So many people I know have said 2010 hasnt been their best year and I too havnt had the best of years,the ups and downs have made me evaluate things and also hark back to the past a little. The good times of the past year I remember with fondness and the bad times,sad times and mistakes I have made have only made me determined to change and learn from them.

Maybe I'm getting Old? Well I know I'm getting Older but what I mean is I think you reach an age where you wake up to things and start asking are you going to be taken in anymore by the "
Machine"
?

By the Machine I guess I mean Consumerism,it seems like a big Machine that sucks you in Brainwashes you making you believe you need things to make you a better person or make your life complete or better but do we really need the things we buy?

We all update and replace things that often dont need replacing and more often than not replace something that has served us well with something that looks more modern and up to date that isnt made as well as the thing being replacing and probably wont last as long :-

This year has changed me and i can honestly say I will never let "
The Machine"
drag me in and convince me their products will make my life better :-

We once believed in waste not want not now we all seem to be in debt buying things we dont really need .
just stop and have a think about it? Ill add a few things ive thought of but you can probably all add to this and come up with your own ideas too?

Home entertainment;

In our parents days they used to buy heavy pieces of Hi Fi that 30 years on they most probably still have and sound and work better than anything available today ?
you can still pick up old well cared for Hi Fi seperates for next to nothing thesedays that despite not having a gaurentee will outlive most modern Hi Fi,s that fall apart just outside of their guarentees :(

Televisions
Do we really need LCD,LED or Plasma TV? Do you have an old CRT TV? The Consumerism Machine would have you Believe in these days of Digital TV you must replace and update? So spend £1000 on a new all singing all dancing TV or £20 on a Freeview box and keep the one youve got? I know which one makes sence ;
)

Recorders
If your VHS Video still works do you really need a DVD Recorder or HDD Recorder? Just checked most places still sell VHS Tapes so do we really need the latest format to record our favourite programmes?

Computers
When a computer has no more life in it yes you have to replace it but if you still only do the same tasks using the same programmes youve allways have do you really need the New Operating system,more Ram etc? Again if you have a desktop with a working CRT Monitor do you really need a biscuit thin LCD Screen instead? You could Shock Horror buy a second hand PC of similar Spec far cheaper than a new one ;
)
This also applies to Printers Scanners etc,last year i gave away a perfectly good standard printer with nothing wrong with it and replaced it with a state of the art Wireless printer. Nine months into ownership that wireless printer was replaced with another new one under gaurentee because of an irrepairable total failure! Now the replacement is out of gaurentee and thats failing whereas the one it replaced as far as i know is still going :- All so i could do without a printer Cable :-

I'm sure there are many other things and hopefully you can all comment and give your ideas?
Im not for one minute saying you should go out and sell your nice things and go backwards but what I am saying is that next time you want to replace something you really dont need to have a good think about it first,do you really need to? And when something fails and has to be replaced can you replace it with something older cheaper and better made that doesnt require finance?

You cant turn back the clock but anybody can break the cycle and your quality of life can be just as good or even taken to a higher level with high quality old tech goods that make you feel like royalty even though they owe you very little :-

I'd love to hear others thoughts but I for one am convinced enough to no longer be drawn in by the Perpetual Consumerism Machine.

Great post Scott and how true I remember buying a new Camera because I though it would be better than the one I had ? id developed 3 faults in 6 months and its now gone back for good and I'm using my 7 year old faithful that has never let me down

Good post scott - one of my memories of the past coming back to haunt me was trouser buttons. As a lad at school we all had to suffer button up trousers and then some wizard discovered the zip, ah yes the zip was a wonderful invention, especially for trousers, the user had to be careful of course, a quick yank of the zip could prove very painful if not done properly!! Some years later Levi's brought out their famous 501's and yes they had bl....y buttons in them, what a downfall for men this was. A trip into the gents whilst swigging some amber nectar could be embarrassing for the user because the buttons always seemed to be bigger than the button holes, whilst standing at the stand ups in the gents a great amount of fumbling took place to undo the garment ready for action. This was all the more embarrassing if someone happened to be waiting behind you to use the stand up and could see the person in front taking ages and them now standing with their legs crossed waiting for the magic moment. Of course after having finished one's natural function, the trousers were equally difficult to do up and this also took time.

Oh so true Scott. I cannot understand why its almost impossible to buy a video player/recorder because we now have DVD. When ours packed up we trawled the shops for one even a secondhand one, but in the end had to buy a state of the art DVD/video player with so many functions that I have no idea how to use. Its a joy to pop a video into the machine and press play. Every DVD seems to have a different format so it takes forever to actually play the film. Now there is HD and I absolutely refuse to have it. I have just paid a fortune for new glasses so why would I need higher definition? Plasma TV? I am still playing a small TV we brought with us from Greece with a sound adapter.
Its getting absolutely ridiculous. At one time in my life, not so long ago, I lived with no telephone, TV or any other gizmo. The shopping list used ot have things deleted off it because I could cook with what I already had. Became vegetarian because meat is always the most expensive item. Was I unhappy? no. It taught me a great lesson.
Whenever I go shopping now I always stop to ask myself why buy? It is so easy to be corrupted by consumerism. It doesn't bring happiness to own 'things' and can lead to misery when debts pile up. I'm not a misery or a scrooge and it gives me pleasure to give things to others not so blessed but there is a limit to what we need in today's world.
One thing though - its not so easy to not be sucked in. Today I received an attachment from my son of what the snow is like where they live. I couldn't play it because I need to download something on my computer because what I had was now not operating. I needed an upgrade. It said a 'free download' but then told me that I needed new software costing £30!!! See what I mean? Sorry, I will just use my imagination.

What a lovely topic scott and thank you oldun I think what you post about life is always fascinating to read and I for one appreciate it :Thank you:and this is so true "
why buy? It is so easy to be corrupted by consumerism."

I've had my present partner for 12 years now and have so far resisted the temptation to shop around and swap her for a newer up to date model.
A lot of the newer models may well be a little smaller and come with a little less packaging but although some of the parts may be a little worn on my present model it has never let me down yet and will hopefully last me the rest of my life!

Very funny Borntolaze and nice compliment to 'her indoors'.
Last night I had cause to visit the village doctor who visits once a week. Waited in a cold, dark outer room where the light bulb had gone. A far cry from a waiting room in Britain. However, once called into the inner sanctum where a woodburner blazed, I was seen, diagnosed, given some pills to start me off and told to go back next week. All in Bulgarian, no fancy items which would put the cost of medical attention up and it only cost 10levs. I was more than happy with everything and had confidence in the doctor and nurse there who were really pleasant although looking a bit fierce to begin with. I guess they were worried that I was an Anglichanka.
I know Brits are often put off by the basic nature of medical attention and many other offices but at least you are seen and diagnosed quickly and efficiently. Having checked with family in UK the medication is up to date and correct. Why put up costs to have all the frills? However, no doubt all will change eventually with the nanny EU State protecting us all - if we can afford it.

I think your dead right we dont need to buy new but we do,but my daughter in England has 2 children single mum got a small house,and works very hard 3 part time jobs that fit in with the children,she buys nothing new at all,tvs radio washing machine in fact most things in her house come from freecycle,its things people dont want anymore its very good,the quality of some of the stuff is great,because of this the kids are always well dressed and she has a holiday abroad every year,,,,,,,,she must get it from her dad my wife says i am a miser,,ha ha joke

Good for her. The only thing about all this economising is that there is a downside in that people have to be encouraged to buy things in order to give employment to people who make the things we buy. Bit of a vicious circle really. With savings interest at an all-time low, no wonder people decide to spend rather than save. At my age though and being on a fixed income, I don't have the choice. C'est la Vie I'm afraid.

What a great read that was and most of it so true, if only a lot more would think like this we wouldn't have so much waste

This is a subject dear to my heart. Back to basics has so many advantages. Yes, people have to buy things as I said above to give employment but this is not necessarily the whole answer is it? In these modern times there is so much waste. I am appalled when I visit UK at how much food is wasted and thrown in bins which then have to be collected which in itself becomes another problem and expense. No food in our house is wasted. There are so many meals that can be created out of leftovers and failing that, it goes to the chickens, rabbit, dog or cats. Being of the 'wartime' generation this comes easily to me but in Britain nowadays where the supermarket shelves are full of everything from all over the world, it doesn't seem to have helped people's pockets when TV chefs continually come up with menus that require so much extra expense. With everything practically gift wrapped to keep us all healthy it makes me wonder how the population survived in the days before health and safety went mad.
The health service is groaning under the weight of everyone trotting off to the docs at the first symptom because people seem to expect to live forever causing financial problems for a country with fewer young working people paying NI to fund pensions of folks living till 100.
Oh dear, I could go on and I am sure others can add to the list, but the world keeps turning and there is no going back. Its good to take a look at where economies can be made and its so much easier to practice what I preach in my little Bulgarian village.

oldun wrote:

This is a subject dear to my heart. Back to basics has so many advantages. Yes, people have to buy things as I said above to give employment but this is not necessarily the whole answer is it? In these modern times there is so much waste. I am appalled when I visit UK at how much food is wasted and thrown in bins which then have to be collected which in itself becomes another problem and expense. No food in our house is wasted. There are so many meals that can be created out of leftovers and failing that, it goes to the chickens, rabbit, dog or cats. Being of the 'wartime' generation this comes easily to me but in Britain nowadays where the supermarket shelves are full of everything from all over the world, it doesn't seem to have helped people's pockets when TV chefs continually come up with menus that require so much extra expense. With everything practically gift wrapped to keep us all healthy it makes me wonder how the population survived in the days before health and safety went mad.
The health service is groaning under the weight of everyone trotting off to the docs at the first symptom because people seem to expect to live forever causing financial problems for a country with fewer young working people paying NI to fund pensions of folks living till 100.
Oh dear, I could go on and I am sure others can add to the list, but the world keeps turning and there is no going back. Its good to take a look at where economies can be made and its so much easier to practice what I preach in my little Bulgarian village.

Yes, you are right oldun but I did enjoy my dripping on toast when I was younger. A hangover from the war years was cod liver oil given to me by my mother, it used to make her face cringe when I licked the spoon clean and gave it back to her, good old days, I think not!!!

Ooh still love dripping on toast when I have some from the pork. Not quite the same as from beef which is not freely available out here at a reasonable cost. However, the Bulgarians do eat the pig fat just cut up in slices sometimes garnished with paprika and herbs. Not for me but I do use it for pork scratchings. This is a treat as its not recommended for a healthy diet. Can't stand it raw but have to have a little at the fiestas as I think its a Bulgarian treat, and have to rearrange my face to say 'lovely' to be polite.

Your making my mouth water talking about dripping its something I love but for health reasons I can no longer indulge

I think living in bulgaria helps you realize how the bulgarians have to make do &
mend &
never throw owt out. they seem to find a use for almost everything, ive found i do the same now as much as poss.
As when you first come over you want to clear out everything &
have a clean start, but i came over 2 yrs after my daughter &
gang, &
she helped me realize i should hang on to stuff for a while cos you wont beleive what you can use &
recyle &
save a fotune here, its so true ive reused alsorts or my daughters partner has when hes been doing jobs for me.
In the UK you would just throw it &
buy new &
not think twice, but i think its so satisfiying &
good for the purse to.
Cary on recyling, sandra