Trying not to fall into consumerism

A collection of random thoughts about avoiding consumerism, falling in some regards, being alright in others, and related stuff. A bit convoluted but, it's written.

When I arrived to my workplace a few days ago, I saw a fellow coworker who got there at the same time as me, and I noticed that they had an Owala “FreeSip” water bottle.

You probably don’t know, and probably, you don’t care, but they are currently one of the most popular water bottle brands out there. This is something that changes constantly, One day it’s Stanley, the other day is Hydro Flask, or Yeti. It’s just how things go in the world we live in.

Many months, or maybe more than a year ago, my sister asked me for one! and as the big brother and a reason—can’t recall if it was a birthday or something else—I ended up buying one for her. Even though I kind of didn’t want to given the price, and that she already had other water bottles.

The products aren’t inherently bad, and I know some great lovely people who have stuff like that. I want to be clear saying that I will not judge you for owning X or Y brand of Z thing, at all.

Anyway, today, after I saw my coworker with that bottle, my immediate thought was “I want one of those too.”

Products like that end up carving their way into my brain, and sometimes, they actually get me. I recognized it this time, that impulse, and managed to shove it away.

However, this is not as easy to do when things actually seem like a good deal to me, or when other people I follow say it is a good deal. Many things I wouldn’t even consider before, like buying official merch for a brand I enjoy, are now options to me, things I could obtain, just by swiping that card.

And the same goes for games—videogames were quite a problem last year—if a brand new game I haven’t even played is endorsed by people whose judgement I trust, it’s pretty much game over, sooner or later. I’ve even fallen prey to pre-ordering. Something I was very much against a year or so ago. What has happened to me?

And there’s also the justification for buying expensive stuff that will actually last. This has been the case for me recently, finding that low price for good quality is getting more and more difficult.

And another problem! I’ve experienced non-Spanish, non-Mexican content for very long. Back in the day I didn’t think much of the price of things, since I wouldn’t buy them anyway. But now that I’ve been working for more than a year and have savings, and the desire to buy my own stuff. I find myself looking at US prices and Europe prices more, and normalizing those costs and thinking “yeah, that seems like a reasonable price!”

Sometimes I convert it to my currency and it’s a clear nope, but other times, it just doesn’t compute for me, and I buy it anyway.

And then there’s the shipping fee! And the tax!

My perception of the value of things has been skewed, and I just don’t know anymore. I look at a t-shirt at 25 bucks and I think that’s fine, where in my country most of them are 9 bucks or so, but then I also think “I’ve always gotten cheap things because I couldn’t afford good expensive stuff before, but why shouldn’t I now?”.

it kind of feels like those gacha games (which I’ve thankfully never played) where the real price of things is hidden behind tons of microtransactions between virtual currencies with an arbitrary worth.

The same is true for me, it’s not just the conversion between US Dollar to Mexican Peso, but between regional pricing and international pricing, and between teenage no-income me and young adult without any debts me.

Some day I’d like to get a really, rally good commuter backpack. I’ve been skimming through some reviews and I can’t help but notice some brands popping up. In my case Ridge (the wallet everyone is sponsored by) or the LTT Store one. And I see their price being in the 100-200 USD range, and I hear how there are plenty of other alternative brands at similar prices so they are not actually “that expensive” and then I look at my workmates carrying the same company provided backpack as me, that doesn’t even reach 45 bucks and think “nah I’m fine”.

But then I look at how my laptop corners are getting some damage, and how they actually punctured the bottom corners of my backpack as well after not even 2 years of use. So maybe paying a plus for something that will actually last is a good idea?

And then I think “are there any local options that might be better”? but then I have to consider if they are actually better, or if reviews are high because it’s cheap, or if they are actually rebranded products from AliExpress.

Thankfully there’s still some good reviews out there on YouTube, but again, not many are for my country or demographic.

And now we have AI. And oh boy, are websites absolutely filled with it. I would have thought most trash would be relegated to English websites, but no, we got the same problem now. Except that not only is it bad recommendations, it’s also badly translated! Success!

So, even if I am complaining about people’s opinion swaying me to purchase something I didn’t need, I still think that’s much better in the end. And I just have to work on my self-control, I’ll just stick to asking people I know for recommendations on things.

After all, I know people I talk to that have relied on my opinions quite a bit for some things like which retro gaming handhelds to buy, or what book to read, and I like to think that helped more than it could harm. Yes sometimes the demographics will mean that the prices will vary, but at least I will know that price was worth it to them.

If you have a website and you have something to say about that one niche product, maybe it’s not a bad idea to write a review for it! I used to think that kind of stuff didn’t fit well on my site, but where or how else can we stop this madness if not by not using those sites, and relying on peer reviews and the human touch?

When it comes to self-control when buying things, I guess it’s a bit of a lottery for me.

Sometimes, I am perfectly happy with the one thing I got to do the job.

For example, a year or so ago I stopped using cartridge-based razors. I had a super old Gillette Mach 3 that worked fine, but I heard about traditional safety razors, using double edge blades, and how much cheaper they were than buying carts, and I gave it a go.

In a way, there’s a danger here, the razor itself can be super expensive (to what I’m used to in my country, at least), and I know for sure there are people out there that collect a variety of models. From classic to modern designs that are all basically the same shape!

This is one of those where every review out there recommended some brand at 30 or 40 bucks and said “this is the best budget razor!” and I just think “ain’t no way I’m spending 40 bucks on a razor.”

And I know, that it would be a one-time investment, and it would be something that lasts me a lifetime, and yet I didn’t feel like it.

I found something on Mercado Libre worth 6 bucks, I purchased it and I’ve been using it happily for months now! It came with some blades and I got a pack of 30 more, and I still haven’t run out of them! They are worth pennies! This is a complete success and I haven’t fallen into any pitfalls like getting a fancy brush, or a bowl for the foam.

Again, I know people who have their whole set and treat shaving as a bit of a nice habit or hobby. Totally awesome, not me.

But here come Casio watches!

I bought my first Casio (I had some gifted to me before though) back in 2018, a Casio F-108WH. And it has worked extremely well! Still does today, 7 years later. But here is where YouTube and also people who are into watches have managed to creep into my life—in a way that the safety razor review channels didn’t—and they turned me into one of them. I belong to the Casio Cult, and once you are in, there is no escape.

I own like a dozen watches now, and I have gifted Casio watches to family and friends too, I am way too much into them and I don’t know if I can stop, honestly. But at least I manage to not buy more than 3 per year!

I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is, but I guess Casio watches are just part of my persona, it’s something I wear and that kinda says something about me. I feel like it says “I purchase stuff that lasts!” although, I guess it also says “and I buy too many of them!”

Well, that was a nice ramble I think. Consumerism is not good kids. Buy a Miyoo Mini Plus.

This is day 98 of #100DaysToOffload

https://fosstodon.org/@joel/114861175491819033