A little “buy it for life” exercise I just did

Submitted by OutdoorzExplorerz t3_116av8d in BuyItForLife

I just took a deep look across my bedroom. I’m embarrassed to say that it is decently cluttered. As I scanned, I would look at an item that I wished was nicer, like a light fixture. Then I looked at two items that were useless, “waste of money”, cheap purchases. I mentally added up the cost of all three items, and as expected, if I held off on the two stupid purchases, I could have bought a high quality “buy it for life” version of the third.

My entire house could have been a showpiece if I held off on stupid purchases and funneled all that energy into finding the highest quality items that would bring me the most joy.

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liliaceae_001235 t1_j95u2rn wrote

We use buying items for short-term joy as therapy. It is hard to only hold out. Especially when life is stressful.

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mishkacreates t1_j968g2z wrote

i feel the same way! i'm making it a point to buy everything i can BIFL now.

it's helpful to remember that humans make decisions on emotion, then back them up with data. realizing this helps me slow down my decision making and really think why i was emotionally triggered to buy something.

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21plankton t1_j971m0f wrote

Many items I bought short term I have ended up owning for 40+ years. I accumulated a lot of furnishings when I bought my first SFH. Some items I had to give away when the items no longer fit in my second home but I regretted having to let go of them as they were timeless pieces. Some timeless pieces did not last as well as others. The family room sofas have a limited life, even in expensive leather.

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caroonth t1_j9b95x0 wrote

It's all a crapshoot. I'm happiest with super cheap purchases that accidentally end up being BIFL, looking at the $1 solid brass hose nozzles I picked up at Big Lots years ago. I'm most disappointed when I spend a lot and the product doesn't live up to my expectations (1990s Electrolux vacuum, decades later I'm still pissed!). I like to plan good purchases, but if the choice is not absolutely clear, buy cheap and hope for the best, knowing I can replace it once or twice for the same cost as the better option, meanwhile hoping an even better option comes along.

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OutdoorzExplorerz OP t1_j9bdafd wrote

That’s a good policy. I think I’ll adopt that. I think my biggest issue is buying a lot of stuff I don’t need, this leaving me with only one option (the cheapest one) when it comes time to buy something I really need. My house ends Ip looking like a college kid’s dorm because of that.

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caroonth t1_j9bimrs wrote

Consumerism pressure is real. I do think after you reach that point of seeing how much useless or cheap crap you own, you get really turned off by it all and hone in on what you really want and need. The last few years the air fryer has been trendy. Friends can't believe I don't have one. Family wants to buy me one as a gift. I don't want it, don't need it, and people don't understand that. I know in a few years that would be sitting on a shelf in storage and, like you, I'd be thinking about the money wasted anytime I see it. We're in a heavy consumer society.

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GreatRhinoceros t1_j99kq6u wrote

I don't know you, but I'm proud of you.

Most people live an entire lifetime without realizing this.

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theNorrah t1_j99iml7 wrote

That’s how I buy stuff, but it does have a downside.

Get ready to ‘not have a solution’ for x for a very long time. I dont own a lot, and i love it that way, and pretty much everything i own is ‘for life’ stuff. (With few exceptions)… but there are sooo many simple things that I still dont have because I’m always looking for the right thing, and I can’t stand wasting money on products in the meantime.

Given long enough time, yes I’m in the right… it made sense, but it’s also often fairly big purchases, so you are inflicting a lot of issues on yourself, not buying stand-ins.

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