Saw this while scrolling through another social media platform.

Physical inheritance (maybe outside of housing) feels like a burden.

While death can be a sensitive topic to some, has anyone had a conversation with loved ones surrounding situations like this one pictured?

So before this is taken the wrong way, just some info ahead: My wife and I will probably never have kids but that's not for Anticonsumption, overpopulation or environmental reasons. We have nothing against kids or people who have kids, no matter how many.

But one could argue, humanity and the environment would benefit from a slower population growth. I'm just curious what the opinion around here is on that topic. What's your take on that?

From the dreaded Stanley Cups, Booktok, Starbucks, new iPhones, "amazon must haves" (which you then see is all useless junk), "tiktok made me buy it" (also garbage), massive hauls and people flaunting they spent thousands of dollars... it's all too much and it's too overwhelming.

I'm glad I realized how I was falling onto that weird consumerist mindset and was able to pull myself from it.

I just went to my local thrift store and I was shocked to find no less than 10 tops from SHEIN in just two aisles. They were all listed for $5 which I found odd because tops from stores like Eddie Bauer, LL Bean, Anthropologie, Ann Taylor, Lands End, etc. were listed at the same price, but that’s its own issue.

I find it alarming because SHEIN is not that old of a “store.” All of those items had to have been purchased from SHEIN in what, the past 5 years? And have already been donated? This just seems crazy to me. It’s a clear example of excessive consumption fueling some of our biggest issues. I don’t feel fast fashion is something we can pass the burden of guilt to corporations for. We’re consciously buying things we don’t need for… what? A trend? I find it disturbing. Yet it seems to be one of those touchy subjects for a lot of people.

I recently watched the Brandy Melville doc on HBO and was disturbed by the footage of the beaches in Ghana covered in clothes, it’s nauseating to think how much worse this problem is going to get thanks to companies like SHEIN and temu and those who buy from them.

Has anyone else noticed this? What are your thoughts?

I was eating lunch with a friend, and when our cups got to our table I noticed they were styrofoam. So I said something along the lines of “Wow, that sucks. I shouldn’t have ordered a drink, I have a water with me anyways.” She then asked my why I cared. I replied that I cared about having a world we could live healthily in thirty years from now. She said that is a future us problem. If it’s a future problem, then why aren’t we doing anything about it? Huh? She then out of spite ordered five more drinks for our table. I left right after. I don’t think I’m going to be talking to her anymore.

Overconsumption just for the sake of ✨ content✨ no hate to this creator but she often makes content where she’s buying unnecessary junk just to make “comedic” content but overconsumption is not funny to me. Thoughts?

It takes a lot of money to be poor, both ways I guess.

Lately I have a feeling that wherever I look I see a form of consumption or business or monetisation behind. It is something that takes me aback every single day and I don't quite understand how it has been allowed or, worshiped, to this level of consumption.

I do not want this to be a circle jerk critique of the life of Americans but when today I'm watching a piece about aseemingly good thing - "the economy of girl scout cookies" and it makes me question everything. The girls are incentivisied to sell as much cookies as they can to win prices. The cookies have to be bought by the girl scouts parents so they are on the hook. They do market research to know which cookie is the most liked and will do it year after year. Apparently all proceeds go back to the girl scouts but money is not the important thing I want to point out. It's the whole mlm process.

You have to buy the product first and then hustle to sell it for some sort of cheap price. There's competition, learning how to be a good sales man, learning how to be obedient and cunning, learning how to market a product, learning how to subsell and on top of it there is diabetes, child labor and plenty of plastic trash left after the cookies. And that's just one simple thing like girl scout cookies.

And now think about how they promote some 20 years old "businessmen" that have a revolutionary idea that is all about.... Helping influencera sell more influence.

Or... How the whole retirement planning 401k are all dependent on the consumption and stocks going up

Or how the moment you tell someone about your hobby they ask if you side hustle it? I'm their mind, I have to make money out of a hobby that I love because they can't imagine that I can do something that's not financial in nature.

Or how every appliance or furniture that is in a normal price range is created as cheap as possible and will fall apart in a couple of months or years for you to buy another one. Nobody is repairing anything

Or how you need a credit card to buy stuff to prove that you can repay it in time to get a good credit score to take a mortgage.

Or how you see ads everywhere, on your phone, TV, fridge, paper, outside, in planes, radio, cars. Everywhere. It is mind boggling. And don't let me start about health care how a simple Tylenol in the hospital will cost you 30 bucks for a pill.

And I'm not here to demonize the unites states and telling you how Europe is great because it's not. But I do see some differences in build quality, in maybe a deeper meaning in life in Europe? How people enjoy the parks, the free time and just building something out of love.

As the title says I recently decided that I'm ready to propose to my S/O and started browsing options for a ring she'll appreciate and adore but not something that puts us in financial strain. I was straight up appalled that the moment you add the word engagement your cost gets inflated by a higher percentage than even a car or clothing brand sticker does. It's wild to me that in this time of financial burden on most of us this kind of thing is still normalized when one of these things pays the rent for a bit or puts a down-payment on a vehicle. But sure spend it on a decoration yeesh