The more things you own, the more things own you.
Consumerism starts at birth
This is something I’ve noticed, that is kids are consumers even from early childhood. Consider how all these kids watch these stupid kid shows, and end up wanting to buy the products of it. Even with popular culture and movies, you have these impressionable kids watching the superhero movies or princess movies, and then asking their parents to buy the backpack of it, the toothbrush of it the clothes of it, etc.
Thus it seem that the first step in breaking the chain is when you have your own kids, don’t expose your kids to that.
Why ownership?
The cult of ownership. The concept is that if you desire to become successful and of high worth, you must own it. even rappers like Jay Z and Kanye always say that ownership is superior than renting or leasing.
For example, everyone wants to own their own home, buying on their own car, etc.
How and why ownership is a trap
This is my thought: for example with cars, it don’t matter how good the car you buy, you’re in a fragile position. Why? Even if you buy the newest high-end sports car or hyper car, the next year or the new new version will always come out, and therefore you will be frustrated by being stuck with the old version.
The same goes with the iPhone. Everyone always wants the new new iPhone, but once you’ve bought the newest iPhone, within a few months or year, the new new version comes out, and you’re frustrated that you’re stuck with the old version.
How many times can you blow your load?
One of my friends who has owned a lot of Ferraris and hyper cars of the year has told me this: once you buy the new new high-end sports car or hyper car, it’s akin to blowing your load. But as many men know, once you’ve blown your load in a day, it’s hard to blow your load in the same intensity sequentially. So then the question is, is the goal for you to just keep upgrading and buying new epic things, to continue blowing your load, and to continue blowing your load at greater intensity‘s?
Hidden pains in the ass
This is one thing I witnessed is even though you have a super cool car, the pain and hidden costs of it. for example, because you haven’t turned it on in a few weeks, the battery died. And therefore you have to recharge the battery. But then you can’t find the jumper cables, or the battery recharging cable loss charge. And it’s really hot outside. Witnessing this experience firsthand, I don’t ever desire to own some thing that requires that type of maintenance.
Homeownership
Even with owning your own home, living at Cindy’s moms house, hidden pains in the ass. Something wrong with the plumbing. There is something wrong with the toilet. The air conditioner broke. Having to call and flag down a handyman, but because of COVID-19 it is so hard to find a handyman at all. And even once you find a handyman, the annoyance of thinking that you’re being ripped off.
Even if you’re super rich and have a bunch of maids and servants, the hidden fear that somehow they’re stealing your stuff. or being lazy, and not working hard enough.
So what are we to do?
Some practical thoughts: certainly we need a laptop. Then the idea is if you want the maximum bang for the buck and a laptop with the greatest longevity, buy the most high-end and expensive MacBook laptop, one generation old refurbished from the Apple Store, and buy it with the maxed out specifications. For example, that’s what I did with my old MacBook Pro Touch Bar 13 inch, and I bought it with maxed out specs refurbished from the Apple online store, and it’s still chugging along quite well. I anticipate it will have many great years ahead of it.
A critique on iPhones
I’ve never owned an iPhone until recently. I’ve always been an android fan boy. but since switching, I have now realized that iPhone is probably 1 trillion times better than any android Samsung or Pixel device.
Now the difficult thing is that iPhone seems to be outdated at least once a year. it seems that my rich friends just always buy the newest iPhone Pro, then trade in their old version, or they just give their older iPhone to their parents or a sibling. This works reasonably well, except you just end up spending a lot of money on iPhones. And truth be told, the iPhone is insanely overrated. I am a huge fan of the iPad Pro, and the iPad Pro at least gets outdated less frequently.
What I did
I did the same thing with iPhone: I just bought a refurbished iPhone Pro from the Apple online store, and at least I feel like I got a good deal on it. I spent $750 instead of $1000. and perhaps with purchasing behaviors, we’re always more satisfied with our purchases when we feel like we got a good deal.
But moving forward, I think I’ll just stick with iPhone mini. Mini is actually superior to the iPhone Pro, because it is a smaller device with the same chip, that means as a productivity device it is superior, because you could actually text with one hand, or use it with your last dominant hand.
When the iPhone mini first came out, I bought it. And I loved it. But then Cindy needed a new phone, and so I gave her the iPhone mini and end up buying the refurbished iPhone pro. I far prefer the iPhone mini to the iPhone pro.
So perhaps my practical advice on iPhones is this: just buy the newest iPhone mini, and see how long you could stick with it.
Thoughts on clothes
What I’ve discovered at least for myself is this: for T-shirts just buy black merino wool outlier.nyc T-shirts. there will never be a better T-shirt. One less thing to worry about or think about.
For pants, black merino wool. Black merino wool shorts, and black merino wool leggings. merino wool leggings.merino wool leggings.
For socks, black merino wool socks.
For shoes, I have yet found a perfect or ideal shoe. The closest thing I’ve discovered is all black Nike free sneakers. Or for the more hard-core, my shark shoes water shoes they just got on Amazon for super cheap.