Mastodon post transcription:
kasran, fourier transfemme @typhlosion@awoo.space
minimalism is a scam invented by big small to sell more less
October 29, 2023 at 10:23 PM · 13 replies · 290 reblogs · 425 favorites
this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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Buying things and throwing them away isn't minimalism
Minimalism is for people who can afford to not be equipped to do anything outside of their specific day to day tasks. I can't afford to not have 12 different tool totes for different job types because I can't afford to hire someone to do a job that I could do, so while the space and upkeep costs are higher long term, it allows me to now have to plan for single high cost occurrences. Minimalism is a lifestyle of privilege.
I suppose everyone looks at minimalism differently, but to me as I understand it functional minimalism is not “have the least amount of things possible; live in a barren house”. It’s more “only have what you need”. If you need those tools, it’s not against minimalism to have them. It would not be minimalist to buy a newer, fancier drill when the one you already have does the job as needed. Minimalism isn’t also about depriving yourself of happiness. But to be thoughtful about the things you buy and whether the act of buying it will trigger some quick endorphins or whether the item will actually serve purpose and fulfillment to you/your heart.
Exactly right. Well said.
Yeah it’s the question of “can I go longer without it” and “can I fix it instead”. I don’t like tying this into a philosophy though I much prefer tying it to being a responsible steward of resources and not being wasteful. It should be a habit and a virtue not a lifestyle
It shouldn't be but to a lot of people it is.
I didn't say that it was necessarily, but it does encourage that under many normal circumstances.
When you have a project that you are not equipped to handle, you need to acquire more things. Those things need to be stored somewhere or be discarded. In order to maintain minimalism how does one store more things? You can't. It then needs to be discarded.
The alternative would be to rent those things or hire someone, but that is often far more costly. Particularly if that need comes up again in the future.
I had to fix some drywall in my house. I bought the resources necessary to do that. Now what do I do with them? I store them. That is the antithesis of minimalism. My only alternative would have been to hire someone else to fix it, or throw the tools and remaining drywall away. Hiring someone would have been far more costly, and throwing away the stuff I bought would be a waste particularly considering things happen and I may need to fix drywall again in the future.
This is just one small example out of many things that can happen that would require someone to acquire more things. How is minimalism compatible with that?