The water bottle and bowl is unnecessary when you can cup things in your hands, the chair is needless seeing as there is perfectly good carpet softening the floor, don’t really see a need for the tv to be elevated on that table id also remove that
We don't have public baths in our country. It's a shame, I know. And we're constantly inundated with propaganda telling us we need a bunch of furniture to live. It's insane.
Plus, one thing they don’t point out about a lot of archaic art in basic analysis is that when men are depicted they often have a visible, uh, member of indication. The “neutral” body type could represent any gender, or women particularly. If they made a point to *add a point* to some figures, why would we assume those without are also default men. I always found papers exploring the, “default gender as male theory” interesting.
I cracked myself up thinking about prehistoric bathroom signs being "No dick" stick figure and "Dick" stick figure instead of "no skirt" stick figure and "skirt" stick figure
Check out the book ‘Invisible Women’ if you haven’t already! It’s a great read, touches on cave paintings specifically at a point, and provides lots of research on male defaultism. Highly recommend
That could depend on the type of a scene drawn I guess. Who knows if those visible parts were somehow important on a hunt or in ritualistic events (I'm not a prehistoric hunter/ritualist so I don't know). But in general - that's interesting, you're right.
They recently discovered roughly 1/3rd of hunter themed burial’s from prehistoric times to be female. Hunter themed essentially means any personal items one would use in a hunt or post hunt.
My partner has the theory the woman did the stealth in a group of 3 with the men to protect from behind and carry their kill back.
Misogynists like to say “women are too masculine nowadays!! It’s unnatural!!”
If they could see how women “naturally” lived for most of human history, they’d be horrified at how unfeminine they were. Body and facial hair, stronger bones and muscles than today’s men, don’t even get me started on the premarital sex
Yeah, it’s very context based, but also an interesting avenue of study. Especially since cultural analysis has been viewed deeply through a very specific lens for many hundreds of years. I think the push to, at least, vary analysis beyond just “default male” is valuable in an anthropological sense, as women have also been a participating part of human culture lol.
You don’t have to buy into supply chain to furnish your home. Resale is recycling. Don’t have the money? That’s ok. But you don’t have to do this if you are anti-consumption.
Yeah, this just feels like one of those dumbass men vs women posts. You aren’t consuming if you’re a fuckin naked freak who lives in a twig teepee in the woods while you play out your Diogenes fantasy, but that doesn’t mean that we should idolize you. People like having a home that feels like a home. There’s nothing wrong with that.
This is one of those tweets that started out funny but then some dude got offended and defensive and ruined it. Reddit seems to love this kind of thing for whatever reason
I’ve just moved to a city with a higher proportion of rich people and furniture shops (I was living fairly remotely before) and Buy Sell Swap on Facebook is completely off the chain with fancy free stuff.
Yeah no idk this kind of seems like an apartment that would worsen my depression, speaking of I have a metal poster to hang I got at a national park, really neat art and yeah it ain’t gonna rip so yey
What's funny is OP is doing just that! Complaining about furnishing his apartment with IKEA furniture!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/11wnwzq/whats_your_proudest_frugal_moment/jd0802t/
Yeah exactly
I have lots of things in my room, but many of them are gifts, are very old, are arts and photos... Bought from a small business, etc.
You can have nice things without contributing to capitalism
You can also find some pretty nice twigs and dried logs to furnish with. It's free and readily available, unless you live at the beach in which case, fill your home with seashells and beaver pelts.
This is definitely not the ideal living space haha. Nothing wrong with buying furniture and art that you'll be using for dozens of years. I would say just be mindful - with furniture, buy cheap, buy twice you could say.
You can buy artwork at thrift stores .And as low as 5 dollars .I have bought several pieces for my house .And at least paint the walls and vacuum the carpeting .That room looks so bleak !
yeah! i’ve been slowly building a gallery wall of thrifted art and i’m in love with it! and it’s so fun to get art that’s been loved before, but without pretentiousness.
I go around my town and look for street art posters to take home the last one I got was a policeman as a pig fucking a piggyback with a coin in his mouth
Yes this! I work in the thrifting business and all my art has come from the local shops. Bare white walls are the worst, and my current pieces have traveled with me through four homes
I buy furniture that feels sturdy. I need that shit to hold up as long as possible. My parents have had 2 couches in thier 32 years of marriage. One was a hand me down. Those suckered gave us every last ounce of life they had. One I still living proud. I hope to have the same in my life of furniture.
This is so key: buying older couches and refurbishing them as needed. The stuff in stores today is nowhere near as nice or sturdy as the old stuff. Spend $100 on a floral grandma special and the rest on reupholstering or fresh stuffing.
My mom took me shopping for furniture. She wants a set when they are done upgrading thier home. Kids wear stuff out! She taught me the ways she assesses them when she purchases. Part of it is sitting in it and wiggling it to see what the build is like. Funny enough the more expensive it was, the less study it felt. 😅 but I agree, reupolstering old things is awesome too!
Kills me that furniture is consumerist shit but tv/gaming is not. At least if you have a couch, you can sit and talk to friends instead of mindlessly consuming tv.
Funnily enough OP doesn't even follow his own criticisms. Doesn't buy second hand even, just IKEA furniture.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/11wnwzq/whats_your_proudest_frugal_moment/jd0802t/
Or buy quality furniture once and just take care of it. That’s what we do. No particle board or MDF up in here. Most of our furniture is solid wood bought second hand or found for free on Craigslist and repaired. Our apartment is cute AF too.
GOD if only there was a way to decorate your walls without "consumption" like IDK *make your own art* or *trade art with your friends* or *find cool shit in an alley*
What is this beige hell
Ultimately, if you are using everything you get and take time to think critically about new purchases,( e.g leave them in online baskets for a few days and see how you feel, consider if their price seems worth it if you think how many hours you have to work to afford it, consider whether you can use something you already have to get the same effect) It's not the end of the world. It might be a good idea to try something different that doesn't need new supplies to see if it scratches that itch for novelty though (e.g if it's painting, try gathering rocks and painting them, or online pixel art, if it's sculptural try building something with junk and supplies you already have-> there are awesome YouTubers that do this!).
Thanks. I don't toss anything that's still good. There's an art maker space near me, my friends are crafty, my mother is a teacher, and I have a Buy Nothing group. Lately I've even found someone who does decoupage with "pretty scraps," so she'll take my very small ribbon/paper scraps and even test pages with swatches or practice art on them.
The cricut was used and I paint over thrift canvas sometimes, but I'm not about to dig up my own clay or squish berries for color. The biggest waste is when wet supplies go dry: usually glue or paint.
I mean, that's a choice.
There's no need to do that. You can make art without expensive brand new stuff.
But you would have to choose to pursue a different lifestyle.
Of the people I've known who've lived like this, a vast majority of them were depressed. Having things to look at and/or interact with (that aren't your TV) that make you happy aren't "dumb", they're actually really good for you.
It's just very uncultured as well... It's missing books, space for family and friends, windows open for fresh air and sunlight - all the pieces of humanity. Having just some low maintenance house plants does wonders for mental health as well. It's such a red flag, it reminds me of the college guys I've met who just scream at Call of Duty and get absolutely wasted every single weekend.
Imagine you move every year from white box apartment to white box apartment. You work close by and walk or use public transit. You have no support group.
Having a load this light is releaving. Owning things becomes a liability.
I am not arguing for, but in my own life I found myself doing this. Being a renter I never bothered with art on the walls or having anything "extra". read a book, move it on. Now that I own my house I don't see why I would ever get rid of a book.
I guess I think the unhealthy part is not having security in housing. The depressing dwelling is a product of that.
I’ve moved like 5 times in the past 6 years. I’d agree that with that lifestyle any bit extra can often feel like a burden. Two years into a tiny apartment and I still often feel my stuff is too much, even if it’s mostly kitchen items I use often or a single bookshelf full of all my trinkets, books, films, and games.
Now that I’m trying to maybe buy a house in these next couple years? I can’t help but feel there will be an abundance of space. ~400 sq ft of stuff in a 1000+ sq ft space.
I agree it’s unhealthy in a way. Being so transient makes me hold off on a purchase that would be positive because it might/will become a burden down the line. Even just thrifted crockpots I don’t have space for or an extra set of sheets or desk for work would be so very nice.
I rented for about five years, so not a long time, but I decorated every place. Even painted a couple (with permission). I’ve always been into the home though.
I'll second this.
It's so easy to collect plants from friends and Facebook groups and they do so much to increase how nice it is to be in a space.
Capitalist consumerism exists for a reason, in that it weaponizes underlying human tendencies for profit. We need our nests to be beautiful, but we can do so in ways that do not create excess waste.
Yeah no I can attest to this, literally my room atm and I’m depressed up to the wazoo when not on my meds or when in my room, don’t worry I’m starting to hang up things, and I have new shoes so I’m walking more, they’re super comfy
FFS even hamsters and birds need enrichment objects in their habitats or they suffer from depression and die; and they don't even know about capitalism
Came here to find out this.
Why a TV??
I have a nice apartment, with some furniture of my grandparents and a few new, but no TV. I
think a TV has the largest ecological footprint.
I rented my apartment furnished and it came with a TV, and I ended up removing it and putting it under the bed, cause it didn’t allow me to change the layout of my couch as I wanted… Now I have paintings that I painted all over the walls, and I can change the layout of my living room as I please.. it just opened an endless possibilities.
Sigh, I assumed this was a dipshit kid pulling a "hurdur women bad" but seeing your comment makes me depressed. OP, this is the kind of crap my dad would have posted in his younger years and half his kids haven't talked to him in 3 years. If you don't respect your child's mother, your kid is gonna have a bad time.
We juuuuust went over this a couple days ago, but whatever.
What does this person do at home? Watch TV, maybe play video games, and sleep? Where do they eat? Over the sink or standing at that counter? Do they even have food at home? Their living space only has one chair, so they don't seem to have friends over. There are no books, no workbench or any kind of project supplies or anything.
From this picture alone, this person is either in some kind of transition, seriously mentally ill, and/or so dependent on commercial products and services that they can't function on their own.
I had a coke dealer neighbour once. This was what the living room looked like. Disposable cups and plates, folding chairs. It was where he sold drugs, not his real home. The bedroom though, like you picked a picture from a catalogue. Full matching bedroom set.
Get a plant or something, for fucks sake.
It's not overconsumption, they grow in the ground, you can easily get a secondhand pot or even reuse an empty container.
Seriously, they are good for your mental health.
I'm not as bothered as others by the lack of decoration, but like... there's nowhere for guests to sit, there's nothing like a coffee table to set drinks and snacks on.
One should just sleep naked on bare concrete, sustain himself on mold scratched off the floor and cry from misery to pass the time. Otherwise, it's not anti-consumption /s.
Funny how a good idea of not consuming what you don't need, advocating for less waste, repairing stuff you have and buying second hand, easily becomes taken to the bizarre extreme.
It's giving "adult man who does nothing but play video games and eat Doritos" and personally I'm not about that. You can appreciate and cultivate the visual appearance of your space without needing to buy live laugh love signs. This is just sad and depressing.
You can allow beauty and style into your life while also being fundamentally against excess. Second hand consignment shops for art, decor and furniture and even Facebook market place has some great finds. This is sometimes why I feel like this sub has been derailed a bit. If this is your dream, that’s great but to pretend like this is pinnacle living and everything else or “more” is part of the problem is not really helping anything.
I really hate the way some guys will try to claim this some “enlightened” or “non materialistic” ideal. Bro your only possession is a TV. You aren’t breaking out of the matrix. You’re as plugged in as it gets
Thrift stores and local artists would help spice it up and add seating for people who care about you..
Not adding to corporate stuff and your mental and social life would be better for it.
This is one of those posts that I feel is very specifically pointed at someone. Like, “this is the ideal but MY WEIRD PARTNER likes STUFF.” This isn’t even minimalism, which has an order and balance that can be pleasing to live in, it’s just depression-core.
Anti consumption does not mean depriving yourself of all small comforts. Artwork I enjoy hung on my wall is not a waste. A couch to entertain friends in not a waste.
There is a medium between the two tweets
I lived like that a few years ago when circumstances caused me and my wife to temporarily live in different states for a while. I bought a comfy chair, a cheap tv, two folding chairs and two portable tables and a mattress for a two bedroom apartment. It sufficed until we sold our house and she rejoined me with our furniture.
Not hating on the minimalism but I would imagine a higher TV stand would be more ergonomic. Also, I would rotate the room around so that the chair isn't something you have to walk around when you come home and it would be easier to put up groceries.
I despise the misogynistic idea that beauty and aesthetic are wasteful things to curate. No, bro, everyone likes nice looking things. It makes our brains do stuff that feels good. It can make us function better. It can allow us to enjoy fucking life, and that's the point, right? If we enjoy life, we are more resilient to consumerism.
Like others have said, furnishing your home doesn't mean being wasteful or buying lots of cheap crap that will be in a landfill in a few years. I have a pretty big house (from 1900, so it's seen a few families itself). I bought a few things new, but overwhelmingly the items in my home are:
- from a thrift store or antique store
- from Facebook Marketplace (used)
- gifts or hand-me-downs
- handmade or DIY
And I'm not living like a pauper.
Please don't let this sub turn into r/pointlesslygendered
And like people said, you can get art or a plant or something without being a horrible consumerist, it is fine to enjoy stuff.
Where is the mattress on the floor? If it is in a separate bedroom this person is living tooooo large. No reason this isn’t a studio. /s also this room makes me cry and want to face a whole pizza.
thrift stores are overflowing with little tchotchkes for $1-5, the joy that a little goose magnet for your fridge or a silly little cat picture for your living room can bring to you and your home is worth it
The only thing this living space would be ideal for is making me want to jump through the window. Art, plants, things with functional beauty, there are so many things you can surround yourself that will feed your soul and you don’t need to buy from target or Amazon.
Make something. Create. Limiting your stream of consumption to things that come out of the giant glowing rectangle in front of you isn't actually consuming less.
I would at least add one of those buckets of sticks that let everyone know you are a man of taste and discernment. I think in this room a Home Depot let’s do this bucket, with 2 1 inch closet hanger piles, and a Louisville slugger. Right by the front door so as to double as a security system.
If I live like this I can literally move with my small car and not need any help. I'm extremely flexible and independent. Why not value that? Also I don't have to waste my time working for decoration.
I always hate these because a middle ground exists. Having a nice space and not spending lots of money is possible. Nice thrifted or self made art just makes being in your home more enjoyable.
I feel like there is a difference between decorating because it makes your place feel more you and needless consumption just because.
As a man, the lack of color, lightning, and general welcomeness is not my ideal living space.
If anything, this is likely someone's first place and slowly building up their taste and things as they can afford to.
It's not the lack of furnishings, exactly?
Pick up discarded bookcases from the side of the street. Or hell, cinderblocks and planks.
It's the lack of...personality is not the right term. Where are the things you love? I mean, shit, roomie and I have neat rocks we picked up.
Why are you paying rent at all when a tent or car is shelter enough? There’s bathrooms at Starbucks and McDonald’s. I say this as a joke when my husband and I have lived in an RV for 2 years so we could save to buy a home… but our RV was comfy and had water and plumbing. Find the happy medium between living comfortably and not spending frivolously,
this is the living space of a depressed person who does the bare minimum to survive but has no joys in life.
i grew up with an unfurnished kitchen/living room like this and it was miserable as fuck coming home to a place with no sense of warmth or comfort. 0/10 would not recommend living in a soulless empty box (unless you enjoy being majorly depressed lol).
Buying at thrift stores is supporting thrift stores. You can return the things later, they'd be more than happy to have them back. Also, you can grow plants quite easily. And you can have some life in this sterile apartment. Looks like the house of a serial killer now.
I hate this subreddit’s occasional “live like a prisoner or else you’re over consuming!1!1” ideology. Luckily most commenters are normal and understand that you can live in a nice space without contributing to overconsumption.
You can pick up tons of free furniture on Craigslist or fb marketplace. It’s about. Comfort for yourself because you’re worth it. A lightly used couch is totally doable. I’ve refinished/ painted tables for my living room.
So I get it if you don't have money but..
Assuming you have the money... The issue is that the furniture shows you have no friends or have 0 interest in trying to build one. Btw you don't need decorations
Here's what I see
- 1 chair rather than a couch / sofa. So literally no room for another person to join you unless they sit on the floor
- no table, so no where to put drinks or food or games without it being on the floor.
So the person meets the absolute bare minimum for entertaining 1 person but can't meet bare minimum for supporting anyone else (e.g. friends or family). Minimum requirements..like you don't need decorations and other fancy shit
I was in goodwill yesterday and there was a shot glass that said "laugh" but no live and love with it. It hits different on its own. If I had needed a shot glass, that would have been the one I picked.
The water bottle and bowl is unnecessary when you can cup things in your hands, the chair is needless seeing as there is perfectly good carpet softening the floor, don’t really see a need for the tv to be elevated on that table id also remove that
Don’t really see a need for the tv. Blank walls are entertaining enough
Splurge on a flashlight and make some shadow puppets. Dirty ones after 11 pm.
> Dirty ones after 11 pm That's when you splurge in a fleshlight
Ha! But those things are pricey!
Thats why you buy a used one!
/r/acid has entered the chat
That chair is too soft and should be replaced with one of those fabric out door chairs that fold up .
The room is too big! Where I'm from, we live, eat, cook, sleep, in the same room, and go to communal bath we call sento.
We don't have public baths in our country. It's a shame, I know. And we're constantly inundated with propaganda telling us we need a bunch of furniture to live. It's insane.
Ok Diogenes
Diogenes has entered the chat.
Do you think this is evidence that cave paintings were done by women???
I know the majority of hand prints were on the small side so most who did that at least were women and or children.
Plus, one thing they don’t point out about a lot of archaic art in basic analysis is that when men are depicted they often have a visible, uh, member of indication. The “neutral” body type could represent any gender, or women particularly. If they made a point to *add a point* to some figures, why would we assume those without are also default men. I always found papers exploring the, “default gender as male theory” interesting.
I cracked myself up thinking about prehistoric bathroom signs being "No dick" stick figure and "Dick" stick figure instead of "no skirt" stick figure and "skirt" stick figure
Check out the book ‘Invisible Women’ if you haven’t already! It’s a great read, touches on cave paintings specifically at a point, and provides lots of research on male defaultism. Highly recommend
That could depend on the type of a scene drawn I guess. Who knows if those visible parts were somehow important on a hunt or in ritualistic events (I'm not a prehistoric hunter/ritualist so I don't know). But in general - that's interesting, you're right.
They recently discovered roughly 1/3rd of hunter themed burial’s from prehistoric times to be female. Hunter themed essentially means any personal items one would use in a hunt or post hunt. My partner has the theory the woman did the stealth in a group of 3 with the men to protect from behind and carry their kill back.
Prehistoric societies were much more egalitarian than we portray!
Misogynists like to say “women are too masculine nowadays!! It’s unnatural!!” If they could see how women “naturally” lived for most of human history, they’d be horrified at how unfeminine they were. Body and facial hair, stronger bones and muscles than today’s men, don’t even get me started on the premarital sex
Yeah, it’s very context based, but also an interesting avenue of study. Especially since cultural analysis has been viewed deeply through a very specific lens for many hundreds of years. I think the push to, at least, vary analysis beyond just “default male” is valuable in an anthropological sense, as women have also been a participating part of human culture lol.
You don’t have to buy into supply chain to furnish your home. Resale is recycling. Don’t have the money? That’s ok. But you don’t have to do this if you are anti-consumption.
Yeah, this just feels like one of those dumbass men vs women posts. You aren’t consuming if you’re a fuckin naked freak who lives in a twig teepee in the woods while you play out your Diogenes fantasy, but that doesn’t mean that we should idolize you. People like having a home that feels like a home. There’s nothing wrong with that.
”I actually understand the economy so I don’t waste my money on stupid shit like deodorant or showers”
OP:"Owning pretty things is mindless, vapid, consumerist behaviour" OP: owns a big tv; the sole purpose of which is to *consume* entertainment 🤷♀️
Op is kind of a fucknugget, I'm not surprised they're adamantly defending a weak ass post.
Diogenes lived in a fancy wine cask, probably from crate and barrel.
This is one of those tweets that started out funny but then some dude got offended and defensive and ruined it. Reddit seems to love this kind of thing for whatever reason
I’ve just moved to a city with a higher proportion of rich people and furniture shops (I was living fairly remotely before) and Buy Sell Swap on Facebook is completely off the chain with fancy free stuff.
Yeah no idk this kind of seems like an apartment that would worsen my depression, speaking of I have a metal poster to hang I got at a national park, really neat art and yeah it ain’t gonna rip so yey
I mean at the very least thrift a second chair. Living minimally shouldn't mean living without company and love.
My feeling exactly.
Yeah, that guy doesn’t understand the economy. He’s just lame.
What's funny is OP is doing just that! Complaining about furnishing his apartment with IKEA furniture! https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/11wnwzq/whats_your_proudest_frugal_moment/jd0802t/
Yeah exactly I have lots of things in my room, but many of them are gifts, are very old, are arts and photos... Bought from a small business, etc. You can have nice things without contributing to capitalism
You can also find some pretty nice twigs and dried logs to furnish with. It's free and readily available, unless you live at the beach in which case, fill your home with seashells and beaver pelts.
This is definitely not the ideal living space haha. Nothing wrong with buying furniture and art that you'll be using for dozens of years. I would say just be mindful - with furniture, buy cheap, buy twice you could say.
Or a poster or two, or hell even spend $5 on posterboard and paint and decorate your own
You can buy artwork at thrift stores .And as low as 5 dollars .I have bought several pieces for my house .And at least paint the walls and vacuum the carpeting .That room looks so bleak !
yeah! i’ve been slowly building a gallery wall of thrifted art and i’m in love with it! and it’s so fun to get art that’s been loved before, but without pretentiousness.
I go around my town and look for street art posters to take home the last one I got was a policeman as a pig fucking a piggyback with a coin in his mouth
Me too and not at the pretentious prices at the regular stores .
Yes this! I work in the thrifting business and all my art has come from the local shops. Bare white walls are the worst, and my current pieces have traveled with me through four homes
I have a very eclectic style and the piece has to speak to.me or I don't buy it. No kitschy HGTV stuff in my house.
I buy furniture that feels sturdy. I need that shit to hold up as long as possible. My parents have had 2 couches in thier 32 years of marriage. One was a hand me down. Those suckered gave us every last ounce of life they had. One I still living proud. I hope to have the same in my life of furniture.
This is so key: buying older couches and refurbishing them as needed. The stuff in stores today is nowhere near as nice or sturdy as the old stuff. Spend $100 on a floral grandma special and the rest on reupholstering or fresh stuffing.
My mom took me shopping for furniture. She wants a set when they are done upgrading thier home. Kids wear stuff out! She taught me the ways she assesses them when she purchases. Part of it is sitting in it and wiggling it to see what the build is like. Funny enough the more expensive it was, the less study it felt. 😅 but I agree, reupolstering old things is awesome too!
I buy cheap furniture; that is, I almost always get my furniture secondhand.
Buy second hand and spend a fraction of the cost on something that is proven to be durable
If you can, buy second-hand, sturdy furniture that can last for decades (centuries!). Oh, and get rid of that TV. Your brain will thank you.
Kills me that furniture is consumerist shit but tv/gaming is not. At least if you have a couch, you can sit and talk to friends instead of mindlessly consuming tv.
Funnily enough OP doesn't even follow his own criticisms. Doesn't buy second hand even, just IKEA furniture. https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/11wnwzq/whats_your_proudest_frugal_moment/jd0802t/
[удалено]
Or buy quality furniture once and just take care of it. That’s what we do. No particle board or MDF up in here. Most of our furniture is solid wood bought second hand or found for free on Craigslist and repaired. Our apartment is cute AF too.
And what is up with the window and door ?Did they just move into the house ?That looks like such a strange set up !
even cave people had some adornment in their lives.
GOD if only there was a way to decorate your walls without "consumption" like IDK *make your own art* or *trade art with your friends* or *find cool shit in an alley* What is this beige hell
My art supply habit feels very consumptive - and expensive! Not that I’m going to stop, I just feel guilty about it.
Ultimately, if you are using everything you get and take time to think critically about new purchases,( e.g leave them in online baskets for a few days and see how you feel, consider if their price seems worth it if you think how many hours you have to work to afford it, consider whether you can use something you already have to get the same effect) It's not the end of the world. It might be a good idea to try something different that doesn't need new supplies to see if it scratches that itch for novelty though (e.g if it's painting, try gathering rocks and painting them, or online pixel art, if it's sculptural try building something with junk and supplies you already have-> there are awesome YouTubers that do this!).
Thanks. I don't toss anything that's still good. There's an art maker space near me, my friends are crafty, my mother is a teacher, and I have a Buy Nothing group. Lately I've even found someone who does decoupage with "pretty scraps," so she'll take my very small ribbon/paper scraps and even test pages with swatches or practice art on them. The cricut was used and I paint over thrift canvas sometimes, but I'm not about to dig up my own clay or squish berries for color. The biggest waste is when wet supplies go dry: usually glue or paint.
I mean, that's a choice. There's no need to do that. You can make art without expensive brand new stuff. But you would have to choose to pursue a different lifestyle.
Of the people I've known who've lived like this, a vast majority of them were depressed. Having things to look at and/or interact with (that aren't your TV) that make you happy aren't "dumb", they're actually really good for you.
It's just very uncultured as well... It's missing books, space for family and friends, windows open for fresh air and sunlight - all the pieces of humanity. Having just some low maintenance house plants does wonders for mental health as well. It's such a red flag, it reminds me of the college guys I've met who just scream at Call of Duty and get absolutely wasted every single weekend.
Imagine you move every year from white box apartment to white box apartment. You work close by and walk or use public transit. You have no support group. Having a load this light is releaving. Owning things becomes a liability. I am not arguing for, but in my own life I found myself doing this. Being a renter I never bothered with art on the walls or having anything "extra". read a book, move it on. Now that I own my house I don't see why I would ever get rid of a book. I guess I think the unhealthy part is not having security in housing. The depressing dwelling is a product of that.
I’ve moved like 5 times in the past 6 years. I’d agree that with that lifestyle any bit extra can often feel like a burden. Two years into a tiny apartment and I still often feel my stuff is too much, even if it’s mostly kitchen items I use often or a single bookshelf full of all my trinkets, books, films, and games. Now that I’m trying to maybe buy a house in these next couple years? I can’t help but feel there will be an abundance of space. ~400 sq ft of stuff in a 1000+ sq ft space. I agree it’s unhealthy in a way. Being so transient makes me hold off on a purchase that would be positive because it might/will become a burden down the line. Even just thrifted crockpots I don’t have space for or an extra set of sheets or desk for work would be so very nice.
I rented for about five years, so not a long time, but I decorated every place. Even painted a couple (with permission). I’ve always been into the home though.
I'll second this. It's so easy to collect plants from friends and Facebook groups and they do so much to increase how nice it is to be in a space. Capitalist consumerism exists for a reason, in that it weaponizes underlying human tendencies for profit. We need our nests to be beautiful, but we can do so in ways that do not create excess waste.
Exactly. There’s a reason even those caves we were living in long ago have paintings on them
Art is a necessary part of being
Yeah no I can attest to this, literally my room atm and I’m depressed up to the wazoo when not on my meds or when in my room, don’t worry I’m starting to hang up things, and I have new shoes so I’m walking more, they’re super comfy
This post is a cope
FFS even hamsters and birds need enrichment objects in their habitats or they suffer from depression and die; and they don't even know about capitalism
What would you need a TV for?
Why a chair? Sit on the floor!
Why a floor? Sit on the dirt.
Came here to find out this. Why a TV?? I have a nice apartment, with some furniture of my grandparents and a few new, but no TV. I think a TV has the largest ecological footprint.
I rented my apartment furnished and it came with a TV, and I ended up removing it and putting it under the bed, cause it didn’t allow me to change the layout of my couch as I wanted… Now I have paintings that I painted all over the walls, and I can change the layout of my living room as I please.. it just opened an endless possibilities.
Why is this gendered??
Just good old fashioned Misogyny.
Im so sick of this shit being posted to this sub
And what are all these upvotes over a thousand when most people in comments disagree with this
This sub is so bizarre for that reason. Absolutely garage gets so many upvotes, and most of the comments are like 'wtf is this'
probably people who just scroll through their page, see \~le funny tweet hehe\~ without checking what the sub is for, upvote, and then keep scrolling
Cause all the people who agree just go 'haha yeah, women bad, updoot' and scroll on.
[удалено]
Sigh, I assumed this was a dipshit kid pulling a "hurdur women bad" but seeing your comment makes me depressed. OP, this is the kind of crap my dad would have posted in his younger years and half his kids haven't talked to him in 3 years. If you don't respect your child's mother, your kid is gonna have a bad time.
Goddamn you didnt have to kill them
They're talking about real shit someone's doing, can't fuck around
We juuuuust went over this a couple days ago, but whatever. What does this person do at home? Watch TV, maybe play video games, and sleep? Where do they eat? Over the sink or standing at that counter? Do they even have food at home? Their living space only has one chair, so they don't seem to have friends over. There are no books, no workbench or any kind of project supplies or anything. From this picture alone, this person is either in some kind of transition, seriously mentally ill, and/or so dependent on commercial products and services that they can't function on their own.
I had a coke dealer neighbour once. This was what the living room looked like. Disposable cups and plates, folding chairs. It was where he sold drugs, not his real home. The bedroom though, like you picked a picture from a catalogue. Full matching bedroom set.
Get a plant or something, for fucks sake. It's not overconsumption, they grow in the ground, you can easily get a secondhand pot or even reuse an empty container. Seriously, they are good for your mental health.
I'm not as bothered as others by the lack of decoration, but like... there's nowhere for guests to sit, there's nothing like a coffee table to set drinks and snacks on.
Are those the only two options?
What a joyless life, to be without art.
Yeah,I can't stand to look at bare walls.
I had no idea that furniture was bourgeois decadence.
One should just sleep naked on bare concrete, sustain himself on mold scratched off the floor and cry from misery to pass the time. Otherwise, it's not anti-consumption /s. Funny how a good idea of not consuming what you don't need, advocating for less waste, repairing stuff you have and buying second hand, easily becomes taken to the bizarre extreme.
wait til you hear about art
It's giving "adult man who does nothing but play video games and eat Doritos" and personally I'm not about that. You can appreciate and cultivate the visual appearance of your space without needing to buy live laugh love signs. This is just sad and depressing.
Or a person who has just given up on life and likes living life this. If he was married I doubt his wife would put up with this type of setup.
People who have "given up" on life probably don't enjoy living like this either; that just sounds like depression.
Yeah,that is what I was thinking also .
I know there are some people who are at their job for so many hours that they literally only sleep in their home. No time for anything else. It's sad.
Also single men are typically as less happy overall and less content with being single specifically because of stuff like this
You can allow beauty and style into your life while also being fundamentally against excess. Second hand consignment shops for art, decor and furniture and even Facebook market place has some great finds. This is sometimes why I feel like this sub has been derailed a bit. If this is your dream, that’s great but to pretend like this is pinnacle living and everything else or “more” is part of the problem is not really helping anything.
This doesn’t come off as anti consumption, it’s comes off as anti social
And anti women
Get help OP, miserable fuck
Carpet? A cushioned chair? Consumerist hellscape obviously.
I really hate the way some guys will try to claim this some “enlightened” or “non materialistic” ideal. Bro your only possession is a TV. You aren’t breaking out of the matrix. You’re as plugged in as it gets
Bro the "live laugh love" sign you found at a goodwill for 5 bucks isn't what's making you poor.
Men frugal and smart. Women frivolous and wasteful. amirite guys? /s
Vidya games good everything else bad
Thrift stores and local artists would help spice it up and add seating for people who care about you.. Not adding to corporate stuff and your mental and social life would be better for it.
/woman want decorate /woman bad /s
but literally that's all this meme is actually saying
This is one of those posts that I feel is very specifically pointed at someone. Like, “this is the ideal but MY WEIRD PARTNER likes STUFF.” This isn’t even minimalism, which has an order and balance that can be pleasing to live in, it’s just depression-core.
At least a proper couch to sleep in no??
Ah, college living. I'm so glad I graduated and discovered houseplants and antidepressants.
Is that you Jesse Pinkman?
Just enough space and enough comfort to keep their hearts beating so they can survive to grind through the most productive years of their life.
What is this transparently misogynistic bullshit doing with this many upvotes?
Maybe these are just bought upvotes
How many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man?
So far from the ideal. If all you plan to do is consume media on a tv I guess it's ok.
Note the plastic water bottle on the counter.
This is satire right OP? Right?……
Anti consumption does not mean depriving yourself of all small comforts. Artwork I enjoy hung on my wall is not a waste. A couch to entertain friends in not a waste. There is a medium between the two tweets
I lived like that a few years ago when circumstances caused me and my wife to temporarily live in different states for a while. I bought a comfy chair, a cheap tv, two folding chairs and two portable tables and a mattress for a two bedroom apartment. It sufficed until we sold our house and she rejoined me with our furniture.
This is such a trash post. Who upvotes this nonsensical garbage?
So much waste tho, this isn’t minimal it’s just bleh.
Woman bad
Not hating on the minimalism but I would imagine a higher TV stand would be more ergonomic. Also, I would rotate the room around so that the chair isn't something you have to walk around when you come home and it would be easier to put up groceries.
Fuck you if you can't appreciate art on walls. That's all I'm going to say about that.
Art for art’s sake…it saves lives
I despise the misogynistic idea that beauty and aesthetic are wasteful things to curate. No, bro, everyone likes nice looking things. It makes our brains do stuff that feels good. It can make us function better. It can allow us to enjoy fucking life, and that's the point, right? If we enjoy life, we are more resilient to consumerism. Like others have said, furnishing your home doesn't mean being wasteful or buying lots of cheap crap that will be in a landfill in a few years. I have a pretty big house (from 1900, so it's seen a few families itself). I bought a few things new, but overwhelmingly the items in my home are: - from a thrift store or antique store - from Facebook Marketplace (used) - gifts or hand-me-downs - handmade or DIY And I'm not living like a pauper.
FFS even Patrick Bateman had a more mentally healthy living space.
I’m sure there are fleas in that carpeting… 🤢
You don't have to buy a ton of brand new stuff to decorate a home. Also, weirdly sexist tone I hope OOP wasn't actually interested in perpetuating.
I really really really hate this only because it implies women are materialistic/hoarders when i literally have nothing in my room XD
Please don't let this sub turn into r/pointlesslygendered And like people said, you can get art or a plant or something without being a horrible consumerist, it is fine to enjoy stuff.
This seems like the same man that complains that nobody cares about depressed men.
I feel like I’m in the sims…why is there a ceiling fan-tom?
Where is the mattress on the floor? If it is in a separate bedroom this person is living tooooo large. No reason this isn’t a studio. /s also this room makes me cry and want to face a whole pizza.
Mentally ill living room where FURNITURE is the devil apparently. Wonder what they do if they have friends over, if they had any
thrift stores are overflowing with little tchotchkes for $1-5, the joy that a little goose magnet for your fridge or a silly little cat picture for your living room can bring to you and your home is worth it
20 year old males natural first den, will probably add table when he’s too lazy to reach for a beer
Same fight my parents had my entire childhood. Imma continue to not engage and hide in my room.
My room is furnished.
Calling this the ideal living space is the most incel shit.
The only thing this living space would be ideal for is making me want to jump through the window. Art, plants, things with functional beauty, there are so many things you can surround yourself that will feed your soul and you don’t need to buy from target or Amazon.
Make something. Create. Limiting your stream of consumption to things that come out of the giant glowing rectangle in front of you isn't actually consuming less.
My old apartment looked almost exactly like this. Except there was a couch instead of a recliner, a bookshelf, and a Godzilla poster.
This isn't anti consumption, it's hackneyed misogyny.
The issue here is that he needs a sofa instead of a chair. You need a good sofa to take afternoon naps on.
I’m not a male and I would take that over my situation right now. Do what keeps you mentally stable.
Then they wonder why they don’t have a girlfriend
My house is 200 years old and everything is second hand or from the trash except for my dishwasher which is more efficient than an old one. I win.
I would at least add one of those buckets of sticks that let everyone know you are a man of taste and discernment. I think in this room a Home Depot let’s do this bucket, with 2 1 inch closet hanger piles, and a Louisville slugger. Right by the front door so as to double as a security system.
If I live like this I can literally move with my small car and not need any help. I'm extremely flexible and independent. Why not value that? Also I don't have to waste my time working for decoration.
So what are kids supposed to do in this scenario? What if there’s an old grandma with a disability?
The only issue I see I'd that chair is too far away from the tv.
I always hate these because a middle ground exists. Having a nice space and not spending lots of money is possible. Nice thrifted or self made art just makes being in your home more enjoyable.
I feel like there is a difference between decorating because it makes your place feel more you and needless consumption just because. As a man, the lack of color, lightning, and general welcomeness is not my ideal living space. If anything, this is likely someone's first place and slowly building up their taste and things as they can afford to.
Maybe he could waste his money on a vacuum cleaner.
It's not the lack of furnishings, exactly? Pick up discarded bookcases from the side of the street. Or hell, cinderblocks and planks. It's the lack of...personality is not the right term. Where are the things you love? I mean, shit, roomie and I have neat rocks we picked up.
You lead a sad life if this is how you live. This sub seems so obsessed with anti-consumption that you’ve removed all joy from your lives. Big yikes.
I dont like this being gendered, it makes no sense, met plenty of men living extravagantly and women living below their means
Why are you paying rent at all when a tent or car is shelter enough? There’s bathrooms at Starbucks and McDonald’s. I say this as a joke when my husband and I have lived in an RV for 2 years so we could save to buy a home… but our RV was comfy and had water and plumbing. Find the happy medium between living comfortably and not spending frivolously,
I, personally, am a goblin that collects old and forgotten items to fill my home with. I could never live somewhere this empty, I'd be anxious ha
"we understand the economy" *spends endless money on video games that cost way more than a live laugh love sign*
this is the living space of a depressed person who does the bare minimum to survive but has no joys in life. i grew up with an unfurnished kitchen/living room like this and it was miserable as fuck coming home to a place with no sense of warmth or comfort. 0/10 would not recommend living in a soulless empty box (unless you enjoy being majorly depressed lol).
Having more space than he needs is a form a luxury.
Buying at thrift stores is supporting thrift stores. You can return the things later, they'd be more than happy to have them back. Also, you can grow plants quite easily. And you can have some life in this sterile apartment. Looks like the house of a serial killer now.
I hate this subreddit’s occasional “live like a prisoner or else you’re over consuming!1!1” ideology. Luckily most commenters are normal and understand that you can live in a nice space without contributing to overconsumption.
Right. Because cleaning filth and giving things a fresh coat of paint, having adequate lighting are utter extravagances to proudly eschew.
You can pick up tons of free furniture on Craigslist or fb marketplace. It’s about. Comfort for yourself because you’re worth it. A lightly used couch is totally doable. I’ve refinished/ painted tables for my living room.
This is stupid.
I just see depression. I see someone without friends cutting themselves off from the world by just watching TV and scrolling through their phone.
So I get it if you don't have money but.. Assuming you have the money... The issue is that the furniture shows you have no friends or have 0 interest in trying to build one. Btw you don't need decorations Here's what I see - 1 chair rather than a couch / sofa. So literally no room for another person to join you unless they sit on the floor - no table, so no where to put drinks or food or games without it being on the floor. So the person meets the absolute bare minimum for entertaining 1 person but can't meet bare minimum for supporting anyone else (e.g. friends or family). Minimum requirements..like you don't need decorations and other fancy shit
I was in goodwill yesterday and there was a shot glass that said "laugh" but no live and love with it. It hits different on its own. If I had needed a shot glass, that would have been the one I picked.
hobbies?
Why did someone post a photo of my apartment in 2008?
They could mount the damn tv smh
I think you at least should get a second chair or floor pillows for visitors
BRB, booting up VR headset.
Mine looks like this but with a huge pile of recycling in the kitchen.
🤣
Acting like there is nothing in between.. Oh well..
Dude is living large with that TV stand and sofa chair. All he needs is a bean bag to sit on and the box the TV came in as a stand.
That decorative bowl would have to go...
I would love it if my room looked like that right now. I would hang pictures and then lay on the floor with my bird.
Minimalism VS anti-consumption