Why the Underconsumption-core trend will FAIL

#rocketmoney #personalfinance Sponsored by Rocket Money

The pressure to buy stuff has never been higher than it is right now, but it seems the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction with the internet's latest fixation: “underconsumption core”. But with the internet’s habit of tossing trends out as fast as they come in, will it even last?

Subscribe to Future Proof!

Join our Patreon:

Stay updated on our socials

For further reading, check out the sources for this video here:

Script: Rachel Lachmansingh
Editor: Matthew Veal
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand

[FutureProofTV]

#rocketmoney #personalfinance Sponsored by Rocket Money

[basicbaroque]

I think, "underconsumption core" is specifically to shame influencers. No normal person has 300+ fragrances, walls of skincare, tons of racks of clothes, or rooms full of makeup. Influencers get that stuff for free, it's the only reason they're like that. Everybody will lose interest once they remember, online isn't real life.

[jonahblock]

It’s doomed to fail because if you are on tiktok you are already over consuming media. The way to win is to not play the game. Just avoid as many influencers as possible

[indigobunting]

"Use it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or do without."

[Dreamweaver]

Imagine just having a balanced life where you do what you simply think is right and aren't constantly projecting and seeking attention on social media.

[SarahA]

Lol
My grandpa did a lot of these things, like using old clothes as rags. People are silly to think that this stuff is what "poor" people do. I grew up with grandparents who do this and my grandpa's been happily retired for 23 years. He's just frugal.

[Lambda_Ovine]

wait... cutting open a bottle of of lotion to get the stuff that gets stuck on the walls, using old clothes as cleaning rags, managing to get a hold of good old furniture for cheap/free, amending your clothes? Did... did people not just already do that? I thought that's what you did by default? I'm not poor, just grew up in a Mexican household that avoided waste

[rustyrober]

The problem is you cant just reduce a vice without replacing it. Reading books needs to trend, spending time with friends and family needs to trend, volunteering needs to trend. If people spend their time contributing in those ways a byproduct will be underconsumption because people wont be filling their cup with shopping addictions.

[jreding]

People are willing to spend money on junk, but not maintain their cars like replace worn tires or maintain the house....for example a roof way past its useful life.

[ktktktktktktkt]

Tiktok wouldn't like for this trend take off. It doesn't help them make money.

[Soapy_Papoose]

I love that I continue to never know anything about the topics covered on this channel. It lets me know I'm staying on the right track.

[blanketfortressofsolitude]

Every couple years, people rediscover that moderating your consumption often brings a sense of balance to life. I'm sure it'll be called something else in a few years.

[ericbresnahan]

reusable water bottle for 5 years, t shirts and sweatshirts since highschool, have used my college backpack for every vacation for the past 15 years. all of this is good stuff i support this trend and no it is not glamorization of poverty. Mindful consumption is the way to go. However, the real problem is at the point of production.

[EverythingJillo]

I wish we as a society would stop villainizing or making people feel 'less than' who saving money or are frugal. You earn your money, you're allowed to keep it and not give it to greedy coperations that trick you into "needing" a product.

Like, I shouldn't feel bad for buying store brand cereal because it's the better price. I don't WANT to spend more money on that stuff than what I have to.

[bmiller]

While there are differences between all of these trends, the basic fundamental tenets are the same...buy less, consume less, re-use, re-gift, recycle, etc... This seems to indicate that the overall trend itself never really dies...the name just changes.?

[katarh]

My mother MADE me learn to repair my clothes. (And now I repair my husband's clothes, too.) There's a difference between something that just needs a little TLC and something that is worn out. And sometimes you can recycle and upcycle your own stuff. I turned a pair of dead jeans with some beautiful embroidery into a pair of denim shorts and re-applied the section with the embroidery as a patch - that was a proper recycle. I've slapped a custom patch over a little cardigan where a cat chewed a hole right over the right hand where a patch looked perfect; that made it an upcycle.

It's only when the fabric itself has worn thin, or the damage has reached the point where the cost of repair isn't worth the time. Most sewing repairs can be done in under ten minutes. Replacing a button, applying a denim patch to the inside thigh seam on jeans (or the back pocket seam, in my husband's case, since that's where his jeans tend to die.)

Technically we're upper middle class, but the concept of .... not doing this? Absolutely foreign to me. Maybe it is because I came from poverty. SEWING IS EASY PEOPLE

[valkyrie]

Me, using my stuff untill they absolutely break down beyond repair finding out I'm actually trendy and not autistic struggling with changes

[habitatLP]

Gen-z and younger don't have their own sub-cultures. Just 1 mio trends that change every 8 weeks. And now they have arrived at "normal" and have to core-ify every-day stuff.

[drjekelmrhyde]

It's very demure very mindful to reuse those "single use" plastic bags as garbage bags.

[jonleibow]

I have a hoarding relative who has been my biggest inspiration for underconsumption.

Every surface of her house is covered with...stuff, she has things in boxes piled to the ceiling, shelves and boxes of books she hasn't read in over 10 years or more.

She says she's decluttering, which consists of slowly putting together a cardboard box of donations (most of which the thrift store probably tosses), while buying much more than that on a regular basis.

When I'm at her house I feel like everything's closing in on me, it's so nice to come home and have free space.