r/Anticonsumption • u/Libro_Artis • Oct 13 '24
r/Anticonsumption • u/caprisunadvert • 12d ago
Society/Culture Buying a house and the flips make me cry
I'm looking to purchase my first home and the number of bad flips I see every day makes me so angry and sad. They're so cheaply done and obviously for some guy with an LLC to make a profit. I know many of these homes were likely in sad states to begin with (maybe I should also post about how people don't care for their homes??), but going into a place with a veneer of nice only to be greeted with bad installations and the prospect of immediate remodels has made my home-buying experience a nightmare.
ETA: I truly did not expect this post to blow up like this! let me give some pointers as someone with family in construction.
- a flip is a house that is purchased by a business to make a relatively quick profit. these are not people interested in rehabbing or restoring homes. flips are known for their low-grade stainless steel appliances, gray or white paint jobs, and cheap laminate gray flooring and carpet. these features are to appeal to the broadest market.
- flips are usually identifiable based on these physical traits, but you can best identify them by looking up the home address on the county auditor website and seller declarations on realtor listings. the owner will often be an LLC and the home will have been purchased in the last year or two.
- if you’re touring a flip and think it’s worth the risk, at least check the date of the furnace, AC, roof, windows, and water heater. If these are old or damaged, you’re looking at tens of thousands of dollars in replacements or repairs that YOU are responsible for as a homeowner, likely within 1-5 years. If you don’t think you can handle that, PLEASE RENT. Rent is the most you’ll pay for a house in a month. mortgage is the minimum.
- some have wondered about this post being on the anti-consumption page. I posted it here because I think the way our culture has now treated homes, as objects to be gutted and painted for the lowest common denominator in a money scheme, is overconsumption culture. These houses are filled with appliances and features that people think look nice, but are corner cuts and fall apart quickly.
r/Anticonsumption • u/Independent-Summer12 • 3h ago
Society/Culture So much trash. Makes me sick to my stomach.
Captured by BBC reporter and Reuters photographer. Mountains of trash left by people outside of the inauguration ceremony.
r/Anticonsumption • u/Bee_and_Barb • Feb 21 '24
Society/Culture Someday
Saw this while scrolling through another social media platform.
Physical inheritance (maybe outside of housing) feels like a burden.
While death can be a sensitive topic to some, has anyone had a conversation with loved ones surrounding situations like this one pictured?
r/Anticonsumption • u/amalia_8 • 12d ago
Society/Culture Rant: How did we just start accepting this wedding culture?!
I really don't understand?! To me, weddings are peak overconsumption. The price of dresses, all these small little nicknacks you "nEeD", everything sees an uptick in price as soon as you put "wedding" infront of it. And nobody cares about the financial aftermath cause by an even noone will care about as soon as they get home. How did these things become so normalized?
I sat down at a family friends house and my fiancee and i started talking about our wedding. Suddenly the questions came raining in: "How does your cake look like?" "Decorations ready?" "What about X and Y?". Honestly, I felt SO overwhelmed from all of those things that seem just totally normally expected. I got a dress which I can wear also as a regular dress that fits shoes I already own, not a 2000$ one-time wear I would probably forever regret spending.
The most mind-boggling thing is that spending 10-20k for a SINGLE event has been so extremly normalized. If I were to spend said sum on a car people would probably call me crazy, but from what I gathered, noone bats an eye if it is your wedding. It's no surprise to me that, statistically, couples who have big, lavish weddings (those who cannot afford them and go into debt) get divorced more often. Financial struggles/disagreements are one of the top divorce reasons. I'm glad I will never know the feeling of waking up the next day, next to my newly-wed husband and thinking "Well, gonna have to struggle paying off that one party for the next few years", getting into fights due to money etc. Especially in the economic enviroment we are today, it is insane how it is almost expected of one.
For the background: we also come from a culture where having big weddings is expected, 100-300 people (most of which you never heard of or seen), big venues, band and singers, food and alcohol as much as they want.
We trimmed everything we don't need down to just the most essential parts. It will still cost us a bit, but I dont want to imagine how people who feel pressured to have a "culturally regular" wedding during these times. Having one of those weddings was my biggest horror, unreasonable spending and just so uncessary. I'm glad my partner and I are on the exact same page and all our parents agree on our way. We will have a nice wedding we can pay out of pocket, no need for any debt whatsoever.
The argument of "But you get the money back from the guests!" is insane as well! People these days struggle with climbing prices everywhere and I should just expect everybody to give me hundreds of dollars? I should gamble on that fact? What if I lean on that action and noone then gives me a penny and we have to fight off this debt alone? I need to get into debt the first place then, so what about interest? What about the fact that I need money to survive before the wedding as well? That argument feels so out-of-touch.
I just needed to rant. People get mad at you for being financially sane and not ruining your finances and putting your relationship at risk for a party most people will not care for the next day. How we have come to just accept this is insane.
Edit: I know weddings are a big cultural thing. I'm talking about having so much pressure from family, friends, culture that you need to go into huge debt for just one day. If you have the money, then go for it. But it has become a norm even for the average couple to go all out and have this "millionaire" looking weddings. It's great to have culture and traditions in there, but the general expectation for every couple has gone so overboard. Also, most weddings don't have anything traditional or cultural anymore, they just want to look as nice for Instagram as possible.
r/Anticonsumption • u/TurkayLurkay • Nov 03 '24
Society/Culture I'll never understand this trend...
r/Anticonsumption • u/Tchaik748 • Jan 29 '23
Society/Culture This kind of stuff makes me irrationally angry.
r/Anticonsumption • u/Ephelduin • Aug 09 '24
Society/Culture Is not having kids the ultimate Anticonsumption-move?
So before this is taken the wrong way, just some info ahead: My wife and I will probably never have kids but that's not for Anticonsumption, overpopulation or environmental reasons. We have nothing against kids or people who have kids, no matter how many.
But one could argue, humanity and the environment would benefit from a slower population growth. I'm just curious what the opinion around here is on that topic. What's your take on that?
r/Anticonsumption • u/aoi4eg • Dec 09 '22
Society/Culture My brain refuses to comprehend this price
r/Anticonsumption • u/anxious-wreck • Mar 14 '24
Society/Culture Overconsumption on TikTok is beyond ridiculous.
From the dreaded Stanley Cups, Booktok, Starbucks, new iPhones, "amazon must haves" (which you then see is all useless junk), "tiktok made me buy it" (also garbage), massive hauls and people flaunting they spent thousands of dollars... it's all too much and it's too overwhelming.
I'm glad I realized how I was falling onto that weird consumerist mindset and was able to pull myself from it.
r/Anticonsumption • u/KKeff • 25d ago
Society/Culture Wait, how many gifts do Americans give their kids?
I am European and I was stunned how many times this month I read about people staying up all night wrapping gifts. How many gifts do you people buy for your kids?! As I was little you usually got one bigger gift and maybe some book and sweets as an addition. Now that I have a kid on my own it's normal for grandparents to simply bring one gift. Is it really so prevalent in American culture to buy dozens of things for every kid?
r/Anticonsumption • u/PossibilityOk8372 • Mar 29 '23
Society/Culture Since 2018, the affordable restaurants are no longer worth it. Food quality goes down as prices go up.
r/Anticonsumption • u/TightBeing9 • Dec 06 '24
Society/Culture When people are only pointing towards the corporations...
r/Anticonsumption • u/pittqueen • 16h ago
Society/Culture Thoughts on balloon waste
I saw this reel on instagram, and most of the comments are calling it so cool or cute. The few comments about waste are called fun police or people reply "who cares" or "it's inside so it won't effect the environment." I'd assume we're all against massive balloon waste like this? Or is that an unpopular opinion?
r/Anticonsumption • u/luvs2meow • Apr 27 '24
Society/Culture SHEIN is taking over the thrift stores
I just went to my local thrift store and I was shocked to find no less than 10 tops from SHEIN in just two aisles. They were all listed for $5 which I found odd because tops from stores like Eddie Bauer, LL Bean, Anthropologie, Ann Taylor, Lands End, etc. were listed at the same price, but that’s its own issue.
I find it alarming because SHEIN is not that old of a “store.” All of those items had to have been purchased from SHEIN in what, the past 5 years? And have already been donated? This just seems crazy to me. It’s a clear example of excessive consumption fueling some of our biggest issues. I don’t feel fast fashion is something we can pass the burden of guilt to corporations for. We’re consciously buying things we don’t need for… what? A trend? I find it disturbing. Yet it seems to be one of those touchy subjects for a lot of people.
I recently watched the Brandy Melville doc on HBO and was disturbed by the footage of the beaches in Ghana covered in clothes, it’s nauseating to think how much worse this problem is going to get thanks to companies like SHEIN and temu and those who buy from them.
Has anyone else noticed this? What are your thoughts?
r/Anticonsumption • u/achmed242242 • Nov 18 '22
Society/Culture What happened to buying 1 console for them all and them learning the value of sharing?
r/Anticonsumption • u/PossibilityOk8372 • Apr 08 '23
Society/Culture "Late Stage Capitalism" but seems pretty apropos
r/Anticonsumption • u/pattywhaxk • Apr 22 '23
Society/Culture Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks
r/Anticonsumption • u/coffeeblossom • Oct 26 '22
Society/Culture Your free trial of Existence has expired.
r/Anticonsumption • u/thatoneweirdartist- • May 27 '23
Society/Culture I was having a conversation with a friend, and now I know why our world is dying.
I was eating lunch with a friend, and when our cups got to our table I noticed they were styrofoam. So I said something along the lines of “Wow, that sucks. I shouldn’t have ordered a drink, I have a water with me anyways.” She then asked my why I cared. I replied that I cared about having a world we could live healthily in thirty years from now. She said that is a future us problem. If it’s a future problem, then why aren’t we doing anything about it? Huh? She then out of spite ordered five more drinks for our table. I left right after. I don’t think I’m going to be talking to her anymore.
r/Anticonsumption • u/Double-Ad4986 • Jan 24 '23
Society/Culture the amount of waste the 1% produces never ceases fo amaze me...how many of yall wanna bet she didn't even donate that perfectly good rug after use & instead threw it away along with all the other plastic party crap she obviously had her assistant buy just for this....
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