How often do you use things until they're totally worn out?
Discussion
I've been getting rid of some bits and bobs on Ebay and pondered what were the last things I actually used until they died.
Shoes and clothes I do on a regular basis. I can't really think of anything else. It usually gets sold on or given away.
Do you keep things until they're 100% dead or skip to the newest sensation when the old one is still perfectly serviceable?
Shoes and clothes I do on a regular basis. I can't really think of anything else. It usually gets sold on or given away.
Do you keep things until they're 100% dead or skip to the newest sensation when the old one is still perfectly serviceable?
My original Xbox One console was rarely switched off, unless by power cut or clearing the cache which involved restarting it, or when we were on holidays. Other than that it was always on. It probably had around 25,000+ hours on time from late 2014 to late 2018 when it was replaced with a 1 terabyte One S. Other than a loud fan it was fine, never overheated or even got hot, and I sold it for £70. It spent the majority of it's time idle, or as a streaming media player, I'm sure if it was heavily used for gaming/DVD use it would have expired earlier.
I have just given away a 2009 720p 32 inch Toshiba that has no screen burn, no issues whatsoever. Which is more than I can say for my 3 year old Toshiba 1080p or 5 month old LG 4k tv! I only don't use it anymore as 720p doesn't cut it in 2020.
My 1998 "The Simpsons" mug is still going well too
I have just given away a 2009 720p 32 inch Toshiba that has no screen burn, no issues whatsoever. Which is more than I can say for my 3 year old Toshiba 1080p or 5 month old LG 4k tv! I only don't use it anymore as 720p doesn't cut it in 2020.
My 1998 "The Simpsons" mug is still going well too
Still using my Sharp carousel 2 microwave. Had it over 30 years, its huge and only 650W. But it's stainless steel inside and still works. Cost £90 in 1988, which would be £240 by an inflation calculator. They're disposable white good now.
I have had a newer one handed to me for when I want to get rid of it, but I refuse to whilst it still works!
I have had a newer one handed to me for when I want to get rid of it, but I refuse to whilst it still works!
Always.
Got my first mobile over twenty years ago, I'm now on my fourth. Only binned when reliable batteries were no longer available.
I did sell my last TV to a mate, but that was because I hadn't turned it on in three years and haven't owned one since.
All my cars have been either run until economically unviable or written off by other people driving into them.
I simply don't buy crap that I don't need, happy days!
Got my first mobile over twenty years ago, I'm now on my fourth. Only binned when reliable batteries were no longer available.
I did sell my last TV to a mate, but that was because I hadn't turned it on in three years and haven't owned one since.
All my cars have been either run until economically unviable or written off by other people driving into them.
I simply don't buy crap that I don't need, happy days!
I still use the bath towels I was bought as an 8 year old. Over 40 years ago. They still have my stitched name tag on them. House of Fraser before it became chav. Diarrhoea brown colour before it became fashionable.
I like them as the small size and thinner "pile" means they dry quickly so I save money on the bathroom heating.
My OH hates them with a passion, which is another good reason to continue using them for at least another 30 years.
I like them as the small size and thinner "pile" means they dry quickly so I save money on the bathroom heating.
My OH hates them with a passion, which is another good reason to continue using them for at least another 30 years.
V8fan said:
Still using my Sharp carousel 2 microwave. Had it over 30 years, its huge and only 650W. But it's stainless steel inside and still works. Cost £90 in 1988, which would be £240 by an inflation calculator. They're disposable white good now.
I have had a newer one handed to me for when I want to get rid of it, but I refuse to whilst it still works!
Still using my Panasonic microwave which I bought secondhand in 1989 to take to university. No point in replacing it until it stops making food hot, new ones don't do anything this one doesn't. I have had a newer one handed to me for when I want to get rid of it, but I refuse to whilst it still works!
TV is the same. I replaced a Panasonic 28in CRT then it went bang with a Panasonic plasma in around 2010. It still works and the picture is great.
I'm not sure I've ever replaced anything that works just for the sake of it.
We're not really including computers and mobile phones in this are we ?
I mean none of our phones or computers actually broke or stopped working, we just wanted to be up to date, follow the sheeples,
and lick the sweaty balls of Steve Jobs and fund his and the Lizard People's bid to overthrow the world.
I mean none of our phones or computers actually broke or stopped working, we just wanted to be up to date, follow the sheeples,
and lick the sweaty balls of Steve Jobs and fund his and the Lizard People's bid to overthrow the world.
I try and make sure I get my moneys worth out of things but don't go too extreme for example I'd never let my car tyres turn into slicks
I was very much brought up not to waste things , try and fix things and have a "it will do" kind of attitude and also to research any potential purchase and weigh up when is a good time to spend the extra for a better quality product.
It's interesting people mentioning what we call white goods, my mother is still using a Toshiba microwave which my gran dad bought in the late 60s when these were "high tech" expensive equipment, it still works fine and my mum refuses to get a new one with "silly buttons and no dial". The chest freezer out in the garage is over 50 years old, my vacuum cleaner (gen1 Dyson) still goes on and I saved that from a skip about 12 years ago , my microwave & nearly all my kitchen utensils/pots/pans etc are from when I was at University. I regularly use tools that were my gran dad's , i have a Black & Decker drill and heat gun which were bought in the 70s which I see no point in replacing.
I was very much brought up not to waste things , try and fix things and have a "it will do" kind of attitude and also to research any potential purchase and weigh up when is a good time to spend the extra for a better quality product.
It's interesting people mentioning what we call white goods, my mother is still using a Toshiba microwave which my gran dad bought in the late 60s when these were "high tech" expensive equipment, it still works fine and my mum refuses to get a new one with "silly buttons and no dial". The chest freezer out in the garage is over 50 years old, my vacuum cleaner (gen1 Dyson) still goes on and I saved that from a skip about 12 years ago , my microwave & nearly all my kitchen utensils/pots/pans etc are from when I was at University. I regularly use tools that were my gran dad's , i have a Black & Decker drill and heat gun which were bought in the 70s which I see no point in replacing.
I never throw anything away if it's still useable. Things I don't need or want anymore get ebayed/gumtreed, given to charity or offered on our local community group, which has been very active recently. Yesterday I gave away a set of weights on condition that the recipient made a donation to a good cause, which they were happy to do. My old cd's, books and games go to the Oxfam specialist outlets; electrical stuff goes to the BHF, who check and safety test every item before it goes on sale.
If I sell something I don't really mind how little I get for it, just as long as somebody gets some use out of it. With the growth of pound shops and competition between retailers some things are too cheap, simply encouraging people to buy stuff they just don't need. Every community dump is full of perfectly useable stuff that people have thrown away because Junior's grown out of it/it doesn't match the wallpaper/the fuse has blown. I can work a screwdriver and a tube of glue: if something breaks, I'll try to fix it.
There must be tens of millions of perfectly good phones/laptops/computers gathering dust in drawers around the country because they aren't the latest must-have thing, and that's been lining the pockets of manufacturers for years. I have in daily use a Sony radio my father bought in the mid-nineties; same goes for my hi-fi system; I regularly use a set of Koss headphones I bought in 1974. Why? Because they still work. I press my trousers with a twenty two year old iron, because it still works. I'm not a complete Luddite, I embrace new tech as well, with my Chromebook, Alexa etc, but they work alongside the older tech, not instead of it.
I'm still wearing a tee-shirt I bought in 1993 (don't ask me how I know!); you could spit peas through it, and I wouldn't exactly wear it on a night out, but it's perfectly good for kicking around the house. Eventually it'll get demoted to gardening & car repair duties, and after that it'll be a duster or oily rag.
Perhaps something good will come out of our current crisis. There won't be a seemingly unlimited supply of things to buy; there won't be the money around to buy new things. Maybe people will place more value in what they've got, instead of constantly craving more.
If I sell something I don't really mind how little I get for it, just as long as somebody gets some use out of it. With the growth of pound shops and competition between retailers some things are too cheap, simply encouraging people to buy stuff they just don't need. Every community dump is full of perfectly useable stuff that people have thrown away because Junior's grown out of it/it doesn't match the wallpaper/the fuse has blown. I can work a screwdriver and a tube of glue: if something breaks, I'll try to fix it.
There must be tens of millions of perfectly good phones/laptops/computers gathering dust in drawers around the country because they aren't the latest must-have thing, and that's been lining the pockets of manufacturers for years. I have in daily use a Sony radio my father bought in the mid-nineties; same goes for my hi-fi system; I regularly use a set of Koss headphones I bought in 1974. Why? Because they still work. I press my trousers with a twenty two year old iron, because it still works. I'm not a complete Luddite, I embrace new tech as well, with my Chromebook, Alexa etc, but they work alongside the older tech, not instead of it.
I'm still wearing a tee-shirt I bought in 1993 (don't ask me how I know!); you could spit peas through it, and I wouldn't exactly wear it on a night out, but it's perfectly good for kicking around the house. Eventually it'll get demoted to gardening & car repair duties, and after that it'll be a duster or oily rag.
Perhaps something good will come out of our current crisis. There won't be a seemingly unlimited supply of things to buy; there won't be the money around to buy new things. Maybe people will place more value in what they've got, instead of constantly craving more.
Edited by Plastic chicken on Wednesday 6th May 22:25
I'm typing this on a 10 year old MacBook Air which I fully intend to use until it ceases to turn on.
Had to get a newer one recently as I needed more power, but I have no intention of throwing this one away until it dies. It still works perfectly and is fine for internet/email/Word etc.
Other than that phones I tend to stay reasonably up to date with as I like the camera advances.
Shoes/ clothes etc keep getting used until they really can't be, even if it's just as old clothes for cleaning the car etc.
Had to get a newer one recently as I needed more power, but I have no intention of throwing this one away until it dies. It still works perfectly and is fine for internet/email/Word etc.
Other than that phones I tend to stay reasonably up to date with as I like the camera advances.
Shoes/ clothes etc keep getting used until they really can't be, even if it's just as old clothes for cleaning the car etc.
Big-Bo-Beep said:
We're not really including computers and mobile phones in this are we ?
I mean none of our phones or computers actually broke or stopped working, we just wanted to be up to date, follow the sheeples,
and lick the sweaty balls of Steve Jobs and fund his and the Lizard People's bid to overthrow the world.
I think we are. I mean none of our phones or computers actually broke or stopped working, we just wanted to be up to date, follow the sheeples,
and lick the sweaty balls of Steve Jobs and fund his and the Lizard People's bid to overthrow the world.
I'd be interested to hear from people who do use such things until they're dead. I've used a couple of phones until they carked it but it was mainly software weirdness that finished them rather than bursting into flames or crumbling into dust.
I always make sure to sell mine while they're still a relatively modern generation.
aka_kerrly said:
It's interesting people mentioning what we call white goods,
My dear old ma wanted to chuck a washing machine. It only needed an 8 quid hinge. It took a bit of battering but went on OK. She also discarded an old Dyson. All it needed was the filters given a major clean and it's been sucking virulently ever since. bloomen said:
aka_kerrly said:
It's interesting people mentioning what we call white goods,
My dear old ma wanted to chuck a washing machine. It only needed an 8 quid hinge. It took a bit of battering but went on OK. She also discarded an old Dyson. All it needed was the filters given a major clean and it's been sucking virulently ever since. I think most "machines" we buy get used until they are beyond economical repair. Tools, white goods, cars, computers (although they often get upgraded),... I'm struggling to think of anything of that ilk which we've replaced while the old one was still functioning. Unless you count children's bikes, etc. when our daughter grows out of them (and they either get bought second-hand and sold for what we paid for them, or were presents).
Even phones, we keep until they break which, annoyingly, doesn't tend to be very long.
Even phones, we keep until they break which, annoyingly, doesn't tend to be very long.
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 5th May 08:21
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