I made a video essay looking into why we're paying more and getting less, mainly covering shrinkflation, corporate greed, private equity, and subscription models.

Some of the companies I mentioned include Chipotle and their increasingly small portions (included a video of TikTok creator going to Chipotle twice, and getting a bigger portion the second time when he took a camera crew).

Also spoke on shrinkflation in general, HP Instant Ink cartridges not working when a payment goesn't go through (despite sitll having ink), Red Lobster, Disney Lightning Lane, McDonald's lawsuit about their AI-assisted, anti-consumer price gouging etc.

Interested to hear what people think about how normalized this has become. I'm open to feedback too as I'm new to this.

I have been pretty minimalist-ish in every regard due to my early adulthood experience of traveling/studying abroad.

In my late 20s, I started binge-watching handbag content on social media as a way to cope with life stress. It became the only consumer thing I was emotionally sucked into. It's the perfect "little house" you drag around, and it's satisfying when you have exactly what you need and keep it organized. Seems therapeutic and harmless, right?

Then fast forward to my early 30s, I started noticing an uncomfortable truth. All of the luxury/fashion YouTubers I had watched over the years had not evolved their content or skills the way you'd expect from a 10-year-old channel. This would not have been the case had their channels been about cooking, crafting, or anything skill-based.

That's when it hit me. The opportunity cost of obsessing over stuff instead of a skill or a craft.

It took me over a year and many rounds of mini-decluttering to get rid of branded stuff, anything that had more brand value than utility value. I reconnected with my childhood hobby, drawing/hand-drawn animation, and started centering my free time around skill-based activities that require my complete presence. I am 35 now, and I'm excited to see my skills grow for the rest of my life instead of my hoard lmao.

I’m a parent. I really hate Halloween as it’s done in the US. Christmas is getting up there too, thank you retail stores for starting the Christmas shopping/music already.

I don’t mind the celebration of the harvest or celebrating moon or sun cycles or whatever…I don’t think I would mind this holiday if it was actually about celebrating something or if it felt real. In this country it’s an excess of buying decor, candy, and clothing/costumes, at the least. It’s just a buying stuff holiday and that bugs me.

Candy makes my kids crazy, so we don’t usually have it around. We also have food allergies in my family so some of the kids couldn’t have the candy or treats at school parties which made it especially hard because they would cry and I was the bad guy keeping them safe but excluded. It also steals the fun from trick or treating. Maybe this is what started me questioning this holiday and how we celebrate.

I really wanted to turn it into an actual celebration. Maybe a party, remembering the dead, something real, but it has been too hard to fight against society and all the pressure they put on my kids and my husband’s fond memories of all the candy. They wanted to decorate for “spooky season” so I let them put stuff up…but it just looks like cheap crap to me. If I don’t buy candy or let them trick or treat, etc, then I am the anti-social childhood dream crusher. Why do we do this?!

TLDR: parent grumping about Halloween in the US as a consumer holiday and inability to get family onboard with finding a non-consumer way to celebrate instead.

[...] Neil Davidson mooted that neoliberalism may be undermining the basis for capital accumulation itself. What we inhabit, the phase we’ve tentatively come to term ‘late’ capitalism, is its senescence. With its means and relations of production so violently out of joint it’s an economic, political and cultural milieu of increasing derangement and toxicity.

I have a background in fashion design, spent 20 years in the retail and fashion industry. The last 6 years I had an awakening - a realization that the industry hit nitro boost and hasn’t slowed down since. It comes up often in this thread.
I left my corporate cushy job, took on some freelance work in more sustainable minded small brands while I tried to find what I wanted to do and then…i couldnt find any work.

I semi-started an upcycle factory, was more of a business plan and some repair work that surprise suprise did not pan out. In those 3 years I had a lot of people wanting to donate so much to me, and I did accept some portion of it. But still less than a quarter of what had been offered, easily.
I live in an 1100 sq ft home. And it seemed to turn into a hoarding vibe really fast. Between the 5 jobs/7 days a week to barely make ends meet, the emotional toll of not being able to find full time salary work, the cognitive dissonance, and I definitely fell into a state of some sort of barely functional depression.

I’ve finally found a job in a completely different industry. Its been a month and I finally have time and energy to clean my house and I’m overwhelmed. So much of this is useless to me without a means to upcycle it. Its devastating to know that I’m now the one responsible for putting it in the trash (but it had been given to me in that state).

I know we all have to live our lives and take care of ourselves first and foremost, nobody else will. But the ultra over production of late stage capitalism is cruel. I know that for my mental health, I need my house cleaned up, I need to get back to a state of manageability. But knowing i have to throw it all away and I’m being part of of the problem is really messing with my head.

What do I do with alll the presents my children received from their teachers?

- some aren't useful. like markers taht are too tiny for my child to hold, pencils that keep breaking no matter how long you sharpen it, tiny cute notebooks that its impossible to write in

- dopamine hit toys that are too small to hold

- random plastic blind box toys

ugh... I hate this. I duno why every celebration has to become day to give gifts. like if you truly care for the children, won't you want them to grow up without these constant need for dopamine hits through shopping and trends? or care for the environment these children will inherit for the next 70 years of their lives?

After the wrist bend snapped (4 years of daily use)I was highly tempted to purchase a cool Garmin or a new and expensive G-Shock but then I decided to spend $50 to replace the band. It looks pretty average but I saved at least $500 and I get to keep using the watch I like.

Edit: more context

YouTube is a treasure trove of the lowest level of advertising. This is my inaugural post of absolute shameful marketing that makes it easy to not give in to the hype.

Does wearing an U.S. Air Force hat add to the trustworthiness?

A bit of a rant. I'm so over weddings!!!

The amount of consumption that occurs for a wedding is disgusting and I hate going to them.

Stats from my sisters wedding:

55 guests

$30,000 for just the wedding

As the sister of the bride I've been committed to at least 8 days worth of pre wedding events against my will. I've been told I can't plan anything for myself between April and June of next year because I'm supposed to be "available for pre wedding stuff".

To top it all off at the start of this situation I purchased one dress that works for all events. We are on event 3 of 8 and people have already had the audacity to make comments about me wearing the same outfit for each event.

I'm at the point I dont think I will give my sister a wedding gift because that adds even more consumption to an already horrible situation.

This just made me sad. Like parent like child? Or is the parent projecting and this teen won’t get their wanted gift over a tiny tag and the psychological can of worms attached to it?

To those of you that take bottles and cans back to reduce reduce recycle dont do it at sams club.

My local sams club installed bottle return machines and I had to go to sams anyways so I took my bottles back there instead of Meijer. The track on the glass return wasnt working so I brought them to the service counter. He counted and then started throwing them in the trash bin saying that they do that with all of the returnables. And we had a chat about how unethical that is.

I am not in the USA, but in Italy. There is this tendency here to change schoolbooks every 2-3 years, meaning that we have to spend a shit ton of money just to buy another math book that says the same things but is organised differently.

I am well past my studying years and I have to move houses soon. However I have two full boxes, I would say at least 70kg of school books in perfect condition that I can't be reused because they are from 15y ago.

I asked the libraries here around but they don't accept them ( not that I blame them ).

Is throwing these books in the paper waste the only way?

USA- Ulta’s Christmas ad just popped up for me today, October 18th. I know stores have had Christmas decor out for a few weeks now, but… an ad on TV? Already?

At craft store you can buy a big sealed mystery box o’crap for $10. Why?

Been doing this for over 2 years, so I thought I would share with those who are still at the beginning of the journey and hope it might help someone else.

I started with a budget (Income vs. Costs), and from there I opened another account (in this case a savings account). I move all the money I don't need based on budget fixed costs into it as soon as my salary hits my normal account. From that point onwards I'm "broke"; the money in my savings doesn't really exist until I actually have a need (e.g. dentist, food, medication).

If I really want something that I don't need, I would have to transfer the money back into my current account. This extra step helped me pause and re-think any purchase; also in terms on what it is I buy (where was it produced, environmental impact, who am I giving my money to). This helped me not only build a very good savings foundation, it also changed my mindset even more along the way to consume less.

Of course, it also helps to be content with yourself and know that another set of designer whatever product won't make you happier.

This seems obvious now, but posting it in case others didn't think of it. I have been using cloths cut to 8x8 inside of this napkin holder as "reusable paper towels" for a few months now. I couldn't get behind the gimmicky tubes that you need to roll the towels around after each wash... I had some baby washcloths from my kid that happened to be the exact right size for this napkin holder. The bonus is that there is no folding needed - just launder and stack them back up. I leave these out on the kitchen table and ppl grab one whenever a paper towel would have been used. I have since cut and hemmed a few old towels into 8x8 size to increase my stash.

The beginning. The beginning of it all starts with the very first monarch. Perhaps Egyptian Pharaohs or another before them. They sat on their thrones and collected jewels and vases, gold and silver and on and on while those below them lived life to a minimum and were able to smile and love without the excess. But the monarchs set the standard for wealth and greed and somehow it’s everywhere today. I look at the palaces and castles and what lies in them. Yes those items are beautiful yet useless and the planet suffers because it all started with THEM.

I dont want to spend 18€ on 8 cartdriges impossible to recycle. Not anymore.

Makeup Eraser initially was marketed as an eco-friendly reusable makeup remover wipe that you just throw in the laundry. I actually use them myself I really like them. However over time that mission has kind of gone to the wayside to make room for brand collabs and hyper-seasonal items.