r/Anticonsumption 1h ago

Discussion Meet r/Thrifty: the low-consumption sister community of anticonsumption

Upvotes

Dear friends,

We'd like to introduce r/Thrifty - the low-consumption sister community of anticonsumption.

At r/Thrifty we're all about mindful spending, consuming, and making the most of what we already have. We might all be here for slightly different reasons. Some might be here out of necessity, some for the environment, some to gain freedom from the system. But there is something that unifies us all and the core ideas of what our communities stand for: questioning what we’re told we need to buy, and finding joy and meaning outside of endless and mindless consumption. We’re not here to coupon our way into buying more junk. We’re here to share ideas and support for ways to live better by spending (and consuming) less.

If you like:
🍽️ Finding ways to stretch your food or grocery budget.
💡 Creative workarounds and smart life hacks.
🧰 Fixing things instead of replacing them.
📉 Avoiding lifestyle inflation (aka creep).
📦 Cancelling amazon prime subscriptions.
🧠 Reducing your consumption in general.
💰 Saving money and living a better life.

…then you might just (probably) like r/Thrifty

Come join your friends at r/Thrifty
https://www.reddit.com/r/Thrifty/


r/Anticonsumption Jul 24 '24

Why we don't allow brand recommendations

887 Upvotes

A lot of people seem to have problems with this rule. It's been explained before, but we're overdue for a reminder.

This is an anticonsumerism sub, and a core part of anticonsumerism is analyzing and criticizing advertising and branding campaigns. And a big part of building brand recognition is word of mouth marketing. For reasons that should be obvious, that is not allowed here.

Obviously, even anticonsumerists sometimes have to buy commercial products, and the best course is to make good, conscious choices based on your personal priorities. This means choosing the right product and brand.

Unfortunately, asking for recommendations from internet strangers is not an effective tool for making those choices.

When we've had rule breaking posts asking for brand recommendations, a couple very predictable things happen:

  1. Well-meaning users who are vulnerable to greenwashing and other social profiteering marketing overwhelm the comments, all repeating the marketing messages from those companies' advertising campaigns . Most of these campaigns are deceptive to some degree or another, some to the point of being false advertising, some of which have landed the companies in hot water from regulators.

  2. Not everyone here is a well meaning user. We also have a fair number of paid shills, drop shippers, and others with a vested interest in promoting certain products. And some of them work it in cleverly enough that others don't realize that they're being advertised to.

Of course, scattered in among those are going to be a handful of good, reliable personal recommendations. But to separate the wheat from the chaff would require extraordinary efforts from the moderators, and would still not be entirely reliable. All for something that is pretty much counter to the intent of the sub.

And this should go without saying, but don't try to skirt the rule by describing a brand by its tagline or appearance or anything like that.

That said, those who are looking for specific brand recommendations have several other options for that.

Depending on your personal priorities, the subreddits /r/zerowaste and /r/buyitforlife allow product suggestions that align with their missions. Check the rules on those subs before posting, but you may be able to get some suggestions there.

If you're looking for a specific type of product, you may want to search for subreddits about those products or related interests. Those subs are far more likely to have better informed opinions on those products. (Again, read their rules first to make sure your post is allowed.)

If you still have questions or reasonable complaints, post them here, not in the comments of other posts.


r/Anticonsumption 4h ago

Question/Advice? We kicked off our Depression-era lifestyle yesterday

3.8k Upvotes

Had a come-to-Jesus with my husband, and we're on the same page with our spending... there won't be anymore. Groceries will be carefully curated; if the price is going up, we're not buying. We've already started seeds for a large garden, and I'm going to inventory the food in the house and freezers so we can plan low cost meals.

The one thing I did spend money on yesterday was drugs for my seizure dog and extra kibble. I want to lay in as much of those as I can before those prices skyrocket.

My husband gave me a stack of his clothes yesterday to use as "rags." I told him no. We might need them in the future because we can't buy anymore for a long time. So I folded them and put them away.

What else should we be doing? We're on a (good) well in an area that gets lots of rain, so I'm not worried about water. We're turning off lights and such -- need to get in the habit of turning off computers at night! I've got the heat/AC off, but that will come back on when the weather gets hot.


r/Anticonsumption 14h ago

Activism/Protest America: Already risen before Jesus could even stretch on Easter morning!

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55.5k Upvotes

r/Anticonsumption 8h ago

Activism/Protest Anti consumption as a political weapon

838 Upvotes

The increase in protest sizes in the USA got me thinking that now more than ever being anti consumption is the best way to protest and hurt the current administration.

Not just talking buy EU or buy Canada movements which are prominently featured on Reddit. I'm thinking that for Americans specifically this tariff policy is designed to increase the cost of goods by implementing a tax on them, generating revenue to fund planned tax cuts for the wealthy. Ultimately (and unsurprisingly) their plan is about redistributing wealth to the wealthy, but it only works as wealth redistribution if we keep buying stuff. Personally, I've never been more motivated to avoid spending.


r/Anticonsumption 19h ago

Activism/Protest consumerism kills

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8.1k Upvotes

r/Anticonsumption 3h ago

Question/Advice? Is it enough to cancel prime should I also delete my Amazon profile?

94 Upvotes

Like the title says.


r/Anticonsumption 19m ago

Discussion Louis Vuitton is a big NO.

Upvotes

This is a business that needs to be added to anyone’s no-buy list. Here is an excerpt from an article in The Guardian:

“While some brands seem to have been blindsided by the tariff announcement, LVMH has been publicly aligning itself with the Trump administration for several years. It operates two factories in California and one in Texas that account for 50% of its product volume in the US. Trump visited its Rochambeau Ranch in 2019, while his second inauguration in January this year was attend by Bernard Arnault, the LVMH chief executive, alongside daughter Delphine and son Alexandre.”

Are you proudly carrying your LVbag? Maybe it’s time to rethink that.


r/Anticonsumption 1d ago

Sustainability Thought this belongs here

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7.0k Upvotes

r/Anticonsumption 3h ago

Ads/Marketing Flash Sales Are Tricking Your Brain

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80 Upvotes

You think you are "saving money" with flash sales? Well, think again. These deals are designed to make you spend.

Click the picture for full blog post.

How do you resist "urgent" sales?


r/Anticonsumption 23h ago

Society/Culture Americans Buy a Crazy Amount of Cheap Stuff. It’s Costing Us Dearly.

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1.8k Upvotes

r/Anticonsumption 1d ago

Question/Advice? Is shoplifting from big corporations ok?

1.6k Upvotes

I do this alot. I like making them lose money and I like free things.


r/Anticonsumption 1d ago

Plastic Waste One year of global plastic waste

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1.3k Upvotes

r/Anticonsumption 1h ago

Lifestyle Streaming Alternatives

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I’m one of those people that was raised by TV, and I find it comforting to put on a favorite show that I’ve seen 100x before when I need to turn my mind off or get tasks done. But I hate forking over money to these ridiculous streaming services that pass shows between each other (causing you to subscribe to multiple platforms to get the content you want) and keep hiking up their prices. I decided I wanted to own hard copies of essential shows (I don’t trust digital content will be readily available or not edited in the future), but don’t want to go to Amazon! This sub inspired me! I used eBay (is this breaking the no-brand rule?) to locate a small business based out of Kentucky. The shop was even running a bogo sale, and I stocked up on some essentials: The Good Place, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Schitt’s Creek. Take that Netflix!!!


r/Anticonsumption 1h ago

Society/Culture Everything You Thought You Knee About Roads Is A Lie

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Upvotes

Cars and car infrastructure massively consumes natural and human resources, whether we want to admit it or not. Car dependency sucks.


r/Anticonsumption 1h ago

Labor/Exploitation Good video on horrible impacts of big box stores

Upvotes

I saw this and thought people on this subreddit would appreciate it: https://youtu.be/r7-e_yhEzIw?si=hNlN50APYFIok5CT


r/Anticonsumption 1d ago

Lifestyle Changing our lifestyle

851 Upvotes

Saturdays used to be spent with a trip to Target and lunch at some kind of chain restaurant. Today we opted to pack a picnic lunch and meet some friend at a local lake and it was much more fun!


r/Anticonsumption 2h ago

Discussion Local clothes share scheme

10 Upvotes

So my wife subscribed to a local clothes share scheme. Every few weeks, someone turns up at our house (time pre arranged) with large bags of clothes. Either for kids or adults as you like.

You add clothes you no longer use, then send a WhatsApp and take the bags tome the next person's house.

It's really good.


r/Anticonsumption 4h ago

Psychological How to stop the urge to always want better?

11 Upvotes

Hello everybody!

I try to live a frugal life, but due to the traffic conditions in my country (Chile) I go to work by motorcycle, it is a small 125cc motorcycle (yamaha ybr z) with which I do 40 km one way and 40 km back, I reach speeds of up to 100 km/h and it makes me very happy! but lately I have not been able to stop thinking that I want a more powerful bike, and although I think I do not need it, I keep thinking how incredible it would be to change for a 250 cc or a royal enfield. This bike is very economical and easy to maintain, how do you manage not to fall into this loop?


r/Anticonsumption 1d ago

Ads/Marketing What If We Made Advertising Illegal?

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998 Upvotes

"Removing these advanced manipulation tools would force everyone—politicians included—to snap back into reality."


r/Anticonsumption 18h ago

Conspicuous Consumption Liberation Day: When Economic Nationalism Looks Like Climate Policy

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88 Upvotes

Donald Trump’s new tariffs could function like a carbon tax — just don’t tell him that.

An environmental argument in support of Trump's "Liberation Day"


r/Anticonsumption 1d ago

Corporations Target boycott is now. More Amazon, Walmart protests coming soon in MS

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3.7k Upvotes

r/Anticonsumption 5h ago

Corporations From the Immortal Thor series

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7 Upvotes

r/Anticonsumption 17h ago

Activism/Protest Ants (Americans) don’t serve grasshoppers (Billionaires)!

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59 Upvotes

(Reupload due to changes to video, video by me)


r/Anticonsumption 10h ago

Ads/Marketing Oh shit, this can't be good

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15 Upvotes

Trust out AI assistant with your money. Out assistant is objective, totally not paid by companies to trick you into buying their products and feel like saving money even tho the prices are higher (just like honey did). Sign up now and feel the AI revolution in your wallet!


r/Anticonsumption 22h ago

Discussion It's shocking how often I think of using Amazon

113 Upvotes

I can't go completely Amazon-free, because my job requires frequently purchasing books and materials that are only available on Amazon (either because that publication only sells through Amazon, or because a certain material isn't sold in the more rural part of the US I live).

So to slow down my shopping, I switched my Amazon account to business only.

I am horrified how often I think of using Amazon. I was just thinking of buying rain boots on their because my back yard keeps flooding. What's extra horrifying is that the idea isn't because I couldn't buy elsewhere (though admittedly the only reasonable "elsewhere" for me is Walmart, which isn't much better), but because I don't want to get out of the house during flash flooding. But for some reason I'm okay making an overworked employee unsafe???

Really eye opening and awful how many times I chose price and convenience over ethics. Some publications I could buy direct from publisher, but used Amazon anyway for fast shipping. And those are easy swaps to make, since it's both online shopping!

This is what killed my belief in true capitalism. I used to believe capitalism was a self-regulating system, because companies would be forced to change when consumers wouldn't buy from them due to bad practices. But I'm increasingly aware just how much we're willing to put lives on the line for convenience when we don't have to personally deal with the result of that. Terrible to think about.


r/Anticonsumption 1h ago

Food Waste How to save stale food?

Upvotes

I’m pretty good at trying to avoid food waste but I have some old seeds and nuts in the kitchen (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds) that have all gotten a stale funky flavor. I know they are still nutritionally fine but when I throw them into baking or other dishes you can taste that stale taste.

Any way to save them??