Why do people buy crap?

ldent42

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

Out with the old in with the new.
Why would you want to a wear a pair of shoes or have a couch/appliance/ etc for 50yrs.
Ya gotta purge and buy new often.
Keeps it fresh.
Quite sure a 50-60 yr old isn't furnished with the same "stuff" they had 20-30yrs ago.
On the other hand it is pretty cool to visit grandma and grampas house.

you dont know any 50-60 year olds do you
most of my mother's furniture is older than me.

hedonist

Kind of a common sense thing, I believe.

The big-ass credenza we have was a wedding gift to my parents from 1959, and has lasted longer than their marriage did.

It's a beautiful and sturdy motherfucker. Much like my dad was.

PJfanwillneverleave1

ldent42 said:

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

Out with the old in with the new.
Why would you want to a wear a pair of shoes or have a couch/appliance/ etc for 50yrs.
Ya gotta purge and buy new often.
Keeps it fresh.
Quite sure a 50-60 yr old isn't furnished with the same "stuff" they had 20-30yrs ago.
On the other hand it is pretty cool to visit grandma and grampas house.

you dont know any 50-60 year olds do you
most of my mother's furniture is older than me.

come on

ldent42

hedonist said:

Kind of a common sense thing, I believe.

The big-ass credenza we have was a wedding gift to my parents from 1959, and has lasted longer than their marriage did.

It's a beautiful and sturdy motherfucker. Much like my dad was.

also it seems like most furniture pieces were just built to last back in the 50s-80s. With really minimal maintenance that shit doesn't get wobbly or dingey.

PJfanwillneverleave1

^^^
Yes real furniture was built to last.
There is no way you have a fridge from the 50's in your home.
There is no way you have a washer or dryer from the 50's in your home.
If you do well ....

PJ_Soul

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

Out with the old in with the new.
Why would you want to a wear a pair of shoes or have a couch/appliance/ etc for 50yrs.
Ya gotta purge and buy new often.
Keeps it fresh.
Quite sure a 50-60 yr old isn't furnished with the same "stuff" they had 20-30yrs ago.
On the other hand it is pretty cool to visit grandma and grampas house.

What are you talking about? Most people keep nice furniture for their entire lives, and sometimes it even gets passed down after they die.
What the hell is wrong with you lately anyway??

ldent42

Lol yea okay.
My washer and dryer in my penthouse apartment on CPW

RKCNDY

ldent42 said:

hedonist said:

Kind of a common sense thing, I believe.

The big-ass credenza we have was a wedding gift to my parents from 1959, and has lasted longer than their marriage did.

It's a beautiful and sturdy motherfucker. Much like my dad was.

also it seems like most furniture pieces were just built to last back in the 50s-80s. With really minimal maintenance that shit doesn't get wobbly or dingey.

This^^^
I still have some of the furniture I had when I was a kid, made of solid wood, it's held up, still looks great. There was a newspiece that said new furniture burns so fast, if there was a house fire, you don't have much time to get out.
http://www.today.com/home/newer-homes-furniture-burn-faster-giving-you-less-time-escape-t65826

I think I will keep my old, well made, stuff. No reason tossing out something perfectly useful.

brianlux

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

I didn't quite catch the whole conversation but I heard someone mention today that there are something like 50 million (it was a huge number) Americans who could not, if need be, come up with $500 cash. Over spending a bit are we, fellow Americans??

This is a bit accusatory. Of course many people don't save, but I'm also sure many of them just aren't being paid enough given the cost of living, and after paying the bills, rent, buying food, clothes, and maybe a bit on trying to make life slightly less miserable, they don't have any money left for a savings account.

It does sound that way but if so, I accuse myself for having been there- more than once. But the point I tried to make is that there are so many people in the U.S. who can't scrap together $500. I did some research and some article state that half of the people in the U.S. don't have $500 saving. Even if it was one quarter, that would be 75 million people. Now if the majority of these many millions of people who cannot come up with 500 bucks were in that situation strictly because they don't make enough to do so, I would be the first to come to their collective defense. But I sincerely doubt that this is generally the case. I would be willing to bet that a large proportion of those who don't have $500 do have a shit load of crap (sorry for the redundancy!)

So am I saying this just to beat up on stupid people who don't know how to save money? No. I blame it on poor parenting and poor education. So many kids and young adults struggle because no one helped them learn to be reasonably frugal and show them that there are better ways to make oneself happy besides constantly needing that short-term fleeting satisfaction that comes from bullshit consumerism. And worst of all, unless we change, that consumerism is going to be our undoing as it contributes to the decline of the environment and the acceleration of mass extinction.

ldent42

I saw this great picture the other day and I can't find it now. It was something to the effect of a student saying "teach me how to pay bills, taxes, 401k" and the school system replying "no, no don't worry about that. Now, the hypotenuse of a triangle..."
I obviously had an exceptionally bad time with the nyc public school system personally, but they don't teach personal finance at all really, which is kind of insane. One of the first college classes I took the guy says to us "if you open a mutual fund and bring me the proof or the statement, I'll give you a C even if you never come into this class again. That's how important it is." I didn't take him up on his offer, but I did open my own investigation into mutual fund and ended up starting my investment portfolio at age 23ish. This was a nighttime intro to business class at community college. I'd not have learned about it any other way.

These schools have these dumb ass requirements for classes - they should include a basic personal finance course in the curriculum requirements. I mean it's a bit more important than an "urban studies elective" or a year of foreign language, no?


In related news a former classmate of mine recently had to take out a $500 loan to pay for emergency dental work cuz Medicaid wouldn't cover it. I thought that was fitting here.

tempo_n_groove

ldent42 said:

I saw this great picture the other day and I can't find it now. It was something to the effect of a student saying "teach me how to pay bills, taxes, 401k" and the school system replying "no, no don't worry about that. Now, the hypotenuse of a triangle..."
I obviously had an exceptionally bad time with the nyc public school system personally, but they don't teach personal finance at all really, which is kind of insane. One of the first college classes I took the guy says to us "if you open a mutual fund and bring me the proof or the statement, I'll give you a C even if you never come into this class again. That's how important it is." I didn't take him up on his offer, but I did open my own investigation into mutual fund and ended up starting my investment portfolio at age 23ish. This was a nighttime intro to business class at community college. I'd not have learned about it any other way.

These schools have these dumb ass requirements for classes - they should include a basic personal finance course in the curriculum requirements. I mean it's a bit more important than an "urban studies elective" or a year of foreign language, no?


In related news a former classmate of mine recently had to take out a $500 loan to pay for emergency dental work cuz Medicaid wouldn't cover it. I thought that was fitting here.

Off the subject but to add to your wonderful reply!

Things that are NOT taught in school?!?

How to balance a check book.
How to do taxes.
How to buy a house/car.
How to apply for a student loan.
What a student loan is.
How to pay off that student loan.
How to budget.

rgambs

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

I didn't quite catch the whole conversation but I heard someone mention today that there are something like 50 million (it was a huge number) Americans who could not, if need be, come up with $500 cash. Over spending a bit are we, fellow Americans??

This is a bit accusatory. Of course many people don't save, but I'm also sure many of them just aren't being paid enough given the cost of living, and after paying the bills, rent, buying food, clothes, and maybe a bit on trying to make life slightly less miserable, they don't have any money left for a savings account.

I dunno, most people above and below the poverty line have a 500$ TV and monthly bills in excess of 100$ for cable/internet. That is irresponsible spending and a perfect example of "buying crap".
Clothes should only need purchased once or maybe twice a year, any more than that is vanity, not necessity. Lottery tickets, beauty products, Starbuck's coffees...all things that are never needed yet regularly purchased by people who don't have 500$ cash if they need it.

hedonist

rgambs said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

I didn't quite catch the whole conversation but I heard someone mention today that there are something like 50 million (it was a huge number) Americans who could not, if need be, come up with $500 cash. Over spending a bit are we, fellow Americans??

This is a bit accusatory. Of course many people don't save, but I'm also sure many of them just aren't being paid enough given the cost of living, and after paying the bills, rent, buying food, clothes, and maybe a bit on trying to make life slightly less miserable, they don't have any money left for a savings account.

I dunno, most people above and below the poverty line have a 500$ TV and monthly bills in excess of 100$ for cable/internet. That is irresponsible spending and a perfect example of "buying crap".
Clothes should only need purchased once or maybe twice a year, any more than that is vanity, not necessity. Lottery tickets, beauty products, Starbuck's coffees...all things that are never needed yet regularly purchased by people who don't have 500$ cash if they need it.

Yup and yup. And as mentioned, that responsibility needs to be taught either directly or by example. I don't think I was even in my teens when my dad helped me open a savings account ("even if you pay yourself a dollar a week"), plus the whole concept of doing chores for allowance, understanding if I want to by X, I need to have Y amount.

Would be great if basic budgeting concepts would be taught along with math in school, and by parents in day-to-day life.

even flow - question mark

I have purchased a crap car to fill with crap gas so I can get to my crap job that allows me to do crappy things like buy Pearl Jam tickets to stay in crappy hotel rooms on crappy road trips where I meet up with crap PJ fans who want my crap money for some crap charity then head to the crappy stadium built on the back of my crap tax dollar to hear them play the crap songs that I don't like listening to in the comfort of my crap house on my crap stereo with the crap vinyl and crap cds that blast crap audio.

That kind of crap?

HughFreakingDillon

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

I didn't quite catch the whole conversation but I heard someone mention today that there are something like 50 million (it was a huge number) Americans who could not, if need be, come up with $500 cash. Over spending a bit are we, fellow Americans??

This is a bit accusatory. Of course many people don't save, but I'm also sure many of them just aren't being paid enough given the cost of living, and after paying the bills, rent, buying food, clothes, and maybe a bit on trying to make life slightly less miserable, they don't have any money left for a savings account.

It does sound that way but if so, I accuse myself for having been there- more than once. But the point I tried to make is that there are so many people in the U.S. who can't scrap together $500. I did some research and some article state that half of the people in the U.S. don't have $500 saving. Even if it was one quarter, that would be 75 million people. Now if the majority of these many millions of people who cannot come up with 500 bucks were in that situation strictly because they don't make enough to do so, I would be the first to come to their collective defense. But I sincerely doubt that this is generally the case. I would be willing to bet that a large proportion of those who don't have $500 do have a shit load of crap (sorry for the redundancy!)

So am I saying this just to beat up on stupid people who don't know how to save money? No. I blame it on poor parenting and poor education. So many kids and young adults struggle because no one helped them learn to be reasonably frugal and show them that there are better ways to make oneself happy besides constantly needing that short-term fleeting satisfaction that comes from bullshit consumerism. And worst of all, unless we change, that consumerism is going to be our undoing as it contributes to the decline of the environment and the acceleration of mass extinction.

unfortunately, it's not all bad parenting. my parents were VERY good with their money. they had to be. one income. 3 kids. they budgeted like no one's business. BUT, no matter what they taught me, I had to be the kind of person to implement what I was taught. I didn't. I didn't learn until MUCH later, I'd even say recently, that buying shit I can't afford won't make me happy.

a lot of it is up to the individual. sometimes it comes down to people trying in vain to make themselves happy, not realizing it's making it worse. kind of like where an alcohol or drug addiction starts. it's all the same idea.

RKCNDY

tempo_n_groove said:

ldent42 said:

I saw this great picture the other day and I can't find it now. It was something to the effect of a student saying "teach me how to pay bills, taxes, 401k" and the school system replying "no, no don't worry about that. Now, the hypotenuse of a triangle..."
I obviously had an exceptionally bad time with the nyc public school system personally, but they don't teach personal finance at all really, which is kind of insane. One of the first college classes I took the guy says to us "if you open a mutual fund and bring me the proof or the statement, I'll give you a C even if you never come into this class again. That's how important it is." I didn't take him up on his offer, but I did open my own investigation into mutual fund and ended up starting my investment portfolio at age 23ish. This was a nighttime intro to business class at community college. I'd not have learned about it any other way.

These schools have these dumb ass requirements for classes - they should include a basic personal finance course in the curriculum requirements. I mean it's a bit more important than an "urban studies elective" or a year of foreign language, no?


In related news a former classmate of mine recently had to take out a $500 loan to pay for emergency dental work cuz Medicaid wouldn't cover it. I thought that was fitting here.

Off the subject but to add to your wonderful reply!

Things that are NOT taught in school?!?

How to balance a check book.
How to do taxes.
How to buy a house/car.
How to apply for a student loan.
What a student loan is.
How to pay off that student loan.
How to budget.

When I was in high school, I took a class that taught most of those things. We had to draw slips of paper out of a fishbowl. Each one had a job on it and the pay rate. Then we were given an apartment rental guide and told to figure out how many hours we had to work to afford the apartment...even went as far as us calling the apartment leasing office to get info on deposits and utilities. Did we want a car? Call a dealership to figure out payments and interest. It was a wake-up call to find out we'd have to have 2+ roommates to afford a place...or live in an undesirable neighborhood by yourself, we were taught about how credit cards work, and how to balance a checkbook. I do wish they taught us about the stock market and mutual funds. 401k was only mentioned as 'just get one'. Unfortunately this was an elective class and not required. Thankful I took it.

callen

So have problem of relatives buying me plasticky crappy trinkets as gifts. What's the holding period? 5 minutes, 5 days, a month, year?

As to furniture, buy right first time and done. Same with other items. Buy things I plan on never needing to buy again by going after quality then taking care of it.

Sometimes wish there was a consumption tax. All those that continue to buy cheap crap may change their ways.

And fkn swiffers. What a waste. Same with paper towels.

tempo_n_groove

RKCNDY said:

tempo_n_groove said:

ldent42 said:

I saw this great picture the other day and I can't find it now. It was something to the effect of a student saying "teach me how to pay bills, taxes, 401k" and the school system replying "no, no don't worry about that. Now, the hypotenuse of a triangle..."
I obviously had an exceptionally bad time with the nyc public school system personally, but they don't teach personal finance at all really, which is kind of insane. One of the first college classes I took the guy says to us "if you open a mutual fund and bring me the proof or the statement, I'll give you a C even if you never come into this class again. That's how important it is." I didn't take him up on his offer, but I did open my own investigation into mutual fund and ended up starting my investment portfolio at age 23ish. This was a nighttime intro to business class at community college. I'd not have learned about it any other way.

These schools have these dumb ass requirements for classes - they should include a basic personal finance course in the curriculum requirements. I mean it's a bit more important than an "urban studies elective" or a year of foreign language, no?


In related news a former classmate of mine recently had to take out a $500 loan to pay for emergency dental work cuz Medicaid wouldn't cover it. I thought that was fitting here.

Off the subject but to add to your wonderful reply!

Things that are NOT taught in school?!?

How to balance a check book.
How to do taxes.
How to buy a house/car.
How to apply for a student loan.
What a student loan is.
How to pay off that student loan.
How to budget.

When I was in high school, I took a class that taught most of those things. We had to draw slips of paper out of a fishbowl. Each one had a job on it and the pay rate. Then we were given an apartment rental guide and told to figure out how many hours we had to work to afford the apartment...even went as far as us calling the apartment leasing office to get info on deposits and utilities. Did we want a car? Call a dealership to figure out payments and interest. It was a wake-up call to find out we'd have to have 2+ roommates to afford a place...or live in an undesirable neighborhood by yourself, we were taught about how credit cards work, and how to balance a checkbook. I do wish they taught us about the stock market and mutual funds. 401k was only mentioned as 'just get one'. Unfortunately this was an elective class and not required. Thankful I took it.

I was never taught any of this. I am very impressed with your school.

To further RGambs point of what people buy as crap, cell phones, everyone has an iphone and they just aren't cheap...

HughFreakingDillon

RKCNDY said:

tempo_n_groove said:

ldent42 said:

I saw this great picture the other day and I can't find it now. It was something to the effect of a student saying "teach me how to pay bills, taxes, 401k" and the school system replying "no, no don't worry about that. Now, the hypotenuse of a triangle..."
I obviously had an exceptionally bad time with the nyc public school system personally, but they don't teach personal finance at all really, which is kind of insane. One of the first college classes I took the guy says to us "if you open a mutual fund and bring me the proof or the statement, I'll give you a C even if you never come into this class again. That's how important it is." I didn't take him up on his offer, but I did open my own investigation into mutual fund and ended up starting my investment portfolio at age 23ish. This was a nighttime intro to business class at community college. I'd not have learned about it any other way.

These schools have these dumb ass requirements for classes - they should include a basic personal finance course in the curriculum requirements. I mean it's a bit more important than an "urban studies elective" or a year of foreign language, no?


In related news a former classmate of mine recently had to take out a $500 loan to pay for emergency dental work cuz Medicaid wouldn't cover it. I thought that was fitting here.

Off the subject but to add to your wonderful reply!

Things that are NOT taught in school?!?

How to balance a check book.
How to do taxes.
How to buy a house/car.
How to apply for a student loan.
What a student loan is.
How to pay off that student loan.
How to budget.

When I was in high school, I took a class that taught most of those things. We had to draw slips of paper out of a fishbowl. Each one had a job on it and the pay rate. Then we were given an apartment rental guide and told to figure out how many hours we had to work to afford the apartment...even went as far as us calling the apartment leasing office to get info on deposits and utilities. Did we want a car? Call a dealership to figure out payments and interest. It was a wake-up call to find out we'd have to have 2+ roommates to afford a place...or live in an undesirable neighborhood by yourself, we were taught about how credit cards work, and how to balance a checkbook. I do wish they taught us about the stock market and mutual funds. 401k was only mentioned as 'just get one'. Unfortunately this was an elective class and not required. Thankful I took it.

that IS impressive.

PJ_Soul

tempo_n_groove said:

ldent42 said:

I saw this great picture the other day and I can't find it now. It was something to the effect of a student saying "teach me how to pay bills, taxes, 401k" and the school system replying "no, no don't worry about that. Now, the hypotenuse of a triangle..."
I obviously had an exceptionally bad time with the nyc public school system personally, but they don't teach personal finance at all really, which is kind of insane. One of the first college classes I took the guy says to us "if you open a mutual fund and bring me the proof or the statement, I'll give you a C even if you never come into this class again. That's how important it is." I didn't take him up on his offer, but I did open my own investigation into mutual fund and ended up starting my investment portfolio at age 23ish. This was a nighttime intro to business class at community college. I'd not have learned about it any other way.

These schools have these dumb ass requirements for classes - they should include a basic personal finance course in the curriculum requirements. I mean it's a bit more important than an "urban studies elective" or a year of foreign language, no?


In related news a former classmate of mine recently had to take out a $500 loan to pay for emergency dental work cuz Medicaid wouldn't cover it. I thought that was fitting here.

Off the subject but to add to your wonderful reply!

Things that are NOT taught in school?!?

How to balance a check book.
How to do taxes.
How to buy a house/car.
How to apply for a student loan.
What a student loan is.
How to pay off that student loan.
How to budget.

There were classes like that in my high school. It was a mandatory class that we had to take at least once during grades 10 to 12. It was called business ed. How to balance check books (this was in the early to mid 90s of course), how to write a resume, job interview tactics, how to budget, what household expenses are like, etc etc. They also gave us a career aptitude test (I believe my ideal career was deemed to be sports psychologist, lol). It was a brand new thing back then. I don't know if that was or is mandatory provincial curriculum though. It's possible that my particular school was just really on the ball.