…to a reasonable degree, at least.
Cloths, headphones, handbags. Anything that’s just buying the brand.
I don’t get why I should want these high end brands when the only thing I can afford from them is plastered with their logo.
I’ve seen the Gucci tracksuit, the Jordans, the Beats, everything and I’m not impressed. Even though luxury things are luxury I don’t even agree with the luxuriousness of many of these products. For example, if I’m going to wear a Gucci tracksuit covered in the Gucci logo and using Gucci colors then it’s gotta look good first and foremost. If I’m going to hold a Hermes bag that’s not comfortable, or durable, or robust but is just supposed to look cool, then it’s gotta actually look cool! Not like something Shien could design.
And yes I am aware of the concept of buying a store of value: diamonds, expensive watches, actually rare and valued handbags. But most of the famous luxuries I see in public are not that. They’re literally a poor man’s status symbol IMO.
Why are you talking about Beats like they’re real headphones?
They are categorized as headphones
For headphones, DEFINITELY not true in my experience. There’s cheap and gimmicky (like Skullcandy), there’s perceived “luxury” brands like Beats (which aren’t actually worth their money) but then there’s brands that actually offer significantly better quality and longevity for the price, like Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Audio-Technica and Sony to name a few.
You forgot Bose their ANC is insanely good. Sennheiser aren’t impressive to match their high price at least not the model I tried speakers are good but fitment and feel they put all the money into drivers and sound rather than comfort wait for gen 2 or 3. I tried the newest Sony 1000xm5 earbuds and headphones and they didn’t hold a candle to jabra, crapple, Bose. Only kind I tried and didn’t like was the JBL (mid brand), and Samsung buds.
Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Audio-Technica and Sony aren’t famous luxury brands in the same way that Beats are.
huh… in hindsight I didn’t think about my position about headphones all the way through, I was just mad about the existance of beats.
sry
I bought some $50 open back headphones a while back and they a just worlds better than anything I’d had before. Is there a step up from there that’d similarly rock my world?
My mic is pretty similar. $100 got me an SM58 and it’s wonderful. You have to basically eat it and I can peak it if I’m loud. But it sounds so much nicer than most things. I know there’s a few steps up from there. But I don’t sing so think I’m fine.
Planar magnetic headphones that start around $200 (monolith m1060) will do that
The headphones: Depends on what they are. Likely, not a better pair without spending $300+
Sm58s are the standard. Some (myself included) prefer sm57s. Though the 58s are the ‘hammer’ (many have used them as such, they still function well after if you don’t absolutely destroy them with the hammering).
And still, Koss rocks hard with their same for twenty years headphones
Lol, Koss! I think I have a pair from 1978 floating around
I stand corrected: their 40+ years same as always headphones (with exception for detachable cord)
Sandwich baggies. They’re dispose anyway, no need to go for the name brand when there’s usually a cromulent generic at the store.
Uhhh actually you wanna stick with ziplock brand on those:
https://www.globalfoodconsumers.org/news/toxic-pfas-in-sandwich-baggies/
Notably, previous instances have occurred where regulators permitted high levels of PFAS in packaging, only to later discover adverse health effects on consumers. Brands such as Boulder, Complete Home, Great Value, If You Care, Lunchskins, Meijer, Target, and Walgreens were among those found to contain PFAS, while Ziploc emerged as the only brand without detectable levels of the chemicals.
Generic medicines
Alkaline and rechargeable NiMH batteries. The price per hours of use favors the cheap brands. A top brand might last longer but you are paying a premium for it. Rechargeable NiMH batteries with a good price to battery life ratio are from IKEA.
Same. I’m using IKEA brand in the keyboard I’m using to type this.
You should just stop spending money in general if you can. So many responses are like “buy literal garbage like disposable decorations at the dollar store,” do not do that. Stop spending money on garbage. Every dollar you spend is damage to the environment and more power for the wealthy, just stop it. Stop spending.
Don’t buy entertainment, use archive dot org. Read more. When you like something culture you consumed, give it to somebody else so they don’t try to buy it. Pass entertainment around to your friends.
When you have to spend on things like haircuts, repairs, etc, keep the money in your social network. If you don’t cook, learn. If you aren’t a part of your local grocery distro, join it.Avoid giving corpos money whenever you can and you’ll save lots of money.
When you have to spend on things like haircuts, repairs, etc, keep the money in your social network.
While I agree with the idea of not buying garbage, there is absolutely no way we can unconsume ourselves out of the capitalist ploy to extract surplus value. Do not put the blame on people who try to (often) satisfy legitimate needs, but on those forcing labor to be spent at the cost of both the environment and workers themselves.
Ecofascism (not accusing you here) is not going to solve the climate crisis.
I’m not suggesting unconsuming, I am suggesting consuming outside of the corpo economy and limiting the use of fiat economy. And this is an ideal to work toward. I think about money I don’t spend to a corpo as money that hasn’t been extracted from my community.
It is nice where possible and can help locally, but on scale it will not force through any changes. To see why, we only need to consider the historical material conditions that allowed the development of the current capitalist form in the first place. Small businesses where defeated by capitalists that could employ tactics the others couldn’t answer.
In order to answer to the consequences of our current mode of production, we have to force changes to how production is carried out. Saying we want our products locally, ethically and environmentally made will only change their branding, not the fundamental exploitation in search of surplus value.
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Former chef: Knives. My most expensive knife is $80 with a lifetime warrantee. Most are $10-$20. Instead, learn how to use and take care of a knife.
I think you should get expensive knives as a convenience, or you are pushing the limits of the steel. I cook a lot, and do lots and lots of chopping to cook food for the family. There have been times I’ve fine diced 10lbs of onions in one go, on top of cabbage, tomatoes, peppers etc.
With that much chopping, anything that can’t shave like a razor is dull. That’s why I use a really nice knife, thinned, sharpened and tuned it to my preferences.
TLDR most people are fine to use any generic knife (if you lack self respect) but if those aren’t cutting it for you, get something better. No pun intended
I work in a restaurant and 10 lbs of onions lasts 36 hours. We buy the shittiest chef knife Ed Don has to offer and it’s fine. I like nice knives on a hobby level, but they’re not necessary on a personal or professional level.
Good advice but I wouldnt really call that ‘cheaping out’. You can buy kitchen knives for 2$ which you definitely shouldnt do
Disagree. My favourite paring knife came from a discount bin at a dollar store in a pack of five. You can find decent knives at a dump if to you look hard enough, depending on your definition of cheap.
If the handle falls apart then the average person cant do shit about it even if blade quality is the same as a nice one.
I have hope for the average person.
Oh yeah? Well half of all people are even dumber than that, so there.
In my experience the vast majority of cheap knives can’t hold an edge at all. The super budget stainless used is just too soft. At the same time I can find many in the $70-100 range that do considerably better in that regard - I sharpen them 3-4 times less frequently.
I prefer to spend a little more on the 1-2 that get the most use.
I can pay a little more for a nice forged knife, folded steel, but anything you buy at walmart or amazon is the same quality regardless of price.
Handles make a huge difference but they rarely impact price.
I refuse to get a forged knife, I demand the real thing.
Great Grampa was supposed to be buried with that joke.
Knife handles are important. If you buy a cheap knife where the handle snaps while you’re using it, you’re going to get cut.
Yup. I learnt that the price tag doesn’t make much of a difference. Sharpening tools do.
I’ve been sharpening my knives for a year or so now, but last week i bought this piece of plastic with the angles for different knives on them and it leveled up my sharpening game significantly
You’ve been sharpening your knives for a year? Is there anything left of them?
Got a picture?
I tried to post a picture but it was too big I can try again later. Its hard to get a good image of the edge though
Water
I too started using rinse aid after watching technology connections. Got a generic bottle and that shit works great!
Power tools. If you are not a professional and need to buy a tool (if you can’t borrow one), buy the cheap one.
I used a $30 Ryobi drill for over a decade and it was fine.
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Ironically, it didn’t break, but when I was on the road and needed a power drill to fix something, I didn’t feel bad about dropping $500 on a new Milwaukee from Ace hardware.
But don’t cheap out on drill bits, nor should you try and use the same drill bit for like a decade without sharpening it.
Think of drill bits like a good, sharp knife. Knives cut far better and far easier when they sharp, exactly the same with drill bits. If you trying to cut something you would normally pick the right type of knife to do the job, exactly the same with drill bits.
If you driving screws or other fasteners with your drill consider better quality driver bits if you have a lot of them to drive, such as building a deck. Good quality driver bits cam out far far less and will take more torque so be faster/go in better. Using cheap driver bits is probably worse than using cheap drill bits.
Is there a sharpener you recommend? Drill Doctor?
Never tried sharpening them myself, always used a service as standard jobber bits are less than a pound to get done for you. I normally save up a bunch of stuff including saw blades and get them done at once to save on shipping at hit the low volume discounts.
However, its only worth doing on quality components, I wouldn’t pay a pound or waste my own time to get a cheap ass drill bit sharpened, I would just replace it.
My saw blades start at like £70 so paying £12 to get it sharpened is good value, but a £30 blade is not really worth it, not least for which it won’t cut anywhere near as much material before getting blunt between sharpens. Same logic for drill bills, some of my SDS ones are over £30 each, my augur bits can be over £50 each, so those are worth looking after, not going to bother for a set of 10 bits for £20.
I wouldn’t even call Ryobi the cheap one, they are good quality and cost more than many others. Harbor Freight is what I’d call cheap - my rule of thumb is that very simple hand tools from HF are OK but anything complex is probably not
We needed a router for one job. My boss got a router from Harbor Freight. Burned through the brushes halfway through (same day). Swapped brushes. Finished the job.
His alternate plan (if we burned through the second set): return it as dysfunctional. As it would be same day, replacement would be natural.
I think he ended up taking it back for a refund after the job was done.
I bought a cylinder head pressure gauge from HF and took it home, didn’t work at all. When I looked at it closely I could see that it was completely missing the core valve that is supposed to be in the bottom. It was just a hole instead of a valve. Took it back for a refund next day.
Hot dog buns. In my opinion, the generic, white, store brand buns make the best hot dogs.
I like top split buns. They don’t fall apart
Cell phones and plans. Any phone is good enough for regular use these days. And any carrier uses the towers of all the other carriers, it’s not like the old days where there was CDMA vs GSM.
There is at least ONE exception in the US: Firstnet. They primarily use AT&T’s towers, but they have some additional resources that other carriers don’t have - they have additional towers and entire network bands that other carriers don’t have access to. This allows us to still have coverage in natural disasters or network congestion times. In addition, if there’s a natural disaster that knocks out coverage, they have satellite-based trucks that stage DURING the disaster, then come online as soon as it’s over.
A few years ago, I had to ride out hurricane Ida in New Orleans (long story). The western eyewall passed directly over the house we were in, and the primary trunk lines coming into the city got destroyed by a cable tower that collapsed into the Mississippi. The next morning I had cell phone coverage when none of the other carriers had come back online yet. We didn’t even have power, but my phone worked perfectly.
You have to be a first responder to join - you have to be added by your department’s communications coordinator.
if with cell phones you mean the non-smart, dumb phones then I can agree. however if you buy the cheapest of smartphones, what you’ll get is even more datamining than usual, which you may be even unable go remove because it’s bootloader cannot be unlocked.
but I would say don’t cheap out on tech generally, because you’ll get extremely weak security and nonexistent respect towards you as a customer.smartphones is a dirty business. don’t support the bad actors with your many, and then long term with your data
Nah, cheap phones often have their bootloader unlocked/unlockable. Really happy with my POCO M5 running modified AOSP. Also, unlike every expensive phone nowadays, it has 3.5mm jack, SD card slot, and exceptional battery life for hiking/trekking (it survives 5-6 days as just a camera+map phone with all power saving on, in comparison people with flagships typically only last 2-3 days with the same usage and power-saving techniques).
I have a very low value lenovo tablet that my provider was giving away essentially for free (for worthless loyalty points I think). its BL cannot be unlocked, it has a special bootloader that does not implement the standard unlock commands.
Other than that, I have to admit I don’t often deal with cheap phones, because my experience was that not even LOS supports a lot them. Maybe that’s changed though.
Yes, that can happen sometimes, but I find that there are plenty of cheap options with unlocked bootloaders if you look for them.
I mean beside the fairphone and pixel with calyxos and graphenos or the librem 5 (and THATs a niche user that’ll like that one) the rest all seem equally malicious towords us users.
that’s true, but at least try to buy one that’s not extremely locked down, or unnecessarily convoluted to unlock. that instantly rules out all samsungs, for both of these reasons and for destroying phones when sent for repair to an official service
The most expensive and cheapest phones are not worth it. Anything in between is good enough. For me at least prepaid phone plans are better than contract plans.
Can find great deals for 2yo second hand high tier phones
Bell and Rogers actually don’t share their towers in Canada.
Redpocket is really cheap if you guys want some prepaid plans
I believe what you say about networks using each other’s towers is incorrect for a large portion of the world. Where do you live?
Over the counter medications. Store brand ibuprofen, allergy meds, cold medicine, etc. Sometimes as much as 1/7th the price, just make sure the active ingredients match amounts and you’re set.
The problem with store brand medications is they often will have the same active ingredient, but then will have a cheaper or less-effective catalyst used. This generally causes them to be less effective. At least this is what I was taught years ago. I’ve definitely noticed a difference in cold/sinus meds. Generic does not compare to brand name Sudafed.
Decongestants are a weird one. Pseudoephedrine is available but is behind the pharmacy counter where most people don’t realize they can get it. Pretty much every other nasal decongestant has been replaced by phenylephrine which is extremely ineffective. Both the generic cold/sinus meds and sudafed PE will be most likely be phenylephrine, and you might as well not waste your money at that point. Actual pseudoephedrine (sudafed or a generic if they make it) will help.
Reminder, I am not a doctor, pharmacist, or healthcare worker. I’m just a rando on the internet who has heard a lot about this.
Meth heads ruined pseudoephedrine. The last thing I want to do when there’s a compressor filling my sinuses with 300psi of pain is wait in the pharmacy line, show 3 forms of ID, and get questioned about why I need medicine.
Look at me. If I were to start crying from the pressure in my head, the tears would shoot forward 20ft…
That’s very true and I’d argue more an issue of our regulation (or lack thereof) of both drugs and medication.
Most of the time, yes. Though certain cough medicines have been apparently using benzene in them, which is insane. (Cheaper to produce)
You can look for carbomers in the inactive ingredients list, but they don’t have to put that info in if they don’t want, which is insane to me. We need regulations that ban carcinogens like benzene being used for the manufacturing of drugs.
Reading glasses.
Aliexpress has really cheap ones. Buy 2 as sometimes they’re not up to scratch (1/10 I’d say).
Ingredients. Who the fuck cares if your bread has a pretty pattern on the packaging or not, you’re gonna turn it into shit. Minmax your groceries.
For most people, tools. Most tools will be able to complete the essential tasks. Most people will get by with cheap or used tools.
I have a motto “cheap gets the job done, expensive does it faster”. If you are a hobbyist working on your own time there, feel no pressure to get a “real” tool. Additionally if you are a hobbyist short on personal time, you might want something better.
To go along with your motto, cheap breaks replace with expensive if you still need the tool.
Buy the 2nd last tool you will ever need.
When you are replacing it, then you upgrade to the last tool you’ll ever need
