What are the items you refuse to own on principle?

[Lat-Literal]

Caged birds, blinds, blankets, seated lawnmowers, electric meat carvers, nick-nacks, garden hoses, chinos, rugs, standard floor to ceiling lamps....can't be doing with any of them.

Nor net curtains.

Pressure cookers, rugby shirts, modern lightbulbs, electric shaver, electric toothbrush, food mixer, tea towels, linen handkerchiefs, cufflinks, goldfish.....nope.

What a consumerists' dream...….not.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Apart from the obvious, what is wrong with a Kindle ? You really don’t have to buy anything from them, and they are fab little gadgets.
.

Nothing wrong with e-books, which is why I bought (and use) a Kobo.

[cloughie]

A banjo or bagpipes and CDs by Madonna or Michael Jackson.

[Serial_Apologist]

A second home
Any sort of pet - (which I could well pre-decease)
Any sort of weapon designed as such
Wigs
Electric toothbrush
Battery-operated vacuum cleaner or hedge trimmer
Motor cycle (have considered an electric bike though)
Shares in any de-nationalised company

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Books.

Why do we destroy trees to make books when we can use a cleaen, eco-friendly Amazon Kindle that can store thousands of books?

That's the beauty of trees. They can be (and are) grown sustainably.

[Lat-Literal]

I did have a football but not for use in a football game. It was in my kitchen and whenever I was overwhelmed by ludicrous authority it was there to be imagined being kicked into the solar system. It became deflated and I had to chuck it out. It had served its useful purpose but had not withstood the power of my mind and the heat from unready meals in the oven.

[Beef Oven!]

Nothing wrong with e-books, which is why I bought (and use) a Kobo.

Bet ya bought Beta-Max too!!!!

[gurnemanz]

Cat or dog
Dishwasher
Net curtains
Baseball cap
Instant coffee
Vest

[Richard Barrett]

Nothing wrong with e-books, which is why I bought (and use) a Kobo.

Here we find ourselves for once in agreement. Much preferable to books when travelling. But as far as I'm concerned books are always best for study purposes, for example when you need to have several open on the desk at the same time.

"Refusing" to own something implies that there's some kind of pressure to own it so that refusal to do so embodies some kind of resistance, like say a mobile phone or a bank account. I'm not sure whether not having, on the other hand, something like a baseball cap, is a "refusal" in that sense since it might (as in my own case) never have entered one's mind to buy such a thing. I don't really understand the cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face items, though, like dishwashers, which save time, energy and water compared to dishwashing by hand. I mean, you just buy what you think you need, if you can afford it and there are no ethical qualms, right?

[Dave2002]

That's the beauty of trees. They can be (and are) grown sustainably.

Maybe - but it was the demand for energy consumption in the 18th century which led to the abandonment of wood as a fuel source, to be replaced by coal.

If trees - the right sort of course - not ones not appropriate for the locality are grown sustainably that's OK. Trees also help in other ways - bind the soil together, help with drainage, act as wind breaks (to an extent) etc. I am still sceptical about wood as a sustainable fuel source for heating, but in some areas it can be. However, paper consumption puts a very big load on the environment. It's not just the trees - it's the water and power required to make paper, plus the distribution costs which are bad news. I'm afraid I got this wrong - I have many books, and will still buy a few more, but I now read a lot more on electronic devices.

See How Bad are Bananas by Mike Berners Lee to decide how much better electronic devices (Kindle, iPad, Kobo etc.) are for the environment and in the demand for energy - the answer is very much better for most people who read.

Guns and weapons have been mentioned upthread - agreed.

For me I would suggest a Morning Suit with matching hat. Years ago it would have been a DJ, but I caved in when we decided to go to some opera at Glyndebourne. I doubt that I'll ever need a Morning Suit - Her Majesty is unlikely to make me a Knight (shades of Tony Hancock ...!!!)

[oddoneout]

I'm afraid I got this wrong - I have many books, and will still buy a few more, but I now read a lot more on electronic devices.

But at the time did you know? Now you have them the thing to do is to use them, and once you no longer need them make sure they continue to have a useful life to ensure that the expenditure of resources hasn't been squandered. There is still a demand for secondhand books; indeed at work the fundraising charity makes atleast couple of thousand pounds during the 8 month season from books which mostly sell for well under a pound.
I'm afraid I don't buy into the current thinking that it's necessary/desirable to replace everything 'bad' with the 'good' equivalent - not least because much of it seems to be driven by commercial interests rather than genuine environmental concerns. Such decisions need more information and consideration than is generally available - and getting the full facts can be difficult even with the benefit of the internet. When things have to be replaced then is the time to weigh up the pros and cons. That process in itself may change former ideas about what items one might possess, as indeed changes in life circumstances may. Ten years ago I wouldn't have bothered with powered garden tools; it would have seemed wrong to be part of the demand for resources when I was capable of doing the job manually. Health issues have changed that and a battery powered mower and strimmer are now much valued occupants of my garden shed. In due course possibly I will get to the 'taxi/personal car' stage in my gardening - getting in someone with his/her own tools to do the jobs, who then uses those tools for several people rather than one - in the same way that using a taxi gets more use out of the embedded resources than personal ownership.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Bet ya bought Beta-Max too!!!!

Actually Betamax survived for longer than VHS.

[Serial_Apologist]

But at the time did you know? Now you have them the thing to do is to use them, and once you no longer need them make sure they continue to have a useful life to ensure that the expenditure of resources hasn't been squandered. There is still a demand for secondhand books; indeed at work the fundraising charity makes atleast couple of thousand pounds during the 8 month season from books which mostly sell for well under a pound.
I'm afraid I don't buy into the current thinking that it's necessary/desirable to replace everything 'bad' with the 'good' equivalent - not least because much of it seems to be driven by commercial interests rather than genuine environmental concerns. Such decisions need more information and consideration than is generally available - and getting the full facts can be difficult even with the benefit of the internet. When things have to be replaced then is the time to weigh up the pros and cons. That process in itself may change former ideas about what items one might possess, as indeed changes in life circumstances may. Ten years ago I wouldn't have bothered with powered garden tools; it would have seemed wrong to be part of the demand for resources when I was capable of doing the job manually. Health issues have changed that and a battery powered mower and strimmer are now much valued occupants of my garden shed. In due course possibly I will get to the 'taxi/personal car' stage in my gardening - getting in someone with his/her own tools to do the jobs, who then uses those tools for several people rather than one - in the same way that using a taxi gets more use out of the embedded resources than personal ownership.

Very well put.

[Dave2002]

But at the time did you know? Now you have them the thing to do is to use them, and once you no longer need them make sure they continue to have a useful life to ensure that the expenditure of resources hasn't been squandered. There is still a demand for secondhand books; indeed at work the fundraising charity makes atleast couple of thousand pounds during the 8 month season from books which mostly sell for well under a pound.

Sadly I think that many of my books are of limited secondhand value, and some will probably end up in a skip or dump. I hope that some - such as Feynman's Lectures on Physics - will still find good homes, but many charity shops tend not to be interested in books that don't have popular "value" - often fiction - some of it fairly current - most of which are of very limited significance IMO. I do have hard copies of "Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air", by David Mackay and "How Bad are Bananas" by Mike Berners-Lee - both of which are of considerably greater merit than 99% of the Sunday Times or Amazon "hot tips". I also have "Methods of Mathematical Physics" by Jefferies and Jefferies, and a book on Analysis by Dieudonné to mention a few. These are going nowhere, and I cherish the thought - which perhaps won't be realised - that one day I'll revisit these. As and when though, I'd far rather that these be taken by someone who would use and appreciate them.

[MrGongGong]

Backing tracks

I guess you have your own ensemble of musicians on shelves in one of the outbuildings for when you want to have a go at the Elliott Carter Oboe Concerto ?