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Buy well, buy once

fellow.ventures

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Re: Buy well, buy once

#71

Post by nebula8804 »

notatoad wrote: post #61
mberning wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Therein is the kernel of every hoarder pathology, which is ironic. “This is too to get rid of!” Wrong. Throw it away and don’t replace it.

or if throwing it away makes you feel bad, give it away. either it finds its way to somebody who will value it, or somebody will throw it out for you. either way is a win.

Giving it away has now haunted me. Father passed away two years ago and a bunch of computing equipment he bought for me had been donated years before he had passed when it was worth very little. Now in this post covid era all of those things are 'vintage' and super expensive. I have tracked down some of the original equipment through the people I originally gave it to but it has not really been possible to get those things back. Yes I was a mild hoarder aspiring minimalist before but now I have become a full on hoarder. I desperately do extreme organizing in places like my basement to be able to contain so much of the stuff I have. I don't really know how to reconcile this fear of losing something for good.

A fellow hacker at VCF once mentioned to me that this obsession that many geeks have should graduate into letting go of items because down the road you can always buy another one if it scratches your itch again. He made a good point.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#73

Post by nebula8804 »

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.

What if its just Millennials discovering it own their own as a result of their reduced standard of living? The powers that be would want maximum consumption and minimalism goes against that no?

Same probably goes for "vanlife". It is millennials just realizing they cant afford a home ever and so they improvise with what they can resource.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#74

Post by xyzelement »

tnel77 wrote: post #69
dublinben wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Same with having children. “I don’t even want kids. They are needy, expensive, and tie you down.” All true, but having kids was never a choice for you given your financial situation so let’s not pretend you had a say in the matter.

I agree with you but I don't think it's a financial thing but a psychological/maturity thing.

People have kids at all income levels. For every one who claims they can't afford kids - someone is raising a family on that same income.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#75

Post by joshcanhelp »

nicbou wrote: post #64
jrflowers wrote: post #35

I enjoyed this article about the minimalist man getting two minimally useful extra wallets.

I used to be interested in minimalism, but I realised that they just obsess over objects in a different way. I wanted to save money, avoid maintenance and reduce my mental load. I found people who keep spreadsheets of their stuff and debate whether it's okay to own tools or multiple coffee cups.

Thank you for this, it put into words my uneasiness with this practice. Our household definitely has too much stuff and we always seem to be at battle with it but minimalism just feels like a mirror image problem.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#76

Post by patrec »

jrflowers wrote: post #35

I enjoyed this article about the minimalist man getting two minimally useful extra wallets.

One also has to admire Whitstable man's marketing genius if he's able to live of his $100 "wallets" (which mostly amount to two badly sewn together pieces of leather). This article feels a bit too on the nose though. But he probably knows his audience.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#78

Post by sockaddr »

ip26 wrote: post #39
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…

wanting to be able to cook and serve a meal for 4 people because it's nice to eat with friends Don’t be silly, having three friends is hardly minimalist. Have you ever considered how friends weigh you down? One is more than enough, and frankly even that might be too many.

Yeah and he’d have to list his friends on his airtable bringing him dangerously close to that problematic 200 figure.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#79

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #34
rootsudo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>192 makes no sense to me. I've probably got 192 items in my kitchen alone, just from wanting to be able to cook and serve a meal for 4 people because it's nice to eat with friends. A fork is a worldly possession, after all. You're assuming people are the same as you - I follow the same but I live out of suitcases and can travel at a moments notice for the best flights and pick up an airbnb somewhere. But this is the…

Is the idea that you're renting apartments and counting the pots and pans, toilet brush etc as not being yours because you leave them with the house? So my bath mat is "mine" because I own the house and had to buy it myself, but yours isn't because it's rented? Because if we can cut that out then yeah, now I own far fewer things. It seems like a weird distinction to make.

I make a distinction between things I have sentimental attachment to, important or expensive to replace vs things that are not.

I wouldn’t count all my dinner plates and cutlery as “possessions” as such, but I’d count my good knives.

Re: Buy well, buy once

#80

Post by est31 »

xyzelement wrote: post #74
tnel77 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with having children. “I don’t even want kids. They are needy, expensive, and tie you down.” All true, but having kids was never a choice for you given your financial situation so let’s not pretend you had a say in the matter.

I agree with you but I don't think it's a financial thing but a psychological/maturity thing. People have kids at all income levels. For every one who claims they can't afford kids - someone is raising a family on that same income.

Yes but one of the most common desires is that you want your children to have a better childhood and life than yourself. Some people don't care or don't explicitly make the choice to get children, they just get them. But some people won't get children if they can't provide an environment that is at least as good as the one their parents provided to them.
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