Can't do this consumer thing anymore

[Naer]

Gonna turn budhist or minimalist. Gonna use the bare essentials and that's it Really all I'v been doing is getting an updated version of what came before. I don't even use my tech to its potential before just replacing it with something faster. I just can't do it anymore. Seems I'm growing to infinity. I'm literally speeding to death. I'm done

 

[brianmanahan]

I don't even use my tech to its potential before just replacing it with something faster. I just can't do it anymore.

yah i realized i was doing that a few years ago, and decided to really make sure i needed something in my PC before buying it

going on 8 years now with the same case + PSU and 6 years on everything else except the GPU, monitors and HDDs

it's like i'm a buddhist monk or something

 

[Mayne]

I've never owned a car or cell phone. Am i a monk?

 

[HeXen]

Fuck that. If I want it, I want it. Minimalist just says oh let me sit here and be more bored.Life is short, it happens once so I'm gonna abuse it like a 14 yr old on saturday night.

 

[DrPizza]

I've never owned a car or cell phone. Am i a monk?

Perhaps. Let's test it out. What you should do is take a vow of silence for a month or two - that includes electronic communications as well.

 

[Mayne]

Perhaps. Let's test it out. What you should do is take a vow of silence for a month or two - that includes electronic communications as well.

Well I was banned here for 5 months straight--doesn't that count for something?

 

[skyking]

I get the OP. I went through fits of spending to spend. I looked at what was offered on Prime day and just said no. I used to respond to sales at Amazon and Newegg in the past, and try to justify the spending.
We have a new credit card that has a $250 reward if we spend 3000 in the first 3 months, and I don't think we are going to make it.

 

[lxskllr]

Well I was banned here for 5 months straight--doesn't that count for something?

Has to be voluntary. Being forced isn't the sign of an enlightened being.

 

[DrPizza]

Gonna turn budhist or minimalist. Gonna use the bare essentials and that's it Really all I'v been doing is getting an updated version of what came before. I don't even use my tech to its potential before just replacing it with something faster. I just can't do it anymore. Seems I'm growing to infinity. I'm literally speeding to death. I'm done

Seems to me that a lot of my devices have hit a point where upgrades or new features simply aren't worth it any more. My current computing devices handle video and photo editing very well, and that's about the most intensive thing I'd need them to do. Heck, at school, I could still be using an almost 20 year old computer and not be hindered too much. In fact, in the past 20 years, I think the only new feature that's streamlined anything has been the much better equation editor in Word.

 

[HeXen]

Has to be voluntary. Being forced isn't the sign of an enlightened being.

It is if you can nab a new IP and create a new account :sneaky:
Not gonna lie but years ago I was banned from this online chess site that had a public lobby..etc. At first I did the proxy thing but often was too slow so I went balls in and canceled my ISP since I never do contracts, got a new service with a different company and was back on board...it was like changing socks.
I think I even saved a few bucks because they had a free month thing for new customers and discount for the first 6 months or something like that.

Now that's enlightened :thumbsup:

 

[Fingolfin269]

I've hit this cycle in my life as well. Everything is just a newer version of something I already own. And newer doesn't necessarily mean much better. So I've turned my spending more towards experiences like travel and live events (concerts, sports, etc.).

 

[brianmanahan]

I've never owned a car or cell phone. Am i a monk?

i thought they had obamaphones in canada...

elizabethphones? :hmm:

 

[Greenman]

People love gadgets, and will pay impressive sums of money for them. Look at new car, you can add 50% to the price with bells and whistles. I know people that buy a new phone every time a new model comes out, and they have no use for most of the things it can do.

 

[Subyman]

I haven't been a consumer goods spender in quite a while. Random trash from slick deals or whatever-tech-gadget-of-the-month stopped looking sparklely years ago. I begrudgingly upgraded my phone last time because I needed more memory but certainly don't get that consumer buzz like I used to. I mostly do discretional spending on a few core hobbies that have been a part of my life for a decade or more.

When I bought my truck I got the middle of the line, just the features I needed for my work. I could have spent $10k more if I was one that had to have all the goodies.

 

[Kaido]

I haven't been a consumer goods spender in quite a while. Random trash from slick deals or whatever-tech-gadget-of-the-month stopped looking sparklely years ago. I begrudgingly upgraded my phone last time because I needed more memory but certainly don't get that consumer buzz like I used to. I mostly do discretional spending on a few core hobbies that have been a part of my life for a decade or more.

I was into crap hardware for a loooooong time (yay eBay!), but then my iPhone took over 99% of the functions of what I wanted. The only thing that has excited me lately is VR; just got my Vive setup this weekend & it's super awesome! But I've kind of hit the end-of-the-road in tech. TV's & projectors are either cheap or reasonbly-priced, computers are zippy, smartphones are miraculously good (and I'm still on my iPhone 5S from years ago!), Netflix & Spotify hold all of my video & music in the cloud, and my Chromebook ensures I never have to worry about viruses or computer maintenance. Not really hurting for anything tech-related these days...hardware has kind of plateaued to a point where I'm actually happy with things & not lusting after the next latest & greatest thing. And even with VR, there's enough content to keep me occupied for a good long time with all of the games & experiences currently available now.

 

[Moonbeam]

I've hit this cycle in my life as well. Everything is just a newer version of something I already own. And newer doesn't necessarily mean much better. So I've turned my spending more towards experiences like travel and live events (concerts, sports, etc.).

Life is real only then when I am.

I quit my job and lived a month in the wilderness alone in Yosemite park with 20 cents to my name waiting for 1300 in my retirement fund to come and then hitched to NY and flew to Europe charter flight and spent two years wondering and working illegally there.

Two years ago I spent two months there in a Mercedes convertible driving though Italy France and England spending 50,000 first class everything. On the first trip I could hardly afford a beer.

Both trips or neither, it makes little difference because wherever I go there I am. The important thing isn't what your are surrounded with but being there without attachment to things. It doesn't matter so much about your outer state if your base requirements are met. The joy of life comes from your inner state. For the mind present in the now, there is only love. Love is the real treasure.

 

[DesiPower]

I've never owned a car or cell phone. Am i a monk?

As a monk, you do all your work yourself, totally self reliant, and then on top of that you do your chores in the monastery. And all this is in addition to the learning or teaching that you do. Are you a monk?

 

[Artdeco]

Naer, I'm with you, was big on flagship phones forever, I gave up and went retro with a used iPhone SE, have one more iPhone to sell on swappa, and I'm out of the flagship game, likely forever.

I still like kitchen gadgets because I like to cook and eat, and it saves a ton of $ VS eating out.

 

[ItsMeeYourDaddy]

Is it bad that I came here to this site today to find info on my pc build but instead I'm more intrigued in this single thread. Oh and as far as the topic goes, I was forced to live the life of a minimalist under the regime of two college professors that by chance are also my parents.

 

[Mai72]

When I was in Thailand I thought about the Monk life for a bit. It's a difficult life. You have to severe ties with just about everything. You exist on the kindness of your neighbors.

In Thailand monks are well respected.

 

[ItsMeeYourDaddy]

When I was in Thailand I thought about the Monk life for a bit. It's a difficult life. You have to severe ties with just about everything. You exist on the kindness of your neighbors.

In Thailand monks are well respected.

 

[TheGardener]

I've never owned a car or cell phone. Am i a monk?

Maybe you should look into this. It may be a new career opportunity for you. The downside is that you might not be able to post on the Internet. The upside is that maybe you could be the monk that does the taste sampling.

Trappist monks brew some of the tastiest- and strongest- beers around, but what really separates their beer from most is that the beer is not sold for profit.
Trappist monks, a group of monks that make up a branch of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, have been brewing beer since the Middle Ages. Because the Cistercian order requires monasteries to remain self-sufficient, Trappist monks often sell their homemade beer to the public.


http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/12/06/best-beers-made-by-trappist-monks/

 

[jlee]

I get the OP. I went through fits of spending to spend. I looked at what was offered on Prime day and just said no. I used to respond to sales at Amazon and Newegg in the past, and try to justify the spending.
We have a new credit card that has a $250 reward if we spend 3000 in the first 3 months, and I don't think we are going to make it.

Car insurance renewal? I try to time offers like that with known larger expenses (flights, insurance, vehicle registrations, planned major purchases, etc).

 

[DaveSimmons]

I spent $0 on prime day, my TV is 10 years old, my phone is a $30 flip phone.

I did spend $650 on a new graphics card last year to play Fallout 4 though

 

[TallBill]

Maybe you should look into this. It may be a new career opportunity for you. The downside is that you might not be able to post on the Internet. The upside is that maybe you could be the monk that does the taste sampling.

I've had the stuff, its crazy good. Hoping to go to the abbey while I live in Europe.