How do you constantly fight consumerism and being materialistic?

How do you constantly fight consumerism and being materialistic?

I want a new phone although my Galaxy S9 is in good condition, still takes good photos and has plenty of power and storage for what I use it for

I want a new CPU although I barely tax my R5 1600

I want a new GPU when my 1070 still handles everything I throw at it.

I want a 4k monitor even though id probably not notice much difference at my viewing distance.

I want a Rolex Submariner or a Tudor Black Bay even though my Seiko does a fine job

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by being poor

This. Maybe OP has too much money.

sucking a dick will teach you the value of a dollar

user it's a question ive been wondering too
honestly i feel like the answer is just going outside and spending time with people

i have a i5-9400f but a 9900k would be nice
1080 FE but why the fuck not get a 2070/2080 when all i do is porn, Jow Forums and youtube
i want a 34" ultrawide when my dual 24"s serve me well enough

for watches idk i'd say thats different but im a watch guy, i really want a moonwatch because of the heritage memes

but yea honestly im slowly leaning towards selling off everything and just getting 1 laptop

You're doing it by questioning it as you are right now. Keep up the good fight, invest and become financially independent. Being liberated from the tyranny of the corporate world is infinitely more satisfying than a small dopamine rush from consuming useless goods.

Focus on other things like programming or games
I am literally a click away to buy newest cpu when i realized my 6700k is all i need.

This, all my hardware is ether 5+ years old, a hand me down or.found in a dumpster.
Unrelated, you know how manu people dont wipe their drives before throwing them out ?

Do people throw unbroken hard drive away or did you actually take the effort to restore them?

There is no fight. You want stuff or you don't. I don't like stuff. I have a flip phone. I watch most of my content on my desktop. I have sex with my GF every night (in my dreams). I'm mostly happy.

If you can afford the stuff you want and still save enough for a rainy day then what is the issue? Personally I think it is dumb as hell buying stuff you don't really need. But who the fuck am I to judge?

Pretty easily. I spend the money I need to, and don't even look at upgrading until it starts falling apart. Being unaware of what's being offered makes it easy to do.

My 4 year old refurbished laptop is still doing awesome, so I don't care. The only reason I know what the iPhone XS looks like is because of this board (I still don't know the specs, my 256GB iPhone 8 does the job for me, and I got it for 1.66 per month for 30 months). My Atomic Solar G'shock watch from 2009 still works, so I can't even tell you what else is out there other than an apple watch (and I have no idea what it does).

I got a 4k 120 hz QLED TV just before Xmas, because my old 27" 1080i/720p Olevia from 2006 finally bit the dust. It looks nice, but I also ceased to notice the difference within a couple of weeks.

If I had any advice, I would say to only research products when you know that you want/need to replace what you've already got.

There is no fight. Either you need it or don't. And keep yourself busy.

if you become a full time wagie at a decent job I noticed your desire for this shit goes down. As soon as I got the power to basically afford anything I wanted within reason it moved my decision for purchasing shit from "can I buy it?" to "do I want to buy it?" and most of the time it's just like you said. I spent two years wanting a PS4 and could not justify it rationally, finally caved and bought one and it's pretty much just collected dust since then. After that experience I pretty much always listen to my head. Another thing I do when considering luxury stuff is calculate the cost not based on the current price but how much the money will be worth when I retire if I just throw it in an index fund which is where it would go eventually once I get enough savings. shit just adds up and every dollar you spend is basically more time you have to wagecuck. On the other hand when I got too autistic about this and was just saving everything I ended up burning out quitting and being a NEET for a year because I was just wondering what the point of making a ton of money was if I never used it.

After siphoning every ounce of pleasure out of my hobbies and interests my depression finally came for my consumption habits.

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Not being stupid helps.

By not buying things.
I've been wanting a new phone for years but I'm still sticking with my S7 anyway, since it still works fine.

By caring about the process and not the tools
The better equipped you are to perform a task you enjoy, the more you think about how money could make the few shortcomings of your current hobby less so

This. That said, even when I want something, I also attach a value that I think it's worth. This value can change over time, as well. So, just because I valued a PS4 for $200 in 2015 doesn't mean that I value the PS4 for that amount today.

I literally spent a solid decade waiting for a necklace I wanted to hit a price I was willing to spend. Made it all the more gratifying when I finally found it last year.

>materialistic
>Galaxy S9

Dude I still use my Galaxy Note 3

I'm still using an rx470, but I can't justify upgrading yet. I just don't play often enough.
But I'm thinking of making a retro pi box to play a new lego kit for a bit and likely get more enjoyment out of it long term. Maybe still a symptom of the disease.

>How do you constantly fight consumerism and being materialistic?
Good answers all around for you Op. But do you want to know the surefire way of staving off temptation?
Don't go onto online communities that talk about the junk you want to buy.
Stop reading about graphics cards, processors, monitors phones and other tech crap.
Stay off all watch-related online communities. No /wt/.
Stay off /spg/.
Don't participate in the graphics card wars threads.
Get on with your everyday life not wasting time reading these communities and your desire to accumulate more and more crap will subside, because you'll be preoccupied in using the stuff you already own. Participating in any way even if it's just occasionally lurking something to do with any hobby that is not creative but more accumulative will cause you to want more crap.

I used to "collect" watches, well more like I was reading about them to research the one I really wanted and in the process accumulated a bunch that I've found later that I don't even like. I finally got the be all end all and that was that. No more WUS. And I the desire to buy dimibeshed and I got on with things. (unfortunately then they got stolen but rather go back down that rabbit whole I've just bought something much cheaper and that's that).

As soon as you start looking at this stuff on the regular again then the desire to consume is reignited. I've found this with another of my niche hobbies.
I had a sizeable, decent quality, collection that was part curated collection and part just amassed accumulation. Then I got fed up with the online community and stopped visiting those message boards. Boom. Happy with what I had I could have been content indefinitely to use what I had.
Then I went back in there to search the archives for repair info and I'm fucking stuck in that never ending quest to find the "perfect" item again.

Being budget constrained and having to pick and choose. My laptop is like, $160 US and my phone $300 US, and that Thinkpad and Motorola, on top of doing exactly what I need them to, frees up resources to be poured into other things. It's all about priorities. Cutting it fine on some things lets you spend a little more on others. I'm not going to drop a grand on a phone when that's money I'd much rather be spending on my PC, for instance.

Could you explain index fund? As a NEET it seems alien to me.

this. look at all the people in /tpg/, many there have like 10 old laptops they have absolutely no need for, exactly for this reason

>have a desktop with a 4690k and 1060 6GB and 12GB of ram
>everything overclocked to hell
>realize I only ever use it to play team fortress 2, a 12 year old game
>spend most of my time on my 2GB laptop from 10 years ago with a broken fan and no battery
>go to friend's house
>see them working on stuff in photoshop on worse hardware than my laptop
>realize I don't need to upgrade my desktop

>showing off big faces without big balls, 'bows, and bores to back it up

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By buying shit only when you actually need it.

aw fuck man, i wanted to say that

start monitoring your spending, analysing where you are spending your money and start saving. get motivated that you are getting richer (as your money increases and you invest it). use dividends and earnings from having money to get laid. the more you analyse, the better you will get at spending money in the right places, you need to really compare and weigh up if the spend is worth it.

By growing up.

By not wanting useless crap.

Try to figure out why you're placing emphasis on purchasing. Do you think these items impart any qualities or represent anything anything other then what they are e.g. a rolex is just a watch, is it the item or the brand.

from adv, not sure if they'll apply:
-Think how many hours you have to work to purchase the thing.
-Wait a month, do you even care anymore.

having an appreciation for old-but-well-built things could help

something about a 9-years-old x220 thinkpad, waterproof samsung s5 or a 1990s toyota camry that still works makes them so charming

the joy and comfiness you get from reviving an old thinkpad is almost unparalleled imo

spending all your money is a good way to be poor
i have several hundred thousand in the bank
i have a s7 that i bought 2 years ago when my s3 stopped charging
i just bought a new case for it because the old one had gouges in the screen protector that hindered function
and a 20 year old pickup truck

just don't buy shit you don't need

This, if you want to be connected with this technology and still use your income for personal growth, fixing up old computers, making them run like new again, and appreciating them for a time before selling them on to collectors with fat wallets is a fine hobby.

to think there's an actual advice in Jow Forums .
thanks user

>How do you constantly fight consumerism and being materialistic?
I literally can't

>only browsing Jow Forums and youtube with my 9900K and 1080Ti.
>bought an iPhone XS last week for no reason, I don't even like iOS, regretted it the second I opened it.
>have a $700 meme keyboard but want to buy a new one
Same goes for pretty much everything, all of the things I own are high-end in their respective categories and there's absolutely no need for me to spend more money because I have best of the best, yet I keep on spending it.

It's probably the fact that I haven't been working for the past half a year so I'm bored and kill my boredom with buying fancy stuff.
I noticed when I'm working full time that I'm too tired to browse for all of this fancy stuff, so I guess constantly keeping yourself occupied will keep your mind off thinking about wasting money.

what a nice thread, I go dumpster diving a lot (electronic recycling dumpsters) and buy stuff used
I used to keep up with every new consumer shit, bought until the highest end Haswell-E and 295x2, then realized how much fun it was to repair old things and make them good enough to use daily
I do still have fairly powerful hardware because I enjoy not being limited in my hobby, but everything I own is second hand and mostly professional instead of consumer crap
for example, instead of buying ryzen I bought a v3 ES xeon from eBay as well as a used dual socked motherboard from amazon, my case is a server chassis I found in a dump and my graphics card is the first card I've ever bought, a 7970 GHz that stayed with me after I sold everything because don't play demanding games anymore

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>working makes you so tired you have no energy to waste money
that seems even worse than actively controlling your spending habits, because as soon as you have no job (and limited income) you get the desire to spend all the money you can. That's fine if it's affordable for you but it ain't good practice imo

Or just spend a bit of your money on things you like, be more happy and have the best of both worlds.

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>The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
But honestly it all seems just stupid to me. Tablets are useless (oh I actually bought one with a digitizer and actually am using it), smartphones are dumb, I don't see any reason to upgrade my PC because it works. I don't like wasting things so I always try to repair whatever has broken. Recently my 16:10 display broke for good (as in I don't know how to repair it) so I rolled back to old 5:4 and it works so I don't feel very compelled to buy a new one. Well, if I wasn't poor I would actually start looking for a display but it's not that I need to buy it.

>>working makes you so tired you have no energy to waste money
I mean not always physically tired, just can't be bothered really.
Because then I spend most of my days at work + commute + a drink with the coworkers, so when I come home I only have time to check up on regular stuff and not researching new things I'll waste my money on.

>because as soon as you have no job (and limited income) you get the desire to spend all the money you can
I only work 6 months a year, so I'm always kinda calculating.
I'll spend 6 months making money and then I'll spend 6 months doing fuck all and waste enough money that'll keep me afloat until I start working again. I don't know if that makes much sense the way I explained it.
I also have a somewhat of a crypto investment so hopefully that'll be my retirement money, that's the reason why I don't feel the need to live frugally with my paycheck.

Hell, I downgraded my PC last year;
I sold my PC (i7, 1070) and was getting ready to build a whole new system, 1080ti, latest i7, etc.
On the interim, I borrowed my friends 4/5 year old GPU and stuck it in an old PC I had lying around.
That PC is the most fun I've ever had. It forced my to try out indie games, mod old games, emulate shit, overclock, etc.
What the fuck did I need a 1080ti for?
I'm using a RX 580 ATM, and Ryzen. It's probably the most bang for buck PC I could build (rebates, selling games, some parts (RAM was really expensive at the time, etc.), I had a lot of fun planning it, as stupid as that sounds.
I also have a lot of fun with chink shit, check the general. Especially IEMs.
It's become its own hobby.

Another reason; You Google 'best [phone/GPU/etc] 2019', click buy, and when it arrives... it's just kinda, boring? Not live changing at all? You buy new shit to always chase the 'best' hoping it will improve your life, when it's just a marginal upgrade at best.
Whereas for me now, that feeling is replaced by 'holy shit, how can this be so good for so cheap?'

Can confirm work at a rubbish dump
People chuck whole computers out that work fine and boot no issues

i like my pickup truck and my phone does everything i need it to do

Pretty much this. It's the same with all online communities. There's nothing wrong with experimenting with different stuff and getting what you consider the best, but after that you need to stop. I experimented with tons of teas and shaving soaps for example, but once I found what I liked I settled on one thing.

Another thing that helps is being a wagie and having to pay for stuff like housing, food, etc. When i was young and lived with my parents I had lots of disposable income. Now I don't and I have learned to appreciate what I have/fix what I have.

b&rp

>I used to "collect" watches, well more like I was reading about them to research the one I really wanted and in the process accumulated a bunch that I've found later that I don't even like
I've sold off all of them so far besides my F-91W, Vostok and Stowa Flieger. I'm trying to decide whether or not I should sell my Stowa at the moment.

Isn't the r5 and s9 relatively new? I'm still using my 4770k and my Samsung note 5 which takes the best pics of any phone I've ever seen yet.

This is good advice, at least for me.

Once I start properly researching something it becomes just a matter of time until pull the trigger on a purchase. It's like an obsession that can only be cured with making the purchase.

I'm currently holding off dropping on a new CPU (R5 2600)/MoBo/RAM since my i5 4690k is fine but it's getting harder and harder. The only thing stopping my is Zen 2 being around the corner.

I cant just give up a hobby.

If you do you just replace it with another hobby that you want to fund.

You just need to find economical hobbies. Dumpster diving is like the only hobby that doesnt cost money and im not going to do that.

How do you people survive with such old phones? Arent you worried about security? I wouldnt browse the web with a phone that hasnt seen an update for a few years

>How do you constantly fight consumerism and being materialistic?
I don't but I direct it at getting a bigger home so I can finally have a dedicated anime & guns room and taking care of my children and wife.

KEK

i just embrace it...

sold my iphone x as soon as the new ones came out and bought one

You add your money to a big pool of money that's invested into thousands of different stocks. This lowers risk as you are basically investing into the market and not individual stocks.

I feel you OP, I try my best to justify why I need whatever it is to myself and try to explain what would actually be better about the new thing.
Also think about what you'd do with the old one. Is it just going to take up space? That'd be annoying, could you sell it?
I find that stops me buying most things, I wanna upgrade my 770GTX to a 2060 but then I think about it and I really don't actually need it. I'm gonna try and hold off til either Navi isn't a disappointment (lol fat chance) or the 3000 series.

oh and since I'm paid monthly, I like to do one silly purchase a month. One purchase that I can say "I just really want it, but don't know if it'll actually be good, but I want it."
I combined 3 months' dumb purchase of the months together and bought my xiaomi laptop so I felt less guilty about upgrading and it was a good decision. My old HP shitbook from 2011 started to die, touchpad sometimes gives up, touchscreen dies, battery is terrible now, blah blah blah and I love the xiaomi notebook, so that was a good one and now that it's winter I got a heated blanket and now I'm toasty in bed.
I like doing a dumb purchase of the month, because it shows that sometimes even when I'm desperate for something, it might still be shit in the end and I don't spend too much on useless junk.

you will never fill that hole in your soul with money

For me it helps to think about things in the long term, then short term purchases don't phase you unless they reach your long term goals.

I make in the mid 200s and I have for the last few years now, but my desktop is 9 years old and it plays the games I want, I would need to get a better return if I was gonna upgrade parts but I don't focus on it much anymore. My phone is having some hardware issues now, but it's 4 years old and if it wasn't I'd probably keep it.

If you buy every little thing you want it will chip away at you and add up quickly, you probably aren't going to be making bank without notable expenses forever, so I suggest you save it aside for the things that will truly enrich your life.

A damn Rolex submariner is such a pointless purchase, your future self will regret that one especially. Stop being wasteful and live below your means, money buys your freedom from this rat race eventually.

I have the opposite, I literally don't care about buying anything
I was using a broken windows phone that wouldn't show the bottom half of a lot of webpages until a month ago.