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Happy BuyNothing Day

justbuynothing.com

61–70 of 80 posts

Re: Happy BuyNothing Day

#61

I have spent my whole life mostly buying nothing and I realized recently that I am probably pretty far from optimal on that tradeoff. Outside of food, rent, and travel I've been spending around 5k/year my entire life (mostly laptops and phones) Recently I realized I'd probably get old with money better spent while I'm young, so I started spending a lot more. It's felt great overall, for example I bought a sleep track…

Did it make your sleep actually better? I always considered these a needles luxury (other than maybe humidifier, but I don't think it's useful in my climate). I'm not trying to downplay you, I'm actually probably underspending and you seem to come from the same background as I do. I'm certain that interesting in one's sleep is worth it.

If you are having any kind of issue with this, please consider doing it. I have this background as well. I am not used to large paychecks or even financial stability. I often freeze when spending that makes my life better. Recently I bought a window air conditioner unit that helped my sleep tremendously. I don't even notice the $300 gone but I've gotten energy back that I didn't know I had. I've tried other things for sleep but this one was the most significant. There is a cost for not deploying your resources too.

Re: Happy BuyNothing Day

#63
post #6

Worked in a mall in the 90s and thought a store that let people 'shop' but not actually pay money for things might be fun/useful. Or... sort of like a membership. $10/month, come in to some luxury type store - browse, test out stuff, etc. Go through a 'checkout' step with your 'store card', just... leave the items in the store as you leave. For some folks, the leaving and driving away is the 'high', but for a lot of…

There are utilities to your idea and by that virtue, Just Buy Nothing. With a bit of contributed enhancements this could actually solve a niche problem. I'm already imagining a situation where you can opt in for a discovery/assessment after checkout; each item is assessed for utility of need vs want and whether a smaller or less expensive replacement could meet the same needs. At the end of this, a user could come of…

I like this idea a lot. Been working a ton on the site to get it to where it is today and make updates based on user feedback.

AI has been helping me create product images. Right now I have it limited to 150 products on the site at the time. I originally had 1K+ and realized that cloudinary is very expensive. It provides the best user experience but had to cut back a bit for now to not break my own wallet.

Re: Happy BuyNothing Day

#64
post #9

I have found that adding things to a todo (Todist) list called "want-to-buy" gives me the little endorphin boost / anxiety relief without spending any money. I periodically go through and delete stuff from this list after time has passed, and I'm always glad I didn't go through with the purchases. Rarely I will come across something I truly do still want, and will purchase it.

I've been thinking about setting up a small website that lets you input what you wanted to buy, and after 24 hours sends you an email asking if you really wanted to buy/needed this.

Check out the chrome extension on the site! Helps ask you are you sure? before buying something on Amazon. Not on the chrome store yet but can be tested in dev mode.

Re: Happy BuyNothing Day

#66
post #4

This is a pretty good idea but what if we simulated actual store UI such as Amazon

>what if we simulated actual store UI such as Amazon A phone call from Amazon lawyers.

definitely am trying to avoid getting sued. Made it as close as I could without it being exact. Also thinking of adding additional skins to match stores where users find themselves spending for no reason.

Re: Happy BuyNothing Day

#67

When people buy, you should send them a postcard to close the dopamine loop. In my experience the majority of compulsive shoppers like getting a box almost as much as whatever is in it

I like this idea a lot! That's the missing piece is not actually getting something delivered.

Thinking about making a premium version where users can log in and get a postcard delivered and simulated ads like emails and SMS for fake deals.

Re: Happy BuyNothing Day

#68

I think this could work if it was more than just a static site with no description page. Give it description pages with gallery, reviews etc.

products should all have descriptions, prices, and reviews (still waiting for users to generate these) when you click through on them.

Want to add more for each like all e-commerce sites have but man Cloudinary is expensive.

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