what do you regularly buy that you feel guilty about?

It used to be stuff for my vaping. It is better than smoking, but still a waste of money. I quit last year though!
- Congrats my dude! That nicotine is a hard habit to break and I'm super proud of you for getting out from under it!
  
  I still get cravings. Pretty sure that'll never go away
- But you feel guilty about smoking?
  
  I felt guilty spending all that money to literally go up in smoke, going outside to feed that addiction while my wife was inside with our kid.

Literally everything. I hate living under a system where my options are
repeatedly consume products which cause death and the destruction of our environment
move out into the woods and live as an isolated hermit
die
I'm...I'm just so tired.
- Amen.
  And it's just so much worse if it's something I don't actually need and is on the pricey side... Like, I enjoy those canned Starbucks nitro cold brew drinks. I feel guilty wanting to buy them, I feel guilty about how many I want to put in my cart, and I feel guilty when I drink them.
- I'm so fucking sick by it, too.
- I don't have a problem with 2, it's just not an option without having plenty of money first.

Some of my frequent grocery purchases come in single use plastics. I wish there was another way :(.
- Try searching for a "refillery" or refill station near you. They are stores where you bring reusable containers with you to fill with goods. They usually have a limited selection but it's something and it helps.
  
  I've been doing that for things like shampoo and detergents. But unfortunately I've got celiacs. All my food HAS to be packaged so that I know it's safe to eat.

Meat... :( We could all live without, but this damn learned behavior...
- Don’t try to eat less meat, try to eat more veggie. I know it’s technically the same but the thought process is different. Before you know it, you had weeks without meat.
  
  I have a lot of asian friends and their meals are always the opposite of typical American meals. It's a ton of veggies/rice with meat as a 'topping' rather than meat being the centerpiece with veggies as sides. I'd love to incorporate that more but I love meat so much...
- Have you actually tried making vegetarian meals at home?
  
  I did to some degree. I have some issues with certain fruits and vegetables due to their fructose and alditole composition. So it's not so easy for me, yet, but I made lasagna with alternative minced meat and oat milk, chili 'con' carne with the same minced meat, once with wheat basis, more times with peas. Sushi without fish or meat. But originally and natural vegetarian meals, I guess not really. At least I can't remember right now.
- Start easy, cut out 1 animal you don't eat too much of and go from there. Once I stopped eating beef, pork and lamb I felt weird about eating chicken, so just stopped altogether! (amongst other reasons)
  Good luck on your journey!
  
  That's a great idea!
  
  I did so for greenhouse gases reasons. First I stopped with beef, never enjoyed lamb (poor young thing), and several others. Pork pretty much, too, but sometimes I still eat it, same with chicken. Not at home, there are amazing alternatives for sausage and 'meat'. But when eating at restaurants, I have issues eating vegan or vegetarian due to some intolerances. And eggs are still a problem for me. But I buy from a source where male hatchlings are not getting shredded.
- You could reduce your mince meat consuption by adding TVP/ soy protein crumble in it. This is what some fast food places actually do and people don't notice the difference unless they hear about it. There are also many vegan proteins in freezer section in many stores. Tofu can be super delicious once you learn how to cook it. I think cooking yummy tofu is sign of good chef.
  
  So far I exchanged minced meat by bought alternatives of peas and wheat. With differing textures and formes and I really enjoy them in my meals. I still need to learn to process and cook more with tofu. What I learned already some months ago, you need to press tofu with some weight for half an hour, potentially freeze it to further reduce their water by open pores, and then cook it in some sauce so that it can absorb the taste. Made sense afterwards, but always wondered how they got their taste. Good advice!
- The alternatives we have nowadays are so varied and some are really great at mimicking the flavour and mouth-feel of meat!
  
  I have tried like 5 different vegan meat things now and they ranged from bad (the times they involved cheese, my god vegan cheese sucks) to "ok, but would rather just eat something that is vegan without trying to be fake meat."
  Is there any particular type of product that's good? Brands will probably only help if you're also in germany, but maybe fake chicken is just the wrong fake meat to buy.
- I would argue we shouldn't live without it, but it does need to be cut back and less glorified. There are soo many alternatives that are healthier, cheaper, better for environment but you should still be able to have a medium rare steak and some chicken wings when you want it.
  
  Am veggie. Agree.
  
  well as of the ethics doing a bad thing once is still having done a bad thing, but I guess sure if you want to decrease animal suffering the fastest realistic way, getting 10 people to reduce their consumption trumps 3 people completely cutting their meat consumption. (yet you'll still have 10 people exploiting animals for their "products" who should be living without doing just that. vegan btw)
- Same! I would like to be vegan but i love a great steak, or burger, or...
- nah, meat is great. Just the sourcing of it is not so great. Get your meat from a local butcher where you know where the animal came from.
  Or better yet, if you have the space, time and money: get your own livestock.
  
  I talked to my vegan son about buying meat from local farms. He got mad at me for wanting to only kill the happy cows.
  
  the animals don't care wether their dead corpse is shipped to you from Argentina or from your local butcher that is just such a nice and friendly guy :^) they'd prefer not having their throat slit by anyone at all

-Fast food. It's so expensive.
-Alcohol. It's unhealthy, and I use it as a crutch when I'm feeling bad.
-Animal products, due to climate change.
- Kombucha taste close enough to alcohol, that sometimes I end up not drinking any at all
- Switch to the premade microwave meals, semi healthier. You can get these at the store or even delivered.
  For alcohol, I went down the expensive seltzer water/soda route to curve that. I still have wine and a beer, but not much really.
  Animal products... You can just reduce, maybe do over meatless day for all the meals. It's not much, but something.
  
  I've had a lot of microwave meals and I can't say that any one has ever come close to the appeal of fast food. Usually they're watery vegetables and a microwaved porkchop or something. At least buy a decent frozen pizza.
- I can share how to manage meals, even while drunk!

McDonalds. I have food at home and it's expensive. But damn I get a craving for it
- That might be your gut microbiome craving it. You can re-anchor your microbiome with new bacteria but it takes about a week or two.
  I start getting cravings for strawberry banana smoothies with spinach now. Or berry smoothies. Costco sells unflavored yogurt and milk in bulk, same wity big bags of frozen berries. It's typically replaced desserts for me because they are filling. (I also have one of those bullet shaped blenders where the lid becomes a drink cup. I have a few cups so I can just rinse the blades and then throw the cup in the dishwasher. )
  I used to have those same cravings, so I know how it feels!
  
  Hey this is good to hear!
  
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Starbucks coffee, and even more so, their tea. Just doesn't seem like a good use of my money, since I can make it at home for a lot less money.
- And the one made at home is probably better too. Starbucks coffee kinda sucks, especially at that price point
  
  I felt guilty for buying a fancy coffee machine but it's probably paid for itself over the last few years.

Energy drinks. I havw an addiction and not in the joke way.
- One Rockstar a day for me. Definitely an addiction.
  
  I drink between 8 and 10. Im actually scared and when i dont drink them my chest hurts.

Takeout. I get it a few times a week and always feel a bit guilty about it. I like supporting the local businesses but it's expensive and the plastic containers aren't great.

Drugs, probably.
Spent a few k on k alone.
Add up everything over the years and I'm at least 1,000,000 pennies poorer.
More good times than bad but I still feel a bit guilty when I crunch the numbers.
- I do feel guilty for the amount of weed i buy. I have a couple of pounds sitting in jars, but can't resist the next sale on something new.

Ice cream. I'm addicted.

Furniture.
Not the products themselves, but the amount of packaging to throw away every time I buy a new chair or shelving unit that comes wrapped in layers of foam and plastic. Makes me guilty how much waste there is. But buying second hand isn’t always an option.

Gasoline and diapers.
- No kink shaming here mate

Micro-transactions in that one game I play.
I can easily afford it, so it's not like I'm gambling away my family's savings or something. However... At $10-20 a pop they aren't so "micro" anymore. And I know it's bad that I'm encouraging this predatory tactic. The money probably doesn't even make it to the developers. But they're freakin' ships from Star Trek! I can't help myself.

I eat Hot Pockets.
I hate Nestle but they're so good 😩
And nobody makes a knock off. They're my only option for microwaved pizzas conveniently rolled up into a pocket.
- Pizza pockets? Made by Pillsbury (which honestly could be a nestle brand idk)
  
  Hm... I haven't seen those. But I do sometimes make my own pizza using grands biscuit dough for the crust so it'd probably be hella good. They're owned by General-Mills.

Games.
Extending Gaben's beard since Steam's conception...

Almost everything I eat, tbh. 30+ years of being overweight will do that to you.
- Have you read about emotional eating? I'm struggling with it as well.

I actually feel really guilty about buying all those single serving drinks from Dunkin' and the convenience stores because of all of the plastic I am just putting back into the environment. I really need to stop doing this. 😾
- I really enjoy iced/ cold brew coffee but always felt dumb paying $5 or more for it, especially because of the waste. I bought a cold brew pitcher and some travel mugs, and now I can have my coffee for pennies a day with no waste. Only downside is you have to remember to make it at least 12 hours before you want it.
  Edit to add: Total price for the pitcher and mugs was equal to about 8 cups of coffee from a coffee shop.
  
  I like the cold brew as well. The trouble is Dunks also wants to charge Starbucks prices for less than Starbucks quality.

Expensive drinks when I'm out for dinner etc. But I guess that's the cost of socialising.
- I hate when two drinks are more than my meal and i think i should have just invited friends to my place for the same price.

Gasoline. Airplane tickets. Those are probably the worst two things. But as others have said there are really only a few things that don’t make me feel guilty. So it might be easier to list those.

Gas for my car.

Bubble tea. Expensive, but so good on a hot day..

Onlyfans type stuff. It's an addiction and honestly pretty hard to quit
- Interesting, may I ask what you get from it over regular stuff? Is it the content itself or is it the idea that it's a regular person? Or a bit of both?
  
  Both tbh

Coffee.
I don't need fancy coffee every day, especially with the inflated prices. I did the math and it's over $200/mo spent on coffee.
I stopped getting it every day, but I can't seem to kick the habit on weekends.
- I was gonna say energy drinks. I gave them up for a year and demonstrated to myself that I don't need them. Then I let them back into my life and again developed a (mostly mental) dependency on them.
  
  It's so easy to slip back I to those habits. So, so, easy, and harder and harder to stop each time.
- I used to be the same but with a Keurig and some flavored creamer we're able to go to the coffee shop maybe once every couple months and I drink a lot of coffee. Costco even sells pods made from paper that are biodegradable so I don't have to feel guilty throwing them in the trash.
  
  Yeah, I bought a Krueg and the syrup used to flavor coffee at the coffee shops. I also bought a mini milk frother, so it really feels like a decent latte.
- fyi, that coffee you are buying isn't "fancy." Buy yourself actual fancy coffee and grind and brew it yourself. I bet you could get some extremely amazing brew say, $250/lb and it would be cheaper then then the shit you buy daily.
  
  Oh, yeah, no, it's definitely not coffe that's actually fancy, I just mean dressed up coffee. Iced vanilla latte with an extra shot of espresso is my jam.
  Now I use a morning blend with my Kureg and froth up some milk with a shot of vanilla syrup and drink that.
  It never tastes as good, but ohwell.

Weed from the Netherlands. Tobacco. I stopped smoking for 9 years and now I'm on 2-3 joints a day. Fuck. Should at least use my vaporizer again.
- Don't feel too bad, vaporizers aren't good either

- Sorry you live somewhere with (even more) regressive drug laws (than my country). Signed, a Canadian.

Things I want but don't need like a beer at the store on Friday evening or a tablet of chocolate for the weekend or a game on Steam. So I try to minimize such purchases.

Anything at Daiso really. I never need it but I just......need it.
- And then it breaks a few months later and you swear never to buy stuff from there again, only to go back a few weeks later when you see a Daiso store while out doing something else.

I eat a lot more almonds and popcorn than I should. And chewing gum.

I order hot sauce on a regular basis and eat it way too often. Also habanero chips (crisps).
Both are gone way too fast.

Chocolate

The 2 xtra long Chili cheese coupon menu with a big coke every Monday night after work.

Guilty? No.

3D models to print
I think I've only printed at most a third of them, but I always end up buying too many for my DnD group

You mean other than the child slaves I buy in bulk? Unhealthy foodstuffs, I guess 🤷

I spend like 200 per year on lottery tickets. I know that the odds of ever winning big are close to zero, but it's like a guilty pleasure that let's me dream a bit. Like a cheaper movie ticket.

Southern style chicken wings. I eat them in my car and don't take them home to share with my wife.

This website has some good tips.
- Did you somehow reply to the wrong thread?
  
  Wtf? Yes, completely wrong thread.