“There’s this wild disconnect between what people are experiencing and what economists are experiencing,” says Nikki Cimino, a recruiter in Denver.
“There’s this wild disconnect between what people are experiencing and what economists are experiencing,” says Nikki Cimino, a recruiter in Denver.
Stove, oven, and microwave are redundant; it’s convenient to have all of these but you don’t need all of them. The TV, also, is a luxury item. I don’t know what part of your friend’s wedding you paid for, but that’s not a necessity either. Did the person who rear-ended your car not have insurance? A gasoline lawnmower is excessive, get a push mower. Attend the funeral in less-expensive clothing. Windows starting to go bad haven’t actually gone bad. Deck wood starting to dry rot doesn’t mean it’s nonfunctional, and even if it is a deck is not a necessity; get rid of it instead. Replacing your bed “just because it’s time” is weird, was there actually something wrong with it?
I’m not saying it would be awesome to cut or postpone those expenditures. But you said you had to take your savings out to do these things, and that doesn’t seem true to me. You chose to take your savings out to do those things. If you value those things more than you value having savings, fine, that’s your choice. But “Investing is for people with a lot of excess cash” isn’t true. You could have chosen to have savings instead in exchange for a less expensive lifestyle.
What are you doing to those appliances that’s making the break down so rapidly, anyway? I’ve got a microwave that’s lasted me at least a decade. I’ve never had a TV or toilet “go bad.”
I generally agree with you. Just want to address this one point.
Newer appliances break down at a much faster rate and are more difficult to repair than those made a decade ago. Planned obsolescence. Your microwave hasn’t broken because it’s a decade old.
Well, the internal light did burn out, and for some strange reason it can only be replaced by half-disassembling the whole microwave so I never bothered. The internal light doesn’t help the microwave do its job.
Perhaps if it does eventually fail in a more meaningful way I’ll look into getting a second-hand one, if the newer models have such a propensity for breaking down.
In many cases the tradeoff is worse energy efficiency for older models, but it still pencils out to get an older one most of the time.
Free Microwaves show up all the time on Craigslist or buynothing groups btw.
This post is weird. I get it prices have sky-rocketed I can see it myself (australia), and I am sure some people are really suffering.
But here it’s getting ridiculous, look at me I’m poor i can barely make ends meet after I redid my fucking deck and I bought a new TV.
And if you say something that goes against lemmys narrative (corporations bad) the downwotes start flowing.
Another person in another thread is complaining about the price of grapes. In north America, when it’s fucking spring and they are out of season. Tried buying fruit that is in season? Yes it’s price has increased but ffs use your brain.
Yeah. The bit I find particularly weird is how you’re “supposed” to replace your bed every 8 years. I’ve never heard this and it makes little sense. Replace your bed when it needs replacing. They don’t have expiry dates on them, do they? If the mattress gets dirty there are ways to clean them. Use good sheets and that should keep the mattress clean to begin with.
I think a lot of people don’t understand what being poor is really like.
Or what saving money means.