by komali2 | 2025-12-16 15:23:42+00:00
> Your appetite for novelty and your fear of missing out sucks the joy out of you—the more you eat, the hungrier you are.

I definitely had some kind of shopping addiction when I got my first couple paychecks as an engineer. Suddenly I could just have things, a first for me so far in my entire life (my parents were frugal out of necessity, I'm grateful for it of course). Then I moved, and I had just a whole bunch of bullshit I had to pack and move, which was when I first started wondering about buying stuff.

I'm starting to think of consumerist culture as an ongoing psychic attack. Advertisements are trying to get me to do something that hurts me. I don't need anything any ad shows me, ever, so why the fuck are there so many ads out there trying to convince me otherwise? Why should I trade a slice of freedom (cash is runway for unemployed time) for new shoes, when I have shoes, or a new phone, when I have a phone?

And on that note, why would I ever buy anything new, even when I ostensibly need something? Such as a new laptop? Is the extra thousand or even two thousand for the latest macbook justifiable when I can get the early m1 or m2s for under a thousand bucks, and perform the job just as well? Or hell, just a nice used thinkpad? Genuinely what innovation in the phone world in the last 5 years is so incredible that I absolutely must spend 700$ or more on the latest hottest model, when I can get a still-in-LTS Pixel-something for like 250$? If anything phones have been removing features, like headphone jacks and sd card slots. What do I need 120hz refresh rate screens for? It just drains my battery. What, so the ads on my phone can look smoother?

I challenged myself this year to buy nothing new, to only either repair things that break or get a used replacement if absolutely necessary. Other than, of course, things like underwear or batteries. I even get used HDDs for my homelab. It's been a joy. I went to Japan for Japan Burn and, lacking cold weather camping clothes, just stopped by a vintage shop in Tokyo and got a banger pair of vintage jeans, a nice thick flannel, and a waxed jacket for a combined 100$ (the levy 501 selvedge alone go for 100$ new). My old kobo finally bit the dust and I got a model released this year on facebook marketplace for 20% off since the owner just didn't like that size. My earbuds broke and on a mission to replace them on that same Japan trip, I found a pair of 300$ retail IEMs for 80$ in a used electronics store, in-box, in excellent condition. It's absolutely remarkable the stuff people are selling or throwing away. I genuinely don't know why I'd need to buy anything new ever again.

The other upside for going used and vintage is they really did used to build it better before. Instead of uniqlo puff jackets that are super packable and light but explode if you scratch them wrong, I just wear a thick linen jacket that looks to be 40 years old now and will probably outlive me. My boots are some used Redwings that someone else broke in for me, and all I gotta do is get them re-soled every 5-10 years depending on how quick I wear them down. It's that Pratchett story about the poor man's boots vs the rich man's boots, except I'm still paying less than the rich man.

The last target for me is books. I absolutely cannot kill the urge to buy cool used books I find. My office is far too full of books. But oh well, I feel like at least books are somewhat harmless to keep around, compared to a bunch of junk I used to have around the apartment, dragging from move to move.