Buying New Stuff

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Why you have to keep buying sneakers like every 3-6 months? The same with slippers, you have to buy new ones too. And I heard people should buy new toothbrushes every 3 months or more.

If you wear socks with sneakers, then there is no reason you need to keep sneakers for the short length of time that you describe. Some people keep the same pair of sneakers for many years, until they wear out with usage.

With regards to toothbrushes, some people buy new ones every so often because the bristles become worn from being used regularly. This happens more or less often, depending on how long a person brushes their teeth for in a single brushing session and how frequently a person brushes their teeth, i.e how many times per day.

Yes, I'd just decide by inspection - if they still look and feel serviceable, they probably are. Who says otherwise? People who make money out of selling sneakers, by any chance?


Yes, again it should be possible to just inspect the toothbrush for wear and tear and then use common sense. And I agree its life expectancy depends on how often and hard you brush your teeth. But toothbrushes are cheaper than sneakers, so I guess it doesn't matter so much if you needlessly replace it.

The world seems to be getting more dummied down every time I look at it. Have your 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day (does anybody actually count them or do we just use common sense?), take your daily aspirin, old man (it's debatable whether or not it's a great idea), etc. etc. For God's sake don't think.

That sounds like extremely cheap sneakers. Better to save up to buy a more expensive but longer lasting brand than buy cheap shoes over & over & over. I once bought the $15 cheapie sneakers at Target. They fell apart within a month while only being worn at a 16ish hour a week job. For what it would cost in cheap sneakers for a year, I went and bought a few good pairs of shoes. Those lasted years.



Here, I can't even offer a hypothesis. Even cheap slippers last a year+ for me. Try a different type of slipper? (hard sole, rubber sole, sock-like, mules, over the heel, etc.)

EtA: I thought longer. It likely has to do with the way of walking, socks or none, type of flooring (carpet, hardwood, etc.), & so on.



Yes. New toothbrush or new brush head. It's a harboring bacteria thing, as well as bent bristles not cleaning as well. Some people even put their toothbrush/head in the top of the dishwasher regularly too in order to keep it cleaner. (These are usually friends who don't brush hard enough to bend bristles & want to clean their brush to last longer.) I'm a bristle-bender. If they aren't all spread out after 3 months of use, then I haven't brushed nearly as much as I should've.

I'd overlooked the bugs. Yes, it's important to avoid those. Personally I'd rather disinfect than replace, so the dishwasher trick appeals to me.

I buy Marks & Spencer's slippers, they last me years..

You should replace your toothbrush every few months because the bristles eventually wear out and don't do as good of a job on cleaning your teeth. Also used toothbrushes are just teeming with germs. When I was sick last month I threw away and replaced my old toothbrush when I got better because I read somewhere that you'll reinfect yourself if you keep using it. Got a cold? So does your toothbrush.

I haven't replaced my sneakers in ages and they're still in good shape. But that might just be because I don't do nearly as much walking as I used to. When I was still young I walked just about everywhere and my sneakers would wear out fast. Especially if they were cheap.

I soak my toothbrush in Listorine, it should kill any life that tries to take up residence on my brush.

Thankfully it also lights up to tell me when I'm brushing too hard. I've noticed they last twice as long as they did before I had the handle with the pressure sensor in it.

Good idea. OTOH, would a few germs really matter if you're swilling your mouth out with mouthwash after brushing? I never bother to disinfect the brush, apart from rinsing it well after use. Looking at it now, it doesn't look dirty. I suppose a lot depends on what you've been eating.

For mouth washing, I use Listerine Total Zero (zero alcohol), because my dentist says the kinds with alcohol are a tad carcinogenic. He used to recommend Corsodyl but later forsook the stuff because he said they'd found out it makes your teeth go brown. I've also got one of those water-flossing things. Wasn't very expensive, and it's still working well after a couple of years. It washes a lot of rubbish out of my mouth, including toothpaste residues as well as food particles. But a lot of them aren't very good. Also using interdental brushes but they're a bit of a palarva so I don't do that very often.


That's hi-tech. I hope it has a removable business end (i.e. the brush part) that's cheap to replace though.

Cheap shoes don't last long.

Get a good pair of cowboy (or, in your case, cowgirl) boots.

You should be buying them when the ones you have are worn. Shoes can cause foot problems if they're worn unevenly. Toothbrushes change their properties as they wear out and ones that are worn out may not be as effectively.

But, a lot of this is just about people wanting to encourage commerce.

Speaking of cowgirl vs cowboy, one Sunday morning a few years ago in church, there was a kid standing in the aisle wearing her cowboy hat for just about the entire service.

After the service, I was talking to the mother when she ran by but now without her hat. I said, "It looks like she lost her cowboy hat." and then after a slight hesitation, "Or is that a cowgirl hat?"

The mother replied, "It's a cowboy hat."

So I asked the obvoius, "How can you tell?"

The answer, "Because he's a boy."

I didn't see them there for about a month and when they came back, he had a short haircut.

I was not the only one who thought that the boy was a girl. One of the church leaders told me that they had two girls, not a boy and a girl.

Anyway, to keep it on topic, it usually doesn't hurt to wear a cowboy (or cowgirl) hat until it completely wears out. My summer straw hat is in good shape and easily ready for another summer. My winter beaver fur felt hat is pretty old, but it may outlast me. The next time I go to the big city, I plan on buying a cheaper winter wool felt hat for every day use and saving my good winter beaver fur hat for church, funerals, weddings, and other special occasions.

Might be worth searching for special offers on good, normally-expensive shoes. The price breaks on shoes can be around 50%. Downside is that it's tiresome to shop around, even on the Web.

I can't remember what my current pair of boots cost, but they were half price and are still serving as my only pair of outdoor shoes after over 2 years and quite a lot of walking on pavements and tarmac. Soles and heels still not coming away from uppers, uppers still near-perfect apart from minor scuffs and creasing, still looking smart after a good polish, but heels getting near to worn out at the back on the outside. I just wish I could figure out how to build them back up because it'll be a shame to throw them out just because the heels are gone. Maybe a competent cobbler (if such an animal still exists in these dark times) could fix them cheaply.

Repairs used to be standard practice when I was a lad, but last time I tried to get a pair of "Caterpillar" boots fixed they said they'd have to go back to the maker who would charge a fortune. Otherwise great, durable boots, half price of course, but they'd rigged the design to get them an unearned income stream. So I threw them away.

Loosely speaking, I have two pair of shoes.
1. Normal walking-around shoes
2. Morning long-walk shoes
(And some odds-and-ends shoes mostly gathering dust.)

When it is time to replace a pair of shoes I want to order a new pair of the exact same thing.The shoes for my morning walks seem to last approximately one year and I was quite content to replace them with the exact same thing every autumn. I was so happy with the LL Bean shoes I got in 2012 each year since I ordered a new pair of the exact same thing...

...except in 2023 they were no longer available! And again this year, not available.

I'll get by on what I'm now purchasing from JC Penney but they're not quite as good. I want to go back to the same boring shoes I'd been buying every year.

When something wears out I don't mind buy a replacement...but I'd like to get exactly the same thing.

P.S. In familiar restaurants my orders are also very predictable. It saves time and I get meals I like!