In Portuguese, we have a saying that translated is something like "the cheap gets expensive", which I took as a mantra when buying new things. From smartphones, laptops to clothes and utensils. Who hasn't ever bought the cheapest IKEA kitchen utensil and found themselves back at IKEA a year later to replace it?"

For a couple of years, I had this idea on my Obsidian vault that was initially called "Product Durability App". It would be an app for people to find products and brands that were built to last. I also had a personal goal to build and publish something, no matter how simple it was. That goal went through year and year untouched.

This year, however, I saw a tweet (or should we call it "an x" now?) from the Obsidian creator. He was showing how he is tracking the products he own in Obsidian and wrote a blog post on this site about the choices he makes when purchasing things. That post deeply resonated with me and reignited the idea for that app.

The last boost of energy came through another blog I found by chance. In his personal blog, Duarte writes about different thing and his words just motivated me to build and publish the app, as well as my personal blog that was also sitting in some old forgotten corner of the internet.

Building on this inspiration and crossing the energy treshold, I spent the weekend developing Buy Mindfully. In one weekend I built it, in the following weekend I released it. Learning the whole process of buying a server, connecting to it, pushing changes and deploying it. It was a fun weekend.

I am still figuring out how this app will evolve and if I'll keep working on it. But I would like to keep "building in public" and share my experience.

But for now, enough with the history. Let's explore the idea behind this app. Cost Per use. This was the first concept. Think about that IKEA utensil I started with. Imagine it costs 10 euros and you have to change it every year. This utensil has an average cost per use of 10 euros/year. If instead of saving you 20 euros in the moment of purchase, you bought the more durable and expensive version that utensil that costs 30 euros and would have lasted you 5 years, you would have saved you 20 euros. in the long run. That last product, as more durable option, have a 6 euros/year of use.

20 euros over 5 years might not be much, but when you consider every purchase you do over the years, the number can get high pretty quickly. Consider that low-end smartphone you bought because you didn't want to spend too much money that broke after the first year. Consider that good looking but cheap jacket you bought that tore apart after 10 times using it.

We have been talking only about personal savings. But now consider the amount of material, energy and time that is put into those products that breaks and get discarded too early. The impact that durable products have in the environment is beyond the simple amount of material it's made of.

However, it's naive to think that expensive products equals good and durable products. Some times, if not most of the times, you are paying for a brand, for an experience. A trendy product might get you likes and looks, but might not last long. Not that you should only prioritise Cost per Use and buy the lasting product that look ugly as hell. What if you could combine Cost Per Use and Cost Per Smile, for example. Buy things that give you joy but also last for long time.

What if, after you bought a long lasting product you grow tired of it? you can just sell it to someone else that will enjoy it as much. It will still be good and can still be used for more time. When we buy product that last and give you joy, you will not only save money, you will be happier and be less wasteful, helping the environment.

For clothing, this idea is linked to the Wardrobe Capsule concept. Where you buy clothes that are atemporal, can go anytime of the year and is not only following this year's trend. Going against the Fast Fashion industry that tries to push you a new style and a new colour every season. A good pair of Jeans, for example, can be more expensive then the average, but can last more than a decade if properly maintained.

This article shouldn't be a manifesto against capitalism. But in today's world companies are incentivised to keep selling and pushing new products as much as possible. They need to keep the cash flowing. So they build new products, release new versions, new colours. But it is hard to sell more then their durable products are still in the hands of their users and they don't want to replace it. Some companies have even be accused of Planned Obsolecense, when products are intentionally designed to not last for too long, forcing customers to replace the product at a given time. Companies have found that selling cheaper but more frequently can be more profitable.

A good example, that might only resonates to the older audience, is the bulky refrigerator that your grandma had in her house. Those things lasted decades without a problem and could be easily fixed by anyone with an aptitude for mechanics. Most refrigerators today don't last half of that time.

It is not 100% clear for me yet if less durable products are a necessary consequence of new technologies. Is it physically impossible to make an smartphone that is at least half as resilient as the old Nokia 3310? Or are we just not incentivising companies to do so?

I used to see much more repair shops in the streets when I was a kid. Why are them almost gone? Companies are not incentivised to build products that can be easily fixed, as they were hoping for you to buy a new one instead of fixing it. Durable products should also be easy to maintain and fix them. Most people have just accepted that throwing something to away because it stopped working is normal. "I'll just buy a new one". This is one of the things that the Right To Repair (link) movement is fighting for. They are putting pressure on governments to pass laws that will force companies to design for maintainability and remove existing blocks and restrictions for maintenance.

The goal with BuyMindfully is to evaluate products overtime but, more importantly, evaluate how well companies are building the products. It goes beyond simple ratings on Amazon. It goes deeper into how happy those products make us over time and how long they last. Hopefully we can grow BuyMindfully into a platform were people share the current usage of their products and overtime we are able to highlight and praise companies that are building good lasting products.