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Minimalism and Anti-Consumerism

Yeah, I've been like this most of my adult life. When I was a kid I was a hoarder since my dad was also a hoarder and like me used it to cope with being rejected by the world. Then I graduated HS and moved out to a ghetto since that was all I could afford and seeing people worried about where their next meal would come from really kicked me in the butt, I grew up in an affluent area and never really thought about how poor people live. Then I gradually got rid of my stuff and adopted a minimalist life.

I have an interest in the philosophy of Theodore Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber (just his essays and not in blowing people up) and he talks about how modern society is so far removed from the world humans evolved in that it makes us insane. He talks about how for most of human existence humans were preoccupied with getting enough to eat and other means of surviving that we didn't have time to study various esoteric stuff, like the "history" degrees so popular among rich kids which are basically a cover for using uni to network with other rich kids. He thought that if people lived more primitive lives that we'd be happier.

I wonder if severe mental illness like schizophrenia is partially caused by "technology poisoning", we all know that schizos tend to think that the govt is beaming messages into their heads using radio towers, I wonder if the everpresent EMF fields in our world short circuit some people's brains. Schizos often like to live outdoors because the voices are softer, I wonder again about electrical circuitry in houses.

As for minimalism, I tend to buy clothes new, but I basically wear the same type of clothes all the time and don't care about hot fashion. Everything else is function and not form.
 
My toaster, microwave and tumble dryer all gave up the ghost over a two week period.

They coped well enough without those gadgets 70 years ago, I’m sure I could cope without them today.
Less clutter in the kitchen too.
 
Oldlady said:
I wonder if minimalism and anti-corporatism are Aspie characteristics?

I am totally on board with this philosophy! It's too bad there are so few of us, we might be able to change the world! Perhaps we will increase in number through evolutionary pressure and save the planet!
Click to expand...

For anti-corporatism, are we suggesting anarchy?

Cool thread OP. Just thinking that Aspies would empty their pockets to fund their special interests, so I also daubt we'd see a lot of minimalist Aspies. Maybe Aspies may have environmentalism as an obsession.
 
Recognizing being an Aspy, being somewhat OCD I try to keep things simple & organized almost to the point of overly obsessive. I hate clutter, 2 of my children have developed hoarding tendencies. I can not or do not visit them often, I do try to stay in touch but the clutter is overwhelming & stressful. I just have to turn a blind eye to their habits. I didn't fully understand why I couldn't accept it but that is in the past now. I throw things away, since I hate crowds & that goes for yard sales.

I've sold or given things away just to get rid of them, my van is an example. I paid $1,000 put tires & hitch on it. Had a reputable mechanic change all the belts & hoses & give it a good going over. 3 years later after 3 trips of 1,700 miles each from the PacNW to SW AZ & back it had became an money pit & the thought of what can I do with an old boy now? I was lucky to shed it for $500 (a loss of over $2,500) just to get rid of it. I was paying $50 a month to park it, then realized I would spend $600 a year just to store it (4 years same loss). It's outta here, & I felt good about it. Gas mileage is another issue.

I adopted the frugal attitude along the way, now I save my money for things I'm truly interested in & want to do. I don't spend money for 'stuff' & don't accumulate more 'stuff' just to die with the most toys. I drive a dependable older car, keep it in running condition & don't worry about appearances. As my father used to say, "An automobile is just a way to get from point A to point B, you can go in style or not, it's up to you". I sit here in my little camp trailer (will be stored in AZ for $10 monthly) & marvel at all the toys & gizmos everyone buys to enhance their stay. Not me - eat, sleep & take care of my personal needs frugaly.
 
I wouldn't call myself a minimalist, but I value time over money, experiences over things.
Also hate having a lot of stuff in the house, can't really manage to work more hours.. (I mean, I am fine and compared to the rest of the world I am probably rich but my lifestyle is very different from my friends.)
All those things together mean that I don't buy myself a lot of things and if I do, I try to buy them secondhand. Things I no longer need that are still good I donate.
I'd like to have even less stuff in the house but my partner likes his stuff and so I compromise.
I like things to be in their designated places and fewer things means it's easier to do that, also if I'm overstimulated or struggling with a compound task having more stuff around me that I need to 'organize' makes that more difficult. So I definitely think my autism plays a part in this and of course the not working more is mostly because of that too (and being diagnosed late).
I also feel guilty when I buy things in stores that I know aren't good to their staff or the people who make the things in developing countries.. which I fear is most stores.
(Also, I don't think capitalism is the root of all evil, but IMO it does not help..)
 
I discovered frugalism last month and now it is my new hobby.

I was influenced by this blog:
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/
I am not against consumerism.
I can get nice things at a thrift store cheaply because people buy things at full price and sell them. If everybody only bought what was strictly needed, goods will be a lot more expensive.
I have my iPhone because rich people bought them when they first came out, and Apple had the money to improve the product and invest in mass production so that I could buy a used one for $150 in 2022. Without the rich people wasting their money on luxury items when they first come out, the item never reaches the masses including me.
Normal people would not have washing machines and fridges and air conditioning. These were a luxury item when they first came out.

I’m not against capitalism either.
I would not work if I were not compensated for it.
Sure, I might perform some services here and there for fun. But I would do nowhere close to the same amount compared to if I were rewarded well to do it.
Even if I won’t immediately use it, having more money in the bank is always better. Money can buy comfort and medical care.


My goal right now is to save as much as I can, so eventually I can “retire” and spend my time on my special interests.
 
I keep seeing this thread pop up and keep intending to post so I guess I finally got round to it.

I wouldn't consider myself minimalist. The stuff I guess I would class as my special interests take up quite a bit of space. I don't have so much money these days but I can tell you for sure I would have a lot more vintage computers in my collection for a start and I already have many of them!

As far as consumerism goes. I don't buy new things particularly, just about everything I own is second hand.

I see my interest in old computers as saving them from landfill and I still use them and enjoy them (assuming depression and anxiety don't get in the way). I have rather a lot of guitars too. I try not to think about going on eBay and looking up computers or guitars as I know there will be something I can't resist.

As far as having the latest thing, I don't really care. I vaguely remember a quote that goes something like this "Capitalism only works because people lack the knowledge to build the items they need or desire. So we pay others to do it or we can build them ourselves. You can either pay for things or develop the knowledge, both knowledge and money are currency."

I have always learned how things work so I have often been able to take something long considered obsolete and get more out of it by repairing it or improving it. So I rock a 12 year old MacBook happily running the second most recent OS. An old 27" iMac that still performs fine for me and does everything I need it to. It had some damage and problems when I acquired it but I fixed it up and I'm over the moon with it.

The weird thing is though when other people see these things (the sorts of people who would turn their noses up at second hand stuff) they assume I spent huge amounts of money and even have said that I must have things easy because I have nice things. This is where the "knowledge" part comes in. I can fill in the deficit in my lack of money with skills and knowledge (and a bit of googling every now and then). In the context of my home it appears, this "undesirable" stuff becomes "desirable".

Basically if you see I have something nice or valuable, chances are I bought it for next to nothing because it didn't work and I made it work. I have considerably more knowledge than money. That's mostly I think because I have very little money lol! :-)

Difference is though. It takes more work and time to do what I do, but considerably less to buy a shiny doodad off of the shelf.

But I don't think capitalism in its current state can last much longer. A system that depends on exponential growth in a finite world leads to it's failure. That's why Meta tried to create the "Metaverse" to sell ethereal digital doodads to people to give capitalism a stay of execution.
 
Oldlady said:
I wonder if minimalism and anti-corporatism are Aspie characteristics?

I am totally on board with this philosophy! It's too bad there are so few of us, we might be able to change the world! Perhaps we will increase in number through evolutionary pressure and save the planet!
Click to expand...

I think it could be a common for sure.
 
something really fascinates me about minimalism and anti-consumerism, I did live minimally for a very long time and didn't buy many consumeristic things, however, I do have impulses to buy things at times (my locks literally costed me £50 lol)
 
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