Smartphones. Most people don't need to buy the latest and greatest iPhone every year.
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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Iβve adopted a policy of buying the latest iPhone every 5 years, which is about how long they tend to last in my experience. So far itβs worked out well.
I'm on my phone 8 hours a day. Quality counts. Slow is bad. Lacking features is bad. Crappy cameras are bad. Get a good phone. Use it until one of the following happens:
- It no longer gets security updates
- There is a new built-in hardware feature that will actually improve the quality of your life because you've been wanting it forever
- You break it or the battery performance starts to suck too much.
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First date. If you just want to get laid, go lavish, no problem.
But if you want to find a long-term partner, take her on a cheap first date. Like, coffee and a walk through the park.
I'm not sure I'd call this "cheaping out" but unless you can't even afford that or you have a specific reason you need a more expensive one, you should buy mid-range ($200 - $400) phones. The early '10s are over and mid-range is more than adequate for the average phone user. Plus quite a few mid-ranges still have expandable storage and/or headphone jacks.
How do I make sure the phone is clean, not stuck with a rootkit or something?
Left Samsung's ever more expensive Note and Galaxy S lines for Motorola's cheap ass G series like three or four years ago and haven't looked back. I buy a new phone once a year on my tax return for like $200-250. I gift my previous device to my younger cousins, nieces, nephews, and mother. Keeps everyone from having to pay off devices on their phone plans and the phones are still running rather well year over year. The only hold out, claiming to "need" the latest and greatest, is my older sister who insists she needs the new iPhone every two years.
Fashion clothes, if you're getting something that you'll wear for one summer and then never again then Primark is fine.
Salt, sugar, most herbs and spices, it's all the same stuff regardless of brands
Some snacks, often crisps are the same Aldi own brand as Walkers or whatever, or they're perfectly good. Yes we all want some kettle chips sometimes but it's all good, same for jelly sweets, a lot of chocolate, etc.
Hobbies for beginners, if you want to take up knitting then start with a cheap kit and upgrade as you get more serious.
Fashion clothes
Better yet: buy long-lasting stuff that is ethically produced. Primark is notoriously bad in this regard β but most fast fashion stores are.
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Soap of any kind. Itβs fine if you want a certain smell, but at the end of the day it all works the same. Goes for hand soap, shampoo, detergent, body wash, etc.
My sensitive, eczema-prone skin say, "No."
Yeah... I have something similar to eczema (serrobhreic dermatitis, I just have Google autocorrect it for me when I need to put it on a medical form.) All the beauty blogs and subreddits say "stay away from salicylic acid" so I tried all the alternatives in the literature, up to and including literal tar shampoo. Brackish, sticky, thick, smelly tar. Nothing in the medical literature works anywhere near as good as salicylic acid, and I have one brand (shampoo) that works for my face and scalp that's more moisturizing, and another (bar soap) that works for my body. If I skip showering for 1-2 days, my red scaly oily skin starts to return and I get face acne and bacne.. It's not fun. But as long as I keep my regimen (which also includes a specific lotion and a specific cleanser) and get enough sun (tanning in winter months) you wouldn't even know I had a skin condition.
It took me many years (including over a month using NO products as many suggested the products were the issues) to find this regimen. So I'm sticking to it.
Store brand foods are good a lot of times. They used to be garbage, but nowadays they're pretty good.
Frozen veggies instead of fresh is usually okay if you're steaming or roasting.
Automotive parts off Amazon have worked alright; Rebuilt my suspension for, like, $120. That's tie rod, sway bar, shocks, and struts. No issues for the two years since that repair.
A ton of hobbies have perfectly respectable aliexpress alternatives. Keycaps, Fountain pens, 3d printer parts. They rob intellectual property, but I like linux ISOs, so I don't exactly have a history of respecting that type of property.
Software in general can be cheaped out on; I don't think I need to champion FOSS on here.
Refrigerators and washing machines can be cheaped out on, as long as you do a bit of research about their reliability.
Lots of stuff is easy to DIY if you have some work space. Furniture, fish tanks, thermonuclear warheads. Learning to sew is valuable, not because you should make your own clothes -fuck that- but because you can mend the stitching on your current clothes.
Services can usually be cheaped out on. Youtube videos and a can-do attitude can get you through manicures and toilet repairs. Court clerks will sometimes be willing to walk you through basic legal stuff like name changes. Things you should educate yourself about beyond a short youtube video: Electricity, flammability (from heat sources), and anything involving significant pressure (pistons, compressed air, and power washers, mostly.).Also be a little careful with chemical reactions: cement hardening, for example, will produce a bit of heat. Usually this isn't a big deal and you can ignore it, but there have been idiots.The world's information is at your disposal. Provided you've got some common sense, and you never fuck around with the capacitor in a microwave, you should be fine.
Lots of stuff is easy to DIY if you have some work space. Furniture, fish tanks, thermonuclear warheads. Learning to sew is valuable, not because you should make your own clothes -fuck that- but because you can mend the stitching on your current clothes.
One of those things is not like the other....
Good catch, but that's a common misconception. You can actually use woodworking tools on glass, such as drills and saws, but you need to go a lot slower and make sure to keep vibrations under controll.
I think you're confusing the poor FBI guy reading our conversation ;)
I mean it's an incredibly difficult job to refine the chemicals enough to produce a usable product. There's a finite number of instalations which can actually pull off the delicate chemistry. The materials to make it are fairly common enough; essentially just SiO2,Al2O3, Na2O, and K2O, but it's much easier to obtain it from the hardware store. I'm definitely not suggesting you attempt to make your own clear glass.
Cell phone. A $200 android is extremely fast these days
Depends. That's about what I paid for my previous phone second hand and it lasted me 7 years and I loved it to bits. But I was pretty broke and only could afford that. New phone, I decided to buy a brand new fairphone, because i think that the moment I get enough disposable income, I have a moral responsibility to use it in ways that encourage more ethical practices, for all the people who can't. Doing that is bloody expensive, but if it somehow helps make this dystopian hellscape a little more bearable, I'll invest.
Indeed. And that's a great point, I would love a fairphone (or idealy a true linux handheld) for my next mobile device.
The key to my post is that purchasing $1500 sansungs and ios devices is ludicrous in this market, unless you are developing on the cutting edge or are a luxury tech enthusiast
It is, yeah. Especially if it's to change it after 2 short years of use because if you keep it longer than that you look like a bum or whatever. I will never understand that tbh.
Absolutely, currently in the purchase of a Pixel 7a (second hand) for 300euros, looking forwards to getting that in hand and install Graphene ππ
Replying to you from a cheap fast Android phone.
Based and pilled bro, based and pilled
Why have people downvoted you?
Their fear response is triggered by the use of βpillβ as a verb.
And, of course, that their moral philosophy operates at the level of reflex.
LOL, sadly, this is probably the case. Well stated.
I'm a bit disappointed to see this behaviour on Lemmy of all places
Kind of a "duh" thing but, only buy used cars.
Always have a trusted mechanic who doesn't work for the dealer look it over before you buy. Usually new car dealerships are reputable and are looking to move their trade-in inventory, especially at the end of the year when they need to clear the lot for the next year's models. You can even find deals on vehicles that are only a year or two old like a returned lease, with a moderate number of miles on them and little to no wear and tear. Those are usually just as good as new but so much cheaper.
Be super cautious of the used car dealer chains, like Drivetime and Carvana, they have loads of customer complaints and legal problems in a couple of states (basically, if it seems too good to be true, it is). Do not ever buy a former rental car, unless it's true love at first sight or you're desperate... even then think about how people, who've only paid like $10-20 for rental insurance, have probably treated that vehicle and reconsider.
The newest and most expensive car I ever bought was a previous model year's dealer demo. A dealer demo is what it sounds like, it's the car the dealership displayed in the show room, used for test drives with unsure buyers, running office errands, and showing off at the mall or in parades. Cons: There's only a few of them, they'll have a couple hundred miles on the odometer, and you don't get to pick the color or options. Pros: They're usually at a decent trim level, in an agreeable color, and well maintained... for thousands less than brand new because they've already left the lot a whole bunch.
I've bought a couple former rental cars and they were fine. While people might drive a bot more aggressive in them, if it didn't have body work done it's likely still fine. The big plus for rental cars is they generally get proper maintenance so they are mechanically solid.
See I drove my last car 16 years, always went to the dealer I bought it from for maintenance, and they were always forthright every time. He finally told me the last time I took it in for service that he was really starting to cross his fingers when he put it on the hoist, and that it might be time to stop throwing good money after bad. I never felt pressured.
Well, what I meant was don't just take a dealership's word for the maintenance of a car they're trying to sell you. But yeah, dealer mechanic shops can be some of the best out there especially for their particular brand.
I rented a corolla to do Uber in, and I ran that car like a motherfucker. I donβt drive like an idiot, (optimizing for rider experience, which overlaps a lot with minimizing car wear) but I did push the car in a way I wouldnβt push my own.
I've often wondered, how were the economics of renting a car to drive for a service? Did you usually make back your money for renting and fuel, etc?
-Any clothing/toys for children can be bought second hand, we have a very good site for that in Norway. For example, we bought 8kg of Legos, very reasonable price. Re-use is very popular in Norway.
-If you change food you eat often, it's very important to do some reaserch on the nutrition and sugar.
-Any locally grown food should be supported by bying, if possible.
-Much electronics can also be bought second hand in Norway, since we have strong consumer protection laws. Breakdown on electronic can be repaired within 5 years, usually. But, only if the seller has the receipt.
-Jewelry and stuff isn't nessesary, but buying cheap can be a nagging feeling and perhaps just buy something else for the person you love. Like an experience, trip to the massage/restaurant/etc. Spending time together is much more romantic anyways.
-Don't cheap out on the bed/mattress, you spend about 1/3 of you life there.
I want 8kg of Legos so much.
I once took a cooking class and the teacher was always "it's not necessary to invest in expensive oils, the cheapest oil will always do for cooking".
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