this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2025
166 points (98.3% liked)

Buy it for Life

4873 readers
336 users here now

A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!

Guidelines:

Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!

Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.

Videos links are not allowed as post titles, but you may use them in a text post.

A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:

  1. The item must be made with sustainable or recycled materials.
  2. If electronic in some way, the item must be open-source.
  3. The item must be user-serviceable (if applicable).
  4. You cannot be a large corporation.
  5. The post must be clearly marked with a [Self Promotion] tag in your title.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net
SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
166
Is BIFL Still Possible Today? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 2 days ago by rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/buyitforlife@slrpnk.net
84 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hi there, I came here to the BIFL Lemmy out of suspicion that the reddit posts are just unlabelled marketing, and I was wondering the possibility of sourcing goods that are more to a BIFL standard? In my area, second hand goods tend to be really quite poor in quality (reselling fast fashion) or otherwise not present, and I have not inherited anything that does last. So I would apprecite advice or reccomendations for finding goods at a BIFL standard. I was also wondering if maybe there would be anyone with good advice for finding sustainable, local textile production so that I may be able to tailor what I need without having to buy from the poor selection aforementioned, does anyone know of any of this?

TL:DR I am suspicious that a lot of what is claimed as 'BIFL' has been enshittified, and would like advice on being able to search for sustainable goods for a local area (not specified because I'm hoping for advice with searching, not exactly for specific reccs)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] atempuser23@lemmy.world 9 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

So there are a few generalities that hold together for BIFL.

  • First

BIFL is going to be for 20-25 years not 69-80. No consistently used item beyond cast iron cookware will last. If you never use an item they are all bifl.

  • Second

Less complicated the items last longer I bought a really bottom of the line kenmore fridge when I needed a fridge and didn't have money. It's about 20 years old, keeps ice outdoors at 90 and have never been repaired. (who am I kidding it's 90 indoors) Castiron pans and wrenches will last multiple lifetimes.

  • Third

Design matters Some styles of things just are more durable. My fridge above was picked because consumer reports reported the freezer top style was the more reliable. The worst of the top freezers in durability was better then the best side by side fridge. Material choice is part of design. Oiled canvas is great for an outer coat and terrible for underwear.

  • Forth

The more repairable items last longer You can basically resole shoes and boots for ever as long as you take care of the uppers. Things made of mostly common off the shelf parts can last longer than custom high performance items because of part availability.

Most importantly

How well you learn to maintain and repair items is the greatest indication of BIFL. Cast iron is crap if you don't maintain it. Even expensive knives dull if you don't sharpen them.

[โ€“] atempuser23@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

Learning how things are made is a great asset in finding out what is actually BIFL.

I have ikea furniture that is BIFL, because I learned how quality furniture is made and pick and chose the ikea items that had lasting design for the application. I also bought a bottle of wood glue and clamps to glue up and assemble the pieces.

I chose a manual rotary lawn mower because I can service it, it was made from steel and is a 100 year old design. It'll be bifl only if I am willing to pay more than the price of a new one to have it sharpened in a few years.

My oiled leather work boots are BIFL because I keep oiling them, get them patched when they wear though and pay for new soles. I have payed many times over the purchase price in soles.