First time poster here btw :)

A friend and I decided to venture off our island to the land of consumerism, Appleton, WI. We had planned to stick to thrift store(S) but ended up spending 4 hours at this Goodwill Outlet, sifting through rotating freshly stocked bins of "hard goods and soft goods" sold respectively by the pound. Most I will resell at a local consignment shop. We have virtually no options for clothing other than Walmart. Every item I put in my cart was a major brand. My new goal is to wear nothing other than clothes I pay less than $1.29/lb for. We must transcend capitalism.

Shopping should not be a hobby

(or beverage in a cup)

Hi I know this is a very anti-natalist sub, but put that aside for a second.

Every list of "must-haves for baby!" Seems so excessive. Like why do I need a separate trash can just for poopy diapers, like why do I need to be throwing away hundreds of diapers anyway??

Does anyone have anti-consumption resources for new parents? We are definitely going to buy used and get a lot of hand-me-downs, but I'd like to know what pitfalls to avoid. (Also what do I actually need that I should buy new!!?)

This is likely not our last baby, so is it worth it to buy new if I'm going to use it 5 times?

Something I've been noticing is people are justifying purchasing a brand new laptop, phone, TV, toilet paper... anything! It's ridiculous... no one is thinking rationally. I have a 5 year old phone that still works and I won't replace it until I can't get a battery for it anymore or it's literally unusable. If I have to buy a phone that's 20% more when I NEED it, so be it. You're not saving money "timing" your consumption.

Also how sad is it that people are spelling the doom of humanity over a more expensive phone?

I was in line at the airport during a layover yesterday and overheard the couple behind me having such an absurd conversation I almost spit my drink out.

For context, my boyfriend and I are really light travelers (never check a bag, usually get by on a backpack each and maybe a shared carry-on if the trip is very long). We had been travelling for about three weeks on the latter, just rewearing and hand washing our clothes. This couple behind us was similar age to us and had no kids, but was traveling with a MASSIVE pile of luggage. Like three giant suicases, roller carry on bags, shopping bags full, etc.

I try not to indulge in snap judgements, but their conversation gave me the go ahead 100%. They were complaining about how annoying it was to lug all their bags around when the guy said, AND I QUOTE:

"You know, we could really just travel with nothing, buy all our clothes on the trip and just throw them out to come home. Like if I just give myself a $500 clothes budget for every trip and just toss it on the way home."

And he. Was not. Joking.

I was like... EXCUSE ME??? SIR????? Your solution to feeling weighed down by all the random stuff you decided to travel with is to BUY MORE SHIT AND THEN TOSS IT??? AHHHHHHH! It made me feel crazy, My boyfriend had to stop me from turning around and just punching the guy in the nuts.

I lurk on this sub a lot, and felt like the people here might understand how truly melted my brain is after that.

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EDIT: dang typo in the title ugh

This is from someone just “collecting” the limited release cups. It doesn’t add much to mention that they’re on a military post overseas and a bunch of people can’t find the cups and people are sharing their “hauls.” People also gatekeep locations and won’t share which Starbucks still have cups or not because of some wild buying competitions Starbucks people seem to be on.

Thoughts?

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