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Now with only a few clicks of a button, we can get everything we need or want. This has led to a serious discussion of what consumerism brings us and how we should change our shopping habits. And this is not the only reason why people sometimes need to think twice before confirming that purchase. Together with this goes untrustworthy brands, low-quality items, and influential hype of purchasing unnecessary things.
Reddit user @u/Badass_Band1t asked people online “What should people seriously stop buying?” and received almost 40k upvotes together with 27.5 comments where other users shared their opinions about things that, for various reasons, should not be purchased in the future.
Most of the answers showed that people are very much concerned about plastic use. A lot of comments suggested that we can all live without buying single-use plastic products when there are so many alternatives that are friendly to the environment. Plastic water bottles and cutlery were among the things that pollute surroundings the most and can be easily replaced with reusable items.
I guess that spreading awareness about MLM (multi-level marketing) scams stuck in people’s minds as these companies and their products were also mentioned by users of Reddit. It was stressed in some of the comments that any kind of unnecessary things that provide you with temporary happiness are not worth buying as they only take up space but usually have no value.
What do you think people should also stop buying? Leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
More Info: Reddit
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Animals that are so inbred to meet a certain 'breed standard' that they are a walking vet bill from birth. Brachycephalic dog breeds such as French Bulldogs being an example.
RELATED:
#2
Shark fin soup. The fishers only want the fin and throw the shark out to the sea after cutting it since the other body parts have no monetary value, letting the shark to die
#3
Puppy mill puppies!
Aisling Raye 4 years ago
ADOPT DON'T SHOP. I feel like I have to say this so many times. Look for a pet at your local shelter. Give them a chance. I promise that an adopted pet knows that you saved them. In my experience they are always the sweetest.
#4
Anything an influencer gets paid to promote
#6
University books… boycott them, ridiculous price for individuals to pay for education, should all be online publicly for free.
#8
Animals they can't take care of for the rest of their lives.
Julia Larsson 4 years ago
Like parrots who outlive their owners. If you want to buy one (please do your research ofc); find an adult parrot.
#10
GLITTER. Sparkles, glitter and sequins on everything, especially kids items.
You think it's hard to get that s**t out of your house after craft time?
It's MICROPLASTIC, and it's going into our waterways and oceans. Yet the toy stores and clothing stores are adding more sequins and glitter every day. Makes me furious. Just stop buying it!
#11
Detox teas or anything that claims to help rid you of “toxins” in your body. If you can’t do that s**t on your own already then you need a kidney or liver transplant, not a tea that a fit mom is trying to sell you.
M O'Connell 4 years ago
In their defense, I don't think they have any medicinal properties at all, but the schisandra/kuchika/chicory/dandelion "detox" teas are quite delicious.
#12
Caskets.
Especially those sealed tight ones... Our dead need to decompose, and they will, but the casket can just explode.
When I'm dead I want to be buried in a blanket and tossed in a hole. Let nature worry about me.
#14
Cigarettes. Quit while you can. If you need help doing so, we can be friends and I can help you all I can.
#15
Pugs and French bulldogs
#16
any kind of shower gel or facewash that has those plastic microbeads in them.
The beads are small enough to get through most filtration systems and are ruinous to marine life
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/microbeads-international-ban-damage-marine-life-plastic
M O'Connell 4 years ago
The 'Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015' phased-out and effectively banned the sale of these products in the US in 2019.
#17
Fast fashion.
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
Absolutely! I have bought hardly any new items of clothing in a decade. I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores.
#18
Diamonds
DarkAngelNic 4 years ago (edited)
Diamonds are overrated and there are lots of gems more attractive.
#19
Anything involved in an MLM scam. I’m looking at you Young Living Essential Oils
Satirical Duchess 4 years ago
dear lord, why did that take me a second to realise it didn't say "men loving men scam"
#20
Plastic bottles.
Just buy a water filter and fill up the same bottle
Edit: for people saying just drink tap water, I agree 100%. I’m just saying there are a lot of people who only buy bottled water, drink it, throw it and buy another one. Ridiculously unnecessary. Those plastics are so difficult to recycle, if at all. Most just ends up in landfill anyway.
Trying to convince them to buy a water filter is good middle ground!
My FIL boasts about how eco-conscious he is but still does what I said above. Drives me mental.
Samantha Lomb 4 years ago
refilling a single use bottle does actually cause germ growth though. You need a reusable bottle than can be cleaned.
#21
Tiny plastic garbage
I see tiktoks of people unboxing like these mini-plastic toys (?) of name brand items.
And they will have 100s of them all individually wrapped in multiple layers of packaging just to have tiny replicas of a bottle of windex or lay's potato chips.
More Thinking Needed 4 years ago
81% of plastic ocean polution comes from Asia. Africa 8%, South America 6%, North America 5%, Europe <1%
#22
Red Delicious apples. You deserve better than that mushy garbage. Get yourself a honeycrisp.
Caroline 4 years ago
I love the acidity of Granny Smiths. Other apples are too sweet for me.
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Marcellus the Third 4 years ago
De coloribus et gustibus... Of the 2500 or so named varieties and cultivars, the best ones don't store or travel well; so you real fave should likely be unknown when you post it in general discussion! My favourite is the white-flesh red-skin apples from the third tree from the back right in a mixed orchard nearby a house I lived 10y ago --- quite certainly not a named variety.
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TheAnimalLady 4 years ago
The fact that on average apples (in USA anyway, by the newest research I've seen) are in cold storage for 12-14 months doesn't help.
Mazer 4 years ago
10 months max in cold storage and that’s because people demand to have fruit all year long. Not everyone can preserve food. And a lot of people prefer fresh to frozen or canned food so the industry provide fruit when it’s not in season so that we consumers can have food available to us all year long. It’s a drain on our environment to do this but it’s not gonna stop anytime soon as long as you have cities full of people demanding food when it’s not in season
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Kendra Miller 4 years ago
Red Delicious apples were likely very delicious when they first began cultivating them. But apples trees are not clones, every tree is different, they take years and years to mature, and when it does, it could easily taste terrible, mushy and dry. It's notoriously hard to keep a breed tasting the same and they have been cultivating the Red Delicious for at least a 100 years.
Marcellus the Third 4 years ago
True to an extent for these ---- they became horrible because of selection for looks and storage time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Delicious until they bankrupted the apple industry ---- but the "clone" argument is wrong. Commercially apples are grafted as a scion (a stick with a leafbud or two) onto rootstock (controlling disease resistance, growth rate, and final tree shape/size), so they are absolutely clones; but which tree to graft from is chosen out of a variety of (grown-from-seeds) cultivars/variations --- trees live long enough to have absolutely identical clones for hundreds of years; these changed for marketing reasons.
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Caroline Seguin 4 years ago
Red Delicious are very good here in Canada. When it's September/October we get MacKintosh, or other varieties.
dev mehta 4 years ago (edited)
McIntosh apples are crisp and sweet-tart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_(apple) mcinstosh-...94d801.jpg 
Lucy Shupe 4 years ago
My thing using several different apples to make apple pie. No red delicious either.
Lisa Shelton 4 years ago
It helps living in the same state they are grown in. They are only mushy if they sit for too long.
Sarah 4 years ago
This. When I was a child, 55-60 years ago, red (and sometimes the extra-special yellow) delicious apples were all you could get in the grocery store (in Oklahoma, anyway). They were crisp and tart-sweet, and nothing remotely like the "delicious" apples of today. Why anyone would buy those garbage apples is beyond me.
Rebecca Olds 4 years ago
Been favoriting Fujis lately. The store i work at has them at .99/lb all year round and i know when they're delivered to get the freshest ones. I wont deny i love a honeycrisp or galas from time to time but only when i can get them cheap
Zak Rasten 4 years ago
You should all try russets, Mac Reds and Discovery, not to mention Coxes and Granny Smiths
ivan bolitekurac 4 years ago
The color of the apples doesn't mean anything because there are so many strains out there
CowboyHank 4 years ago
You know that those honey crisp are 100% gmo? Now you don't know what to do.
Missmegs 4 years ago
Oh come on, it was developed in the 1960s at UM. Unless you're referring to traditional breeding as genetic modification, which basically all modern produce is a gmo.
Load More Replies... Marcellus the Third 4 years ago
The photo aren't red delicious though. I remember these as a small kid, mushy crumbly wet paste after absolutely beatiful fruit... will never eat them again. This goes against the "finding horrible stuff yummy because you grew up with it" argument of e.g. Cadbury vs actual chocolate.
#23
K-Cups
If you have a Keurig, use the reusable K-Cup.
#25
Any home exercise machine or equipment that requires a subscription to use. You paid 2 grand for a treadmill and then a recurring monthly fee to use it. How is this business model working?
#28
Most saltwater fish if they aren't willing to put in the effort, and certain species that just can't be kept in captivity even with the effort.
90% of saltwater fish you see in the store except for most clowns, some tangs, some seahorses, and I think maybe cardinal fish are all wild caught.
More than any other pet, when you take home a saltwater fish you have purchased a piece of the environment and you should treat it with every bit of respect it deserves.
Raven DeathShade 4 years ago (edited)
This is why I stick with freshwater fish. My betta is perfectly happy in his ~30 gallon tank, and I'm getting him some more tankmates soon.
#29
Online IQ test. If there was a way to fail an IQ test, paying for one online would be it.
Sam Yobado 4 years ago
Just be sure to buy all the brain training apps first, to make certain you are the superest smart.
#30
I can't understand the people that buy holiday decor every single year. Are people buying fake trees and tossing them every year and needing a new one? Same with ornaments and what not. Obviously people move out of their parents or they need to replace ornaments if they're broken or something but the amount in stores does not add up to me. Why so much new stuff every year?
Lara Verne 4 years ago
No need to buy new ornaments every year. I still use ornaments from 1960s that belonged to my grandparents.
#31
Cheap children’s party favors. We aren’t talking the colorful pencils and paper pads that actually have some use. I’m talking about the non descript plastic forms with popular media stickers and other garbage. The amount of trash plastic available for this niche is staggering- especially given that most of those toys hold a child’s attention for 2 hours. Also- happy meal toys. Great for a collector, because most of them get thrown out 6 months after being found behind the couch. Legos are highly resealable/giftable and tradeable. Hot wheels last forever. Most toys have at least a possible second life. But party favor crap- is just crap.
Bella, Your Kitty-Loving Queen 4 years ago
I was helping my friend buy stuff for her party, and she wanted all the useless s**t like mini skateboards and plastic springs, like bruh everyone is just going to throw this stuff away. (And the party was for 12 year olds, not 6 year olds)
#32
Please uninstall Yelp off your phone. They are nothing more than extortionists that hold small businesses hostage to bad reviews (real or fake, doesn’t matter). I can’t express how s**tty Yelp is as a company. Every time you open their app, you give them support.
#33
Herbalife.
TheAnimalLady 4 years ago
Redundant and (seriously🙄) one word with no explanation or reference is useless, especially when BOREDPANDA is inclusive of other countries.
#34
Microtransactions, especially in sports games.
Cosmetics in a free to play game? I don't have a problem with that, gotta make money somehow and it doesn't affect gameplay. Blatant gambling and pay to win functionality in games like NBA 2K and Madden? Those can f**k right off
#36
Madden. Seriously. Basically anything that comes from EA. They've just gotten a bit too greedy for my liking.
Muff_Fluff 4 years ago
All of their expansions (I’m a Sims player, not sure if they have other games with add-one) are way overpriced, and many should be included with the base game
#37
Merchandise with the pink "for the cure" bows.
Marcellus the Third 4 years ago
I see your various 'cure' bows, and raise you 'pride' rainbows.
#38
Fantasy books that are first of a series of 13.
Fantasy has become completely entrenched in this model where every story HAS to be a massive multivolume epic. I can count on one hand the number of multivolume series that actually NEEDED to be 8-10 books long. Most of them could have been told in one trilogy, if not just one epic book.
I 100% believe that writers are pressured to stretch out their 2 volume stories into 8 purely for the additional sales.
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
I feel the need to speak up to exempt Sir Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series, which is 40-something books long...and totally worth the investment.
#39
Not a sexy or flashy response, but no one should be buying a boiler, furnace, or water heater below 90% efficiency. The ~80% efficiency equipment is ancient technology and you are throwing your money away while also spewing more greenhouse gasses!
Edit: well this did leagues better than I anticipated! Many of you have pointed out instances where the 80% is an appropriate choice, whether it be flue issues, a steam system, or you don't have the fund for the 90% upfront. On top of this I'll clarify that these upgrades should be made at the end of the boiler's life, it will almost never make financial sense to replace a functional appliance with a more efficient one, and the greenest equipment available is the one you already have. Heat pump crew, I'm with you, but currently, with US fuel mixes and electrical costs, there are very valid arguements against them. Everyone talking about how they have a 60 year old boiler that runs like a tank, this is some serious survivor's bias, if they all worked that well no one would have to replace old equipment and the industry would have died except for new construction.
M O'Connell 4 years ago
Maintenance is key. Often repair technicians will try and talk you into replacing equipment rather than repairing it just because a tear-out and replace is much easier for them. In my experience components rarely all fail at once, and total replacement has significant dollar and environmental costs. I am a patient man and a competent technician. I replace nothing!
#40
People need to stop scalping gpus
What do you think ?
Kevin J. Henning 4 years ago
I'm 59 and remember having milk bottles which were taken back to the stores. The stores sent them back to dairy to be sanitized and reused. Same with soda bottles. There were people who actually used to come to your house and fix your appliances and televisions. You didn't chuck them out after 2 or 3 years for landfill. There was even a place to take coffee pots, toasters etc to be repaired. Sounds quaint and yet considering the concern being raised over saving the planet maybe it shows how far we haven't come.
Veronica Mars 4 years ago
I have been told that the companies do this on purpose, you can't buy a part and fix it, they've purposefully made it so you have to buy a new machine. New laws should make this redundant now, but the big companies will probably find a way around it!
Load More Replies...
Shelby P 4 years ago
stop shaming consumers for all the plastic waste that they have no control over if they need 'x' product. Blame the industries instead.
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
Shared fault. Consumers can put pressure on manufacturers to curtail plastic packaging waste. They can bombard them with complaints, they can boycott them, they can merely switch to a competitor that uses more ecologically sound packaging. We’re not totally powerless in this.
Load More Replies...
Jo Davies 4 years ago
Tupperware. Keeping a lot of the packaging produce comes in will do the same job. Cheaper and less plastic products
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
Who even needs it anyway? If you order takeout a couple times, it always comes in thick reusable plastic and you can just keep it. I have stacks of it and never need to buy containers.
Load More Replies...
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
And take all the fantasy fiction along with it too right? It’s fake and not everyone likes it. Same idea yeah?
Load More Replies... Solidhog 4 years ago
All social media. Except Bored Panda! Everybody should read Bored Panda to put a smile on their faces daily.
ivan bolitekurac 4 years ago
For me it is hollywood,the more i looked into some people there the more i hate it.I have come to the point where i don't even illegally watch their movies.They are the most hypocritical bunch of people i have ever seen.
Yara Balabanova 4 years ago
So many points in this post about animals and animal cruelty, yet not one word about farm animals, meat, dairy or eggs... As if those animals aren't bred to live a horrible painful life. And people care about a parrot not being able to live its entire life with their owner because they get so old, what about animals that are slaughtered for meat when they are still practically babies?
Anita Pickle 4 years ago
Sadly people care more if it is cute. They cuter the animal the more they care. (Although personally I find cows, sheep, etc adorable) And people are so detached from where their comes from, they do not get it. They have no clue at all.
Load More Replies...
Fuxxy89 3 years ago
When textbooks are free quality drops drastically. If you want a well written textbooks filled with accurate, up to date, fact checked information, then you need a team of writers and editors, at least some of whom need to be college professors. And you have to pay those people for their work. I'm not saying the student should take hit, but somebody has to pay the people who write text books.
Pearl 4 years ago
Mica! You need to stop buying mica! Which means you would virtually need to stop buying all the shiny makeup you own. Do you even KNOW what makes that lip gloss, eye shadow, lip stick or blusher so shiny? Mica. As soon as they are able to walk, children in Jharkhand, India, are often forced to work in mica mines just to supply the world with sparkling makeup products. Many children have also met their deaths beings smoldered by big rocks in those mines. Vegans, what does it matter if your make up products are "animal cruelty free", but not child labor free? The good thing is there are makeup lines with use ethically sourced mica or synthetic mica. Some examples are: Pure Anada · LUSH · Clove + Hallow · (also confirmed vegan) Au Naturale · Aether Beauty · (vegan) Red Apple Lipstick. {A gluten free, vegan, natural beauty brand (not just lipstick).}
Iʕ •ᴥ•ʔ 4 years ago
This is so sad . Or maybe this is why I’m not allowed to shop . Still , the one that said pangolins , is it as a pet or is it being used in some fraud medicine ?
kim morris 4 years ago
"traditional medicine", but their scales are made of the same material your hair and fingernails are. So, it's all bs. Animals are being pushed towards extinction because of 'tradition'.
Load More Replies...
Thomas E S Thomas 4 years ago
There's nothing wrong with certified k9 farming. The unlicensed ones need to go though.
leah 3 years ago
The hoops we had to jump through to get our dog was ridiculous. It wasn't just the money, but a home visit, notarized statement saying that we'll have our puppy spayed/neutered by the age of six months (we got 2 weeks) and send them the proof or they'll take it back. That's the reason we could afford our dachshund because the people who originally had it wanted it to be a mommy and they took it back.
Load More Replies... Marcellus the Third 4 years ago
YOu're complaining a topic is a mixed bag? You're new here I guess.
Load More Replies...
Kevin J. Henning 4 years ago
I'm 59 and remember having milk bottles which were taken back to the stores. The stores sent them back to dairy to be sanitized and reused. Same with soda bottles. There were people who actually used to come to your house and fix your appliances and televisions. You didn't chuck them out after 2 or 3 years for landfill. There was even a place to take coffee pots, toasters etc to be repaired. Sounds quaint and yet considering the concern being raised over saving the planet maybe it shows how far we haven't come.
Veronica Mars 4 years ago
I have been told that the companies do this on purpose, you can't buy a part and fix it, they've purposefully made it so you have to buy a new machine. New laws should make this redundant now, but the big companies will probably find a way around it!
Load More Replies... Shelby P 4 years ago
stop shaming consumers for all the plastic waste that they have no control over if they need 'x' product. Blame the industries instead.
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
Shared fault. Consumers can put pressure on manufacturers to curtail plastic packaging waste. They can bombard them with complaints, they can boycott them, they can merely switch to a competitor that uses more ecologically sound packaging. We’re not totally powerless in this.
Load More Replies... Jo Davies 4 years ago
Tupperware. Keeping a lot of the packaging produce comes in will do the same job. Cheaper and less plastic products
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
Who even needs it anyway? If you order takeout a couple times, it always comes in thick reusable plastic and you can just keep it. I have stacks of it and never need to buy containers.
Load More Replies... Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
And take all the fantasy fiction along with it too right? It’s fake and not everyone likes it. Same idea yeah?
Load More Replies... Solidhog 4 years ago
All social media. Except Bored Panda! Everybody should read Bored Panda to put a smile on their faces daily.
ivan bolitekurac 4 years ago
For me it is hollywood,the more i looked into some people there the more i hate it.I have come to the point where i don't even illegally watch their movies.They are the most hypocritical bunch of people i have ever seen.
Yara Balabanova 4 years ago
So many points in this post about animals and animal cruelty, yet not one word about farm animals, meat, dairy or eggs... As if those animals aren't bred to live a horrible painful life. And people care about a parrot not being able to live its entire life with their owner because they get so old, what about animals that are slaughtered for meat when they are still practically babies?
Anita Pickle 4 years ago
Sadly people care more if it is cute. They cuter the animal the more they care. (Although personally I find cows, sheep, etc adorable) And people are so detached from where their comes from, they do not get it. They have no clue at all.
Load More Replies... Fuxxy89 3 years ago
When textbooks are free quality drops drastically. If you want a well written textbooks filled with accurate, up to date, fact checked information, then you need a team of writers and editors, at least some of whom need to be college professors. And you have to pay those people for their work. I'm not saying the student should take hit, but somebody has to pay the people who write text books.
Pearl 4 years ago
Mica! You need to stop buying mica! Which means you would virtually need to stop buying all the shiny makeup you own. Do you even KNOW what makes that lip gloss, eye shadow, lip stick or blusher so shiny? Mica. As soon as they are able to walk, children in Jharkhand, India, are often forced to work in mica mines just to supply the world with sparkling makeup products. Many children have also met their deaths beings smoldered by big rocks in those mines. Vegans, what does it matter if your make up products are "animal cruelty free", but not child labor free? The good thing is there are makeup lines with use ethically sourced mica or synthetic mica. Some examples are: Pure Anada · LUSH · Clove + Hallow · (also confirmed vegan) Au Naturale · Aether Beauty · (vegan) Red Apple Lipstick. {A gluten free, vegan, natural beauty brand (not just lipstick).}
Iʕ •ᴥ•ʔ 4 years ago
This is so sad . Or maybe this is why I’m not allowed to shop . Still , the one that said pangolins , is it as a pet or is it being used in some fraud medicine ?
kim morris 4 years ago
"traditional medicine", but their scales are made of the same material your hair and fingernails are. So, it's all bs. Animals are being pushed towards extinction because of 'tradition'.
Load More Replies... Thomas E S Thomas 4 years ago
There's nothing wrong with certified k9 farming. The unlicensed ones need to go though.
leah 3 years ago
The hoops we had to jump through to get our dog was ridiculous. It wasn't just the money, but a home visit, notarized statement saying that we'll have our puppy spayed/neutered by the age of six months (we got 2 weeks) and send them the proof or they'll take it back. That's the reason we could afford our dachshund because the people who originally had it wanted it to be a mommy and they took it back.
Load More Replies... Marcellus the Third 4 years ago
YOu're complaining a topic is a mixed bag? You're new here I guess.
Load More Replies...
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