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30 Items We All Should Quit Buying, As Pointed Out By People In This Online Group
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
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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.
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
Puppy mill puppies!
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.
Anything an influencer gets paid to promote
University books… boycott them, ridiculous price for individuals to pay for education, should all be online publicly for free.
So much. Stop buy so much. You don't need all that f*****g s**t.
Animals they can't take care of for the rest of their lives.
Like parrots who outlive their owners. If you want to buy one (please do your research ofc); find an adult parrot.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Cigarettes. Quit while you can. If you need help doing so, we can be friends and I can help you all I can.
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
The 'Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015' phased-out and effectively banned the sale of these products in the US in 2019.
Fast fashion.
Absolutely! I have bought hardly any new items of clothing in a decade. I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores.
Diamonds
Diamonds are overrated and there are lots of gems more attractive.
Anything involved in an MLM scam. I’m looking at you Young Living Essential Oils
dear lord, why did that take me a second to realise it didn't say "men loving men scam"
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.
refilling a single use bottle does actually cause germ growth though. You need a reusable bottle than can be cleaned.
I think too that single-use bottles start breaking down after a while and releasing chemicals into your water.
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Tap water isn't drinkable where I live after they goofed cleaning the system (is what we were told). Potable water isn't always available. And 1week is the maximum you should go between washings for healthy people's (& pets') water containers according to the research I've seen.
Same! We have really hard tap water, and it's nasty. We bought water filters. Filter's life is 1 week. After that, the water becomes i drinkable again. It's is much more expansive to change filters than buying water in the end. We try to go to water pump once in a while, and fill up huge gallons, but it's far, so can't really do it too often.
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Nestle has destroyed our rivers here in Florida over bottled water. Our rivers are already at super low levels and Nestle is taking 1.2 million gallons of water out of Ginnie Springs every day. Plus, Nestle does this for free, they do not pay us for the water. So, we are losing the best place to spend a Saturday afternoon, ruining the ecosystem, and plummeting property value for absolutely nothing in return. They don't even employ locals, they have people come in from out of state to work on it. I hate plastic bottles more than anything. I see Floridians buying it and I want to smack the hell out of them. The water coming out of our pipes is the same they just bought from Nestle that they took from our ground!
Nestle is evil. They'll steal all of your water than turn around and sell it back to you for $9 a gallon if allowed to.
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Just bought some curtains from IKEA that say made from recycled bottles. Still not as good as not making the bottles in the first place, but better than landfill.
I have some really cool coats made from plastic bottles. They can make all kinds of stuff.
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Some people can't just drink the tap water. Rural people whose well that is sulfurous ( a new well will run thousands ). Rural communities who have screwed up the local water supply. Know a small town where the residents were advised not to drink the tap water for months. Doesn't even have to be rural ( Flint Michigan ). But small plastic bottles are ridiculous.
I have a metal bottle that keeps cold drinks cold and holds a litre. It's fantastic! I got it from a supermarket. It's black with gold coloured trim
The one time I had to drink bottled water, like, constantly, was during the fires and stuff when there was ash everywhere. It got in our tap water and it tasted terrible.
I plan to install an inline water filter in my kitchen sink, except it'll have its own small faucet, because there's no need to wash dishes in drinking water.
you can also buy larger containers of water at the store & use that to fill your bottles. you may also be able to refill the big jug
I use my empty gatorade bottle for a water bottle for months until I decide to get a new gatorade. then I repeat.
I keep a glass pitcher of tap water in my fridge at all times. Just pour out a glassful when thirsty.
Ocado Have just changed their GLASS bottles of virgin oil to PLASTIC
Get reusable plastic or SS bottles. That’s what we do here in India where it gets very hot. Fridge cooled water in reusable bottles is probably the most viable option.
My mom lives 5 miles away but it's a different city and you shouldn't drink her tap water. It's not Flint bad. But put it in a white cup and see what color it is. I used to work a mile from her house, same thing. We technically get our water from the same sources, our city just keeps up with its pipes and infrastructure. We don't have the water main breaks and boil alerts they do.
If for some reason you cant drink tap water or getting a filter isnt an option,try getting those water coolers. You dont even have to get the actual unit. You can get the just and they sell little counter top stands for it to sit on. My dad has a bunch of them when he died so ive just been using them to refill a jug in my fridge so its cold.
Parts of California have disgusting water. Water filter and reusable water bottle is the better option. and you'll save money. Win win
In my country we have excellent tap water and if you so buy a bottle from the store we have a deposit system where you pay an extra 15 cents per bottle in the store and then get it back when you return said bottle. They get recycled.
I use metal bottles, it's the only thing I like drinking from. And I prefer my bathroom tap water over anything else
I used finished wine bottles and put filtered (I have a filter on my tap) water in them, in the fridge. Perfect!
"so difficult to recycle" maybe in a third world country but just today I went to local supermarket, inserted the empty bottles and cans to automat, get refund receipt and recycled all plastic bottles without any problems.
You got paid to give the bottle back, but there is more than 50% chance that bottle is not repurposed into something else. It was probably landfilled.
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Over here, bottles are to be returned to the store, get sent back to the beverage company and are cleaned and refilled there.
I only drink water from bottles.The thing is that bottles can be recycled.Where i live you get money for binging back plastic bottles.Some people even live from that.I would say that plastic bottles aren't necessarily THAT evil if recycled...
the only reason me and my family buy plastic water bottles is that the water that comes out of our tap is yellow its a plumbing problem and is being fixed by tomorrow
I use the reusable thermos type water bottles. Durable, keeps my beverage hot or cold, and easy to clean.
I have a hard time just drinking tap water. There's a bunch of folks that think getting buried without a casket is good for the ground water. "This water tastes like Grandma!"
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.
81% of plastic ocean polution comes from Asia. Africa 8%, South America 6%, North America 5%, Europe <1%
Red Delicious apples. You deserve better than that mushy garbage. Get yourself a honeycrisp.
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?
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.
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.
Online IQ test. If there was a way to fail an IQ test, paying for one online would be it.
Just be sure to buy all the brain training apps first, to make certain you are the superest smart.
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?
No need to buy new ornaments every year. I still use ornaments from 1960s that belonged to my grandparents.
Note: this post originally had 40 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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.
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!
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stop shaming consumers for all the plastic waste that they have no control over if they need 'x' product. Blame the industries instead.
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.
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Tupperware. Keeping a lot of the packaging produce comes in will do the same job. Cheaper and less plastic products
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.
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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... All social media. Except Bored Panda! Everybody should read Bored Panda to put a smile on their faces daily.
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.
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?
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.
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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.
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).}
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 ?
"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'.
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There's nothing wrong with certified k9 farming. The unlicensed ones need to go though.
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... Sort of a weird, mixed bag of posts. Some make serious points (environmental waste, mistreatment of animals) while others are just opinionated meddling by nosy people about how others choose to spend their time or money. If I want to buy a new phone or a new ornament or new sh*t each year - it’s nobody’s business but mine. Complaining about it from the sidelines always seems to come from the ones who can’t.
YOu're complaining a topic is a mixed bag? You're new here I guess.
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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.
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... stop shaming consumers for all the plastic waste that they have no control over if they need 'x' product. Blame the industries instead.
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... Tupperware. Keeping a lot of the packaging produce comes in will do the same job. Cheaper and less plastic products
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... 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... All social media. Except Bored Panda! Everybody should read Bored Panda to put a smile on their faces daily.
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.
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?
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... 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.
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).}
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 ?
"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... There's nothing wrong with certified k9 farming. The unlicensed ones need to go though.
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... Sort of a weird, mixed bag of posts. Some make serious points (environmental waste, mistreatment of animals) while others are just opinionated meddling by nosy people about how others choose to spend their time or money. If I want to buy a new phone or a new ornament or new sh*t each year - it’s nobody’s business but mine. Complaining about it from the sidelines always seems to come from the ones who can’t.
YOu're complaining a topic is a mixed bag? You're new here I guess.
Load More Replies...