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kasran, fourier transfemme @typhlosion@awoo.space

minimalism is a scam invented by big small to sell more less

October 29, 2023 at 10:23 PM · 13 replies · 290 reblogs · 425 favorites

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  • nixcamic@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    8 months ago

    I at least once every few years have to rebuild a microwave. A: these microwaves are pushing 10-12 years old at this point. B: I live in the developing world and power quality isn’t great. Never had a knob or handle fail on this model actually, just electrical parts. Usually I can rebuild the board by replacing components but sometimes it’s just dead. They might be “past their prime” but once again replacing something repairable just cause it’s old is neither eco friendly nor frugal. I have friends and family with the same microwave also and have been able to help them out with parts in the past.

    Bruh what the fuck your microwaves are rusting out? What are you doing to these things.

    1: Remember they’re like 8-12 years old. 2: tropical climate, super high humidity.

    So these arent even exact same models, which makes it even weirder to keep them for spare parts.

    Same model different years. I mean I’ve always been able to fix them with what I had available so it doesn’t seem that weird?

    Which is why you want to gain the skill to identify the key parts worth keeping and get rid of the rest. If you have the time to repair the microwave, you also logically should have the time to prep the parts ahead of time so you arent scrambling to ad-hoc fix the thing when it breaks.

    You can 3d print them for like a dollar a pop. And in terms of tools, a 3d printer solves a lot of these types of issues, as instead of having to keep a bunch of spares around, or order new parts, or throw the entire thing out and buy a new one, you can 3d print a lot of replacement parts…

    So if I have the time to pull one part out I have the time to pull every part out, label them and 3d print bins to put them in? Also, most parts I have replaced have been either metal or electronic. Even if they were, learning CAD software, buying and maintaining a 3d printer and designing a custom piece certainly seems more difficult and expensive than just popping out out of the spare. I know I could in theory use the 3d printer for other things but I really don’t have the time or desire to learn how to use one at this point in my life.

    As for renting/buying maybe that’s just a country different but I can go the the Chinese tool shop and get tools for not much more than the cost of renting, assuming it’s even available for rent here. Yes the quality is crap but for a tool that only gets used every few months it’s more than acceptable. I’m willing to concede that this might not be the case everywhere.

    • pixxelkick@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      8 months ago

      Intereesting, yeah local location can absolutely be an influencing factor.

      I would still definitely say its worth it to break down the microwaves a bit and at least reduce your clutter to some degree, it’s certainly what I would do. Especially since you said:

      Never had a knob or handle fail on this model actually, just electrical parts

      Instantly that means you can eliminate like a solid 80% of the volume of the microwave, which would reduce clutter tremendously. You are looking at 3? distinct sections of parts/boards you’d be left with typically (fan unit, main board, and the transformer/magnetron assembly)

      Thats enough to divide up into 3 bins and now 3 microwaves are 3 bins of parts, which could be put up and out of the way on a shelf.

      As for renting/buying maybe that’s just a country different but I can go the the Chinese tool shop and get tools for not much more than the cost of renting, assuming it’s even available for rent here.

      Here in Canada, typically you’d have to rent something for multiple weeks before its about the same price as buying. If you rent for just 1-2 days at a time you’d have to rent it many many times before it comes close to the price to buy the same tool.

      So for tools you use all the time, yeah, absolutely buy it.

      But if I say, need a jackhammer literally once to just break up the concrete pad in my yard to replace it, I dont need to buy a whole jackhammer and can just rent it for 1-2 days. Same for cement mixer and whatnot. I probably at most see myself needing to pour concrete maybe 2 or 3 times tops for the entire life of my home I own, so I dont ever see myself buying an entire cement mixer or jackhammer.

      But a Saw? Drill? Etc, other power tools I use all the time? Yeah 100% I will buy those.

      But even with all my power tools, I have a very organized wall system they go on. A big part of Minimalism is the principle of Mise en Place. Everything has a place it belong, and everything is in its place it belongs.

      As long as what you own truly is something you need, and it has a place it goes, and it is in its place it goes, thats minimalist.

      People often skip over the boring part but, a big part of minimalism is containers, organization, storage, etc.