What does disposable mean? The dictionary definition I’ve learner is that if something is deposable it can be thrown out once it is used but what isn’t disposable by that definition?
Everything is disposable and the difference is made not by whether it can be thrown away but by when it will be thrown out. Somethings have a useful life of years, a laptop for instance, while others have a usable lifespan of almost 6 minutes after first time use, plastic silverware. Either way these items can be considered disposable but one is a purchase that puts over $200 into play while the other costs scarcely $1. The term disposable also applies to clothing, video games, consoles and even furniture (though that is harder to dispose of) . In the world I was raised cars were not disposable and my dad drove his cars until they were no longer useful in transportation anymore. In a consumer based society it is expected that these things are disposable and people should buy new cars and sell their old ones frequently but why would people do this if there is no guarantee that this car will even be as good as the old car or even be as great as you expect it to be?
My ’92 sonoma is a great truck and gets me to work, school and back home without stuttering but it does break down quite a bit. The problem with keeping my truck is not seen clearly to me since there has been so much money spent to get my truck into the condition that it is in and there is no way to get that money back unless the truck is used and driven to the ground. Yet this truck is, at this point, considered almost as disposable as a plastic fork to some of my friends and family and they justify it by saying words like unreliable and inefficient to make their point of trying to sell it.
I do not want to, nor will I, get rid of my truck yet. The only way to get money out of it is to continue it’s service until it is beyond repair or the repair outweighs the price of the trucks worth. Though my truck is considered disposable so is my dads laptop in my opinion but as he refuses to upgrade I will continue to refuse to get a new car, “if it works, don’t fix it.” This is why I keep my truck, because it has value even if that value is only to me.

I regularly shop at the 99 cents only stores and Habitat for Humanity Restore (where I work) but does this save any money or waste it?

During the next week I’m going to go about my every day life and try avoiding the 99 cent store and only shop at grocery stores for food (Target and Walmart count in this case). This experiment is to see if I spend more money on longer lasting food or less money on crap. Dollar stores pull people in by saying that the dollar doesn’t matter because whatever you get there is most likely worth significantly more in the regular stores. This notion is wrong because that dollar did take time to earn and it could be better spent on items of a better quality even though they may be slightly more expensive. This also makes sweets more of a treat, I can easily eat a box of Swiss Rolls but it is $1.79 for a box and is very unhealthy so if I do get a box I need to make it last a few days at least but it should last about a month!

I’m not telling anyone to do like me and just stop going to the dollar  store but try to look for the value while I do the same thing. Pretzels are one thing I get there often and I’ll have to get another brand but I can do it and I hope to better understand what that dollar spent on pretzels is truly worth. Is it better to get a smaller bag for 99 cents or a large bag for $3.29. I’ll tell you what I find after a week.