Know your rights!
Participating in commerce nowadays is practically a sure-fire way to put you in the path of scams. The manner in which scams occur varies. Whereas twenty or more years ago, scams were somewhat predictable and even familiar, the variety nowadays is overwhelming and makes discernment and classification much more difficult.
In order to make it through this scam era unscathed — perhaps minimally scathed — the best bet is to “plan the work then work the plan.” That means determining what you want before you endeavor to get it. Another saying that is relevant here goes (something like): “those who stand for nothing fall for anything.” In this case, that means you gotta pay close attention to satisfying your needs and not deviating from that path. “Free enterprise” as it exists in the US isn’t necessarily based on scamming people, but it’s quite clear the prevailing economic zeitgeist entails scams. Yes, I agree that trend degrades the entire culture. However, rather than lament the current state of affairs, I prefer to do something about it. In this case, the best action I can imagine is to avoid participating as much as possible.
To avoid the scam economy as much as possible, I seek to only buy necessities. Mostly, that means food. I have to eat to survive. I want to eat as little as possible while ingesting adequate calories to satisfy metabolic requirements. What this means is that I do not expend energy carrying around extra weight. Moreover, I eat for nutritional requirements, not emotional needs. Someone I once knew gave me a sticker that said, “Do not reward yourself with food; you are not a dog.” I very much believe that. Food companies — especially restaurant chains — manipulate customers by making “hyper-palatable” foods that are designed to bypass peoples’ discernment. I find that offensive and anti-human, and I see this approach to encourage endless consumption prevailing. Whereas companies were once trying to make superior products with which they could compete in the marketplace, the prevailing strategy now seems to see customers as an inconvenient obstacle standing between companies and cash. I have zero interest in paying money to such cynical market participants.
As far as I’m concerned, I need food, health insurance, and a place to sleep. I do not currently drive, so I don’t need to spend money on many items related to vehicles, and I strongly advocate critically evaluating those expenses. My view now is that many people have cars, which introduce numerous other expenses, often unnecessarily. But I digress.
Regarding health insurance, you can absolutely convince me that it’s a racket and overpriced. However, I tend to look at things from a cost:benefit standpoint, and I definitely think the downside risk of not having medical insurance significantly outweighs the cost of the insurance.
Beyond those few expenses — and clothes! — most everything else is optional and likely not even useful. Like online subscriptions, for instance. I strongly suspect numerous companies make significant revenues from customers who don’t even remember that they’re customers. That’s messed up! As part of reducing costs, you must audit your expenses and cancel stuff you don’t use. You were not born to be a customer. What’s more: you’re not even deriving value in this case! Part of keeping costs low is making sure you have good visibility on your costs and eliminate the costs that are essentially phantoms.