I now go for the “buy it once” mentality. The world is chock-full of cheap crap, to extend the designed-in obsolescence and “keep on buying” industries. I could single out Wally World, but that would be unfair. Globalization I think has been the main contributor. People have learned to live with less quality for cheaper prices, because they can get more easily. We have been trained to be consumers, to always need more. We need to stop and re-evaluate. So do that.
Now that we have attempted to re-evaluate what we really need, and want, we have to decide what to keep, and what to get rid of. This is harder than it seems, battling a lifetime of conditioning, but it’ll be worth it.
One Example:
I have a hard time getting rid of my full size truck. It’s a 2008 Dodge RAM 1500 Lone Star edition, because I live in Texas, of course. For one thing, I’m still WAY upside down on it, and another, I love to build/fly model airplanes of large sizes (yes, small ones too) and I need the space to haul them to the flying field, along with the support equipment. It has four doors, so I can carry my family and friends with me, and haul the big stuff as well. I certainly didn’t need that HEMI engine. But, it seems I get better mileage than my older 2005 V-6 truck did, as the engine doesn’t work nearly so hard to do the same things, like climb Central Texas hills. And if you need it, the horsepower is right there. I run most of the time without the AC on, except the hottest days, so that doesn’t really come into play much. Could I get by with a smaller truck? You bet. It would change things, like needing an extra vehicle for other people to ride along, and probably needing a trailer to haul anything over 4 feet long, or borrow someone else’s truck to move big stuff. Maybe that is an issue in itself; I’m awfully self-dependent. If I can’t do it myself, I usually don’t…
A simpler way to travel is cycling. It seems to be the latest rage in the cities. I just don’t think you need to spend $2500 to save 5 pounds and get the latest composites, unless it’s mainly for bragging rights, which I suspect it is. I’m totally happy on a used $100 mountain bike or classic ten-speed. I actually don’t have one yet, but I am looking. Living in Central Texas, you find yourself more sprawled, and anything you need is further away. So, more pedaling. That’s okay too, but you have to change your daily lifestyle to accommodate 30+ minute commutes instead of 10, smaller, more frequent runs to the grocery store (can’t carry as much) plus having to deal with frozen/refrigerated foods while pedaling 15-30 minutes home. When it’s 100+ outside for months at a time, it’s a big deal. I haven’t even mentioned body odor and clothing changes in an office environment after 30 minutes of hard pedaling and sitting in a cube for 8 hours, then going home. Not so simple, all of a sudden, is it?
More to come…
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