Degrowth

Well made second-hand > disposable Walmart/Amazon plastic

Reduce spending. Reuse second-hand wares. Recycle what no one wants.

Infinite growth in a finite system has a name: it’s called cancer.

Just don't mention that it's what makes the stock market go round or people lose their shit when they realize you can't retire at 65 by magically making money from hoarding it through compound interest.

Ooof, that stings. I've been thrifty and anti-consumer for years, but I'm also 50. I hate admitting I'm no longer one of "the young people."

it comes at a social cost though.

i have lost a lot of friends because I live below my 'means'. whereas most folks I meet are 'struggling' because they are living beyond theirs.

Especially travel and restaurants. consumption is now re-branded as 'experience'.

Damn you Mackelmore!

Yeah for a while going to goodwill and stuff became trendy so they pumped those prices up. I see just awful stuff priced at new or near New prices which is insane

Oh that's so true. I have looked through all the thrift stores in my surrounding and they all had really bad clothes for bad prices. When you can get a new top in a size that fits for 5€ at H&M it makes no sense to pay 12€ for an H&M shirt that has holes in it and doesn't fit right just because it is from a thrift store.

I don't buy clothes often, I have much more than enough from when I was a teen. But I think that when I do, in the future, I'll just go straight to a normal store. I don't see the sense in spending the time and energy if it isn't worth it at all.

But muh profits!

The better quality is the key here. The shit made today are intentionally made to be replaced.

Pyrex is the best example. The old-school Pyrex logo means it's made from really tough glass whereas the newer logo means it's shit and will shatter when going from hot to cold (oven to countertop).

Tools! With the exception of a few big power tools like a table saw or miter saw, where the new safety features make it worthwhile, I get everything I can used. I prefer stuff passed down from family with sentimental value, but I get a lot of my tools from Everything is Free, junk stores, yard sales, estate clean outs, swap shops etc.

Older tools tend to be simpler, easier to fix, and remarkably sturdy. I've read that the metallurgy wasn't as good sixty+ years ago so they overbuilt them a bit to compensate, and then decades of use weaned out the weaker ones, so anything left still working is basically survivorship-bias guaranteed. I've got a drill press that's been in the family for four generations and will probably outlast my grandkids.

They're cheaper, sturdier, easier to fix, generally well-documented online (sometimes better than the new stuff), and they don't come with sheaves of unnecessary styrofoam and plastic packaging. And they have history and stories in them, even if I don't always know what those stories are.

Got to be careful with old cutlery and kitchenwares, and test for lead.

Definitely most furniture (i.e., without cushions so you avoid bed bugs). New furniture is incredibly expensive and (seems to be) lower quality. Second hand furniture can still be expensive but it's usually heavily discounted, especially if someone is trying to get rid of it quickly.

Local thrift shops are a good option of course, but also try garage/yard sales, Craigslist, OfferUp, etc. If your area has estate sales you can find some pretty killer deals on good furniture there too.

If you actually need one (most don"t), I wouldn't buy a truck sold on the North American market since about 2005.

Start at freecycle.org

Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World