We've Become A Society Consumed With Meaningless Consumption

We’ve become a consumption society, drunk (or at least punch-drunk) on consuming as much as we possibly can. Every small thing that gets put in front of us, we want to buy. Whether it’s a snap purchase at the checkout or something online because of a cheap site offering what seems to be the same quality for a much lower price. That’s not to say you can’t get great deals on the same or similar quality for less online. You can. But the majority of it is just cheap junk, and the key question is: do you really need it anyway?

One thing the different members of our community have in common (whether they’re van lifers, grey nomads, tiny home people, preppers, or survivalists) is that they all, in principle, lead a minimalist lifestyle compared to the majority of people. Yes, in some cases it’s at least partly by necessity.

Let’s face it: there’s only so much you can fit in a tiny home. There’s only so much you can carry as a survivalist. There’s only so much that fits in the back of a van. Beyond that, it also comes down to mindset, especially in the prepper community, who are more about overall preparedness than the misconception that they all have underground silos full of canned food.

People in our community generally become highly skilled at minimising what they have and what they own. In the last episode, we talked about fuel shortages and the knock-on effect on the food supply. In this episode, the core discussion centres on what we as humans really need in life, what you can do without entirely, and how to increase quality, reduce expenditure, and lead a less cluttered, more peaceful, more productive life with less stuff. And, of course, expect us to go off on a few related tangents as we explore the topic in more depth.