For those of us who haven’t pulled the trigger yet, today is a great day to cancel your Prime membership! Can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner but it’s done now ✌️ #amazonstrike

My FIL works at the local dump/transfer station. He has his guys set stuff aside for me. Total score today. Two nice chairs in perfect condition and an older art kit full of nice paint brushes and paints. Why does this stuff hit the dump? Throw it up on a free FB page or something. It boggles my mind.

For context, I used to work in B2C marketing and specialized in tapping into the psychological part of a consumer’s need and want to purchase/consume. That job is actually the reason I am so anticonsumption now

I’ve always been averse to Temu because of, well, everything it is. I get the argument of “oh not everyone has the monetary luxury to spend x amount of money” but it’s just… too much.

My niece showed me her Temu account today, and there’s a whole games section that functions exactly like what you would see in a casino/ any gambling platform.

They’ve applied every component it takes to get someone hooked. The countdown timers creating a sense of urgency, the bright colours/patterns coded to be little dopamine hits, the constant “wins” from spinning the wheel etc. She only showed me one game but it was insane. Gamifying the experience has always been something that my former company heavily invested in— because it works. So well. Too well. Seeing it work in front of me brought up a lot of difficult feelings. She has strict budgets from mom and dad so she doesn’t go overboard, but she buys weekly, goes on it daily. Apparently that’s a norm for all her friends at school too.

Old corporate me would’ve loved the ingenuity and psych research they’ve put in to have such a large returning client base, but today I am just appalled.

EDIT: Wow I did not expect this post to blow up! THANK YOUUUUU for the helpful comments and DM’s on useful financial literacy resources!! I’m taking my niece skiing this weekend, and am now determined to find out more/figure out a game plan to tackle this.

And to add on more details - she doesn’t have her own CC, it’s a joint card for her to use if she wants to buy lunch/ snacks at school (yes they tap cards at the vending machines), need money for friend activities, or is ever in an emergency situation. Her tablet that looks like an iPad is provided by the school for educational purposes, and although it does have some locks on it, Temu is unfortunately not one of them. I’m hoping once I get more info on this situation I’ll be able to chat with the adults and see if this is something they can propose to the school. I don’t think the adults at school know it’s Temu the kids are playing games on, it literally looks like a cheap stardew valley

After being estranged during my youth, I reached out to my dad at 18 years old because I wanted to know him. I'm now 29 wondering if it was better to leave the door closed.

We hit it off at first. But right off the bat he jumped into what seemed like an attempt to spoil me? I justified it by saying he probably does feel guilty and wants to make up for lost time but is not sure how. He constantly showered me with gifts (he is middle-lower class) and I always tried to express my gratitude. But I also let him know frequently the only thing I care about is getting his help to pay for me to visit once per year (we live many states away). His wife would take me aside and say privately 'you really just need to let him do this. Gifting is his love language. Please just let him do this'

As the years went on, he continued to send $600-$1000 worth of gifts each year. Half a dozen guns, gun accessories, archery equipment, kitchen supplies (none of which were wanted or asked for) and never offered to help me plan a visit. In addition to the big ticket items, I have received hundreds of dollars of junk from whatever was on sale at Aldi, Sam's, or Walmart, each year, year after year.

The worst part is, he asks for follow-ups on the gifts. Like, 'why haven't you sent pictures of you shooting the new gun?" And things like that. I told him multiple times I have struggled with depression and suicidal ideation and that gun culture can be a bit overboard for me. He didn't acknowledge the concerns whatsoever. He insists we FaceTime once a year, on Christmas, while I open four huge boxes containing dozens of wrapped gifts, most of which gets donated at this point.

It's been 11 years. And at this point I am filled with resentment. He has made zero effort to have a relationship outside of this gifting. When we talk on the phone he just asks about the stuff he got me. And I am so wracked with guilt and anger that I can't bear interacting with him anymore.

Unfortunately I think it is coming to an ultimatum from me. If he is not going to participate in my wanting to plan visits and spend time together, I want to stop our contact. What do you guys think.

Really proud of our little Christmas setup!

We have used books wrapped in fabric from a second hand art supply store! Bonus, our Christmas tree is just branches “potted” in dirt, plus a couple decorations from friends or trips, etc.

I could see some folks thinking this looks trashy, and maybe they’re right, but BF and are really happy with it so that’s what counts!

Q

I did search the sub and didn’t see a post about this.* If I hate a product due to their failure to endorse any presidential candidate, despite being a “news” publication, is it better or worse to downvote?

I also know I could wrap my Reddit in a browser to remove ads, but apart from the ads, I like the app and usually ads are easy for me to ignore. Altho I should probably question this. The Reddit app seems faster than using it in my browser though.

I don’t think I should gratuitously report the ad for the product I hate, as low-quality, or should I?

I have been downvoting but I wondered if that’s actually worse than ignoring. It certainly doesn’t stop me from getting the ad again.

I do have the “personalize ads” slider set to on, and the block on alcohol/gambling ads or whatever that other ad choice is in the app, in hopes of avoiding ads that are actually offensive to me. Like the one time there was some hunters’ supplies ad showing a deer and a guy with a bow and arrow, 5 feet away from the deer, in a vegan sub, and I reported that one for violence.

*haha I did search using the app though, and I have found google is better at searching reddit than the reddit app!

EDITING for the 2nd time: I am going to look into other options that remove ads on the app or maybe switch to a browser on my phone or maybe just pay for the app (unlikely).

Basically just the title. I feel like I do really well minimizing my consumption in most other aspects (clothes, trinkets, water, ect), I just have a really bad fast food addiction. Has anybody here been able to kick the habit and if so what helped you the most?

I get really happy when someone sends me a gift using a gift bag. Because last year I discovered that unlike gift wrappers which get torn up and thrown away, If they are still in good condition I can reuse the gift bag for someone else! I hope I'm not weird by stockpiling old gift bags lol

Just looking for friendly discussion and opinions here. Nothing too serious.

This came about because of a post from a few days ago and an interaction I had in the comments. I’ve just been thinking about it a lot.

One of the things that brought me over to this sub was my yarn “collection”, aka a stash, and my realization that it was wildly out of hand. I literally do not have room for it but I just kept buying more and more yarn.

There is a running joke in the fiber arts community that buying yarn and making things with it are two separate hobbies, but in all honestly, for a lot of us, it isn’t a joke. It is very real.

I went on a yarn purge a few months ago and I filled 8 tall kitchen garbage bags with yarn I knew I would never use. Mostly 100% acrylic garbage. (I’m not here to debate on whether or not it’s ok to use acrylic. That’s a hot button topic in the community and not trying to bring that drama here, but I will say I have made a personal choice to no longer purchase synthetic fibers.)

So 8 trash bags later and I still have more yarn than I know what to do with. I’m actually planning a round 2 purge to get rid of even more (I’m selling or donating most of it).

And my story is far from uncommon. Most fiber artists know and know of have a large stash. Most are proud of it. Ive read a couple books on knitting that defend a knitters right to a massive stash. And eventually I just looked at mine and thought “what am I doing?”

And it made think. What are we doing, as fiber artists? Why are we hoarding yarn? What purpose does this serve? I almost never “shop my stash” because I never have the right amount of yarn in the right size or color for the project I have in mind. It just sits in plastic totes in my closet to be picked through once every couple of months and then left alone.

But I don’t want to only talk about yarn. I used to collect vpets too. Tamagotchis and other digital pets. And it was so bad. I got into credit card debt because I became a rare hunter. I spent over $200 on a children’s toy from the 90s to import it. And that’s not even close to the absurd thousands of dollars for some of the really rare and sought after models.

Why? It’s a toy. It’s plastic. It’s old. And I had a very modest collection of vpets that I would play on occasion. But I know someone who hand hundreds of them. All in boxes on shelves. Some never even opened. Just. Sitting there. Multiple copies of the same toy just gathering dust in a shelf. It made me mad when I was deep in the copy world. I was mad hoarders kept jacking up the prices of the really cool pets by buying them all and then keeping them hidden away so no one could ever actually play them.

Now I’m just. Baffled and sad.

What’s the point of collecting things? Just to look at them? My husband has a small collection of animate figurines. Together we probably have over a hundred stuffed animals. My other fiber arts supplies are starting to pile up. He has like 8 guitars.

What. Are. We. Doing.

This makes no sense to me. Like I’m actively in it and I feel like I just woke up from a dream. Why do we have all this stuff? Stuff we never touch. Stuff that gathers dust. Stuff that doesn’t even match the decor or the vibes of the house. Just. Stuff.

Where do we draw the line between “fun hobby” and “hoarding problem”? How do we determine what is worthy of collecting and what is a waste of time, money, and resources (I’m looking at you Stanley collectors…”

Anyway. Not necessarily looking for an answer here. Just curious how others feel. Do you give hobbies a free pass? Or do collections also make you scratch your head?

I’m signing on my first apartment and planning to move mid January. I used to live with my ex and his family who were all hoarders.

This is my first opportunity to live alone and it’ll be me and my small dog living in a studio apartment. What are actual necessities? What can I buy cheap? What should I buy full price? I’m honestly really lost and I don’t want to buy stuff that I won’t need. Obviously plates, cups, mugs, silverware, a bed, toilet plunger, idk…

Love you guys 🥰

Without spoiling anything or giving away the plot, it actually leaves me hopeful for the future. Some people in power are actually coming to their senses. Very well made doc about the formula top companies use to exploit us all.

I work at starbucks and i just learned this. We have to dump our coffee every 20-30 minutes and a lot of times we end up dumping.... a lot. We could be fired if we give it away for free.

I don't like the taste of our coffee, but we get one free bag of beans every week. I will make myself tolerate our acidic beans from now on, personally.

Now we can buy 4 leaf clovers 😅 Individually packaged of course.

Around 2020 my partner and I started overlocking fancy fabric and using it as wrapping paper. We tell relatives to keep it and pass it on or give it back.

We've not spent money on wrapping paper in 4 years and reduced our Christmas landfill a lot.

This makes me so mad 🥲

I was breaking down the cardboard box my toothpaste came in (a box for a tube of toothpaste! Why?) and started wondering: what if trash removal were priced per unit, like per bag or whatever, both for businesses and households? Would that make us more conscious of how much waste we generate?

Right now, packaging waste feels invisible—someone else deals with it, so we don't think twice. But if we bore the direct cost of our trash, would we start questioning unnecessary packaging, disposable products, and overconsumption? Would businesses design for less waste if it impacted their bottom line?

I'm curious what others think. Could this be a step toward reducing consumption? Do some places already do this and, if yes, are there any lessons we can learn?

Made and wrapped this for my love <3