you know – this is always represented in the news/etc as ‘a starbucks a day’ but i mean moreso a gadget or a shirt. i’m splurging on deodorant right now. is that immoral? are you meant to have a mostly austere budget until you’re a boomer with a house and a fence?
so uhh what’s the last little thing you bought to not go insane?
I am fully disconnected from that mentality and do not miss it. I used to waste a lot of time around shopping for needless and pointless nonsense.
I will spend a whole lot more on things I really need or want, but I don’t feel like I am a target for marketing in any way now. My last major purchase was an AI capable computer which was likely due to YT and Reddit manipulated suggestions and visibility. I don’t regret that one. Since I quit reddit in June, I have also pulled way back with YT. I’m on Linux/Graphene and my primary network connection is though a whitelist firewall. That seems to be just enough to stop the subconscious motivations and desires for stuff I don’t actually care anything about like this.
It may be an unpopular opinion, but the best and brightest psych majors are going into advertising for a damn good reason, and it ain’t making prettier HTML banner ads like it’s 1999.
I recommend having a long think about that whole buying little things makes an emotion paradigm and start asking yourself what could be the causes of such behaviors and how they might have been intentional manipulation across platforms and information spaces. There is a reason why data stalking companies are so pervasive and everyone wants you to use an app where they have constant sensor data from your device.
That was an excellent thing to start my day with - cheers. I’m probably more like OP, but I like this perspective and am trying to move towards it. One habit that has helped is swapping phone time for book time. Even if there is still some phone time, any book time is a win: I learn stuff from sources I can trust, and there are no ads.
Feel free to start posting in Word of the Day !wotd@lemmy.world
I created it a few days ago for my own motivation to do more book time and start pulling a bit more out of what I am reading at the same time. You’ll probably need to add it by searching manually and doing a pending subscription until the transport bots sync across instances because it is new.
Exactly. Buying gives you a small dopamine bump, but it doesn’t last very long. The downside is that you spent money that could be better used elsewhere, got another trinket to crowd you out of your house, and probably distracts you from healthier or more fulfilling activities.
Budgeting won’t get you a house. Earning an unusually high amount of money (and that amount keeps growing) gets you a house eventually, if you still budget when you get that income.
The way I learned it is, most people who make a budget forget the value of fun. Make sure your bills are covered, save what you can, and also set aside some money for fun.
Paying a streaming service subscription, buying a little something to eat or drink when meeting with friends, buying fun gadgets you can enjoy, and buying hobby supplies would all be worthwhile uses of money set aside for fun.
Last year I got really into freshwater aquarium keeping as a hobby. So I find myself buying little plants, decor, tools, etc for my aquariums (of which I have 5 now…). It’s fun, a bit expensive but it’s therapeutic.
I also smoke hella weed.
I also smoke hella weed.
this is the way
What sort of fish?
We have a 38~ gal with live-bearers (Platys and Mollys), a few skunk Cory’s and a pleco.
A 20 gal with a Betta, white-gold mountain minnows, panda Cory’s, and a pleco.
A 55 gal that’s pretty new, has ghost shrimp, fish tbd (we’re thinking angelfish and some larger schooling fish).
A 3 gal with a betta.
And finally a 4 gal, fish tbd (working on a low tech nano, was thinking chili rasbora)
Anyone know if there’s an aquarium community on Lemmy yet? edit: yes, there is!
You may already know this, but don’t smoke near your aquariums. I used to work in a high end fish shop and smoking was such an issue for customers. Vaping is even worse.
No, I hate buying things. It literally feels bad, and I put it off as long as I can or group it together so I can get it over with all at once.
I’m more-or-less inured to grocery shopping, and do it every other day, but it’s easier to think of it as “restocking” rather than “shopping”. No decisions to make, I know in advance what things cost, and so on.
But buying something I haven’t bought before, or at a store I haven’t been to before? Torture.
We only have so much time on this earth. Why not enjoy the little things? Even if technically it’s garbage. The important thing is to just not go too wild with it.
Consumerism has replaced community. Instead of visiting a friend I go for a walk alone, but I live in a city so the only place to walk is among the stores. And the walk feels meaningless if I don’t buy something.
I have many sweaters. But maybe I could go buy another sweater.
Plants, more plants! Preferably trees, endemic or edible that I can’t fit on my property but guerilla garden into my local area.
Also, the occasional coffee.
Ukuleles and stuff from the Aldi middle aisle
The Aldi middle aisle, like a little mini-target
I bought an Adventure is Nigh t-shirt. I’m 53 and staring down decline, decrepitude, and a dystopian present, let alone future. I’ve just now in 2024 fully recovered from the 2008 downturn. Fuck it, I’m getting a t-shirt.
Hope your Friday night is treating you right. ✌️
Sure. Small random grocery store things like stroopwafel or pears
If you’re worried the best thing to do is make a proper budget. Make sure every penny you earn is accounted for in there.
Give yourself a certain amount in the budget to buy random stuff each month. Let it roll over each month so if you don’t spend it all you have more next month.
Removes any guilt as you know everything is covered.
Yes. I have a separate paypal account i use for for some micro jobs I do (think r/beermoney) and that account is my “fun money”. I buy things on steam sales, amazon, ebay with that balance and dont think twice. Its usually around $20-30 per week. If I have an exceptionally good week microtasking (which normally means I had a slow week in my regular jobs) I’ll move some money to my normal account rather than blow it on toys.
Weed
