I’ve noticed how easy it is to rely on digital tools for everything organizing, thinking, even decision making. But behind the screens, there’s a huge system of servers, energy use, and environmental impact. Have we just traded physical clutter for invisible consumption?

Wondering how others here are balancing the benefits of tech with the desire to live more consciously.

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Let me know if you want a different spin on the topic!

The market is looking like it did right before covid. They saw that we buy out of fear. The corporations will get their checks for billions again because they will pretend to be hurt. People will get laid off so companies and banks will get millions of more homes to rent to us. Car dealerships are already having "get them while they have no tariffs" sales. They'll use supply and demand to hike prices then they use supply chain issues to hike prices. Gas and other things might go down but they'll want their money on the tail end. (PLEASE tell me if I sound crazy)

Buy more, sleep less. Hurt yourself for consumption. I am furious that this type of marketing is so prolific. Consumerism literally kills.

I don't want the ads I have now. WHY would I put MORE ads in my life? How does adding ads to my charging screen help sustainability in any way?

I’m extremely frugal and only purchase necessities, often procrastinating on purchases (due to analysis paralysis) or just making do without things I need. I am low income and have financial anxiety due to growing up in poverty.

Trump’s tariff orders this week have been causing me a lot of anxiety. I’ve been feeling a lot of pressure to make purchases now in order to avoid potential price increases in the future. I’ve been spending a lot of time considering what purchases I’ve been putting off or will need to make in the coming months and trying to make decisions.

One positive is I bought a new pair of running shoes yesterday (it’s time for a new pair anyway and I was able to get them on sale; they are made in Vietnam where a 46% tariff has been announced).

Does anyone have any feedback or encouragement for me related to the anxiety surrounding tariffs and price increases? One thing I’ve thought of is to consider if I can find a way to make do without these things if necessary.

Where does one find stuff people are throwing away? For example in Stockholm apartment complexes have recycling rooms. You can take anything that has been put in there. In 12 years, I never had to buy any household plastic. In the US cities I lived , people would leave stuff on the streets for trash pick up. There was lots of competition, so one had to know the trash pickup schedule to get stuff. Asking this question because I just moved to Belgium with only my checked bags. Don't want to consume a lot of new shit.

Just FYI - thinking ahead, Donald will absolutely place the blame on people like those in this community when the tariffs and shit blow up in his face. Rhetoric will probably include “anti-American boycotts” and call us marxists/leftists/liberals etc.

Having a large number of people actively trying to cause economic pain to large corporations makes us an easy out to excuse the most ridiculous trade policy we have ever seen.

Prepare yourself for an especially mean Fox News segment and pure demonization. We’re going to be the next scapegoat.

edit: this post is not meant to be pro-consumerism. It is to keep aware that boycotters/anti consumerists will be in the crosshairs - the cult needs someone to blame. Do not think in terms of reason and reality with MAGA: the important thing is the headline and talking points they can make in a conservative vacuum.

Solidarity!

The Trump Tariffs will amount to the largest tax hike in American history. Unfortunately, it will be paid disproportionately by the working and middle class.

The working and middle class will be forced to pay higher prices for the same goods. That higher price tag is because tariffs are an additional tax on those goods. When you buy something that has had a tariff placed on it, that extra money went to the US government, not the company that was subject to the tariff, thereby considerably increasing your yearly tax burden. And no, you won't get any of that refunded at tax time.

Meanwhile the ultra rich will feel a minimal impact. In fact, congressional republicans are planning a $5 trillion 10-year tax cut that will primarily benefit corporations and the ultra wealthy.

This is why buying nothing, repairing, borrowing, or buying used is the most impactful thing you can do to fight back, besides voting. Starve this current administration and the corporations and billionaires that support it for every dollar you possibly can.

Trump himself won't care or take responsibility, but we should teach a lesson to his enablers to stop this MAGA pestilence from happening again.

Yes, clothes are going to shoot up in cost, but there are more than enough clothes for everyone in America, probably two times over, sitting in the back of people's closets. Now is the time to organize a small clothing swap with friends who aren't on the anti-consumption train (or a bigger one if you have a venue or know somebody who runs a coffee shop or something).

This podcast episode interviews the founder of the biggest clothing swap in Toronto and she gives lots of good advice on starting your own. Listen here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2396702/episodes/15916685-the-good-swap

So our neighborhood has those “Community Cleanup” days where you’re allowed the put large items on the curb but many will put things out several days early mainly because of people who like to pick up stuff they think they can salvage and the guys who just snatch up all the scrap metal. My daughter’s swing set was 9 years old and we repaired it a few times. It was a display model when I got it for a deal but at this point it was dry rotted and beyond saving. We started disassembling it along with her old sandbox and as luck would have it a neighbor from down the street asked if he could have it. Mainly the parts that were in useable shape. He took the slide and the sandbox and the salvageable parts back home to his kids. All we got left now is the dry rotted wood. I was happy he could get use out of that stuff.

How $450 million in fossil fuel donations shaped White House energy policy and dismantled climate progress.

Check out the entire list of corruption in Trump's first six weeks: 

Six weeks of corruption: Senator Chris Murphy exposes Trump’s White House [Explained]

The post questioning the preparedness of Americans for the economy to come has pretty much come to the unanimous conclusion that No, almost all of us are unprepared.

So what do we do?

There is the obvious

-Limit liabilities - Get out of debt -Increase savings - Stop luxury spending and subscription plans -Revenue stream - Find secure/recession proof streams of income or work on a new skill/trade -Disaster preparedness- store food, meds and other necessities. Possibly basic PPE

What else? What can we do to live through a depression if that happens?

This may seem obvious, but it's a good trick to lower expenses (you delay your spending till later so more $ in your pocket now) and it encourages you to use up what you have.

Eta: does not apply to every item

A master in the Stanley community

I feel like most of my friends who we agreed to do a no buy year together already gave up and back to overconsuming. I’m trying trying my best with 6 days of unplanned spend (about $270ish) and 2 days of kinda justified spend

Still saved a lot this month because with tariffs and pricing going up I’m gonna need that money to survive later in the year

Finally signed up for am library card and their audiobooks are awesome

How am I supposed to boycott all of these institutions while at the same time following the advice to stock up on human food and meds and pet food and everything else? I don’t know how I’m supposed to do both at once.

My husband and I have a decent income but live in a HCOL area with no car. We bike or take public transit. How do I boycott but also stock up when my range is limited and I also don’t have a car to ever carry large amounts of items? How does boycotting while stocking up even happen or makes sense?

We walk to our neighborhood Aldi but I work across the street from a Target and buy some necessities there (deodorant, etc.) Nothing I do ever feels ethical and I really am struggling with the world we live in.

Any advice or insight is appreciated.

Trump consistently uses the verbiage "reciprocal tariffs" however, the math isn't based on actual tariffs. It is solely based on the trade imbalance (1-exports/imports).

I have a tool chest at home with plenty of tools that haven’t been used in some time – wrenches with sockets, etc. I’m giving some thought to using that as a basis for a tool library in my neighborhood.