#vime's boots theory

[cthulhubert]

The cheapest I usually find bacon near me these days is 4 to 5$ a pound (usually gotta spring for the 3 pound package too).

Pork belly at Costco has stayed steady at 3.50$, and sometimes goes on sale for 3.00. You do have to buy a whole belly though, at least 10 pounds.

A 1 kilo bag of the curing salts was 15$ or so (I almost called it pink salt, but that means the Himalayan sourced sodium chloride now). I also use it for corned beef. I use like 20 grams at a time so I'm just over half way through it after several years.

Wood chips for smoking are cheap too.

So basically, home made bacon saves me a lot of money asterisk. (Asterisk: because I already own commercial grade/size cambro type containers and the spare fridge space to cure it in, and a temperature controlled smoker, and a chest freezer to keep the extra.)

Though bacon does have a big thing going for it in terms of "save money by making it at home." Even the worst I've fucked it up—and I messed up a lot of batches: mixes of uneven curing and overcooking—was still edible, tasty even. Never had to toss forty smackers of meat because I biffed something.

(On the other other hand, I think the nitrite levels in home cured stuff is higher because commercial operations have better control over curing and smoking to compensate.)

[fourdiagnosesinatrenchcoat]

This makes me so sad and also I'm trying to remember if any of the Discworld books dealt with late stage capitalism

[headcanonsandmore]

Kaladin, explaining his past to Adolin: So, after working tirelessly with Bridge Four to save ourselves from the near-hopeless situation we had ended up in, I was no longer a slave. I no longer had to walk barefoot and in rags everywhere.

Adolin: *horrified* Storms, Kaladin; you've had a incredibly difficult life. I can see exactly why you disliked me when we first met; people like me had literally beaten you down for your entire life. I'm... I'm so sorry.

Kaladin: Thanks, Adolin; that means a lot to me.

Adolin: So... what happened after you had finally been released from slavery?

Kaladin: Your wife used her privilege as a light-eyes to rob me of the boots I was wearing.

Adolin: ...

Kaladin: ...

Kaladin: Yeah, now that I think about it, that explains why I didn't like her for so long-

[nival-kenival-art]

Sam Vimes' boots economic theory lives rent free in my head, just like he does

[hell0mega]

so i grew up pretty poor. like we'd be looking in the couch cushions for change in order to buy groceries poor. and one day my dad explained something to me, and looking back, it's probably the first thing that radicalized me

i think i was about 8 and he was driving us somewhere, and he explained the concept of "rich people spend less money, because they can afford to buy something nicer that lasts longer. poor people like us have to buy worse things that don't last as long and we need to buy it again. over time, the poor person spends more money, and that's why the poor stay poor." yes, he did use boots for the metaphor.

over the years I've seen that referenced. ive seen comics of it and people explaining the metaphor. maybe the first time i saw it i was a little surprised, but I don't think i ever assumed my dad had made it up. i think something he prefaced the analogy with implied he'd heard it somewhere else.

today was the day i learned it was from discworld. god i need to read those fuckin books

[seanofbeankeep]

[tiffanyachings]

one thing i like about getting older is how much less awkward it becomes to be unashamedly practical. look at my giant backpack boy. look at all the stuff i can carry

[fallingsatellive]

I hate streaming services mostly because $60 per year is significantly cheaper but it's not a bargain because I can only afford $6 a month. That shouldn't make sense. If I made more money I could spend less money

[pickledfingers]

Thinking about the vimes boots theory of economics and how I bought the most expensive pair of shoes of my LIFE seven years ago. I work in the woods and decided to spend the lofty sum of $450 on a pair of hiking shoes. I went back and forth on this for days before deciding to buy them. I eventually justified it to myself my saying that I work on my feet and I live in my hiking shoes, and they were honestly the most comfortable pair I had ever worn. They barely needed to be broken in.

And I'm still wearing them. They got resoled last year because I had worn the tread away, but otherwise, they're still the same shoe. I have paid less for those shoes per year than I was previously spending on hiking shoes, because when you're a student $450 is a lot of money. Heck, when I was working and had no mortgage or dependents, $450 was a lot of money. It still is.

Anyway just thinking about a real life example of boots economics.

If anyone ever tells you being poor isn't expensive, I can think of ten things off the top of my head that got cheaper when I was able to buy the more expensive version.

[nival-kenival]

I want to do more calligraphy rn but my brain is blanking on quotes & stuff so if you have anything you want to see done just lmk

You can see example of calligraphy I've done on my art blog here: @nival-kenival-art

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

for several years I've known what my ideal water bottle would be like but I didn't buy one because I already have a bunch of water bottles that are technically fine and I don't drink water out of them.

and I think my mindset was that I needed to train myself to drink more water (with the water bottles I don't like) before I could justify the purchase of a water bottle that I do like.

this was stupid. anyways my new waterbottle is great.

[boot--legged]

At minimum I need to carry on my person:

- my ear protection so I dont get overstimulated

- a small plushie to manage anxiety

- water bottle

- bag with medications I take when needed

- place to put accumulated objects later ?!

- bag of dice because I'm autistic

[arctic-hands]

rip in peace calvin klein plain white all cotton mens t-shirts I got as a gift like 8 years ago that are super comfy and just the right thickness and are only just now starting to become threadbare and stained but I am not paying thirty-five dollars for 3 new plain white tees that were probably also made in the same factory as the 6 pack of hanes cotton plain white tees I bought by overseas laborers for slave wages

[elfgrove]

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness.

Terry Pratchett, "Men at Arms"

[thegoddesswater]

hey!! this is chance and here’s week 5’s prompt. your oc suddenly gets transported to a mall. what store(s) would they go in? would they buy anything? what would they think? tell me about the experience.

Hey Chance! Took my sweet time on answering this one, but OH WELL.

Decided to use the power trio from my sorta-cyberpunk dystopia for this, so we've got Glenn, Evadne, and Cal on this trip. Also, malls are a thing in their setting, so I'll ignore the 'suddenly transported' bit of this prompt.

The boys (moreso Cal than Glenn) have dragged Evadne to the mall against her will. Shopping? Boring! She can order everything she needs online and get it cheaper there too. The only thing that she wants to do is hit up the coffee shop for an overly sweet, excessively caffeinated drink - Cal's treat, of course. Her tolerance for this pointless excursion to the outdated pantheon of consumerism will last only about half an hour longer than that drink will.

Glenn is much more inclined to split off from Cal and Evadne so he can meet back up with them at the food court at a designated time. He's got errands to run and isn't entirely sure that he wants to have his friends watching him scouring the discount/bargain store for the cheapest, but least crappy, pair of new work boots he can find. He will spend twenty minutes debating with himself whether he should get the higher-quality, half-size too small pair that he can "probably stretch out with wear", or whether he should go for the slightly less robust, but in his actual size, pair that is the same price and won't leave him hobbling while he tries to break them in. He will pay for his boots in cash, holding up the line, and confusing the cashier who will require their floor supervisor to come verify that the bills and coins that Glenn has handed over are, in fact, legal tender.

Cal is at the mall for fun. He likes to browse. And looking at the clothing displays reminds him that he's got a family function coming up and sure, he doesn't need a new suit jacket, but his current one is from last year and certainly needs to be updated. He'll bring Evadne with him to help him pick out a new jacket from the high end shop - where he will also pay for custom tailoring of the new jacket without giving it a second thought. He will not notice the salesman giving Evadne the stink-eye for bringing her drink into the store. Once he and Evadne have met back up with Glenn, Cal will insist that they get lunch, and then stop by the kiosk that sells cinnamon rolls, before he will even entertain the possibility of leaving.

[sukimas]

"how do you manage to appear to have expensive tastes when you have little enough money to be driving a car from 1996" very carefully.