanniabu wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also have keys to each so that's at least 4 items, and then your clothes and computer, i'm sure you have soap and toothbrush and toothpaste, and hopefully you have toilet paper and a bed, and having a bed means you likely have a pillow, pillow cover, sheet, blanket, and mattress, etc

I count all those as parts of the above! (Counting owned items can get entirely silly).

I don't own anything at all, but my wife sure does have a lot of stuff I use often that she never uses, and happen to be in a men's large.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#200

Post by antongribok »

csunbird wrote: post #162
pwpw wrote: post #141

An observation I have made of my grandparents, who certainly had a bit of money, is everything they own is high quality and has lasted them years. My grandfather still has his Hickey Freeman suits and sports coats tailored and repaired by a local menswear shop. Their Dualit toaster still works while I have personally gone through many Cuisinart toasters. Their technics AV components still work with their high quality…

As my father said: We are too poor to buy cheap stuff.

My father said: We're not rich enough to by cheap things.

I wonder if the original saying has been translated multiple times before getting to English.

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