on personal extreme cheapskateism and sustainability not without a healthy dose of tangent and inner child healing
and so returns the prophet of longwinded titles. i may be taking a page out ofthis book,are my emo roots showing yet?
and before we start, heres a track id like to share that speaks on living in asynchronicity and the commodification of what used to make home, home.
i remember watchingan episodeof extreme cheapskates that followed a woman who foraged for food, dumpster-dived, composted, and saved urine for her garden. the episode did its best to frame her as a wack-o and i was just sitting there like... she is the coolest girl ive ever seen.
oftentimes i wonder if my 'cheapskate' habits would be seen as offputting or absurd to the general public...? (though for me personally, it has more to do with anti-consumerism than it does with saving money.)
for example, i eat almost exclusively discarded and expired food... hear me out. i work at a grocery store and we're allowed to take home items that go out of date / spoil. im writing this post as i snack on a muffin 4 days past date and a glass of iced coffee that 'expired' a month and a half ago. the coffee is bitter and the muffin dry, but otherwise it is a fine breakfast! (plus its free!)
heres another fun fact - the bacteria that cause food poisoning do not come from spoilage! they are introduced during improper handling / cooking / storage of the food. ie; half cooked chicken, food that has been left out, improper canning, etc. spoilage bacteria can make your stomach a little upset, but it cant kill you.
i havent gotten sick from my old food yet, but that one time i only seared one side of my steak and ended up unable to walk, see, or eat for a week... yikes. eithersear your steak blueor eat it 100% raw.the danger zoneis real!
this one im not super proud of, but i... refuse to buy new clothes. at one point in my life i took great passion indressing myself upand wearing cute outfits in public - i loved the looks id get and i couldnt go anywhere without getting a few compliments from strangers (mostly onmy shoes... it was heaven! then one night at the laundromat, every item of clothing i owned was stolen and... i have not recovered since. so many thrift gems and archival pieces gone. sigh.
im not sure if i refuse to buy clothes now out of spite or apathy. ive grown my current wardrobe to 5 pairs of pants and around 6 or 7 shirts. to tell you the truth, i feel a bit self conscious about my limited wardrobe. when my friends see me wearing the same outfits over and over - what must they think?
oh wow. excuse my upcoming tangent but i think i inadvertently found the root cause of this feeling.
i grew up in poverty, like, grew up in a traveling circus trailer park kind of poverty. i mostly wore hand-me-downs or charity shop clothes. one time my mom pulled a dusty plastic bin out of this utility shed on our lot and when we opened it up i saw a glittering of pinks and purples and velvet... i ended up going home with a new-to-me purple tracksuit.
i remember this feeling well... going to school wearing the same outfit i did a few days prior and hoping nobody would point it out. i learned to say "yeah im wearing this again, i have a washing machine you know..." but i did not in fact, own a washing machine. now as an adult, who does not own a washing machine, i feel that im still waiting for someone to point out that im wearing the same shirt i did yesterday. ah.
not many childhood memories followed me to adulthood, but this is one of the few that stands out. anyway! -
i hate buying anything new. furniture, appliances, trinkets, books, tech, you name it: its probably on facebook marketplace for 1/2 market value.
some of my most prized secondhand finds:
✦ panasonic rq-356 cassette deck + recorder
✦ sony dream machine alarm clock from my late neighborsyard sale
✦ $50 antique couch hand apholstered by the man who sold it to me and gave me detailed instructions on upkeep and a can of varnish for no cost
✦ my chocolate starfish limp bizkit CD i found at a charity shop for one dollar
i find that the actual worth of an item is often surpassed by the joy of chancing apon it in the first place.
thanks to the rising popularity oftiktok, thrifting is suddenly super trendy, but it wasnt always that way. when i was younger, thrifting used to be looked down apon, seen as dirty or something only poor people do.
what i wonder is - why are you buying a new blender when there are hundreds for pennies on the dollar at your disposal! are old blenders dirty too?
these people will never experience the joy of finding a thrift grail, and thats okay. i dont want to share it!
i think ill cap this here! i began writing this at 3:40, and now its 5:15. i just sat and wrote for 1.5 hrs... this is. monumental... i can feel my attention span recovering ever so slightly...
i dont make a conscious decision to do any of these things anymore, its all totally ingrained into my lifestlye at this point... its funny being an adult with habits.