First topic message reminder :

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.

Very true Sandra I remember not so long ago my partner needed a new part for his car which was only available in the UK and would cost a fortune it was some sort of electronic part ? anyway we was talking to the neighbor about it and he said wait!! and off he went 2 days later he returned with another friend of his who then spent an hour looking under the bonnet of the car and and drinking plenty of Rakia he then said my friend can fix this, off his friend went and returned with a part from a ford but our car was a Mitsubishi my partner and I looked at each other and said nothing but watched with in trepidation after about 3 hours and more Rakia the car fired up and has been fine now for about 18 months with that part which only cost us 40 leve in total the part from england would have been in excess of £180..

wow i could do with supermachanics phone number, my honda needs work doing on it, in oct last yr wagon wheel came off in front of me on the motorway, i swerved but it hit the passenger side &
ripped my axle &
wheel off, (thank god we were all ok) i got the insurance money week before xmas now needs it fixing, (dont you struggle with a car)my daughters BG partner is trying to find some1 who knows what hes doing (as you may know all BG folk say i can do that even when they cant really, bless em) so im in Izvorovo, near Chirpan, Stara Zagora, if any1 knows some1 who really really knows what they are doing? ta, sandra