What they don't want you to know- how I escaped materialism

[Thinktank]

I am going to tell you how I quit the rat race and escaped the cult of materialism. they don't
want you to know this.

Here's what I did. I went out and bought everything I needed, and then quit buying stuff. I ordered
from Amazon. I bought stuff in USA. I looked for sales. Now I am free from the cult of materialism.
I don't need anything else.

You can too.

[LTD]

hopefully your computer quits working soon and you don't feel the need to replace that materialistic thing you've freed yourself from

[Fancy]

I am going to tell you how I quit the rat race and escaped the cult of materialism. they don't
want you to know this.

Here's what I did. I went out and bought everything I needed, and then quit buying stuff. I ordered
from Amazon. I bought stuff in USA. I looked for sales. Now I am free from the cult of materialism.
I don't need anything else.

You can too.

You're still going to run out of toilet paper sometime....(is "they" the new royal "we"?)

[Bsuds]

Here's what I did. I went out and bought everything I needed, and then quit buying stuff.

So you bought everything you needed then stopped and now figure you don't need anything more?

Yup that works...here's your sign!

[Smurf]

Here's an idea on how long that will last and I'm sure we can all vouch that the story probably has some truth to it. I was talking to a person who has been a private business owner for many years about replacing products. He said when he was taking business in college in the time 1958 to 1960 a student asked the professor about something that happened at a manufacturing company he had worked for in California. GE came to the company and asked them to design elements for a toaster that would last approximately 30 months before they failed. GE said they said they could make a toaster that would basically last forever but that was not good for business. They wanted to put a warranty of 24 months on the toaster and have it fail shortly after creating the need for a new one without them paying for it. They also warned that if that company wouldn't do it they would find someone that would.

I remember when we got married in 1965 that we got appliances that lasted us for decades and that was normal. Not any more. We just bought a new electric stove and even the dealer told us not to expect more than about 8 to 10 years out of it. I remember stoves and fridges lasting 20 plus years. In fact you expected it. It seems that today everything has a built in short life expectancy. Does anyone think we have gotten that much worse at manufacturing products or is it deliberate built in life expectancy.

So Thinktank do you think you are better than everyone else because you do all your buying in one mad spree instead of over a period of time. Are you actually trying to say you are never going to buy some new product or replace things for the rest of your life LOL. You have come up with some good ones but this one has to be near the top. IF you are saying you will keep everything till it is worn out and not just replace it with the newer better model or because it is out of style, then good on you I agree. The "keeping up with the Jones's" has gone away too far.

[Silverstarqueen]

Thinktank will run out of WackyWeed at some point, but will find out his bicycle has rusted so badly he can not longer ride on the flat tires to go get some more. And then he will die.

[Silverstarqueen]

Here's an idea....... GE said they said they could make a toaster that would basically last forever but that was not good for business. They wanted to put a warranty of 24 months on the toaster and have it fail shortly after creating the need for a new one without them paying for it. They also warned that if that company wouldn't do it they would find someone that would.

I remember when we got married in 1965 that we got appliances that lasted us for decades and that was normal. Not any more. We just bought a new electric stove and even the dealer told us not to expect more than about 8 to 10 years out of it. I remember stoves and fridges lasting 20 plus years. In fact you expected it. It seems that today everything has a built in short life expectancy. Does anyone think we have gotten that much worse at manufacturing products or is it deliberate built in life expectancy.
.

This is very true. We had a few very old appliances that took forever to die. Not so nowadays. Ask your plumber how long water tanks will last nowadays, compared to the good ol' days. And now they are putting in plastic plumbing, designed to fail and flood your bathroom within 25 years. I wonder what Thinktank is going to do when that fails? use a bucket?

[Fancy]

What if there's a hole in the bucket?

[TreeGuy]

There is a trend of the buy nothing Year.

http://www.oneemptyshelf.com/year-of-buying-nothing-2/

I do my best not to give into materialism, more so not keeping up with the Jones.

[Fancy]

Here's what I did. I went out and bought everything I needed, and then quit buying stuff. I ordered
from Amazon. I bought stuff in USA. I looked for sales. Now I am free from the cult of materialism.
I don't need anything else.

What kind of stuff did you buy? It all has to be put into perspective.

[Rider59]

So you escaped materialism buy binge buying? OK

[oneh2obabe]

Tinfoil, blinders and earplugs?

[Gilchy]

This is very true. We had a few very old appliances that took forever to die. Not so nowadays. Ask your plumber how long water tanks will last nowadays, compared to the good ol' days. And now they are putting in plastic plumbing, designed to fail and flood your bathroom within 25 years. I wonder what Thinktank is going to do when that fails? use a bucket?

While I agree that things don't last these days, my repeatedly leaking copper plumbing is decidedly not failsafe either.

Also OP, you escaped materialism by buying things? Well done.

[LANDM]

Here's what I did. I went out and bought everything I needed, and then quit buying stuff. I ordered
from Amazon. I bought stuff in USA. I looked for sales. Now I am free from the cult of materialism.
I don't need anything else.

What kind of stuff did you buy? It all has to be put into perspective.

He bought 10,000 dolls that he had custom made to look like his uncle and a huge box of pins. Should last a lifetime.......

[Fancy]

Thinktank is browsing here now - I'm waiting with anticipation of what he bought.