At craft store you can buy a big sealed mystery box o’crap for $10. Why?

A bit of a rant. I'm so over weddings!!!

The amount of consumption that occurs for a wedding is disgusting and I hate going to them.

Stats from my sisters wedding:

55 guests

$30,000 for just the wedding

As the sister of the bride I've been committed to at least 8 days worth of pre wedding events against my will. I've been told I can't plan anything for myself between April and June of next year because I'm supposed to be "available for pre wedding stuff".

To top it all off at the start of this situation I purchased one dress that works for all events. We are on event 3 of 8 and people have already had the audacity to make comments about me wearing the same outfit for each event.

I'm at the point I dont think I will give my sister a wedding gift because that adds even more consumption to an already horrible situation.

Been doing this for over 2 years, so I thought I would share with those who are still at the beginning of the journey and hope it might help someone else.

I started with a budget (Income vs. Costs), and from there I opened another account (in this case a savings account). I move all the money I don't need based on budget fixed costs into it as soon as my salary hits my normal account. From that point onwards I'm "broke"; the money in my savings doesn't really exist until I actually have a need (e.g. dentist, food, medication).

If I really want something that I don't need, I would have to transfer the money back into my current account. This extra step helped me pause and re-think any purchase; also in terms on what it is I buy (where was it produced, environmental impact, who am I giving my money to). This helped me not only build a very good savings foundation, it also changed my mindset even more along the way to consume less.

Of course, it also helps to be content with yourself and know that another set of designer whatever product won't make you happier.

YouTube is a treasure trove of the lowest level of advertising. This is my inaugural post of absolute shameful marketing that makes it easy to not give in to the hype.

Does wearing an U.S. Air Force hat add to the trustworthiness?

This just made me sad. Like parent like child? Or is the parent projecting and this teen won’t get their wanted gift over a tiny tag and the psychological can of worms attached to it?

To those of you that take bottles and cans back to reduce reduce recycle dont do it at sams club.

My local sams club installed bottle return machines and I had to go to sams anyways so I took my bottles back there instead of Meijer. The track on the glass return wasnt working so I brought them to the service counter. He counted and then started throwing them in the trash bin saying that they do that with all of the returnables. And we had a chat about how unethical that is.

I really love exercise but I get kinda pissed when I’ve to pay a sub that’s barely worth the service just to go to some boxed in place. The problem is that logistically it’s such a pain to to be forced to stick to a fixed timing (let’s say a course or smth). Everyone and their mom wants to do the extracurricular on Tuesday and Wednesday, or just take traffic bogging you down and all the extra planning.

I’d argue the gyms are kind of a necessary evil but structured around working class people trying to squeeze in some minutes or hours for sweating. Work starts at 9 but you got a kid so the gym can offer a quick drop in.

Idk. I don’t want to re sub but I’m missing the convenience. Love or hate? Between 1 and 10 how do you rate?

Edit: And I’m not addressing the body image thing or what it actually does to your body long term. I’m just about the average person. That’s a different and crazy topic

I firmly believe that agriculture was a mistake that has led humans to become animals that are mismatched to our environment, both physically and culturally.

I am aware of the tradeoffs.That is worth its own discussion but I want to focus on consumption.

The move to planting and gathering vs just gathering of food was inefficient. We have developed systems to increase the efficiency of planting and gathering but each increase in efficiency is held up by a scaffolding of steps that increase work and consumption sum while removing the autonomy of individuals. With all the technology and advances we have made we have a created a system that in summary has increased work, increased consumption, and still does not feed everyone as well as hunting and gathering.

I'm not suggesting anyone make the hard transition on their own to a lifestyle our ancestors were forced to abandon, and would be difficult to support against forces that would opppse it. However, does anyone think about the life that our ancestors lived until just a short time ago in human history as the nexus of anticonsumption?