I’m always annoyed with the amount of plastic involved in shaving.

If I google sustainable razors, I get a whole load more non-plastic things to buy, and replace regularly

Anyone manage to shave with minimal waste.

Don't forget you need twenty clips to hold your ten chip bags together

🥴

I hate buying from businesses/corporations that use exploitative or unethical business practices, and any business that milks the customer for profit far beyond the value of the product and actual overhead. What advice do you have to avoid giving money to these businesses? I have been learning to grow my food, and my wife and I are not materialistic. Aldi has reasonable prices (unlike Publix). We never buy through Amazon. Building supplies particularly baffle me - if I need to repair my fence or something in the house breaks, Home Depot and Lowes are huge donors to right wing and fascist causes. Do private lumbermills (like in The Waltons) exist anywhere anymore? Any advice on how to survive in this world (particularly Florida) without handing over any more money than necessary to those who do harm to people and planet are most welcome.

Saw this lady advertising Amazon and I high or is this like, kinda a weird thing to flex 😭 It’s giving “here’s how you can get real looking jewelry made by native Americans for 3$ on temu!”

Just saw this in a mall in Salt Lake City. Every single shoe in shrink wrap plastic…so wasteful and unnecessary 😠

My sister was about to toss her empty jam jar in the bin, so I nabbed it & washed it out instead. I’m an art teacher, so collecting random shit like this is ingrained in me now. I just have no idea what I could use it for, so I ask… how do y’all repurpose old glass jars?

Specifically: Any teachers, artists, or gamers have creative ideas (like turning it into an art piece) or practical ideas (like using it for storage)?

The silicone coating on my kitchen tongs has a small chunk missing from one edge. Is it possible to patch it? It’s a small enough spot right now so the metal part of the tong isn’t scratching pans, but I know it’s just a matter of time until more of the silicone coating comes off. There are a few other places where the silicone is splitting or has a very small chunk missing (but not down to the metal underneath).

My new years revolution is to do no spend for the ENTIRE year.. January was a success.

Okay actually saved $258 if someone named Ghosty Econ Raptor didn't need a new fuel gauge. My car fuel sensor went out and needed a replacement which was $600. I also needed to go to the eye doctor and get new glasses which was $217.26.

However I saved $75 on ghosty because I got a coupon from my dealership and $250 on my glasses because I was a new patient and my eye insurance work with that particular store to give their customer extra savings.

And if I didn't do No Spend January, I wouldn't even have the money to fix my car or get new glasses. So I still count the savings as $1,076, I just had to use the savings a little bit sooner than expected.

But I changed my lifestyle quite a bit in January to help save money. I live in Eastern Washington and been driving out to Idaho once a week to fill up on gas. Idaho gas is about 40 cents cheaper than Washington. While in Idaho I shop for groceries for the enter week.

Before I go I plan my meals out for the entire week and do one grocery trip. I cut back on soda and junk foods because they are more $$$$ on my grocery bill. It has improved my health because I am almost 30 and my body CAN NOT process junk food like it use to.

I also tend to shop at WinCo because I am a family of one and don't need family size of anything. Mostly handfuls here and there so the bulk section is my best friend. My grocery bill this month was $246.12. Which excuse me needs some work because I am a family one, what the hell am I eating.

In the middle of the month I stopped buying snacks for my desk job. Instead I bought bread, peanut butter, and jelly. If I am hungry at my desk, I eat a sandwich. If I don't want a sandwich, apparently I am not that hungry and can wait until lunch. So for February I feel like my grocery bill will lower if I stick to my sandwiches.

I spent $16 eating out this entire month. Somedays, work is hard and I need a outlet. I have learned that no spending is not a punishment and I need to be kind to myself and understand that I deserve a treat every now and again for driving to my budget.

And I also forced myself to look at my bank account everyday. I am no longer scared to look at it and have embraced it. I have a 6K loan because Ghosty needed a new engine last year. And then there is Ghosty actual car bill. She is 10 years old and now has a new engine and new fuel tank. She is basically a new car and I only have 4K left on her loan. Then there is my credit card bill that is $900. I actually had $700 saved up since last December so with my $200, I can pay off my credit card.

I have also learned about credit and how paying off my credit card is nice, but I still need it and should use it. Credit can be good or bad base off how you use it. If you know how to use credit to your advantage, you can raise your credit score.

I also learned that I don't need things. I have a dozen or so video games I haven't finished. The library is free so I don't need to buy another book. I have so many board games to keep my occupied until the next life time. Hulu have THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of hours of TV and movies so I don't need another streaming service.

All in all I enjoyed no spend January and excited to keep the challenge rolling into February.

I got a nice down jacket from FB marketplace a few weeks ago, and looked up how to clean it. All the articles said to use special down wash because normal detergent would destroy the loftiness of the down.

It got me thinking about how many specific and single-use items I have just to maintain things I already own. I have chain wash and bike lube for my bike, mineral oil just for cutting boards, special tech-wash and re-waterproofing for my rain/snow gear, leather conditioner for my shoes.

And then I went on the website for the down wash that was recommended online, and saw they have 29 separate products for everything from wool to tents! I am also aware of things like sweater shavers, special tabs for cleaning water bottles, etc.

Why do I have to buy a million new products when the point of maintaining my gear is to not have to buy new stuff? Does anyone else feel this way?

And I ended up washing the down jacket without any soap, just water. It turned out great, and completely re-fluffed!

We got this toy airplane as a party favor at a birthday party, otherwise I would’ve never given my kids a toy like this.

But my kids love it. And the batteries ran out. And I can’t replace the batteries because they’re glued in. I’d end up tearing all the Styrofoam if I tried. It makes me so mad!

I’m actually pissed that I can’t replace the batteries for them.

I’m not really sure if “movement” is the right word here, I’m just not sure what else to say. Anyway! I just wanted to know how in depth I should be going. Most of my expenses are covered, so I’m not really buying anything besides food and gas. But I really love physical music media. Usually just cds unless I find a vinyl I really love. I feel kind of bad about buying the cds, because I do spend quite a bit on them (I usually buy a few at a time so around 15-20 dollars), but at the same time I do use them all the time. I don’t buy from places like target or Walmart, just this smaller second hand music shop or a thrift store if I find something I like. Should I stop doing this? Because I feel like if there’s more I can do I should be doing it, but I also think it’s not as bad because I’m buying second hand typically and do use them enough to get my moneys worth.

Any advice is welcome! Thank you!

Had this calendar whiteboard for school but have no need for a month by month anymore. Was hoping someone would have tips on how to remove them without damaging the whiteboard surface.

Thank you!

Hello everyone,

I don’t know how to start this without sounding unhinged, but maybe that’s okay—because, honestly, I feel unhinged. I feel trapped, like we’re all inside this giant machine that keeps squeezing us tighter and tighter, and no matter how much we scream, no one is listening.

I can’t be the only one who feels this way. I know I’m not.

I don’t know how else to say it, so I’ll just say it:

We need to force an economic collapse.

Not with riots, not with violence, not with protests that get ignored—but by doing the one thing they can’t stop us from doing: pulling the plug.

The Rich Have Declared War on Us

The billionaires don’t care about you. They don’t care about me. They don’t even care about the people making half a million dollars a year—because, at the end of the day, if you’re not sitting at the top of the pyramid, you’re just another body keeping it upright.

They don’t need to listen to us because we just keep feeding them. We keep handing over money. We keep watching. We keep scrolling. We keep letting them do this to us.

And what do we get in return?

• Food prices that make no sense. I go to the grocery store and I feel like I’m being robbed in broad daylight. They just make up prices and we’re supposed to smile and accept it.
• Ads everywhere. YouTube used to be a free platform—now it’s basically a worse version of cable. You either pay for ad-free content or sit through minutes of garbage just to watch a video.
• Subscription hell. Everything is a subscription now. Want to listen to music? Subscription. Want to watch a show? Subscription. Want to use software you could OWN in the early 2000s? Subscription. You’re renting everything, and they can take it away whenever they want.
• Your privacy is gone. They steal your data, they sell it, they use it to feed their AI, and then they turn around and tell you that you need to pay more for security. They are monetizing our own existence.
• They don’t even want you to own things anymore. Cars, movies, software, music, books—everything is designed to be temporary. You don’t own your digital purchases. You don’t own your cloud storage. They want to make sure you have nothing but dependence on them.

I feel like I’m watching the world get worse in real-time.

There is no future where they decide to “be fair” or “give back.” There is no point where they say, ‘Okay, we have enough.’ That will never happen. They want more, and they will take everything from us if we let them.

And Now They Want Our Lives, Too

It’s not just about money anymore.

I don’t know if I’m going to be drafted next month, next year, or next week. I don’t know if WWIII is going to break out over corporate greed.

I watch the news and I see governments preparing for war—not for justice, not for freedom, but to protect the financial interests of the same billionaires who already own everything.

I’m fucking terrified.

I have two children. And every time I look at them, I don’t know if they’re going to have a future at all—or if it’s going to be a future worth living.

The same people who destroyed the economy, gutted the middle class, stole our data, crushed small businesses, and turned everything into a subscription service—these are the people who now push for war.

They will not be the ones fighting it.

It won’t be their kids dying in trenches.

It won’t be their homes getting bombed.

It won’t be their futures getting erased.

It will be us.

And the worst part? We’re the ones funding them.

The Only Solution: Starve the Beast

They don’t print money out of thin air. They take it from us.

So what happens if we stop giving it to them?

• Food too expensive? Stop buying from giant chains. Support local farmers. If you live in the city and can’t? Stop buying certain things altogether. Let the products rot on the shelves. Make them take the loss.
• Clothes? Stop buying new ones. Thrift. Trade. Wear what you have. Half the stuff at Goodwill still has the damn tags on it.
• Entertainment? Unsubscribe. Get rid of Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, all of them. There is no reason to be paying for 10 different services when they keep taking content away and charging you more.
• Social media? Delete the apps. Or at the very least, stop engaging with their garbage. They rely on our attention. If enough people walk away, they lose.
• Pirate everything. Books, courses, movies—try before you buy, and only support things that are actually worth supporting.
• Get off the cloud. Own your data. Build a local server. Don’t give them control over your personal files.

They have rigged the system to make it seem like we have no choice, but we do.

We Are Not Powerless

They don’t want us to realize how much power we have. They want us to feel small, alone, and weak. They want us so busy fighting each other that we don’t see the real enemy.

We are not weak. We are billions. They are a handful of people in boardrooms.

They rely on us to make their numbers go up. And if we stop feeding them, their entire empire collapses.

Do you think Jeff Bezos can survive if we all just walk away?

Do you think Elon Musk stays rich if we refuse to buy what he sells?

They are only powerful because we let them be.

I’m Begging You

I am from the third world.

I know that what I do doesn’t have much impact in the grand scheme of things. I know that my choices alone won’t move the needle.

But you?

If you’re reading this, you can make the difference.

You can pull the plug.

You can stop feeding the system.

You can refuse to participate in your own destruction.

Please.

I beg of you.

If enough of us just stop, they lose everything. And we get a chance at something better.

Are You Going to Fight Back? Or Just Let It Happen?

If you’re reading this, you already know something is wrong.

You already feel it.

So what are you going to do about it?

Are you going to keep giving them what they want? Keep feeding them your time, money, and energy? Or are you going to finally, truly, just stop?

I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next five years. But I know that if we do nothing, it’s going to get worse.

I refuse to sit back and watch it happen.

I refuse to let them take everything from us.

I refuse to let my children grow up in a world that was destroyed because we were too comfortable to fight back.

What about you?

Just gonna preface this with: I’m not sure if this should go here, or r/recycling. I live with my husband in a 1 bed 1 bath apartment with 1 single trashcan. We have a 13 Gal trash in the kitchen and that’s our only trash. It fills up probably 4 times a week and it feels like way too much considering how little we cook. (Maybe that’s just because it’s 13 gallon? Or because it’s our only trash? Idk) How often do you take out your trash? Have you done anything to cut down on how much waste your household produces? For anticonsumption, is there anything you quit buying that helps reduce waste? How large is your can in gallons? I feel so guilty producing so much waste. 😭

Edit: You can stop with “COMPOST” that is not available to me (APARTMENT) and not a thing that is done where I live, I’ve checked!!!

A few days back, I posted a thread on how much junk my family wanted to pack while we moved house (https://www.reddit.com/r/Anticonsumption/comments/1iabfgh/moving_house_really_shows_you_how_much_junk_some/).

In total, we ended with two full vans and two full cars of stuff to move, much of which was junk and clutter. We are three people who lived in a two bedroom flat (a British one, so rather small compared to other countries). My mum even wanted to take tiny slivers of used soap an half packets of travel tissues just in case. It got to the point that a lot of bits I was running down to the car ended up in the bin/recycling, simply because it was rubbish. All of this was from a woman who left her husband because of his hoarding too. My mum is not a hoarder but she is very reflective of the average person, which makes it worrying for society as a whole if people are struggling to throw away actual rubbish 'just in case'.

I think hoarding, at least to a minor degree, is growing as consumption does and people try to replace community with things.

I had a pair of gym pants/leggings that had worn out at the inner thigh region and couldn't be worn anymore and I kept delaying throwing it out. Now that my knee pain has flared up, I was wondering how I could make a castor oil pack for it (it reduces the inflammation,really helped with my back pain) when i remembered the pants. I cut out the part of the pants that fit snugly over my knee and cut some more of the fabric above it to soak with some of the castor oil. Now I can just slip on the cut off knee part and put the castor oil soaked fabric under it and use it as a castor oil pack!
I thought I'd share this here because I felt kind of proud of it, and now I can reuse something that was going to be thrown away, while avoiding buying something to fulfill this purpose. Any other tips on how I can use the rest of the pants? I'm thinking of cutting the waist part to use it as a castor pack for my back pain

I’m having friends over this weekend and making vegan Chinese food.

My plates are flowered and kind of grannyish.

My consumer brain is telling me that the food and my plates don’t match and I need to buy different plates.

Every day I talk myself out of it.

My plates are fine. My friends will not notice or care about the plates.

I feel like my brain is broken because I can’t lose the intrusive thought that I need to buy new plates just for this dinner. That the table won’t look right. It’s pure insanity. I know that.

It’s even better if the thing is shown by some content creator as a “cool thing to print”, they print it several times and then they just obviously throw it out cause there is nothing left to do with it.

If your local library uses an app like Libby or Hoopla it’s really fun to add books to lists to read and stuff, it give me the same “I’m getting this” that specifically online shopping does. Plus as always, it supports your local library. I’ve seen tips about getting library books instead of shopping but as a chronically online shopper this helps way more.

This is one of the only subs on Reddit I find uplifting, helpful, inspirational and innovative.

For whatever reason you do it- thank you and keep pushing forward!!

Ps F capitalists 🙃

I set a goal for myself that if I have to consume but nothing new in 2025. I figure whatever I need has already been created and out there in the world. I’m not buying off a store shelf. Anyone else set a similar challenge for themselves? I canceled my prime, FB and IG and I’m using Craigslist or eBay. Any suggestions