Love What You Buy – Take Pride in Your Stuff
admin January 30th, 2009
You would think that the notion of “loving what you buy” would be anathema to Christian simple livers, but not in this case. Here’s why:
Consumer Reports
The March 2009 issue of Consumer Reports includes an article on people who continue to use very old appliances. This is great because it provides mainstream support for maintaining and re-using expensive appliances, an idea which, at this moment, may find even greater support given the recession.
Some of the appliances noted in the article were really old, including a 1926 gas stove and a 1936 toaster; some a little more recent like the 1955 vacuum cleaner; and, an almost trendy 1980 color TV – all in routine daily use, and well-cared-for – not to mention the 11 year old goldfish.
Every person interviewed showed great pride in their machines as much as in their care for them. Maintaining them had become a meaningful part of their lives and they simply didn’t have a need for anything newer. Many of the interviewees mentioned that they worked better and lasted longer (obviously) than their modern counterparts. There is also the monetary benefit of the maintenance costs being lower than the purchase price for several new appliances that most of us would have bought over that same period of time.
Benefits
There are obvious benefits to the environment of not trashing these appliances and constantly buying new ones: less stuff in landfills leaching chemicals into the ground water, and increased depletion of resources, etc.
But a Small Downside
However there is a small downside to this as well: many older appliances aren’t as energy efficient as new ones. But we should also consider that the increased efficiency of some classes of appliances are so small that compared to the efficiencies of continued use and buying fewer big-ticket items, it’s a wash. That is not true for some appliances like refrigerators which have become vastly more efficient over the years, so we’d need to think carefully about keeping very old ones.
There is also the issue that focusing primarily on energy efficiency isn’t going to “save us” in the end. Technological solutions such as more efficient machinery will never overcome both world-wide population growth and our ego need to have and use as much stuff as we can get our hands on. The real solution is to have a massive shift in our group psychology toward living with and using much less of everything. Our consumer mental illness drives us to think of ways of saving ourselves without having to make any changes or give up anything. There is no free lunch! If the fewer things we use are also energy efficient, that would be good, but the better over-all strategy will be to use much less in the first place.
Mindful Living
A key to keeping and using things longer is that we have to care for them, use them mindfully and judiciously, and maintain them regularly. Lots of us don’t want to be bothered with that because it takes too much effort – better to just throw it away and get another one.
But as simple livers, we should be living mindfully already, and if we live with true mindfulness, we will not only take better care of what we have, but doing so will be a joyful experience rather than an objectionable chore. As for folks who don’t already live that way, it is a learnable skill that will improve lives as well as our world.
Examples
I hesitate to write this because it sounds like I’m tooting my horn, but here are a few examples of how an ordinary lazy person like myself, can easily use old stuff:
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My car is 14 years old and fairly fuel efficient. I take some pride in keeping it going and the longer it goes, the more pride I feel in it. And… it’s paid-off! Plus maintenance and repairs cost half of what the payments on another used car would cost and only a quarter of what a comparable new car would cost. Some day it will die or become more expensive to maintain than buying another one and at that time I’ll have a little memorial service for it. But at that time I’ll buy a used car as I have for the past 25 years!
My last computer was seven years old when I got a new one, and I’m still using the old one for file storage and to backup my newer machine.
We have a 1960’s vintage vacuum cleaner that I still use for cleaning up after renovation projects and when I don’t want to lug the newer one upstairs to vacuum the floors.
We have no furniture newer than about 10 years old and most of it is 20 or older and one piece is over 140 years old, and we didn’t buy it as an antique and we use it every day – and it looks it.
A New Mental Strategy
Living with older stuff requires buying higher quality appliances rather than participating in the big box store’s ‘race to the bottom’ strategy of only selling cheap stuff. This may mean purchasing at a higher price as well as a making a commitment to caring for these items from the moment we purchase them or they just won’t last.
This requires a new mental strategy: when you buy it, be thinking that it will be with you for the rest of your life. When we feel this way we will almost automatically select higher quality stuff and we will feel a greater investment in it – and in its maintenance – and it will last a lot longer.
No Need to Apologize
I think another lesson here, especially for those of us already committed to living simply, is that we should take pride in our efficient/long term use of things rather than apologizing for it. (“Oh I just like having old things.” “I just haven’t gotten around to getting a new one yet.” “I want to take it to the Antiques Roadshow!”)
In addition to changing how we feel and think about ourselves and our stuff, it will help to market or evangelize the whole notion of simplicity, and eventually the world will be grateful.
Buying and maintaining for the long run not only reduces our footprint and makes better use of what God gave us, but also shows others that it is a joy and a benefit to live for the long term by living simply, so they’re more likely to try it themselves.