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I both agree and disagree. On the one hand I think it's worth specifically "buying for life" [1], eg buying high quality, durable things once and reusing them

I both agree and disagree. On the one hand I think it's worth specifically "buying for life" [1], eg buying high quality, durable things once and reusing them indefinitely. Reject our throw-away culture and planned obsolescence, be more effecient and less wasteful with natural resources, recognizing that unless you plan to be a full-on monk you will most likely need to buy some things in life. On the other hand, statements like this strike me as narrow, lacking perspective. After hiking for months across Southeast Asia, I do hope you have more take away than: >These might seem like stupid things to worry about, but when you have trust in everything you own, you don’t have to worry about anything. It’s liberating and an amazing feeling. My life was markedly better because of it. No, what is amazing and liberating is transcending having to trust in things at all because you have such relentless resourcefulness, determination, and physical and mental health that it doesn't matter whether you have every thing you need, you can make do without it. You can, as the US Marines put it, improvise, adapt, and overcome [2]. You're not dependent in any way on what you own, and as a result, are not owned by it [3]. So I think there's a bit of yin/yang here. Of the stuff you must buy, buy high quality for the long haul, but don't become so attached and emotionally invested that it ends up owning you. [1]: http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/ http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/ [2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWCYv40Ur1g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWCYv40Ur1g [3]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPPvkhGZT7Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPPvkhGZT7Y

chipsy 14y ago
The puzzle of evading materialism is that it seems to infest everything. >because you have such relentless resourcefulness, determination, and physical and mental health And what if you don't? What if you're weak in one of those areas and, for whatever reason, can _never_ hope to become strong? Everyone does grow old eventually, if they don't get killed first. So then, relying on "I will always be a strong person" is a kind of material thought. You'll lose it, sooner or later. Perhaps a healthier way to think of yourself is as a sort of resource that can be cultivated for a while - and often considerably, when considering intellectual endeavors - but is ultimately consumed. And then, as in strategy games involving heavy resource constraints, your goal is to maneuver and manage resources carefully so that you can both accomplish key goals and remain in a relatively advantageous position afterwards, even though in an absolute sense, things are always being depleted. At that point, strategy w/r to things you purchase is just a calculation, not something you feel you have to identify with.
gills 14y ago
Passport. Credit Card. The rest is gravy.
Sukotto 14y ago
If you like http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife (best possible durability/quality) you should also check out http://www.reddit.com/r/GoodValue http://www.reddit.com/r/GoodValue (best bang for the buck)
- SkyMarshal 14y ago
  Yup, subbed to that one too, it's linked in the BuyItForLife sidebar.

chipsy 14y ago

The puzzle of evading materialism is that it seems to infest everything. >because you have such relentless resourcefulness, determination, and physical and mental health And what if you don't? What if you're weak in one of those areas and, for whatever reason, can _never_ hope to become strong? Everyone does grow old eventually, if they don't get killed first. So then, relying on "I will always be a strong person" is a kind of material thought. You'll lose it, sooner or later. Perhaps a healthier way to think of yourself is as a sort of resource that can be cultivated for a while - and often considerably, when considering intellectual endeavors - but is ultimately consumed. And then, as in strategy games involving heavy resource constraints, your goal is to maneuver and manage resources carefully so that you can both accomplish key goals and remain in a relatively advantageous position afterwards, even though in an absolute sense, things are always being depleted. At that point, strategy w/r to things you purchase is just a calculation, not something you feel you have to identify with.

gills 14y ago

Passport. Credit Card. The rest is gravy.

Sukotto 14y ago

If you like http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife http://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife (best possible durability/quality) you should also check out http://www.reddit.com/r/GoodValue http://www.reddit.com/r/GoodValue (best bang for the buck)

SkyMarshal 14y ago
Yup, subbed to that one too, it's linked in the BuyItForLife sidebar.