OK, ONE more purchase...

[johnridley]

I ordered up a new taillight. It's from the Chinese company that makes my headlight, which is the best headlight I've had and at a great price. The taillight promises the same; more light and better dispersion than the $120 taillight I'm running with now, plus it runs off the same battery as my headlight (with a Y adaptor) and it's totally waterproof (the other one has a water-vulnerable battery pack) for $29. I should be able to sell the old light for at least twice that and wind up with a better lighting system, where I only have one battery pack to worry about. Currently I have to bring the taillight pack in, take the 4 AA cells out of it, recharge them and replace them every 2 days. This will be an improvement in several ways, won't add any net items to my pile of stuff and should actually net me money.

Comments

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know...you can quit any time you want, you just don't want to...

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Well, this does fit the criteria of both replacing something else that I can then get rid of, and of simplifying. With this I have one battery pack (which I already charge for my headlight) that I just plug in while I'm at work to charge, instead of that battery plus the taillight pack which is four AAs held into a pack with a hunk of inner tube that I have to pry off and charge the cells individually, then put back in the pack and wiggle that inner tube back over it to keep the cells from falling out on the road.

It's kind of funny that the kludgy pain in the butt light is the "professional" name brand solution that I paid 4x as much for.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

I meant to tell you that not buying things is unAmerican. Next you'll be eschewing cars and riding bicycles. Oh wait.

[mbcrui.livejournal.com]

maybe you need to modify your pledge to "nothing in without something out." or maybe "nothing in without something of equal or greater value out"

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

I think what it comes down to is "nothing in without something out, or something that has real value." To some extent, it's just "no toys."

I keep looking at Android tablets, and other crap like that. I don't need anything like that. I've got a camera that's better than any camera that's ever going to be on a phone or tablet. I don't need a PDA, tried that twice and never used them. I've got a cell phone that is perfectly adequate to make phone calls and to text. I've got an ereader that's probably better to read books on than any phone or tablet would be. I've got a computer. I've got an internet connection at work and at home. There are so many MP3 players that have been cast off from other family members that even without the one I am currently using and the spare I picked up for $20, I could break an MP3 player every 2 or 3 months and I think it'd still be a year or more before I'd actually need to buy one.

So I really can't imagine why I'd need anything else. Really I'm just trying to draw a line in the sand and tell myself "you have enough crap. If you think you need anything else, you probably need to think a few more times."