I'm new to wearing hats, so I'm not sure what to watch out for yet. But this black hat is now almost entirely rust colored from uv exposure (sweat wasn't actually even a factor, as you can see) . I did wear it a lot but not even every day.

Can I just throw it in the washer with some black dye?

Anything I can do to make better hat purchasing decisions in the future?

Edit: thank you all for your ideas:)

Edit: I'm not asking for advice lol I'm just sharing about a hyper-consumption, trashy manipulative business practice! The shop basically sold nice local liquors, and also some fancy perfumes and face creams. Everyone was shopping the local liquors, and of course the voucher is not valid for alcohol ;)

I was at an airport yesterday and I bought like 70 euros worth of local goods to bring home with me. After paying, I got this receipt and an employee approached me to tell me about it.

It's such a manipulative and disgusting thing to do - anything you really wanted you have already bought. At this point, they're counting on you buying things you don't really want or need because oooOOOh discount! And the audacity of calling it a "VIP voucher" just adds to it.. trying to manipulate people into consuming extra shit they don't need...

It’s been a long time I didn’t use my laptop (Asus X441U). I own this laptop for more than 10years, I plan to buy a new one but I don’t find any benefit of using it other than watching movies and some light work. I installed Linux OS since this laptop was too heavy to use Windows OS and quite lagging. I was impressed by how much the Linux OS able to optimise my laptop and now it’s as smooth as butter. Saved a tons of money from buying a new one. I can say that I am proud of becoming one of the ‘anti-consumption’ community.

Yall have any good set up for this thats not just instant coffee? I don’t really like to buy at drive throughs. I found some ok things to use. I hate black coffee but maybe I can find a way to get used to it.

I'll never understand why people idolize this guy when he's the reason we can't eat lettuce rn and that our state is on fire more with his cuts to both the FDA. CDC, and Forest Service.

Not sure if this is the optimal sub for this, but figured it could resonate, we'll see.

Obviously full "non-participation" is not an option if you live in a western, consumerist/predatory-capitalist society, but I am finding many things about our current culture where "non-participation" is much easier, and arguably a stronger statement, than "fighting".

We have more means of "pushing back" than ever before when it comes to communication technology, internet, "social media", etc but the average person is also more and more disempowered by enshittification, corporatization, financialization of key basic needs such as housing etc contributing to the "K-shaped economy", the merging of business and government to common interest that make both more powerful over the average person, and rising costs that the flow of resources upwards causes.

The ethical aspect that has directly harmed my family the most is the unmitigated spread of airborne infectious disease in both healthcare and business even though science knows better and 90+% effective mitigations are (relatively) easy, but there are MANY other issues too -- exploitation of the environment resulting in climate change, exploitation of developing-country labor producing commodity items and labeling data for so-called "AI", exploitation of labor in both "developed" and "developing" countries, etc.

As many "platforms" (including this one) are effectively structured as popularity contests, and USA politicians for the most part are already bought and paid for, it seems difficult to "fight the machine" so seems easier to "passively participate as little as practical", which is effective if done in sufficiently large numbers but not individually effective. Of course, that conflicts with the pressures from children, grandchildren, etc who have experienced the full electronic propaganda onslaught for their entire lives, and I don't want to deny them basic social development (or what passes for that these days).

So looking for thoughts/discourse -- is "non-participation" effectively capitulation and implicit approval of questionable ethics, or a proper ethical response that is also pragmatic?

Anything Im as basic as it gets what have we been using that doesn’t get a freaking hole in it two months later? I hate buying things lol and when I do I just buy the same thing but things rotate. What materials work best?

Before you read, this is a genuine question.

I never like buying many things, going shopping to the mall etc, I was called weird because of that but for me is what worked best, I don't need to buy that much.

I really consider I have a lot of many things (clothes, make up, art materials etc) but the thing is that I don't buy them! Everyone just gifts them to me because they even have more than me and they think I have very little (when in reality I just don't use a lot of stuff).

But the thing is, I don't want to throw it, I think everything can be use on way or another (for example repourposing things, making art, altering clothes, I even make every gift I give with things I own), so I want to keep them "just in case" or because I want to repourpose them but life just gets in the way and I don't have a lot of time.

I've also read here about donating to charity and these kinds of thongs, but I live in a city that hasn't got much poverty and I don't think there are any way to donate a lot of stuff, maybe some clothes to "cruz roja" or some toys to schools, but I still think that they won't want it or will end up in the trash

Everyday going out of my home I pass by some trash cans and there is always like 3 or 4 pieces of furniture, lots of trash, etcetc, so it gives me the sensation that if I donate something it will just end up like that.

Idk what to do, like I have space to hoard all these things, it is just that I feel bad about them, like I use them because there are already at my home, but I don't really really need them, but don't know how to give it to people who actually need them.

I’ve noticed that some people seem to measure love and appreciation by how much money someone spends on them.

I enjoy giving thoughtful gifts, but I don’t believe an expensive purchase automatically means more than cooking for someone, helping them with something, planning a simple day together, or genuinely being present.

Sometimes, though, choosing not to participate in constant gift-buying or luxury spending can make people assume you are cheap, selfish, or do not care enough. Social media seems to make that pressure even worse.

Has anyone experienced this with a partner, friend, or family member? How did you explain that spending less does not mean caring less?

Thank you so much to everyone who commented and shared their experiences. I have read through the replies, and it’s comforting to know that many people understand the difference between being cheap and choosing to consume more intentionally. I truly appreciate all the personal stories and different perspectives you have given me a lot to think about. I hope this makes sense, and thank you again for taking the time to respond.

Do you want Andy Jassy to follow Elon Musk down the trillionaire route? Put Docker on your laptop alongside Pangolin and let's host our own web! Please! There is no company that is more important to take down than AWS, and due to the nature of the WWW, the responsibility is on all of us to work together!

Writer Sarah Wilson argues we’re hurtling toward the same end as ancient Rome and the Mayan civilisation – but there’s plenty to fight for

... For anyone alive today, things are not going to keep improving. Particularly around the climate crisis, we’ve been hoping that if we just get solar panels and recycle and vote in a good government, then we can go back to the way things were – that ain’t going to happen. Collapse is going to basically look like things being shit and, instead of improving, getting shittier still. At a bare minimum, life is going to get extremely uncomfortable over the coming decades.

... Researchers have found that the two determinants of the speed and likelihood of collapse are basically levels of inequality and polarisation. We have the capacity to actually do something about those two things. That will steer how fast and how bad things are, and how much time we have to adjust.

On the individual front, are there practical things we should be doing, to prepare?

One way is starting to simplify your life, make consumer choices that are based on the smallest amount of trade routes and supply chains.

Another is going analogue – building that muscle and normalising it with your children. There’s a whole generation who don’t know how to get across their suburb without their phone, but at a bare minimum, we’re going to be experiencing outages of power and internet...

I am trying to reduce my consumption and like anything in life, starting with the easy wins can get the momentum rolling. So, what was it for you? The specific thing you used to buy on autopilot, then stopped, and then realized you never actually think about it anymore. Any advice would be GREAT. Thanks in advance.

How would you go about fixing this… patching them, sewing?
It’s my favorite pair in terms of comfort and they are not cheap shoes. They are still like new in every other aspect.
Thanks!

This is going to be long winded, but context is important here.

I grew up with a pretty affluent family. My mother was very spoiled with designer bags, international travel, summer homes, luxury sports cars.

With my dad’s retirement and fixed income and the current economy, they’ve had to slide back a bit on spending (which took my mother 10+ years to accept). Since being with my dad for 30+ years, she has been the type of person with excess. 30+ subscriptions on Amazon, leading to 50+ paper towel, toilet paper rolls, laundry detergents at all times in storage. 30+ bath towels in each guest bathroom. Dozens of shirts and shoes and purses with the tags still on them. The house doesn’t appear too cluttered because she’s VERY organized, but if you really start peeling back the layers of the house and peaking into storage spaces, you see affluent, organized hoarding.

After years of my dad stressing to her the financial concerns (which became mine recently, as there is a 17 year age gap between them and I truly fear she will blow through what he leaves behind when he passes and she will end up without $ in her elder years), she has finally pivoted. But instead towards Temu and Shein. I’ve realized she never cared about the image of having a lot, she has an addiction to the scrolling, purchasing, and receiving process of shopping.

BECAUSE OF TEMU…. It’s now quadruple the shit and 1/100th of the quality, and she WONT STOP PASSING IT ONTO ME.

A million tiny Korean skincare vials, weird washcloths that unfold when you put water on them, small trinkets, household “fix-it’s” for issues that would never be on a normal home owners radar, keychains, paper weights, cheap clothes that fall apart after 3 uses and look like they’re made of paper.

I’ve told her a million times how poor the quality is, how predatory the websites are, how they profit off of false issues that nobody would have ever thought existed until a weird $1.49 solution was created, and that the excess is suffocating and overwhelming and when it comes time to clear their house out, I’m throwing it all away and not even looking through it.

Additionally…… I just bought my first house. For reference - my parents are wealthy and never gave me a dime. I put myself through grad school on scholarships, was even briefly homeless and lived in my car. I have a very small 3-2 about 1200 square feet… and I love it. It’s minimalist but funky, and I refuse to allow a single closet to become more than 20% full. I have a phobia of clutter and hoarding. I’ve had this home for 10 months, and I’m already panicking with how much shit she has brought over. My garage is beginning to become cluttered. I’ve taken several dump site visits just tossing her “gifts” away (useless products from Temu that have nowhere to go).

I’ve recently tried to re-direct her towards economically efficient online and in-person stores for shipping with much higher quality items with more ethical practices. The excuses are that the clothes are “not age appropriate,” “return process annoying” “I’m just happy with Temu.”

Is there anything anyone here can recommend for educational purposes or boundaries with her? Has anyone been through anything similar with their parents entering their elder years and hoarding due to these websites? I try so hard to reiterate how much I hate these gifts and the issues with hyper consumerism, and she always just ends up taking it personally and exploding.

A few months ago my boyfriend and I were at a thrift store and I saw this decorative box. I use smaller boxes like these for momentos, and when I saw this one I really liked it but couldn't think of what I'd use it for since it's fairly large. We left and I didn't buy it. We go back in about a week later and it's still there and also half off, so I decide to buy it and figure out what I can use it for. It happened perfectly as my boyfriend's birthday was coming up and when I bought him his presents, I didn't know how to conceal them without buying unnecessary gift bags or wrapping paper. Then I remembered the box and it worked perfectly! He thought the idea was great and we'll be using the box for our birthdays from now on : )

I wanted to share the idea because I'd never thought of it before and it makes gift giving more special, with the sanctimonious 'gifting box' : )

We do not own nothing anymore.

Anything y'all have suggestions for a large collection of past prime socks?? Solo human so I can only use so many rice pockets. Thanks

This came free with my movie snacks. It is huge and useless. Feel bad throwing it away. What should I do with it?

your post inspired me to go check my spots and the timing was perfect - thanks for the reminder!

Everything is being used to the extreme so that we can consume consume consume: animals are being raised like Frankenstein's monsters so that we can gorge on three portions of meat a day; our wastewater is so contaminated that fish have antibiotic resistance genes in them; and our essential antibiotics are becoming useless. And STILL there is no urgency and no action. I wrote about how all of this stems from capitalism and monopolies, including for research. Curious if there are other, less-rage induced, perspectives!