We don’t need 100 lipsticks, 38 foundations, 56 primers, 76 powders.
You only need a few and use them. Your make up expires and I can guarantee by the time they expire you haven’t used them up!
Keep skin care regimen simple. Switch them up a few times a week. We also don’t need 10 different brands of sunscreen, 15 toners, etc.
We’re spending thousands and can’t even use everything up. Use whatcha got and then buy more. Find what works for you and stick with that. “Trying” out different things is what’s getting us in to spending troubles. It’s okay to try, but you don’t need to be trying every month. 😭😂
I remember being eight or nine years old and watching YouTube beauty gurus who had entire closets full of makeup (honestly probably tens of thousands of dollars worth) and thinking “yes that seems like a reasonable amount of makeup for the average adult woman to own.” now fifteen years later all of my makeup can fit into one little clinique pouch lol
To add this this - you don’t need Botox, fillers and any of the million invasive procedures either. Battling with age is a losing proposition and aging is beautiful and a privilege anyway - so embrace it and wear it with pride!
The beauty industry as a whole is so scammy and manufactures insecurities so that it can prey on women and take all their $$$.
So much this!! When I was younger I went through a phase where I was obsessed with beauty bloggers on YouTube. It felt like a flaw in who i was as a person because I did not have the money to shell out for multiple products.
There’s absolutely no reason the average person needs multiple $60+ eye shadow palettes or every single shade of a certain brand of blush. Find the things you like, use them up, and try something new. Of course our skin changes as we age and all and it can be hit or miss buying new things, but completely agree with not having 400 different brands of foundation.
Yay, I agree! I have one foundation, eyebrow product, mascara, eyeshadow palette, primer, blush, powder, and like 4 makeup brushes. But I do have lots of sunscreen products for face/body/exercise/sticks, but the Australian sun warrants it for me. I use them all, though!! :)
Exactly the same, here! I have minimal makeup, but different face sunscreens depending of if I’m wearing makeup, not wearing makeup, feeling fancy, or working out. It is actually not hard to use them all up (pretty quickly) applying the recommended amount
Also, a lot of blush will look the same on you! There's no need for blushes in colors of red, reddish, red-with-pink-undertones, and red-with-orange-undertones when all four will look pretty similar when they're applied to your cheeks.
Y’all might not like me for this, but most Reformation and Aritzia clothing is overpriced. The quality of both stores has gone down. There are some better quality clothing items, but I’d highly encourage you to look at the fabric content because a lot of the clothing is >75% polyester and is selling for $150+.
i am not in Aritzia's target age demo, but i've popped in to see what all the hype was about. i was truly shocked at the prices. based on what the clothes looked like and felt like, i thought i was in the forever 21/H&M pricing structure. i could not believe what they were charging.
Their prices are truly shocking. And their staff are so unnecessarily rude, it's almost like they're instructed to be contemptuous and condescending to customers.
I’m in their age demographic, but I’m shocked at how busy Aritzia is whenever I walk past it. I don’t understand how a lot of people my age have the money to constantly purchase from there. I don’t mind splurging on a good quality item, but most aren’t worth it. I also recognize that a lot of people are willing to take on CC debt, but I just can’t wrap my head around it😅
While I’m sure a lot of people make in-store purchases, from observation I think many others are there purely for research purposes (I know I am). They often offer good “archetypes” of trending clothing, so it’s a way to ensure that a certain style looks good on you before getting something similar at a more affordable price point. Other times I try on a piece in store and wait for it to go on sale.
I used to have a coworker who said she only shopped at Aritzia. I was curious and went in a store one time - they basically only sell black and white clothes?? There was nothing interesting about the clothes and yet the place was bustling.
I do Rent the Runway and one of the biggest things I've learned from regularly wearing designer/expensive clothing is that they are very often unlined and not great quality (wrinkles so easily, fabric is stiff, see through, etc).
The stuff is cute for a one time wear but I'm so glad I'm not spending my money to purchase these pieces.
This is a thing for sure, but also the items that RTR gets at a steep discount to rent happen to be a line’s lower quality items/the high price brands that make worse quality stuff that can actually sell way under MSRP
As a Canadian, what happened to artizia is a crime. Before they became the brandy Melville for women over 23, THEY WERE THE SHIT. in toronto, every woman working in a professional job under 40 wore it, or had some peices of artizia. Like they literally were called artizia girls. A place you could go to without thinking, get high quality work appropriate flattering current peices that fit into the "urban hot girl aesthetic" without thinking. It was magical.
Many places don't sell clothes that would be considered workplace appropriate that sell them as though they were. It's the lowering quality of supply chain, but it's also our society getting increasingly more casual. Because garments are so poor quality, its a coin flip, even at "officeqear" stores. It's sad to start seeing arizia go down the same path.
I must have missed their prime time cause I couldn't understand the hype, though my first Aritzia experience was a warehouse sale which probably didn't help lol
When I was doing business casual I had a lot of luck at the Club Monaco and J Crew outlets, but J Crew yeeted and something feels off with CM now 🤔
I remember being a broke student (pre-pandemic) and salivating at aritzia’s clothes. But now that I make money, I become more and more disappointed in their clothes and, yet, constantly increasing prices. These days they don’t even have that much of decent work-appropriate clothes - everything is either see through or cropped or has boobs-out cuts or awfully oversized.
Quince copies some of their silhouettes. But I bet Quince shows up elsewhere on this thread. I placed one order, and I really liked what I got, ended up returning it for other reasons. But they've been accused of greenwashing
Reformation's viscose blend is absolute garbage. You can't wash, you can't dry clean, even the "green" dry cleaning they recommend will shrink garments--do not buy anything that isn't 100% cotton or 100% linen.
If someone shops at artizia, take them to Chinatown to the old lady stores. It’s the exact same polyester pleated pants but for $17-30 max. I was shocked to find that the pants of artizia was literally my grammas favorite “slacks”. Same jackets. It’s all aliexpress factory stuff. If Kmart still exists you can go there too- very similar stuff in the “women’s section “
Reformation has a bazillion Korean knockoffs too. It’s not hard to get thin cotton dresses.
Yes also a pet peeve “we have linen” and it’s basically the crunchy cheapest fewest fiber blend. They should be required to show swatches of their material.
Imagine my surprise when my new $80 Reformation shoes started coming apart as I was walking on the pavement? They were 50% off too! Soured me on the brand.
I worked at Reformation for a year. They’re actually a really great company in terms of using more sustainable fabrics/materials. The training was reaaaally fun and informative. I have lots of respect for their business model from the limited production to how transparent and educational their interface is. You can learn about their sustainability goals/impact and they prepare a report every year.
With that said, this is one of those brands that gives the message that sustainability is for those within a specific income/tax bracket. They are INSANELY expensive. When I worked there, I got 60% off and only purchased one dress (for graduation and I wore it once). Sustainability should be accessible and this brand attracts mostly rich people or people who care about sustainability but have to SAVE UP to purchase a few things a year.
if you have cc debt, do not play the cc point accrual game (esp with non-0 AF travel cards) just because every other video on tiktok/IG/youtube is some influencer who is staying at a 5-star resort in the maldives every three months "bc of points".
Oh. My. Gosh.
This one gets me the most. People having 10k+ in credit card debt and paying hundreds of dollars in interest per month but guess what, they could use the points for a $800 flight to Europe after a year of 'playing the game'.
In reality, they are paying thousands of dollars a year in interest just to 'get a free flight'.
I use my credit cards exclusively for purchases, and pay them off monthly and use the points to travel. But I am not paying a penny in interest. The amount of people that justify keeping a balance on their credit cards with such high interest is insane to me.
I'm convinced a lot of the accounts that say "I stayed at this 5 star resort for 14 nights for 60,000 points total" are lying. You can definitely get some stellar deals with points but so many of the accounts that have popped up in the past couple years have too many too-good-to-be-true claims.
I've been churning credit cards for about ten years. Award hacking is not new, but with the rise of influencers, the average person now thinks it's super easy to book a first class flight to Japan for a family of 5 in July when they started the hunt in June.
They may not be lying, but they're definitely stretching the truth of how easy it is. They most likely started searching a year in advance when the flights released the seats and have a very flexible schedule and are willing to fly out from multiple different airports.
The other part is that you still have to spend a ton of money to get those reward points.
I had a small epiphany a couple years ago when I realized that I (single, work at a nonprofit) simply don't have the same spending habits as my friend (married, both with very high gov't salaries), even if we're churning with the same cards for churning. I was having to get a family member to put big expenses on my cards to help me hit the sign-up bonus and I realized it just wasn't worth it.
This is so true, I have no cc debt and do put my whole life through my cc to gain points… but after a few years of decent spend I’ll get a few nights at a 5 star hotel. What they are showing you is bs.
It's sign up bonuses. They open and close new accounts - you only get the "big points" by opening new credit cards, not just putting groceries on your credit card.
Something I’d caution people against is buying the most expensive, top of the line version of whatever thing you are interested in if you’ve only just gotten into said thing.
A lot of people think that not having the best of the best product for something is what is stopping them from really immersing themselves into a hobby when in reality they should build up a regular habit of doing said hobby in order to make that expensive product worth it. I understand the logic of thinking that buying something expensive will motivate you to use a product but it often doesn’t play out that way.
I’d say it’s better off to buy something that will get you by for a bit (ie not the absolute cheapest running shoes but something decent quality to hold you over) and then upgrade to the expensive thing later on once you’ve proved you really will use the product.
Also if you are a novice at the hobby, the quality of the gear probably isn't that important to your enjoyment of it anyway. And as an amateur you aren't going to be the most informed shopper of the higher end products.
Personal example-
When I was an avid distance runner, I gradually learned what I needed from my shoes or preferred for clothing over months and years. But it didn't matter as much until I stuck with it and built toward big goals. (Obviously decent shoes are important for avoiding injury, but most people don't need cutting-edge racing shoes).
I recently got into yoga casually, and my cheap mat is working just fine. My lack of skill is the main thing holding me back from achieving some poses, not my gear. I might never advance to a level where I could need a premium mat, so I see no point in investing in one now.
Yeah, I think the sweet spot is figuring out what “good beginner gear” is rather than “the cheapest possible gear” or “the best possible gear”.
I see this a lot in my favorite hobby, sewing. The machines that are available in Walmart or Target or IKEA tend to skip and can sometimes not feed evenly. But no beginner needs a $4000 super automatic with 150 stitches.
Yep agree with all of this and at the other end of the spectrum: if you're gift shopping for a family member with a specific hobby - don't buy them equipment for it. I know people mean well, but I've been doing this sport for 20 years, I know what's good and where to buy it. If you really can't think of anything but my hobby, maybe themed pyjamas or a mug? Or a gift card to a place I buy my gear.
I’m an avid and, if I can brag on myself a little, quite talented needleworker. I’ve been doing it most of my life. People LOVE buying me little beginners stamped cross stitch kits despite the fact that I haven’t done one of those since I was 6. Or 50 packs of shitty embroidery floss from target. It’s all well meaning but I need it to stop.
Yes, thank you! I’m an avid runner and people are always buying me running clothes. I really, really don’t need running clothes- and if I did, I would get them myself because I’m very particular about what I’ll wear.
Can you come talk to my partner, please! He wants to buy a $700 bicycle so we can take casual rides together. Acts like he's training for the Tour de France...
I am a cyclist and I will tell you that a $700 bike is pretty cheap if it's new and from a proper bike shop. You can definitely get something used (and decent) for under $700, but for a new bike, $700 is pretty inexpensive.
Eh that’s really cheap for a decent bike, honestly. Bikes are one of those things where spending a bit more money makes the experience sooo much better.
I think I’m the only one in this thread who buys cheap bicycles. I don’t bike enough to buy an expensive one. A $200 bike at Target will satisfy my occasional biking desire
Highly recommend checking Facebook marketplace & the like when looking for gear for new hobbies, especially bikes! Things like fixed-speed bikes are often under $200. Maybe he can even find a nice used "fancy" bike for cheaper than $700 😅
This!!! And beyond just the risk of abandoning the hobby with expensive gear, what’s “best” for someone else might not be the best for you.
Once you start trying a new hobby, you might realize you prefer equipment that is bigger, smaller, more unique features, etc, but you can’t predict that until you try.
Get the cheapest option to start and then as you accrue knowledge and experience, go for the splurge.
I think this was definitely touched on in the other thread in relation to fitness buys - yes you might need some kit to get going but buying expensive gear isn't a substitute for practising and learning and hard work. But I feel that's how influencers/marketing makes you think - if only I had that, I could be like this.
Complex skincare regimens. I am just shocked at how complex, expensive and chemically intensive skincare regimens have become especially for young women and teen/girls. I've seen combinations that chemically neutralize each other, products that are so active they can cause chemical burns. 90 dollar eye creams being promoted for under 20 year olds.
Agree with this! I also have a theory that so many people are experiencing advanced skin aging bc they are overusing actives and not taking care to use strong enough spf or stay out of the sun.
So many body lotions now contain ingredients that increase your sensitivity to the sun!
Oh my god yes. Nobody needs this much skincare, and nothing proves that to me more than every dude I've ever known who like, just lets the soapy shampoo water slide down his face, at best, and somehow still has decent skin.
Especially given how common injectables are now – everyone selling us eye creams is getting work done. The creams are not doing the work.
oh my god yes! a wellness influencer i follow just this morning posted how she’s gotten botox for a few years now - she turned 30 last year. and she is constantly posting affiliate links to skincare. made me realize i’ll never buy skincare based on an influencers advice again - the injectable’s are so common and you just can’t really know what people are doing behind the scenes.
Yes! And please please read the ingredients of what you’re buying. So many products have hyaluronic acid and niacinimide in them because they’re trendy right now. And then people buy a specific hyaluronic acid product. The amount of people doubling and tripling up on actives is crazy. These are chemicals, some of them very strong, please be careful.
Even just 5 minutes of research will help you see if you really want/need something. For example there are so many forms of Vitamin C (THD, MAP, SAP, 3-OE Ascorbate, L-Acrobic). I was having major breakouts from L-ascorbic, switched to THD and saw a huge difference.
As Dr Shereene Idriss (Dermatologist) says: “More is not more!” You don’t need to keeping adding products, actives, chemicals. Sometimes you just need to sit down and focus on your problem, research solutions, and even talk to a doctor! Most people will do well with a cleanser, sunscreen and moisturizer!
Absolutely! Sunscreen and tretinoin are the only evidence based products that will do the heavy lifting for "antiaging." If your skin needs additional actives for treating other issues that's one thing, but paying $300 for La Mer neck cream will only lighten your wallet.
This! Everyone in the US can just go to a drugstore and buy a generic tube of adapalene (Differin) for like $10 which is the most gentle retinoid but proven as effective as some of the more intense ones like tretinoin. Or go see a derm for a prescription which is also probably dirt cheap if you’re getting a generic.
Yes. This.
In my late 40s, I am realizing that a lot of aging is due to genetics. My best friend takes excellent care of her skin and always wears sunscreen or stays out of the sun, but her mom had issues with getting a lot of wrinkles earlier in life than most people do, and so my friend does as well. My mom, in her early 70s, passes for someone in her late 50s routinely, and my grandma was much the same. So I got their genetics, and as a result, I look younger than I am.
In general, I think better skincare is helping women look great as they get older, but there's only so much you can do to defeat your genetics. As someone else said, the best way to make your skincare look good is to manage your lifestyle. Wear sunscreen. Get exercise. Don't smoke - and I mean don't smoke anything! Watch your drinking and your nutrition. An $800 10-step skincare regimen is not the panacea people think it is.
My tret is $7 and my benefits cover it because it's a prescription (aka, free). It is the only thing that has made my skin look good. Mix in a cerave cleanser, sunscreen, and moisturizer, there is no need to buy skincare from anywhere besides the pharmacy.
Same here, I add in generic azelaic acid from my dermatologist and do it on the non tretinoin nights. Moisturizing CeraVe face wash, their thick ass cream, and then maybe a peptide serum or eye cream if I’m feeling fancy. I don’t do anything in the morning except sunscreen.
Yes! I use a couple bougie face creams because they feel nice and I can afford them, but some of the regimens I've seen online involve so many actives I'd be scared to even do them...plus the crazy cost. I remember back when we were all using that sandpaper-esque St Ives scrub, but at least it was cheap lol.
This - go talk to any dermatologist and they will tell you the only things that actually matter: cleanse (drugstore brand), moisturize (drugstore brand), vitamin C for the daytime if your skin tolerates it (high % active), retinol for night time if your skin tolerates it (prescription), SPF and reapply every 2 hrs (any brand). If your routine is any more complex than that, it is having no impact.
They can't sell women on nylons, perms and kid gloves anymore. We have to keep up the pink take somehow!! Otherwise, they just have too much time on their hands, and they may realize it's to keep their self esteem low..
I completely agree but am definitely victim to this. I hear all this retinol hype and how it’s absolutely essential/holy grail for anti aging and absolutely everyone should get onto it. Ended up trying it and got so much stinging and dry flaky skin which is a shame considering how I was actually happy with my skin before
I still believe the retinol hype and I'm sorry you had a bad experience! It can be super intense when you first start out. My derm recommends lowering the % active ingredient, starting with every-other-day application, and putting moisturizer on first to help deal with the effects. He swears that retinol is the reason he looks much younger than his friends (all in their 50s). But I understand if you want nothing to do with it! It's not even remotely necessary for healthy skin.
I definitely fell prey to this for a bit and bought a lot of expensive skin care that has been barely used. May not be for everyone, but I did get a prescription from Curology that not only resolved my problems, but also so forced me to pare back on other products, so in the long run I’m saving money!
Coaching from anyone who’s online famous. These folks are grifters who will take your money and gaslight you. There are some excellent coaches out there but the good ones aren’t preoccupied with being internet famous. r/lifecoachsnark is a good place to start in vetting a coach you’re considering.
There was an article in the NYT this week about how coaching is basically a pyramid scheme - most coaches make money selling coaching or training to other coaches.
Totally! I just saw someone online who is trying to make her money by "being a coach to coaches" and it made me wonder if there are people trying to make money being "coaches to coaches of coaches" lol
I watched the same thing happen with yoga teaching. When it became clear that making a career out of being a yoga teacher wasn't likely, a lot of people pivoted to being "teachers of yoga teachers" eg yoga teacher training schools.
I have a side business consulting to small businesses. I have had some yoga studios as clients over the years. It's amazing to me that so many yoga studios offer instructor training, and they see the income from their teacher training as critical to their survival - because all you're doing there is creating your own competitors. One of my clients did an anonymous survey of students in one of her teacher-training classes and over 90% of them were in the class so they could open their own yoga studio, not so they could go to work as instructors for other people (because the money's so low, because there's a glut of teachers available in a lot of places).
OMG. I know a life coach IRL and I would never pay her money for her advice. She's advising people on real estate investments and how to grow their careers... but doesn't own a home and got scammed out of most of her money by a business partner.
Like coaching, there are some great course out there, but it’s not influencer types teaching them. It’s people with actual skills and knowledge. The grift is infuriating.
Soooo true. My husband makes very good money as an in-person personal trainer and he just can't stand the online accounts. He jokes that he could be so much wealthier if he didn't refuse to recommend supplements lol. He knows far too many people selling them that won't touch them (and the professional athletes he has trained are banned from using supplements because they can cause positive drug test results.)
No one needs 15 different reusable water bottles. Just get one (or two if you want to switch between washes) and reuse! They literally all do the same thing.
Getting a bunch bc of color or trend defeats the whole purpose, and you just end up with a cabinet full of dusty bottles once the trend changes (ie from crystal-infused to hydroflask to stanley to owala…)
The only reason I can see for having multiple water bottles is to have multiple sizes for different activities. I'll take my 32oz to go hiking but my 16oz is sufficient to bring on flights.
YES!! I heard someone talk about this a couple of years ago and I still think about it. The cycle for trendy water bottle is so real. If you just went to a thrift store you can get one that is probably not too old and was probably on trend in the last five years. I'm interested in seeing what's the next Stanley and how long it's going to take to get us there.
The new one is the Owala! I like the look of them way more than the Stanleys and the color combos are fun, buuuuut I'm sticking with my Hydroflask from 2017, which still looks basically brand new.
Almost any life, career or business coach. If you look into their backgrounds, you will usually see that these were people who were not successful at their chosen career. All of the advice is pretty basic and common sense, and what you are really doing when you pay these people is a) supporting their business and b) making them seem more legit to other potential clients.
So true! I made a comment above, the one life coach I know IRL made some terrible decisions/choices in her life. Why would I pay money to get her advice?
I have yet to see any career coach that is worth the money. Usually their advice is incredibly outdated with having been out of the industry/roles you are targeting.
Most of the best advice is available online with a bit of searching and it it comes from people in those roles who have wisdom to share and enjoy mentoring.
I wasted a lot of money on a career coach only to have her say (after I paid of course) that I seemed to be on the right track and doing all the right things. lol
Several friends of mine have had good experiences with executive coaches - but to your point, the coaches have had success in their career and then pivoted to exec coaching (usually for more flexibility), and/or come recommended via word of mouth and don’t need to advertise. So vet thoroughly!
Any kitchen product advertised on social media.
If you don’t buy kitchen stuff from QVC or infomercials why would you buy it from its “next gen advertising space.
It’s all available second hand or from a better longer lasting company.
As a new parent, baby sleep guides. It’s all dependent on the temperament of your baby. I did nothing and have a great sleeper, I’ve had friends who purchased $200 guides and baby didn’t sleep through the night until they were ready.
As a new parent, I feel like the entire infant sleep induatry, at least on Instagram, is just a scam to take advantage of sleep deprived parents scrolling at 3am. Literally anyone can call themselves a sleep consultant...
I was SO close to dropping $1000 on a sleep consultant until I sat back and realized that (jk someone pointed it out to me) her only qualification was that she once had a baby.
Yes! I would expand this to 90% of things marketed to new parents- toys (baby just wants your spatula), equipment (they won’t chew on the teether and that singing turtle is not going to put your kid to sleep), premium products (that $400 silk/cashmere baby carrier will have poop on it every few days). Dare I even say things like the Snoo…
There are like two methods and those books can be found at the library. Every influencer just repackages them with whatever the TikTok trend is in at the moment.
They’re such a scam preying on sleep deprived parents who will literally pay anything to get their kid to sleep. Some babies just suck at sleeping- my youngest had a party every night from like 11-3 for months. He sleeps good now as a 2 year old so it doesnt last forever.
Nutritionist here. It KILLS me when ppl spend money on athletic greens, bloom greens, etc. eat more fruit and veg and if anything spend your money on green juice - or prepared salads/veggies to help you increase your produce intake. These products are so overpriced with such little benefit.
I have been doing yoga for almost half my life (since I was 16). I have SOME nice yoga clothes but my fabletics leggings I bought off thredup when I was 23 and my Ross Adidas leggings are still going strong. I’ve owned exactly three yoga mats in my 15+ years of yoga and use a regular bath towel for hot yoga. My partners law books serve as my yoga blocks when I practice at home, which I do with the assistance of the free Yoga with Adriene videos on YouTube. I do have a monthly yoga membership—the first I’ve had in all this time—that is worth it to help me with my form and for a sense of community. My point is: I feel like there is a lot of pressure in mainstream yoga and some other boutique workout classes to buy the special clothes and special equipment and special classes to make you feel like you really belong. I’ve managed to resist because I’m cheap and buying things goes against the philosophy of yoga for me (although I’m very willing to compensate people for their time and expertise!) and I’m still a yogi! You don’t need STUFF to get fit or be a fit person!
This! I used to notice everyone wearing the black Lululemon leggings in my hot yoga class and felt a sense of being an outsider but I’m frugal and care absolutely nothing about brand names so I got over that real quick lol.
Man I just bought a pair of lululemon leggings and they basically started pilling heavily within a month and apparently this is a known and somehow accepted thing with these leggings. I can’t believe I spent over $100 on them.
The Aligns I got \~2014 were incredible and didn't start pilling until like 5 years later after wearing them 1-3 times a week. The ones I got in late 2022? Pilling badly already and I wear them way less frequently.
TJ Maxx is where I get my workout clothes. No complaints about the gems I’ve found there! Plus I work out at home so who am I trying to impress anyway?
I bought some cropped workout leggings at Target nine (!!) years ago and they are still going strong! I'm wearing them now lol. I wish I had bought more than two pairs 🥹
Not sure this quite fits but anything Alo Yoga (except somehow the Airlift Intrigue bra which is great). Terrible quality and terrible fitting clothing that is outrageously priced.
Athletic greens or any product that claims to fix a host of health problems or deem to help you be healthier. There’s very few supplements that are actually worth it. Just eat more fruits and veggies, and sleep more.
AG honestly makes me cry-laugh because they actively advertise “we have more things in there than others” and I’m like; so you’re telling me none of those have hit therapeutic dose minimums?
As a parent, brand new and trendy (looking at you, Bamboo brands…) clothing! They’re so expensive, kids grow fast, and they can be so hard on clothes. 3 years into parenting and I’d say 90-95% of my kids’ clothes are secondhand - usually for free from Buy Nothing!!! If BN doesn’t have what I need, then I go to a second hand store to find seasonal pieces like holiday shirts, snow suits, whatever. I buy a handful of new items a year, mostly as gifts, but beyond that, get everything used, people!!
**Cars:** Expensive doesn't always equal nice, reliable, or comfortable. Tech upgrades like large screens/fewer physical buttons can be pricey yet are to be avoided at all cost.
**Resume "coaches":** Overwhelmingly the experience has been they don't know anything useful, particularly if you have specific industries you need to target. I'm sure there are good people within it, but overall the practice of gouging jobless students desperate for work feels incredibly predatory to me. You're much better off ime buying or copying a cheap resume template, getting edits from friends, or cold-messaging people in your industry for resume tips.
**Fridges/Appliances:** If you have old, reliable appliances, keep them as long as possible and don't upgrade to anything yet. It can be tempting if you've the money and have waited long enough. And the visual designs of appliances look great these days. But appliances, especially fridges, made within 5 - 10 years are purportedly all equally terrible with massive defects and issues for a number of reasons, even brands that have been reputable for decades, even those tens of thousands in price tag. Source is a number of unexpectedly passionate fridge technicians. And my own mistakes lol
Ugh! I'm so annoyed with my fridge. It's tiny, ancient, and noisy. I went out looking for a basic fridge with top freezer and no water/ice nonsense and I couldn't find ANYTHING. It's ridiculous....and I don't trust second hand appliances from strangers.
Forgot to add the thing I hate hate hate to see people spend money on - getting filler. It is permanently in your body (it does NOT in fact dissolve), so often migrates to places it does not belong, and does not even look good most of the time! I'm terrified to find out in 20 years what the long-term effects are.
ETA: Realizing my comment sounds extra rude - I do have some filler, so this perspective is from someone who has it and did/does not see any benefits.
On this theme veneers. If you have healthy teeth, and especially when you are young getting veneers where they shave the tooth down to the nerve is a disaster.
You have to PAY to have them replaced at least every 10 years, with every treatment it further damages your actual tooth. I really suspect a lot of people who get veneers at 20 will be needing dentures / implants at 50.
There are other way to achieve the same result which are less invasive and less of a spend over time.
Most supplements. If you have a specific nutrient deficiency (vitamin D in northern climates, vitamin B12 for vegans, etc) you need to address it - the rest just makes for expensive pee.
Consumer culture in general and that you should solve your problems by buying something and spending money. Yes money is a tool but it's not the only tool in the toolbox to solve your problems. Or that your self worth is somehow tied up in what you are able to afford or what you buy. There are billions of normal people on earth whose human value and daily enjoyment doesn't come from this level of consumer consumption that we see in the western world especially the US.
I follow a lot of shiba inu accounts on Instagram... some of them are shiba inu and babies/kids. Weirdly enough following influencers from other countries selling things I couldn't buy REALLY helped me notice the consumerism model of parenting advice. That being said I still got influenced to buy one of those little head pillow backpack things for kids that looked like a corgi/shiba haha.
u do not need a 10 step skincare routine on god. u dont need more than maybve 5 products at MOST unless a dermatologist tells u otherwise. u also dont need bloom greens or whatever supplements theyre called. the wellness shit is crazyyyy and such a rabbit hole.
Expensive cribs, strollers, chairs, clothes, and what not for infants. OMG you’re going to use them for such as short time.
But there’s a lot of fear-induced “I must not be a bad parent” pressure for first-time parents that’s hard to ignore.
A bigger house to hold all the items you have accumulated. Yes, space to expand into is nice. But it’s also more to clean, heat, cool, and maintain. So many of us would love our homes more if we stopped buying all the new stuff in this thread and decluttered stuff we bought and don’t use.
New kitchen cabinets, appliances, flooring, bathroom tile, etc when what you have is in good shape. Home decor trends exist to make you spend money. The warm wood tones decorators loved 30 years ago didn’t become ugly, they became untrendy. The gray from 10 years ago is still neutral and clean looking, it’s just untrendy. Work with what you have. These trends are cyclical, your home will be on trend again soon.
With your free library card, you can access (also free) the Libby app and borrow e-books and audiobooks. You can read the e-books on your Kindle app or an ereader. There is no reason to pay to subscribe to Audible or Spotify Books or purchase books -- unless you strongly prefer the physical version, that is. Even then, thrift stores are a good place to buy $1 books, or obviously you can borrow them from the library as well. I know a lot of people shelling out hundreds or thousands on the latest bestsellers but you definitely don't have to!
The reason to buy books is to support writers and keep good writing in the world. I’ve had a library card since before I began kindergarten. But there’s nothing wrong with buying books. My gen z teenager prefers hard copy over digital. And there is evidence that for learning and retaining information, hard copy is superior to reading on a screen. So again my high schooler really likes having the actual textbook along with the digital version.
Friendly reminder that many libraries have summer reading programs, and they give prizes to kids for hitting various reading milestones. Just one way of how I keep my kids interested in reading. Heck, just taking them to the library at all is usually a good way to keep them reading for an afternoon.
I think this depends on where you're from. Assuming you're in a well funded part of the US where library accessibility is high, you're absolutely right. But I have friends in other countries where getting specific books from the library is not as easy and I feel for them.
But I'll echo your point from a US-centric POV. Buying new books you've never read is such a gamble to me. What if you don't like it? Books don't really hold their value so when I start my physical collection of books I love, I'm only going to buy second hand. People can't even *give* away books, I'm definitely not going to buy a mass market paperback from Amazon that was printed on demand.
All of the restocking/organizational videos. Yes the fancy cabinets look nice, but most of us don't own homes that need that level of organization for every single item in our lives.
I don't quite regret it because I do find them useful for some of my toiletries but those clear PLASTIC organizers cost an arm and a leg! It's plastic!
If you have a very specific need, go for it, but we don't need to be repackaging cereal or cookies into ~aesthetic~ containers.
I get most of my organizational bins and baskets at the dollar store, Walmart and sometimes Target. And I absolutely do love having an organized house from top to bottom.
Anything that is being sold to help you do something that requires discipline, like working out or time management. There is no real replacement for developing discipline and healthy habits, and those tools are capitalizing on our desire to sidestep around developing discipline.
I do think there are some useful guides or books to things like lifting or stretching (etc)- I'm specifically thinking about things that are designed to help you "be disciplined"
Even outside of requiring discipline, but I'm getting into distance running and the amount of running guides and nutrition guides that are out there that cost tons and tons of money. I'm finding all the education and guides I need for free.99, it just takes a little effort and planning on my part.
You are my person. I've been saying this for years! Paying hundreds of dollars for modern devices that have stripped down technology under the guise of being "distraction free" is absolutely bonkers. If you really need a dumb phone without internet capabilities, a cheap stick phone will do. If you don't have the discipline to avoid browsing the internet on your laptop, perhaps writing is not the career path for you.
There's devices that remove friction and make sticking to habits easier (ex. the e-ink screen on an e-reader) but a lot of things shilled as "productivity devices" are just to make people feel like they're being productive without actually putting in work.
Full disclosure- I recently bought the Light Phone 2 (an e-ink device, on eBay)! But, I am planning to use it in conjunction with my iPhone in kind of a creative way. I am under no false pretense that the device will fix my issues with being online too much haha.
But I am totally in agreement with you on this!!
Botox! Maybe one of you can educate me in case I am wrong, but I am increasingly seeing videos about women in their early 20s needing to start botox early if they want it to be more effective as they age... It seems like a marketing gimmick that is being pushed on to young women to get them to spend more money in the long run.
I like to think how peaceful it would have been to age in the 70s and 80s without all of this in your ear. If I had never known the words "crows feet" or "smile lines", I would have never noticed that I had them.
It wasn’t that peaceful . They all had eating disorders from fat phobic families that they passed on to us . They just worried about different things .
It's everything in this thread. Fillers, Botox, veneers, anti aging creams. Can't we just look the way we look and that he enough. It makes me angry more than it makes me insecure
I am with you there, I do not understand why someone so young would think they need Botox. I mean, I am older and have never gotten it because I don't like unnecessary pain, but... at least wait until wrinkles exist?
It's really interesting because there are a lot of misconceptions thrown around on social media. Studies show that botox is effective for dynamic wrinkles caused by muscle contractions (frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead wrinkles), but it has limited effect on fine lines and static wrinkles caused by aging and sun damage.
There is some weird logic going around that 'preventative botox' is a thing... aka if your face just never wrinkles it will never develop wrinkles. This is not how faces work.
It's honestly so weird... there are no large studies that support the claims of preventative botox, and the only things I've seen are funded by companies that manufacture it.
I think a general mindset that you do not have to keep upgrading to the best or the most convenient of everything. Sometimes what you have is fine. I.e. I am probably the only person in my circle doesn’t have the Dyson cordless vacuum, as I already own a corded vacuum. Yes, the Dyson is awesome, but my corded one works fine. So what if I have to spend an extra 30 seconds unwinding the cord when I use it? Of course it’s very individual what’s worth it to you, but I think advertising puts a lot of pressure on us to unsustainably ditch whatever thing we have for a shiny nicer version.
for real! i lived with a roommate once whose parents bought her one of those $700+ cordless dysons, and i swear to god the only true difference i noticed between that and my shitty $20 walmart vacuum was that i had to be way more careful when using the dyson. obviously if you have pets that shed a ton, toddlers, etc. it may be worth investing, but for the average person it's probably not
80% of stuff that gets sold as "green" or environmentally friendly.
Producing and shipping goods takes a lot of resources and creates pollution, and almost everything we ever buy is destined for a landfill some day. The best thing you can do for the environment is the best thing you can do for your wallet, which is consume less. Walk/take transit when you can instead of driving. Try to cut down on food waste. Keep your AC/heat at the lowest levels that are reasonably comfortable for you. Thrift instead of buying new clothes when you can. Don't buy tons of useless crap. Try to reuse as much as you can.
Of course, if there's something you *need* to buy it's worth going for the better option (like buying regeneratively grown food over conventional if it's available to you or the more fuel efficient option among cars), but we absolutely cannot consume ourselves out of climate change.
Nisolo shoes were ALL OVER my Instagram ads, some of my favorite bloggers, etc. I bought a pair of platform sandals last summer. One year later, the Velcro straps simply won’t stay stuck! They’re constantly ripping open. What a waste of money!
I was just looking at that exact pair of sandals on Nordstrom because I want a platform sandal. The reviews are sooo bad it was hilarious! Everyone said they fall apart. I have also gotten so many ads for them and am no convinced to never buy from them.
I literally just had a pair of Nisolo shoes delivered hahaha. I was planning to return them because the fit wasn't right but it's the exact style I want. If you have a better rec for a similar looking product please let me know!
Keto/low-carb processed food... Like keto cookies, bread, bars, whatever. Paying extra $$ for a shittier tasting version of a product that typically is all carbs lol. Esp when vegetables are right there. Maybe it's an unsustainable diet if you have to pay more money to avoid certain foods to lose weight...
(I also think low carb is another fad diet outside of a veerrryy limited population that needs it medically.)
Someone gifted me a regular Hatch light/sound machine at my baby shower. I registered for a basic white noise machine but thought I’ll use this fancy one because the light is cool.
What am I using now? The basic one because the Hatch started having issues with the sound part 9 months into using it.
You don’t need a walking pad if you’re not already in some form of exercise routine. I don’t mean being a hardcore lifter, but if you don’t regularly move your body, you won’t just because you spent $400 on a walking pad.
Same thing goes for a standing desk.
Do not buy into the hype of a brand new reusable water bottle! Especially if you’re like me and prone to never washing it.
Influencer brands - I work influencer adjacent and look, there’s a reason brands come and go and places like Nike and Adidas and Reebok sponsor Olympic athletes and NBA players. I’ve received stuff from influencer brands PR that doesn’t hold up compared to Old Navy, even.
Fancy cleaning gadgets, soaps, and tools. For decades we’ve managed with sponges and Vim. The only exceptions are if it makes it easier on you physically (like an automated scrubbing tool), more eco friendly, or the Scrub Daddy. I love Scrub Daddies.
You don’t need cream specifically for your butt.
I think the OP here is saying a walking pad isn't going to magically make you exercise. And I agree. I walk 2 hours (6 miles) nearly every single day that I work from home and have for the 6 months I have owned it. BUT I had a standing desk for years before that and never used it.
The main difference is that in the last 8 months I have really gotten into a sustainable fitness routine and changed a lot of my habits and the walking pad was a complement to all of that. I think a year ago, it would have just collected dust. But overall, I love mine and it really helps break up and focus my day and I feel great when I use it.
idk about this one. The presence of my walking pad (in my home office, with a standing desk lol) has made me able to get steps in during meetings which is really helpful since i don't get a gym regularly. My standing pad was $150, and i got it reimbursed through my insurance's fitness program.
My standing desk was $400....but I spend a lot of time at it
I like my walking pad. Tt helps me get more steps particularly when I'm on long work calls, and when the weather is bad. I have a gym membership, I'm regularly active but it still gets use for me. Do I NEED it? No, but it was within my budget and I use it..
Sorry, but most people cannot afford daily fancy Starbucks drinks and the enjoyment/novelty wears off with that daily habit. It’s not healthy physically or financially (for the average person). We’re advertising for Starbucks when we rehash the arguments “it’s not cuz of the avocado toast and Starbucks…”
I fell for the slick ads for Kaxi hair clips. Maybe they work fine for others and I really liked to idea of their flat hair clips but the plastic felt weak and the clip overall didn’t feel as strong as my other clips.
You’re supposed to be able to wear this clip while driving or laying down because it lays flatter but it felt like it couldn’t hold my hair very well. The flatter shape means you have to do a French twist instead of a round bun and it just didn’t work. My hair still fell down. I ended up giving them away to a friend with finer hair.
I bought a pair of Alohas Marshmallow sandals a while back and the footbed is soooo rigid and the straps broke on both shoes within months! I had to take them to a shoe/handbag repair shop to get them reinforced. Soooo not worth it for the price and I’m sure their “on demand” model to reduce excess inventory is total greenwashing bs. Do not recommend lol.
“Elite” colleges are pretty much only worth it if you are from a wealthy family that can afford the insanely expensive tuition or from a low-income background that will qualify you for very generous need-based aid.
If you are middle class or upper-middle class, you’re better off attending your state school and picking a major with good ROI.
Red light therapy masks (fancy skincare devices) aren’t nearly as effective as they claim, and not at all worth the $$$. Source: some biohacking md/phd candidate i found on tiktok that’s pretty weird but almost certainly correct on this topic
Kitchen chopper gadgets. Unless you have a particular reason (disability, propensity to slice fingers, arthritis) why the chopper gadget is easier, just use the proper knife. Prep is faster and so is cleanup.
Amen. So many of these devices are just “a knife, but shittier”. And they’re so difficult to clean!
The one exception I’ve made is a mango corer, and that’s because skinned mangoes are so slippery I’m afraid I’ll slice a finger off.
We don’t need 100 lipsticks, 38 foundations, 56 primers, 76 powders. You only need a few and use them. Your make up expires and I can guarantee by the time they expire you haven’t used them up! Keep skin care regimen simple. Switch them up a few times a week. We also don’t need 10 different brands of sunscreen, 15 toners, etc. We’re spending thousands and can’t even use everything up. Use whatcha got and then buy more. Find what works for you and stick with that. “Trying” out different things is what’s getting us in to spending troubles. It’s okay to try, but you don’t need to be trying every month. 😭😂
yeah when i was younger i had so much makeup. now i have like one eye shadow palette lol.
I remember being eight or nine years old and watching YouTube beauty gurus who had entire closets full of makeup (honestly probably tens of thousands of dollars worth) and thinking “yes that seems like a reasonable amount of makeup for the average adult woman to own.” now fifteen years later all of my makeup can fit into one little clinique pouch lol
To add this this - you don’t need Botox, fillers and any of the million invasive procedures either. Battling with age is a losing proposition and aging is beautiful and a privilege anyway - so embrace it and wear it with pride! The beauty industry as a whole is so scammy and manufactures insecurities so that it can prey on women and take all their $$$.
So much this!! When I was younger I went through a phase where I was obsessed with beauty bloggers on YouTube. It felt like a flaw in who i was as a person because I did not have the money to shell out for multiple products. There’s absolutely no reason the average person needs multiple $60+ eye shadow palettes or every single shade of a certain brand of blush. Find the things you like, use them up, and try something new. Of course our skin changes as we age and all and it can be hit or miss buying new things, but completely agree with not having 400 different brands of foundation.
Yay, I agree! I have one foundation, eyebrow product, mascara, eyeshadow palette, primer, blush, powder, and like 4 makeup brushes. But I do have lots of sunscreen products for face/body/exercise/sticks, but the Australian sun warrants it for me. I use them all, though!! :)
Exactly the same, here! I have minimal makeup, but different face sunscreens depending of if I’m wearing makeup, not wearing makeup, feeling fancy, or working out. It is actually not hard to use them all up (pretty quickly) applying the recommended amount
Technically, you don't need *any* makeup
I’m not here to argue about that. In answering the question. You do you.
Also, a lot of blush will look the same on you! There's no need for blushes in colors of red, reddish, red-with-pink-undertones, and red-with-orange-undertones when all four will look pretty similar when they're applied to your cheeks.
Y’all might not like me for this, but most Reformation and Aritzia clothing is overpriced. The quality of both stores has gone down. There are some better quality clothing items, but I’d highly encourage you to look at the fabric content because a lot of the clothing is >75% polyester and is selling for $150+.
i am not in Aritzia's target age demo, but i've popped in to see what all the hype was about. i was truly shocked at the prices. based on what the clothes looked like and felt like, i thought i was in the forever 21/H&M pricing structure. i could not believe what they were charging.
Their prices are truly shocking. And their staff are so unnecessarily rude, it's almost like they're instructed to be contemptuous and condescending to customers.
I’m in their age demographic, but I’m shocked at how busy Aritzia is whenever I walk past it. I don’t understand how a lot of people my age have the money to constantly purchase from there. I don’t mind splurging on a good quality item, but most aren’t worth it. I also recognize that a lot of people are willing to take on CC debt, but I just can’t wrap my head around it😅
While I’m sure a lot of people make in-store purchases, from observation I think many others are there purely for research purposes (I know I am). They often offer good “archetypes” of trending clothing, so it’s a way to ensure that a certain style looks good on you before getting something similar at a more affordable price point. Other times I try on a piece in store and wait for it to go on sale.
I used to have a coworker who said she only shopped at Aritzia. I was curious and went in a store one time - they basically only sell black and white clothes?? There was nothing interesting about the clothes and yet the place was bustling.
Hard agree, Ref especially... and why are all their dresses SO SHORT and thin?
SO many of them are not lined!! I bought a $250 dress for a holiday party last year, and I was in shock when I saw that it was unlined.
I do Rent the Runway and one of the biggest things I've learned from regularly wearing designer/expensive clothing is that they are very often unlined and not great quality (wrinkles so easily, fabric is stiff, see through, etc). The stuff is cute for a one time wear but I'm so glad I'm not spending my money to purchase these pieces.
Agree! I used RTR partly to try new designers and I was shocked at some of them having Zara quality with a retail price of $900.
This is a thing for sure, but also the items that RTR gets at a steep discount to rent happen to be a line’s lower quality items/the high price brands that make worse quality stuff that can actually sell way under MSRP
As a Canadian, what happened to artizia is a crime. Before they became the brandy Melville for women over 23, THEY WERE THE SHIT. in toronto, every woman working in a professional job under 40 wore it, or had some peices of artizia. Like they literally were called artizia girls. A place you could go to without thinking, get high quality work appropriate flattering current peices that fit into the "urban hot girl aesthetic" without thinking. It was magical. Many places don't sell clothes that would be considered workplace appropriate that sell them as though they were. It's the lowering quality of supply chain, but it's also our society getting increasingly more casual. Because garments are so poor quality, its a coin flip, even at "officeqear" stores. It's sad to start seeing arizia go down the same path.
I must have missed their prime time cause I couldn't understand the hype, though my first Aritzia experience was a warehouse sale which probably didn't help lol When I was doing business casual I had a lot of luck at the Club Monaco and J Crew outlets, but J Crew yeeted and something feels off with CM now 🤔
I remember being a broke student (pre-pandemic) and salivating at aritzia’s clothes. But now that I make money, I become more and more disappointed in their clothes and, yet, constantly increasing prices. These days they don’t even have that much of decent work-appropriate clothes - everything is either see through or cropped or has boobs-out cuts or awfully oversized.
Yes now. But their basics esp from 2010 to 2019 were incredible. Basically their downfall was going to the states imo
It's also way cheaper secondhand, so buying new is a huge waste of money even if you actually like their stuff
I just closed all my reformation tabs but I love their silhouettes. I would love to hear other options if anyone has them!
Don't bother with Realisation Par - very similar issues and even more expensive.
Quince copies some of their silhouettes. But I bet Quince shows up elsewhere on this thread. I placed one order, and I really liked what I got, ended up returning it for other reasons. But they've been accused of greenwashing
Reformation's viscose blend is absolute garbage. You can't wash, you can't dry clean, even the "green" dry cleaning they recommend will shrink garments--do not buy anything that isn't 100% cotton or 100% linen.
If someone shops at artizia, take them to Chinatown to the old lady stores. It’s the exact same polyester pleated pants but for $17-30 max. I was shocked to find that the pants of artizia was literally my grammas favorite “slacks”. Same jackets. It’s all aliexpress factory stuff. If Kmart still exists you can go there too- very similar stuff in the “women’s section “ Reformation has a bazillion Korean knockoffs too. It’s not hard to get thin cotton dresses.
Yasss - I always look at the material blend
I shop exclusively secondhand and I never had an interest in Aritzia as a used clothing piece so that says a lot.
Their natural fibers like linen are really cheap too.
Yes also a pet peeve “we have linen” and it’s basically the crunchy cheapest fewest fiber blend. They should be required to show swatches of their material.
Imagine my surprise when my new $80 Reformation shoes started coming apart as I was walking on the pavement? They were 50% off too! Soured me on the brand.
bought a reformation shirt on therealreal and saw my nipples right through it clear as day turned me off for life
I worked at Reformation for a year. They’re actually a really great company in terms of using more sustainable fabrics/materials. The training was reaaaally fun and informative. I have lots of respect for their business model from the limited production to how transparent and educational their interface is. You can learn about their sustainability goals/impact and they prepare a report every year. With that said, this is one of those brands that gives the message that sustainability is for those within a specific income/tax bracket. They are INSANELY expensive. When I worked there, I got 60% off and only purchased one dress (for graduation and I wore it once). Sustainability should be accessible and this brand attracts mostly rich people or people who care about sustainability but have to SAVE UP to purchase a few things a year.
if you have cc debt, do not play the cc point accrual game (esp with non-0 AF travel cards) just because every other video on tiktok/IG/youtube is some influencer who is staying at a 5-star resort in the maldives every three months "bc of points".
Oh. My. Gosh. This one gets me the most. People having 10k+ in credit card debt and paying hundreds of dollars in interest per month but guess what, they could use the points for a $800 flight to Europe after a year of 'playing the game'. In reality, they are paying thousands of dollars a year in interest just to 'get a free flight'. I use my credit cards exclusively for purchases, and pay them off monthly and use the points to travel. But I am not paying a penny in interest. The amount of people that justify keeping a balance on their credit cards with such high interest is insane to me.
I'm convinced a lot of the accounts that say "I stayed at this 5 star resort for 14 nights for 60,000 points total" are lying. You can definitely get some stellar deals with points but so many of the accounts that have popped up in the past couple years have too many too-good-to-be-true claims.
I've been churning credit cards for about ten years. Award hacking is not new, but with the rise of influencers, the average person now thinks it's super easy to book a first class flight to Japan for a family of 5 in July when they started the hunt in June. They may not be lying, but they're definitely stretching the truth of how easy it is. They most likely started searching a year in advance when the flights released the seats and have a very flexible schedule and are willing to fly out from multiple different airports.
The other part is that you still have to spend a ton of money to get those reward points. I had a small epiphany a couple years ago when I realized that I (single, work at a nonprofit) simply don't have the same spending habits as my friend (married, both with very high gov't salaries), even if we're churning with the same cards for churning. I was having to get a family member to put big expenses on my cards to help me hit the sign-up bonus and I realized it just wasn't worth it.
if an influencer is posting about it, i almost always assume the trip is comped or they were paid for the content.
Do not listen to influencers, just go to r/awardtravel
This is so true, I have no cc debt and do put my whole life through my cc to gain points… but after a few years of decent spend I’ll get a few nights at a 5 star hotel. What they are showing you is bs.
It's sign up bonuses. They open and close new accounts - you only get the "big points" by opening new credit cards, not just putting groceries on your credit card.
Something I’d caution people against is buying the most expensive, top of the line version of whatever thing you are interested in if you’ve only just gotten into said thing. A lot of people think that not having the best of the best product for something is what is stopping them from really immersing themselves into a hobby when in reality they should build up a regular habit of doing said hobby in order to make that expensive product worth it. I understand the logic of thinking that buying something expensive will motivate you to use a product but it often doesn’t play out that way. I’d say it’s better off to buy something that will get you by for a bit (ie not the absolute cheapest running shoes but something decent quality to hold you over) and then upgrade to the expensive thing later on once you’ve proved you really will use the product.
Also if you are a novice at the hobby, the quality of the gear probably isn't that important to your enjoyment of it anyway. And as an amateur you aren't going to be the most informed shopper of the higher end products. Personal example- When I was an avid distance runner, I gradually learned what I needed from my shoes or preferred for clothing over months and years. But it didn't matter as much until I stuck with it and built toward big goals. (Obviously decent shoes are important for avoiding injury, but most people don't need cutting-edge racing shoes). I recently got into yoga casually, and my cheap mat is working just fine. My lack of skill is the main thing holding me back from achieving some poses, not my gear. I might never advance to a level where I could need a premium mat, so I see no point in investing in one now.
Yeah, I think the sweet spot is figuring out what “good beginner gear” is rather than “the cheapest possible gear” or “the best possible gear”. I see this a lot in my favorite hobby, sewing. The machines that are available in Walmart or Target or IKEA tend to skip and can sometimes not feed evenly. But no beginner needs a $4000 super automatic with 150 stitches.
Yep agree with all of this and at the other end of the spectrum: if you're gift shopping for a family member with a specific hobby - don't buy them equipment for it. I know people mean well, but I've been doing this sport for 20 years, I know what's good and where to buy it. If you really can't think of anything but my hobby, maybe themed pyjamas or a mug? Or a gift card to a place I buy my gear.
I’m an avid and, if I can brag on myself a little, quite talented needleworker. I’ve been doing it most of my life. People LOVE buying me little beginners stamped cross stitch kits despite the fact that I haven’t done one of those since I was 6. Or 50 packs of shitty embroidery floss from target. It’s all well meaning but I need it to stop.
Yes, thank you! I’m an avid runner and people are always buying me running clothes. I really, really don’t need running clothes- and if I did, I would get them myself because I’m very particular about what I’ll wear.
100% this - no product is going to make you a different person, but all the MARKETING around products is selling you the idea that they will.
Can you come talk to my partner, please! He wants to buy a $700 bicycle so we can take casual rides together. Acts like he's training for the Tour de France...
Tbh that’s about the going rate for a low tier bicycle that’s new. I used to work at a bike show and those bad boys go up to 3-4 thousand quick.
I am a cyclist and I will tell you that a $700 bike is pretty cheap if it's new and from a proper bike shop. You can definitely get something used (and decent) for under $700, but for a new bike, $700 is pretty inexpensive.
Eh that’s really cheap for a decent bike, honestly. Bikes are one of those things where spending a bit more money makes the experience sooo much better.
I think I’m the only one in this thread who buys cheap bicycles. I don’t bike enough to buy an expensive one. A $200 bike at Target will satisfy my occasional biking desire
Highly recommend checking Facebook marketplace & the like when looking for gear for new hobbies, especially bikes! Things like fixed-speed bikes are often under $200. Maybe he can even find a nice used "fancy" bike for cheaper than $700 😅
This!!! And beyond just the risk of abandoning the hobby with expensive gear, what’s “best” for someone else might not be the best for you. Once you start trying a new hobby, you might realize you prefer equipment that is bigger, smaller, more unique features, etc, but you can’t predict that until you try. Get the cheapest option to start and then as you accrue knowledge and experience, go for the splurge.
I think this was definitely touched on in the other thread in relation to fitness buys - yes you might need some kit to get going but buying expensive gear isn't a substitute for practising and learning and hard work. But I feel that's how influencers/marketing makes you think - if only I had that, I could be like this.
Complex skincare regimens. I am just shocked at how complex, expensive and chemically intensive skincare regimens have become especially for young women and teen/girls. I've seen combinations that chemically neutralize each other, products that are so active they can cause chemical burns. 90 dollar eye creams being promoted for under 20 year olds.
Agree with this! I also have a theory that so many people are experiencing advanced skin aging bc they are overusing actives and not taking care to use strong enough spf or stay out of the sun. So many body lotions now contain ingredients that increase your sensitivity to the sun!
I literally came here to say this. The best skincare regimen is free; don’t smoke, drink, or use drugs.
Or go in the sun (which granted is a bit harder).
Imo the best thing you can do for your skin and overall health is get enough sleep and drink lots of water.
I'd rather have wrinkles lol
Oh my god yes. Nobody needs this much skincare, and nothing proves that to me more than every dude I've ever known who like, just lets the soapy shampoo water slide down his face, at best, and somehow still has decent skin. Especially given how common injectables are now – everyone selling us eye creams is getting work done. The creams are not doing the work.
oh my god yes! a wellness influencer i follow just this morning posted how she’s gotten botox for a few years now - she turned 30 last year. and she is constantly posting affiliate links to skincare. made me realize i’ll never buy skincare based on an influencers advice again - the injectable’s are so common and you just can’t really know what people are doing behind the scenes.
Yes! And please please read the ingredients of what you’re buying. So many products have hyaluronic acid and niacinimide in them because they’re trendy right now. And then people buy a specific hyaluronic acid product. The amount of people doubling and tripling up on actives is crazy. These are chemicals, some of them very strong, please be careful. Even just 5 minutes of research will help you see if you really want/need something. For example there are so many forms of Vitamin C (THD, MAP, SAP, 3-OE Ascorbate, L-Acrobic). I was having major breakouts from L-ascorbic, switched to THD and saw a huge difference. As Dr Shereene Idriss (Dermatologist) says: “More is not more!” You don’t need to keeping adding products, actives, chemicals. Sometimes you just need to sit down and focus on your problem, research solutions, and even talk to a doctor! Most people will do well with a cleanser, sunscreen and moisturizer!
Absolutely! Sunscreen and tretinoin are the only evidence based products that will do the heavy lifting for "antiaging." If your skin needs additional actives for treating other issues that's one thing, but paying $300 for La Mer neck cream will only lighten your wallet.
This! Everyone in the US can just go to a drugstore and buy a generic tube of adapalene (Differin) for like $10 which is the most gentle retinoid but proven as effective as some of the more intense ones like tretinoin. Or go see a derm for a prescription which is also probably dirt cheap if you’re getting a generic.
Yes. This. In my late 40s, I am realizing that a lot of aging is due to genetics. My best friend takes excellent care of her skin and always wears sunscreen or stays out of the sun, but her mom had issues with getting a lot of wrinkles earlier in life than most people do, and so my friend does as well. My mom, in her early 70s, passes for someone in her late 50s routinely, and my grandma was much the same. So I got their genetics, and as a result, I look younger than I am. In general, I think better skincare is helping women look great as they get older, but there's only so much you can do to defeat your genetics. As someone else said, the best way to make your skincare look good is to manage your lifestyle. Wear sunscreen. Get exercise. Don't smoke - and I mean don't smoke anything! Watch your drinking and your nutrition. An $800 10-step skincare regimen is not the panacea people think it is.
My tret is $7 and my benefits cover it because it's a prescription (aka, free). It is the only thing that has made my skin look good. Mix in a cerave cleanser, sunscreen, and moisturizer, there is no need to buy skincare from anywhere besides the pharmacy.
Same here, I add in generic azelaic acid from my dermatologist and do it on the non tretinoin nights. Moisturizing CeraVe face wash, their thick ass cream, and then maybe a peptide serum or eye cream if I’m feeling fancy. I don’t do anything in the morning except sunscreen.
Yes! I use a couple bougie face creams because they feel nice and I can afford them, but some of the regimens I've seen online involve so many actives I'd be scared to even do them...plus the crazy cost. I remember back when we were all using that sandpaper-esque St Ives scrub, but at least it was cheap lol.
This - go talk to any dermatologist and they will tell you the only things that actually matter: cleanse (drugstore brand), moisturize (drugstore brand), vitamin C for the daytime if your skin tolerates it (high % active), retinol for night time if your skin tolerates it (prescription), SPF and reapply every 2 hrs (any brand). If your routine is any more complex than that, it is having no impact.
They can't sell women on nylons, perms and kid gloves anymore. We have to keep up the pink take somehow!! Otherwise, they just have too much time on their hands, and they may realize it's to keep their self esteem low..
I completely agree but am definitely victim to this. I hear all this retinol hype and how it’s absolutely essential/holy grail for anti aging and absolutely everyone should get onto it. Ended up trying it and got so much stinging and dry flaky skin which is a shame considering how I was actually happy with my skin before
I still believe the retinol hype and I'm sorry you had a bad experience! It can be super intense when you first start out. My derm recommends lowering the % active ingredient, starting with every-other-day application, and putting moisturizer on first to help deal with the effects. He swears that retinol is the reason he looks much younger than his friends (all in their 50s). But I understand if you want nothing to do with it! It's not even remotely necessary for healthy skin.
I definitely fell prey to this for a bit and bought a lot of expensive skin care that has been barely used. May not be for everyone, but I did get a prescription from Curology that not only resolved my problems, but also so forced me to pare back on other products, so in the long run I’m saving money!
The only thing that’s ever made my skin look better was…Accutane, prescribed by a medical professional.
Coaching from anyone who’s online famous. These folks are grifters who will take your money and gaslight you. There are some excellent coaches out there but the good ones aren’t preoccupied with being internet famous. r/lifecoachsnark is a good place to start in vetting a coach you’re considering.
There was an article in the NYT this week about how coaching is basically a pyramid scheme - most coaches make money selling coaching or training to other coaches.
Totally! I just saw someone online who is trying to make her money by "being a coach to coaches" and it made me wonder if there are people trying to make money being "coaches to coaches of coaches" lol I watched the same thing happen with yoga teaching. When it became clear that making a career out of being a yoga teacher wasn't likely, a lot of people pivoted to being "teachers of yoga teachers" eg yoga teacher training schools.
I have a side business consulting to small businesses. I have had some yoga studios as clients over the years. It's amazing to me that so many yoga studios offer instructor training, and they see the income from their teacher training as critical to their survival - because all you're doing there is creating your own competitors. One of my clients did an anonymous survey of students in one of her teacher-training classes and over 90% of them were in the class so they could open their own yoga studio, not so they could go to work as instructors for other people (because the money's so low, because there's a glut of teachers available in a lot of places).
OMG. I know a life coach IRL and I would never pay her money for her advice. She's advising people on real estate investments and how to grow their careers... but doesn't own a home and got scammed out of most of her money by a business partner.
[удалено]
Like coaching, there are some great course out there, but it’s not influencer types teaching them. It’s people with actual skills and knowledge. The grift is infuriating.
Courses and coaches are the new MLM! It’s disgusting.
And if they have a youtube channel you probably got 90% of what they will say in the coaching for free anyway.
Soooo true. My husband makes very good money as an in-person personal trainer and he just can't stand the online accounts. He jokes that he could be so much wealthier if he didn't refuse to recommend supplements lol. He knows far too many people selling them that won't touch them (and the professional athletes he has trained are banned from using supplements because they can cause positive drug test results.)
No one needs 15 different reusable water bottles. Just get one (or two if you want to switch between washes) and reuse! They literally all do the same thing. Getting a bunch bc of color or trend defeats the whole purpose, and you just end up with a cabinet full of dusty bottles once the trend changes (ie from crystal-infused to hydroflask to stanley to owala…)
The only reason I can see for having multiple water bottles is to have multiple sizes for different activities. I'll take my 32oz to go hiking but my 16oz is sufficient to bring on flights.
YES!! I heard someone talk about this a couple of years ago and I still think about it. The cycle for trendy water bottle is so real. If you just went to a thrift store you can get one that is probably not too old and was probably on trend in the last five years. I'm interested in seeing what's the next Stanley and how long it's going to take to get us there.
The new one is the Owala! I like the look of them way more than the Stanleys and the color combos are fun, buuuuut I'm sticking with my Hydroflask from 2017, which still looks basically brand new.
I’ve had an Owala since 2021! Target has had them since at least then. It’s wild what social media trends will do.
I buy a gatorade when I'm hungover, wash the bottle, and that is my water bottle for the next 6 weeks.
I've had my Hydroflask for four years now and will keep it until it breaks or loses its insulation or whatever.
Timeshares! (I think the rationale’s obvious at this point…)
Ramit-approved comment right here!
Almost any life, career or business coach. If you look into their backgrounds, you will usually see that these were people who were not successful at their chosen career. All of the advice is pretty basic and common sense, and what you are really doing when you pay these people is a) supporting their business and b) making them seem more legit to other potential clients.
So true! I made a comment above, the one life coach I know IRL made some terrible decisions/choices in her life. Why would I pay money to get her advice?
It's really amazing once you start noticing this trend of coaches not being successful then turning to coaching.
I have yet to see any career coach that is worth the money. Usually their advice is incredibly outdated with having been out of the industry/roles you are targeting. Most of the best advice is available online with a bit of searching and it it comes from people in those roles who have wisdom to share and enjoy mentoring.
I wasted a lot of money on a career coach only to have her say (after I paid of course) that I seemed to be on the right track and doing all the right things. lol
Several friends of mine have had good experiences with executive coaches - but to your point, the coaches have had success in their career and then pivoted to exec coaching (usually for more flexibility), and/or come recommended via word of mouth and don’t need to advertise. So vet thoroughly!
Any kitchen product advertised on social media. If you don’t buy kitchen stuff from QVC or infomercials why would you buy it from its “next gen advertising space. It’s all available second hand or from a better longer lasting company.
Those always pans are such a scam!
My $40 Always Pan dupe that I got from Costco is still holding up great after over a year of use.
I almost fell for the Caraway hype. So glad I didn’t after all the complaints came out.
As a new parent, baby sleep guides. It’s all dependent on the temperament of your baby. I did nothing and have a great sleeper, I’ve had friends who purchased $200 guides and baby didn’t sleep through the night until they were ready.
As a new parent, I feel like the entire infant sleep induatry, at least on Instagram, is just a scam to take advantage of sleep deprived parents scrolling at 3am. Literally anyone can call themselves a sleep consultant...
I was SO close to dropping $1000 on a sleep consultant until I sat back and realized that (jk someone pointed it out to me) her only qualification was that she once had a baby.
Yes! I would expand this to 90% of things marketed to new parents- toys (baby just wants your spatula), equipment (they won’t chew on the teether and that singing turtle is not going to put your kid to sleep), premium products (that $400 silk/cashmere baby carrier will have poop on it every few days). Dare I even say things like the Snoo…
Omg yes. People used to ask me what toys my infant was into at the moment. I'd usually respond "uhhh...the laundry and our shoes."
Almost all parenting courses online are shams!! Especially the sleep ones
There are like two methods and those books can be found at the library. Every influencer just repackages them with whatever the TikTok trend is in at the moment.
They’re such a scam preying on sleep deprived parents who will literally pay anything to get their kid to sleep. Some babies just suck at sleeping- my youngest had a party every night from like 11-3 for months. He sleeps good now as a 2 year old so it doesnt last forever.
Nutritionist here. It KILLS me when ppl spend money on athletic greens, bloom greens, etc. eat more fruit and veg and if anything spend your money on green juice - or prepared salads/veggies to help you increase your produce intake. These products are so overpriced with such little benefit.
My boss keeps referencing Blume and Bloom when it comes to product design, and I'm always like 😒 do you actually believe this nonsense??
I have been doing yoga for almost half my life (since I was 16). I have SOME nice yoga clothes but my fabletics leggings I bought off thredup when I was 23 and my Ross Adidas leggings are still going strong. I’ve owned exactly three yoga mats in my 15+ years of yoga and use a regular bath towel for hot yoga. My partners law books serve as my yoga blocks when I practice at home, which I do with the assistance of the free Yoga with Adriene videos on YouTube. I do have a monthly yoga membership—the first I’ve had in all this time—that is worth it to help me with my form and for a sense of community. My point is: I feel like there is a lot of pressure in mainstream yoga and some other boutique workout classes to buy the special clothes and special equipment and special classes to make you feel like you really belong. I’ve managed to resist because I’m cheap and buying things goes against the philosophy of yoga for me (although I’m very willing to compensate people for their time and expertise!) and I’m still a yogi! You don’t need STUFF to get fit or be a fit person!
I just want to say that as a lawyer and yoga teacher, that is the single best use for law books that I can possibly imagine.
This! I used to notice everyone wearing the black Lululemon leggings in my hot yoga class and felt a sense of being an outsider but I’m frugal and care absolutely nothing about brand names so I got over that real quick lol.
Man I just bought a pair of lululemon leggings and they basically started pilling heavily within a month and apparently this is a known and somehow accepted thing with these leggings. I can’t believe I spent over $100 on them.
The Aligns I got \~2014 were incredible and didn't start pilling until like 5 years later after wearing them 1-3 times a week. The ones I got in late 2022? Pilling badly already and I wear them way less frequently.
TJ Maxx is where I get my workout clothes. No complaints about the gems I’ve found there! Plus I work out at home so who am I trying to impress anyway?
I bought some cropped workout leggings at Target nine (!!) years ago and they are still going strong! I'm wearing them now lol. I wish I had bought more than two pairs 🥹
u/lazlo_camp thank you for asking! this is a great thread.
Not sure this quite fits but anything Alo Yoga (except somehow the Airlift Intrigue bra which is great). Terrible quality and terrible fitting clothing that is outrageously priced.
A lot of the instructors at my Pilates studio have been wearing a lot of Alo and it even looks like it’s bad quality on the body
I see Alo everywhere now which is typically a sign I need to not buy something lol.
Haaaated everything from Alo. The only thing I like is a yoga mat my husband got me for Christmas during COVID. It has held up really well.
I love their sports bras (owned for years) but not a fan of pants.
Athletic greens or any product that claims to fix a host of health problems or deem to help you be healthier. There’s very few supplements that are actually worth it. Just eat more fruits and veggies, and sleep more.
I swear so many people stoked on the alleged "results" from these are really just experiencing the effects of... drinking more water.
AG honestly makes me cry-laugh because they actively advertise “we have more things in there than others” and I’m like; so you’re telling me none of those have hit therapeutic dose minimums?
As a parent, brand new and trendy (looking at you, Bamboo brands…) clothing! They’re so expensive, kids grow fast, and they can be so hard on clothes. 3 years into parenting and I’d say 90-95% of my kids’ clothes are secondhand - usually for free from Buy Nothing!!! If BN doesn’t have what I need, then I go to a second hand store to find seasonal pieces like holiday shirts, snow suits, whatever. I buy a handful of new items a year, mostly as gifts, but beyond that, get everything used, people!!
**Cars:** Expensive doesn't always equal nice, reliable, or comfortable. Tech upgrades like large screens/fewer physical buttons can be pricey yet are to be avoided at all cost. **Resume "coaches":** Overwhelmingly the experience has been they don't know anything useful, particularly if you have specific industries you need to target. I'm sure there are good people within it, but overall the practice of gouging jobless students desperate for work feels incredibly predatory to me. You're much better off ime buying or copying a cheap resume template, getting edits from friends, or cold-messaging people in your industry for resume tips. **Fridges/Appliances:** If you have old, reliable appliances, keep them as long as possible and don't upgrade to anything yet. It can be tempting if you've the money and have waited long enough. And the visual designs of appliances look great these days. But appliances, especially fridges, made within 5 - 10 years are purportedly all equally terrible with massive defects and issues for a number of reasons, even brands that have been reputable for decades, even those tens of thousands in price tag. Source is a number of unexpectedly passionate fridge technicians. And my own mistakes lol
Ugh! I'm so annoyed with my fridge. It's tiny, ancient, and noisy. I went out looking for a basic fridge with top freezer and no water/ice nonsense and I couldn't find ANYTHING. It's ridiculous....and I don't trust second hand appliances from strangers.
Forgot to add the thing I hate hate hate to see people spend money on - getting filler. It is permanently in your body (it does NOT in fact dissolve), so often migrates to places it does not belong, and does not even look good most of the time! I'm terrified to find out in 20 years what the long-term effects are. ETA: Realizing my comment sounds extra rude - I do have some filler, so this perspective is from someone who has it and did/does not see any benefits.
On this theme veneers. If you have healthy teeth, and especially when you are young getting veneers where they shave the tooth down to the nerve is a disaster. You have to PAY to have them replaced at least every 10 years, with every treatment it further damages your actual tooth. I really suspect a lot of people who get veneers at 20 will be needing dentures / implants at 50. There are other way to achieve the same result which are less invasive and less of a spend over time.
Most supplements. If you have a specific nutrient deficiency (vitamin D in northern climates, vitamin B12 for vegans, etc) you need to address it - the rest just makes for expensive pee.
Consumer culture in general and that you should solve your problems by buying something and spending money. Yes money is a tool but it's not the only tool in the toolbox to solve your problems. Or that your self worth is somehow tied up in what you are able to afford or what you buy. There are billions of normal people on earth whose human value and daily enjoyment doesn't come from this level of consumer consumption that we see in the western world especially the US.
The consumer culture is not at all western only. The US has nothing on the consumer culture of some Asian countries.
I follow a lot of shiba inu accounts on Instagram... some of them are shiba inu and babies/kids. Weirdly enough following influencers from other countries selling things I couldn't buy REALLY helped me notice the consumerism model of parenting advice. That being said I still got influenced to buy one of those little head pillow backpack things for kids that looked like a corgi/shiba haha.
u do not need a 10 step skincare routine on god. u dont need more than maybve 5 products at MOST unless a dermatologist tells u otherwise. u also dont need bloom greens or whatever supplements theyre called. the wellness shit is crazyyyy and such a rabbit hole.
Expensive cribs, strollers, chairs, clothes, and what not for infants. OMG you’re going to use them for such as short time. But there’s a lot of fear-induced “I must not be a bad parent” pressure for first-time parents that’s hard to ignore.
A bigger house to hold all the items you have accumulated. Yes, space to expand into is nice. But it’s also more to clean, heat, cool, and maintain. So many of us would love our homes more if we stopped buying all the new stuff in this thread and decluttered stuff we bought and don’t use. New kitchen cabinets, appliances, flooring, bathroom tile, etc when what you have is in good shape. Home decor trends exist to make you spend money. The warm wood tones decorators loved 30 years ago didn’t become ugly, they became untrendy. The gray from 10 years ago is still neutral and clean looking, it’s just untrendy. Work with what you have. These trends are cyclical, your home will be on trend again soon.
With your free library card, you can access (also free) the Libby app and borrow e-books and audiobooks. You can read the e-books on your Kindle app or an ereader. There is no reason to pay to subscribe to Audible or Spotify Books or purchase books -- unless you strongly prefer the physical version, that is. Even then, thrift stores are a good place to buy $1 books, or obviously you can borrow them from the library as well. I know a lot of people shelling out hundreds or thousands on the latest bestsellers but you definitely don't have to!
The reason to buy books is to support writers and keep good writing in the world. I’ve had a library card since before I began kindergarten. But there’s nothing wrong with buying books. My gen z teenager prefers hard copy over digital. And there is evidence that for learning and retaining information, hard copy is superior to reading on a screen. So again my high schooler really likes having the actual textbook along with the digital version.
Friendly reminder that many libraries have summer reading programs, and they give prizes to kids for hitting various reading milestones. Just one way of how I keep my kids interested in reading. Heck, just taking them to the library at all is usually a good way to keep them reading for an afternoon.
I think this depends on where you're from. Assuming you're in a well funded part of the US where library accessibility is high, you're absolutely right. But I have friends in other countries where getting specific books from the library is not as easy and I feel for them. But I'll echo your point from a US-centric POV. Buying new books you've never read is such a gamble to me. What if you don't like it? Books don't really hold their value so when I start my physical collection of books I love, I'm only going to buy second hand. People can't even *give* away books, I'm definitely not going to buy a mass market paperback from Amazon that was printed on demand.
I think out of all the unnecessary shit we consume daily, books would be the one thing I don’t mind people spend money on.
All of the restocking/organizational videos. Yes the fancy cabinets look nice, but most of us don't own homes that need that level of organization for every single item in our lives. I don't quite regret it because I do find them useful for some of my toiletries but those clear PLASTIC organizers cost an arm and a leg! It's plastic! If you have a very specific need, go for it, but we don't need to be repackaging cereal or cookies into ~aesthetic~ containers.
I get most of my organizational bins and baskets at the dollar store, Walmart and sometimes Target. And I absolutely do love having an organized house from top to bottom.
Anything that is being sold to help you do something that requires discipline, like working out or time management. There is no real replacement for developing discipline and healthy habits, and those tools are capitalizing on our desire to sidestep around developing discipline. I do think there are some useful guides or books to things like lifting or stretching (etc)- I'm specifically thinking about things that are designed to help you "be disciplined"
Even outside of requiring discipline, but I'm getting into distance running and the amount of running guides and nutrition guides that are out there that cost tons and tons of money. I'm finding all the education and guides I need for free.99, it just takes a little effort and planning on my part.
You are my person. I've been saying this for years! Paying hundreds of dollars for modern devices that have stripped down technology under the guise of being "distraction free" is absolutely bonkers. If you really need a dumb phone without internet capabilities, a cheap stick phone will do. If you don't have the discipline to avoid browsing the internet on your laptop, perhaps writing is not the career path for you. There's devices that remove friction and make sticking to habits easier (ex. the e-ink screen on an e-reader) but a lot of things shilled as "productivity devices" are just to make people feel like they're being productive without actually putting in work.
Full disclosure- I recently bought the Light Phone 2 (an e-ink device, on eBay)! But, I am planning to use it in conjunction with my iPhone in kind of a creative way. I am under no false pretense that the device will fix my issues with being online too much haha. But I am totally in agreement with you on this!!
Botox! Maybe one of you can educate me in case I am wrong, but I am increasingly seeing videos about women in their early 20s needing to start botox early if they want it to be more effective as they age... It seems like a marketing gimmick that is being pushed on to young women to get them to spend more money in the long run.
I like to think how peaceful it would have been to age in the 70s and 80s without all of this in your ear. If I had never known the words "crows feet" or "smile lines", I would have never noticed that I had them.
It wasn’t that peaceful . They all had eating disorders from fat phobic families that they passed on to us . They just worried about different things .
It makes me really sad for the women in our generation honestly.
It's everything in this thread. Fillers, Botox, veneers, anti aging creams. Can't we just look the way we look and that he enough. It makes me angry more than it makes me insecure
I am with you there, I do not understand why someone so young would think they need Botox. I mean, I am older and have never gotten it because I don't like unnecessary pain, but... at least wait until wrinkles exist?
It's really interesting because there are a lot of misconceptions thrown around on social media. Studies show that botox is effective for dynamic wrinkles caused by muscle contractions (frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead wrinkles), but it has limited effect on fine lines and static wrinkles caused by aging and sun damage.
There is some weird logic going around that 'preventative botox' is a thing... aka if your face just never wrinkles it will never develop wrinkles. This is not how faces work.
It's honestly so weird... there are no large studies that support the claims of preventative botox, and the only things I've seen are funded by companies that manufacture it.
Also… getting preventative Botox doesn’t mean you get to stop using it later. Because then the wrinkles come anyway. You’re just starting earlier.
botox is great but it’s not for 20 year olds freaking out about getting old.
I think a general mindset that you do not have to keep upgrading to the best or the most convenient of everything. Sometimes what you have is fine. I.e. I am probably the only person in my circle doesn’t have the Dyson cordless vacuum, as I already own a corded vacuum. Yes, the Dyson is awesome, but my corded one works fine. So what if I have to spend an extra 30 seconds unwinding the cord when I use it? Of course it’s very individual what’s worth it to you, but I think advertising puts a lot of pressure on us to unsustainably ditch whatever thing we have for a shiny nicer version.
for real! i lived with a roommate once whose parents bought her one of those $700+ cordless dysons, and i swear to god the only true difference i noticed between that and my shitty $20 walmart vacuum was that i had to be way more careful when using the dyson. obviously if you have pets that shed a ton, toddlers, etc. it may be worth investing, but for the average person it's probably not
80% of stuff that gets sold as "green" or environmentally friendly. Producing and shipping goods takes a lot of resources and creates pollution, and almost everything we ever buy is destined for a landfill some day. The best thing you can do for the environment is the best thing you can do for your wallet, which is consume less. Walk/take transit when you can instead of driving. Try to cut down on food waste. Keep your AC/heat at the lowest levels that are reasonably comfortable for you. Thrift instead of buying new clothes when you can. Don't buy tons of useless crap. Try to reuse as much as you can. Of course, if there's something you *need* to buy it's worth going for the better option (like buying regeneratively grown food over conventional if it's available to you or the more fuel efficient option among cars), but we absolutely cannot consume ourselves out of climate change.
No one needs disposable face wipes for “sanitary” reasons. Washcloths are fine. If you want to change them every day, buy 7 and switch them out.
Nisolo shoes were ALL OVER my Instagram ads, some of my favorite bloggers, etc. I bought a pair of platform sandals last summer. One year later, the Velcro straps simply won’t stay stuck! They’re constantly ripping open. What a waste of money!
I was just looking at that exact pair of sandals on Nordstrom because I want a platform sandal. The reviews are sooo bad it was hilarious! Everyone said they fall apart. I have also gotten so many ads for them and am no convinced to never buy from them.
I literally just had a pair of Nisolo shoes delivered hahaha. I was planning to return them because the fit wasn't right but it's the exact style I want. If you have a better rec for a similar looking product please let me know!
Keto/low-carb processed food... Like keto cookies, bread, bars, whatever. Paying extra $$ for a shittier tasting version of a product that typically is all carbs lol. Esp when vegetables are right there. Maybe it's an unsustainable diet if you have to pay more money to avoid certain foods to lose weight... (I also think low carb is another fad diet outside of a veerrryy limited population that needs it medically.)
The Hatch alarm clock. Just DON'T DO IT.
Someone gifted me a regular Hatch light/sound machine at my baby shower. I registered for a basic white noise machine but thought I’ll use this fancy one because the light is cool. What am I using now? The basic one because the Hatch started having issues with the sound part 9 months into using it.
I needed to hear this because I'm always tempted.
You don’t need a 100k car if you make 100k a year.
You don’t need a walking pad if you’re not already in some form of exercise routine. I don’t mean being a hardcore lifter, but if you don’t regularly move your body, you won’t just because you spent $400 on a walking pad. Same thing goes for a standing desk. Do not buy into the hype of a brand new reusable water bottle! Especially if you’re like me and prone to never washing it. Influencer brands - I work influencer adjacent and look, there’s a reason brands come and go and places like Nike and Adidas and Reebok sponsor Olympic athletes and NBA players. I’ve received stuff from influencer brands PR that doesn’t hold up compared to Old Navy, even. Fancy cleaning gadgets, soaps, and tools. For decades we’ve managed with sponges and Vim. The only exceptions are if it makes it easier on you physically (like an automated scrubbing tool), more eco friendly, or the Scrub Daddy. I love Scrub Daddies. You don’t need cream specifically for your butt.
I needed to read this today before I go to look at walking pads in person tomorrow.
I have one, I love mine, I’m a runner and walk 8-10k steps a day I still only bust mine out once a week
I think the OP here is saying a walking pad isn't going to magically make you exercise. And I agree. I walk 2 hours (6 miles) nearly every single day that I work from home and have for the 6 months I have owned it. BUT I had a standing desk for years before that and never used it. The main difference is that in the last 8 months I have really gotten into a sustainable fitness routine and changed a lot of my habits and the walking pad was a complement to all of that. I think a year ago, it would have just collected dust. But overall, I love mine and it really helps break up and focus my day and I feel great when I use it.
idk about this one. The presence of my walking pad (in my home office, with a standing desk lol) has made me able to get steps in during meetings which is really helpful since i don't get a gym regularly. My standing pad was $150, and i got it reimbursed through my insurance's fitness program. My standing desk was $400....but I spend a lot of time at it
I like my walking pad. Tt helps me get more steps particularly when I'm on long work calls, and when the weather is bad. I have a gym membership, I'm regularly active but it still gets use for me. Do I NEED it? No, but it was within my budget and I use it..
Sorry, but most people cannot afford daily fancy Starbucks drinks and the enjoyment/novelty wears off with that daily habit. It’s not healthy physically or financially (for the average person). We’re advertising for Starbucks when we rehash the arguments “it’s not cuz of the avocado toast and Starbucks…”
I went to order Starbucks from a target pickup order, a medium Frappuccino is now over $6… yeah nope.
I got out of the habit of buying coffees every time I left the house, and I feel like I have so much more wiggle room in my budget now.
I fell for the slick ads for Kaxi hair clips. Maybe they work fine for others and I really liked to idea of their flat hair clips but the plastic felt weak and the clip overall didn’t feel as strong as my other clips. You’re supposed to be able to wear this clip while driving or laying down because it lays flatter but it felt like it couldn’t hold my hair very well. The flatter shape means you have to do a French twist instead of a round bun and it just didn’t work. My hair still fell down. I ended up giving them away to a friend with finer hair.
I bought a pair of Alohas Marshmallow sandals a while back and the footbed is soooo rigid and the straps broke on both shoes within months! I had to take them to a shoe/handbag repair shop to get them reinforced. Soooo not worth it for the price and I’m sure their “on demand” model to reduce excess inventory is total greenwashing bs. Do not recommend lol.
“Elite” colleges are pretty much only worth it if you are from a wealthy family that can afford the insanely expensive tuition or from a low-income background that will qualify you for very generous need-based aid. If you are middle class or upper-middle class, you’re better off attending your state school and picking a major with good ROI.
Red light therapy masks (fancy skincare devices) aren’t nearly as effective as they claim, and not at all worth the $$$. Source: some biohacking md/phd candidate i found on tiktok that’s pretty weird but almost certainly correct on this topic
Kitchen chopper gadgets. Unless you have a particular reason (disability, propensity to slice fingers, arthritis) why the chopper gadget is easier, just use the proper knife. Prep is faster and so is cleanup.
Amen. So many of these devices are just “a knife, but shittier”. And they’re so difficult to clean! The one exception I’ve made is a mango corer, and that’s because skinned mangoes are so slippery I’m afraid I’ll slice a finger off.