Simple Living

For me it's been about pitching my life to preserve my health. As someone variously challenged in that department, I've spent more on that than almost anything, not so much on doctors -though they do have their place (and here in the U.S. are shamefully a leading cause of bankruptcy).

For me that's meant being able to live in places/situations with low costs of living and access to the sort of lifestyle that supports my health. On healthy, unprocessed foods, a few supplements, on growing some of our food, on a couple dogs that feed my soul to be around. On a bit of marginal, undeveloped land in the sticks where I'm free to do as I wish. Also on the tools that make such a life possible.

I've little doubt I would not be walking around today had I not prioritized my life in this way. Probably not for everyone.

Renovations.

I feel lucky to have already been a homeowner before COVID. I have no interest in buying/selling again, despite our house being considered a "starter home". So after we suffered major water damage over winter we just made our kitchen hella nice.

Also, look up Speed Queen.

An expensive computer. I have that. And my teeth. 🥲

Plants, especially native plants that I often have to buy on Etsy or some other online store because local shops don't carry them or sell out too quickly. I have also spent a lot on houseplants that I struggle to keep alive.

I find that I tend to spend a lot on just about everything I buy 😅. I have a lot of check boxes for the things I buy, like being ethically sourced, environmentally friendly, fair trade, look for B certified, etc. Consequently, I try not to buy very much. I'm sure I'm probably being taken for a chump with "green washing," but that's on them, not me.

In particular, I find that I spend more on food because I try to buy local and support small producers. I also try to get BIFL items when it comes to tools and things notice that I use frequently.

As others have said here, I tend to spend a lot on computers, specifically a lot on computer hardware personally. I work in tech, and when I get home, I like to tinker and see what fun stuff I can do with them. I find it a very mindful, grounding, and fulfilling activity. I'm also a big fan of free and open-source software (and I'm also on lemmy, surprise surprise) so a lot of what I do is rigging up FOSS solutions for friends and family like a Jellyfin media server or a retropi. I'm very lucky that I'm currently in a position where I can afford small hardware expenditures like that and give them away to people who can use them. It makes me feel good, plus it (hopefully) popularises free software in my community!

In my case this mainly applies to tools - replacing cheaper worn out ones with something more durable, with the intent of BIFL.

I'm a bit frugal myself but usually postpone getting new and replacement products for a while, sometimes indefinitely 😅.

I've found small fridges seem to last forever, despite not being too energy efficient and ice builds up very easily due to them lacking the usual "bells and whistles"

Literally food.