A couple of years ago I was introduced to the idea of “Buy it For Life”, which means what it says. The idea is when you purchase something, one of the requirements that you must consider is longevity of the product that you are buying. You must buy something which will last you a very long time.
Why?
Saves Money
There a couple of reasons for this. Buying something that will last a very long time will in most cases saves you money, although, that sometimes means spending more now so that you can save in the long run.
Reduces Waste
When you purchase something that lasts a very long time, you end up purchasing less of that type of product ultimately reducing waste which generally is better for the environment.
Simpler
Another consequence of “Buy it for Life” philosophy is minimalism. Now minimalism is a whole philosophy of its own. But the the idea is that if you buy something that is going to last a very long time, you will probably own just one or hopefully at least fewer of that type of product.
The Criteria
Quality over Style
This mostly pertains to clothing and footwear. One of the downsides to living in Canada is having multiple types of clothing and footwear. There are 4 seasons that require about 3 to 4 types of clothing. You can get away with using the same jackets and shoes for spring and autumn. But you definitely need a dedicate winter jacket and some summer clothes.
For example, I use a high quality plain black parka jacket which works in work or business and casual settings. It is not fancy looking at all. It is just plain black with a black zipper and a black hood. It was the most expensive jacket that I had ever bought, but it has been 6 years and it is still going strong. I did start having issues last winter – the hood now keeps coming off. The buttons have gotten loose. However, the jacket has a life time warranty, so all I have to do is send it to the manufacture and they will repair at no cost.
Which brings me to my next criteria.
Right to Repair
This is a bit of a misnomer. Of course, you have a right to repair anything that you like; the key idea is that it should be easy to repair. As I have mentioned, my jacket has a life time warranty and the manufacturer will repair it free of charge – this is the kind of product you should consider buying.
When you buy something, you must take into account the time, effort and money it will take to repair the product in case it breaks or gets damaged.
When it comes to violating right to repair, the biggest culprits are electronics manufacturers, and especially laptop and cell phone manufacturers. I loved buying cell phones that had removable batteries. It increased the lifetime of the cell phone. I also miss the days when laptops were upgradable with faster RAM, or faster or bigger storage. It meant that consumers could increase the lifetime of the product. Nowadays companies are notorious at going out of their way to ensure that their products are not upgradable.
Multipurpose over Single Purpose
Buying products that can be used for multiple purposes or in multiple settings means you can get away with buying fewer items in general. I will give you the example of my black parka jacket. It can used in multiple settings, both casual and business.
The same goes for footwear. When purchasing shoes, instead of purchasing something that looks ‘cool’, but only works in certain situations, why not go for something that is of a higher quality, may look plain, but can be used in multiple situations.
For the Canadian climate, I prefer waterproof hiking shoes because I can use them in the winter when paired with warm winter socks that keep me dry when I step on snow, and keeps me dry in the fall or spring when it rains. I can wear them in the summer by pairing up with regular socks, when I am out and about, plus I can even go hiking with them – you know because they’re hiking shoes.
When it comes to sports shoes, I prefer cross trainers as they are built for a variety of workouts. Lets face it most of us, including myself are not high performance athletes and we do not need dedicate shoes for different types of shoes.
A common concern that people might have is – will owning generic multipurpose items not make me boring? Sure, if you have boring personality!… BURN.
But seriously, let your personality, your passions, your interests do the ‘talking’ for you. You are not the brand or style that you own.