We all have too many gadgets - this includes me - we are all getting to materialistic. Must have the latest phone, a new car etc. We need to think about these things.
I do not want to be rude, but speak for yourself, by all means, but do not speak for others. I am on my fourth mobile phone in 25 years. Each one only replaced when it failed. They were all recycled.
None of our cars are less than 15 years old. I have had my lovely bright blue Yaris since 2007, it was 4 years old when I bought it and I will keep using it until it has to go the scrapyard. It is running perfectly and has never broken down, so, with a bit of luck, it will last me quite a few more years. It is not that we cannot afford new things, we just cannot see the point if secondhand will do as well and is so much cheaper.
I say this not to show how virtuous we are, but DH and I have always been like this. The first thing we did when we got engaged was go to an auction sale and buy a brand new bed and several pieces of antique furniture. The bed was a fraction of its price in the shops. The antique desk, make-up box, and most ofthe books we have still.
I am on my way to visit DGC next week. DGD is going to get a second hand pair of walking boots, that I bought ages ago and have rarely worn, if she doesn't want them DDiL certainly does - we are all the same shoe size. DGS will get a book from our local secondhand bookshop.
A fair number of the implements in my kitchen drawers have plastic handles on metal working ends and I have no plastic spoons, although I do have a set of plastic measuring spoons that I have had 40 years or more.
When all the other kids are getting so many toys etc if you don’t get the same for yours they are deprived. Do they really or do parents and grandparents use this excuse to justify their expenditure on tat, because they are competing in the parent/grandparent stakes, not the children.