One last one (for now) on spending money and having stuff. (Budgets and smarter spending came before.)
It’s worth it to spend more money for good quality that will last longer, though it’s not always easy to tell what is better quality and what just costs more. And borrow or rent instead of buying things you’re not going to use often or more than once.
It’s worth it to spend extra now to save in the long run.
It’s worth it not to spend money on cheap crap with the intention of buying it, using it once, and throwing it away.
When we prioritize long-term use and savings over short-term considerations, the benefits are more than just saving money long-term.
We save time: the time it takes to shop for and buy a replacement. Depending on what is being replaced, we might save time on breaking down the old one (think: cheap furniture) and setting up the new.
We save the earth: we use less stuff (which means less resources used in their creation). We create less trash. “Less” also to all of the transportation required in all of the steps prior to and including acquisition and later, trash.
We save space: we don’t have a bunch of cheap (maybe broken) stuff lurking around the house.
We vote with our dollars: money is the loudest voice in capitalist America. When you buy more items that are good quality, you add your voice to the growing number of people saying “I want products that last.” The more of us there are, the more availability of these products grows.
Examples of these purchases might be:
- reusable water bottles (instead of disposable)
- reusable lunch boxes (instead of bags)
- reusable shopping bags (little to no financial gain but significant gain on storage and environment)
- reusable kitchenware (tablecloths, napkins, placemats, dishes, glasses, silverware, baking trays)
- rechargeable batteries
- good quality furniture
- good quality sheets and towels
- good quality clothes and shoes
- rent tools
- use the library for books and movies
- buy second-hand (wood furniture, bikes, tools, books, clothes, certain sports equipment)
That’s just off the top of my head. There are endless others.