Stuff you can do without

[Phil Evans]

When I was making good money hauling hazardous waste, I'd return home with a wallet full of cash... I could have taken friends & family out to dinner at a restaurant, but I preferred to throw big BBQ bashes in my yard, or cook big ol' dinners in the kitchen. Yeah, there was a mess to clean up afterward, but that "social time" was the best, just good friends & family enjoying primo BBQ, lasagna, burritos, holiday dinners, etc. We had some good times in those days...

Sometimes I'd just scrape all the plates and let 'em soak overnight in the large sink... I could've used paper plates, but I always liked ceramic plates for the food I cooked, I could warm the plates too, which made a difference. Needless to say, me beloved & dear departed mum always got the first plate I put together, then I'd look after other family members & friends. We had a rule: nobody waited for others to get their food, as soon as you got your plate, you dug in, lol...

I like my food hot, ya know? Well, not the fresh tossed salads I'd put together beforehand, those were good straight from the fridge... those salads were legendary for their freshness & crispness, lol. One good thing about throwing those huge bashes with up to a dozen people, I always saved enough money (as opposed to going to a restaurant) to buy a friggin' truckload of beer, lol. Sometimes we'd go with Margaritas, but usually we just had big ol' coolers full of iced beer!

In those days, I was like a machine in the kitchen or at the BBQ, I'd whip together trays of food and deliver 'em to each member of the party, lol. That way, folks could relax and socialize while I did all the work, aye? We'd have some good music on my stereo too, and it was all about having a good time with no "social regulations" or constraints... I loved those bashes, even though it took me an hour or two to clean up the mess afterward... maybe even the next morning, lol.


P.S. Nowadays, I cook for myself, but I still cook large batches of food, more economical that way...

its old school & its me too.
its respect for elders, wait your turn,
thank profusely, firm hand shake,
look them in the eye.
look them in the eye,

 

[UKhomesteader]

I second everyone's comments so far... but I'll add one.

I only change my car only when the old one is good and dead / beyond financial sense to keep going, and I never buy cars too new.. just had to change as my old heap was 22yr old, here in blighty that means RUST... lots and lots of it.. and the annual "MOT" that if failed means your car must be fixed or scrapped..

So a "new" 8yr old car with an annual tax of just £35 compared to £390 for my old car, much more efficient too!

If we lived in Europe I would try to do without owning a vehicle ( other than whatever farm vehicle we needed) but not possible here unless you are Amish

As I'm in the UK, I'm confused by this.. what's different here that means you don't need a car?

 

[UKhomesteader]

Never have had much luck at second hand stores for clothing.

You need to live near a wealthy area to make that work.. where we are there are plenty of million pound houses.. so lots of VERY nice clothes turn up in charity shops.. I'm currently wearing saville row shirts for work.. I think they were £6 a pop!.. and they really are lovely!

 

[backlash]

Ever use peroxide?

No I never thought to do that.
Might try next time.

 

[Weedygarden]

I buy white cotton towels from Harbor Freight. They are cheap 50 for $12.99.
I use them to clean my grill. Get the grill hot, wet the towel then use it to clean off the grates.

There are so many uses for utility towels, to use instead of paper towels. The list is endless.

 

[sonya123]

I second everyone's comments so far... but I'll add one.

I only change my car only when the old one is good and dead / beyond financial sense to keep going, and I never buy cars too new.. just had to change as my old heap was 22yr old, here in blighty that means RUST... lots and lots of it.. and the annual "MOT" that if failed means your car must be fixed or scrapped..

So a "new" 8yr old car with an annual tax of just £35 compared to £390 for my old car, much more efficient too!


As I'm in the UK, I'm confused by this.. what's different here that means you don't need a car?

You don't need a car in Europe, ( I grew up in Germany) . You can use public transportation for most things. Here in the US public transportation sucks and doesn't go very many places.

 

[user 4402]

This . An unpopular opinion for sure. But think about it, no one needed cars before they were invented.

 

[user 4402]

worked just fine.

 

[user 4402]

And of course I'm in the business of car parts.

 

[Weedygarden]

We have more cookbooks than anyone could ever use. There must be a hundred cookbooks on the shelf collecting dust.
We have the complete encyclopedia of cookbooks.
I also have a bunch of cookbooks on my laptop. If you need a recipe I probably have it.
The only cookbook we use is one with recipes I have printed from the net.

This was me some years ago. I had one bookshelf full of cookbooks. I usually only used one or two recipes from each. I decided to start a recipe blog. I put all of my recipes that I had collected over the years on it. Then I went through all of those cookbooks and added the recipes from them that I liked. I got rid of all but about a dozen cookbooks.

 

[dademoss]

The next few months will be interesting, as she "who is not a packrat" deals with a Packrats nest of

 

[Weedygarden]

I get this 94 year old veteran going to the food court for coffee with his friends. I make my own coffee each and every morning.

 

[theheathen13]

People… but not beer!

 

[Magpie]

You need to live near a wealthy area to make that work.. where we are there are plenty of million pound houses.. so lots of VERY nice clothes turn up in charity shops.. I'm currently wearing saville row shirts for work.. I think they were £6 a pop!.. and they really are lovely!

Was visiting outside of London recently- the second-hand shops were like nothing I've seen; though I just bought books! didn't look at clothes. Do you know of Vinted- I've bought some nice pieces with labels still attached as gifts. One of which was a brand new Ulster Weavers apron- €70 here in shops; I got it for a fiver on Vinted.

 

[Magpie]

A friend of mine once said ' If it's being advertised, you don't need it.'

 

[UKhomesteader]

You don't need a car in Europe, ( I grew up in Germany) . You can use public transportation for most things. Here in the US public transportation sucks and doesn't go very many places.

Germany isn't representative of the whole of Europe.. I've lived in the UK all my life.. outside urban centers you really cannot live without a car. I'm mid way between 4 towns/cities.. average distance is about 12miles, closest is 8.. but that's a HARD bike ride and I'm fit. The public transport starts too late for work and ends too early, costs WAY too much and is as reliable as a chocolate tea pot and takes twice as long as driving. There's no public transport to one of the cities, I'd have to go to a different city and change to get there.. it's all disjointed. I remember when I got my first job cycling to work.. 10 miles each way and I used to do it in just over 30minutes. Then I had to catch a bus.. that 10mile journey took an hour and a half!

I've been to Munich.. their s-bahn is fantastic.. but that really isn't representative of the whole of Europe (I wish it was)

 

[Supervisor42]

Stuff you can do without:​

VHS tapes!​

We still have hundreds that take up tons of room and she still refuses to toss a single one.
We have the capability to play one, but haven't pressed the play button in over 5 years.
Sure, the few with home videos on them are priceless, but everything else can be streamed from 'somewhere' in much better quality.
...I pity our heir.

 

[Neb]

Stuff you can do without:​

VHS tapes!​

We still have hundreds that take up tons of room and she still refuses to toss a single one.
We have the capability to play one, but haven't pressed the play button in over 5 years.
Sure, the few with home videos on them are priceless, but everything else can be streamed from 'somewhere' in much better quality.
...I pity our heir.

Some vintage VHS tapes will fetch good money for collection.

Ben

 

[joel]

I can do without 70% of what I own.
A do not want to do with out 100% of what I own.
I have cut way back on sugar & simple carbs, replaced them with protein.

 

[sonya123]

Germany isn't representative of the whole of Europe.. I've lived in the UK all my life.. outside urban centers you really cannot live without a car. I'm mid way between 4 towns/cities.. average distance is about 12miles, closest is 8.. but that's a HARD bike ride and I'm fit. The public transport starts too late for work and ends too early, costs WAY too much and is as reliable as a chocolate tea pot and takes twice as long as driving. There's no public transport to one of the cities, I'd have to go to a different city and change to get there.. it's all disjointed. I remember when I got my first job cycling to work.. 10 miles each way and I used to do it in just over 30minutes. Then I had to catch a bus.. that 10mile journey took an hour and a half!

I've been to Munich.. their s-bahn is fantastic.. but that really isn't representative of the whole of Europe (I wish it was)

That's probably true. When we visited Scotland we took a train from the airport in Manchester to Edinburgh but then rented a car to drive around the highlands because there was not enough public transport there to get everywhere we wanted to go.
But at least in Germany and France you can get around pretty well without a car.
I hate driving on the Autobahn ( scary scary) so when we go visit, we just take trains or busses to get around and it's not a problem and usually cheap. Last time we did this ( way before Covid, not sure what it's like now) we got a 49 Euro Germany train family ticket you could go anywhere with . The speed train to Paris cost more but was well worth it ( faster than a car could get there)

 

[Supervisor42]

Some vintage VHS tapes will fetch good money for collection.

Ben

Sure. The ones that do are 'Rare', which just about guarantees that they are not in your 'collection'.

 

[Neb]

Sure. The ones that do are 'Rare', which just about guarantees that they are not in your 'collection'.

Not in OUR collection anymore.

The Princess purchased ALL of the Disney classics as soon as they were released. She gave them all to Goodwill because they took up too much space.

Ben

 

[Mountain trapper]

There is one thing that I can do without; all the sad sacks and doom and gloomers on the TV news shows. There is nothing that I own that I can do without, in fact there are still lots of things that I want/need. As long as one can afford it, why do without? I have no intention of living a minimalistic lifestyle. At least not yet, maybe when we're older, like 90.

 

[sonya123]

There is one thing that I can do without; all the sad sacks and doom and gloomers on the TV news shows. There is nothing that I own that I can do without, in fact there are still lots of things that I want/need. As long as one can afford it, why do without? I have no intention of living a minimalistic lifestyle. At least not yet, maybe when we're older, like 90.

You're funny....( didn't mean that in a bad way)

It is interesting to see someone's point of view that is complete opposite from ones own.
In my whole life I have always wanted to be minimalist. I guess I am cheap..lol
Even when we had income in the probably top 10 % ( and no debt ) I chose not to spend it on most consumer items . We did spend relatively a lot on traveling.
Maybe goes back to my parents? ( they grew up dirt poor and then my dad made money and they showed it off any way they could and I never liked that, I was happier on my dirt poor aunt's farm than getting dragged to clothing stores by my mother )

And then there is this, think back to 30 some years ago or more. People did just fine without iphone , internet, and so on but now it's hard to imagine living without. I can barely remember having to go to a travel agency to buy plane tickets and using a paper map only to find some place. First time we went to the Grand Canyon I remember going to the library and looking up a NP book with phone numbers and addresses , and using that to call and make a reservation.
Oh, and music! Do you remember trying to "fix" cassette tapes by trying to roll them back up? I do

 

[LadyLocust]

There is one thing that I can do without; all the sad sacks and doom and gloomers on the TV news shows. There is nothing that I own that I can do without, in fact there are still lots of things that I want/need. As long as one can afford it, why do without? I have no intention of living a minimalistic lifestyle. At least not yet, maybe when we're older, like 90.

Talking with a friend who had two small children at the time, she was speaking of trying to keep things towards the minimalist side. I told her I didn't believe minimalism since it creates a dependent lifestyle, but I do believe in enoughism and not having a bunch of useless clutter. I still believe in that.

 

[Amish Heart]

I believe in that, too. Tech has taken off enough in the past 30 yrs that people are spending all their money on it, money that they don't have. I am almost a luddite. A luddite with a laptop. Ha.

 

[Weedygarden]

People did just fine without iphone , internet, and so on but now it's hard to imagine living without.

I remember the days before cell phones. I had many times in my life when a cell phone would have been such a relief from the stress of figuring out where people were, or what was going on.

When I was teaching, the district came out with a deal for cell phones for $10 a month, but with a 60 minute limit per month. I bought one for my then teenage daughter and one for myself. She was probably the first of all of her friends to have a phone. Why did I buy her a phone? I worked half an hour away from home. I usually left work when I had to, when the doors were being locked, around 6:00 p.m. Then I would drive home and she might be home, or not. Then I would have to call around and find her, get back in my car, go pick her up and then go home again. By the time we would be home it was after 7:00 and I was long past tired. I could call her from the phone in my classroom before I left, but she could not call me after 4:00, because the office staff had gone home and couldn't pass calls to me. If we had any other business to do, how did I know where she was? She was active in after school activities, so there was also that, why she was often not home. She would get a ride from school, a few miles away, and then be a few miles from home.

 

[Mountain trapper]

You're funny....( didn't mean that in a bad way)

It is interesting to see someone's point of view that is complete opposite from ones own.
In my whole life I have always wanted to be minimalist. I guess I am cheap..lol
Even when we had income in the probably top 10 % ( and no debt ) I chose not to spend it on most consumer items . We did spend relatively a lot on traveling.
Maybe goes back to my parents? ( they grew up dirt poor and then my dad made money and they showed it off any way they could and I never liked that, I was happier on my dirt poor aunt's farm than getting dragged to clothing stores by my mother )

And then there is this, think back to 30 some years ago or more. People did just fine without iphone , internet, and so on but now it's hard to imagine living without. I can barely remember having to go to a travel agency to buy plane tickets and using a paper map only to find some place. First time we went to the Grand Canyon I remember going to the library and looking up a NP book with phone numbers and addresses , and using that to call and make a reservation.
Oh, and music! Do you remember trying to "fix" cassette tapes by trying to roll them back up? I do

I learned many years ago to buy only quality products, not cheap junk. Back then the cheap crap was made in Japan, now its China.
If you were to look around our place you would see all quality made items, and mostly made in the US.
Keeping a ranch going, even a small one like ours, takes a lot of equipment and tools. I've got many thousands in just livestock handling equipment.
While we were working we traveled around the world many times. We have no desire to travel by plane any more. We've used many of our saved air miles to fly friends and family out to visit. I still have close to a million air miles left to give away.
We do use cell phones as there is no other choice if we want to keep in contact with people. Without internet computers are useless for us.
I remember the cassette tapes too, and 8 track. You used to see the tape blowing in the breeze all along the highway.

 

[sonya123]

Keeping a ranch going, even a small one like ours, takes a lot of equipment and tools. I've got many thousands in just livestock handling equipment.

I know you have a lot more acres and more animals but here is what we make due with:
40 some year old John Deere Tractor with 4 attachments: plow, brushhog, scraper, hay spear, no loader on front , Polaris Ranger ( both made in US ) , a crappy old 2500 Dodge Ram and a Honda ATV. That;s it. Everything else gets done by hand or rented

 

[Tim Horton]

A friend of mine once said ' If it's being advertised, you don't need it.'*
=== ===
My take on this is... it is likely more un needed when advertised on glossy paper..
Glossy paper doesn't even make a good fire starter...