Buy it for life?

We need a better way to think about shopping for longevity.

A couple weekends ago, my family stopped by a church rummage sale on Long Island. My husband and I have successfully trained our son to enjoy yard sales as much as we do, and he’s old enough now that I could let him wander off to find his own treasures. My kiddo unearthed a handsome, vintage Irish wool sweater. As he carried it around, multiple church volunteers complimented him on his find. One told him, “It’ll last you forever!” If it were not for the additional inches my son is sure to grow, that congregant would have been right. This decades-old sweater was knit to last a lifetime.

Have you ever heard the saying, “Buy it nice or buy it twice?” or how about, “Buy once, cry once?” The first time I heard the latter (from a decorator describing his philosophy regarding wool area rugs) I laughed out loud mid-interview. Either phrase is an apt description for so many purchases—from sweaters to power tools. Although sometimes it’s more like: Buy it nice or buy it thrice (or more) times. Case in point: I cycled through at least four vacuum cleaners in my 20s and early 30s (including a Wirecutter pick, damnit!) before finally getting myself a Miele. If I’d bought the high quality vacuum in the first place, it would have cost less than all the cheap ones I tried first. It also would have been much more sustainable: All those broken vacuums ended up in the landfill. Today, my trusty Miele is more than a decade old with no issues, but if anything goes wrong, the company has repair services available. I hope to never buy another vacuum again.

This idea of buying quality items that will last is a foundational tenant of the modern minimalist movement: Fewer better things and all that. It’s even got a name and an acronym: Buy It For Life (BIFL). There is a BIFL Reddit community with 3.7 million members, whose mission is “to showcase high quality, durable, and practical products that can be bought once and used for life.” I applaud the idea of buying something once and using it for a lifetime, but there are some things about the BIFL movement that I don’t love.

For one, that “for life” phrasing feels misleading. There are very few things that will last a lifetime–even with diligent maintenance. Cast iron cookware, metal tools, sure, but many of the products deemed BIFL will eventually be too worn to continue to be repaired, no matter how well they are cared for. Take for example a Barbour jacket, which is often touted as a lifetime purchase. I got my first Barbour in 2012. After lots of wear, several rewaxings, and one repair, it’s still going strong, but there are tiny tears along the cuffs and hem that I know are the beginning of the end of its usefulness. It will not last “for life,” but it may make it to the two decade mark.

The late Queen Elizabeth is said to have had the same Barbour jacket for more than 25 years.

The Barbour jacket is also an example of how Buy It For Life dialogue is too often about product recommendations (most BIFL content is just a list of brands or products). But there’s a bit of a Catch 22 with people recommending a lasts-a-lifetime product: Once something has lasted for decades, it may no longer be available to purchase. Or a very similar new product may not be matched in quality to the item purchased years ago. Manufacturers change how they make things; for example, vintage Pyrex was made from durable, heat-tolerant borosilicate glass, but nearly identical looking contemporary Pyrex is made from tempered soda-lime glass, which can shatter when hot. And if it’s a new design or a new company, there’s no way to be certain a product will last as long as promised.

My husband snapped a photo of my son in his sweater and me in my Barbour.

Reading the Redditors’ comments in r/BuyItForLife (and especially in r/BIFLFails), there are many people complaining about products that I’m surprised people would think were lifelong investments (a West Elm dining table or Parachute Home bedding, for example). It strikes me that what would be more helpful than these lists of products that have lasted (or complaints about those that did not) would be a movement or community devoted to learning how to identify quality–and maintain it. (I’m sure one exists, but not at the magnitude of 3.7 million people.) One commenter in the subReddit says, “Half this sub should be about properly caring for something instead of buying that one perfect thing,” and I couldn’t agree more. Choosing well is key, but maintenance is the second, less sexy part of the longevity equation.

Here’s my best advice for how to buy something that will last for years:

Buy something old. It may sound counter-intuitive, but my thinking is: If something made it through the decades, it’s likely to survive some more. Oftentimes older furniture, household goods, and clothing were better made than what we can buy today, so even if items are pre-loved, they may be more long-lasting.

Avoid plastic. Plastic can rarely be repaired, nor does it age well. In fact, museums are struggling to preserve art and artifacts made from plastics, which Scientific American reported on in fascinating detail. An example from my own life was a running jacket that I wore for 15 years. It still looked almost like new, but one day the plastic lining just began flaking off, making it unwearable.

Seek out natural materials. In general, natural materials age more gracefully than their synthetic counterparts and can be more readily repaired—even more so when they are left intact/unblended. This will take some sleuthing and self-education. Ask questions and read product descriptions carefully.

Minimize moving parts. Moving pieces are what tends to break, so look for items with fewer moving parts whenever possible. My best real-life example is luggage. I have a Land’s End bag from the late 80s that is still in service, in part because a single zipper is its only moving part. Whereas rolling suitcases are often prematurely discarded because of a broken moving part that cannot be repaired.

Choose simple electronics. The more complex the electronic/digital elements of an appliance, the less likely they are to last. My decades-old coffee maker has only an on/off button, but today’s small appliances often have a plethora of buttons and are unnecessarily wi-fi connected.

Beware of batteries. If choosing between a corded and battery-operated electronic, the corded one is more likely to last. My father’s ancient corded electric drill still works. However, when the first drill I bought myself as a young adult’s batteries stopped charging a decade later, I discovered the company no longer made replacements and it was rendered useless.

Check for replacement parts. Before you buy something new, check if the manufacturer sells replacement parts. This is a sign that the item is meant to last, but not always a guarantee: I have tried to buy replacement tops to coffee mugs, water bottles, and the like only to discover that the model was discontinued or the new top is threaded slightly differently.

Look for repair programs. Even better than selling replacement parts is when a brand offers repairs (this is when those BIFL product lists can come in handy).

Assess cleanability. Be wary of anything you can’t easily clean yourself. Lots of furniture ends up in the landfill because it couldn’t be cleaned and was too costly to recover. Look for slipcovers on upholstered furniture or dark colors on things that have fixed upholstery.

Buy from long-lived brands. This one’s a little slippery with today’s mergers and acquisitions and manufacturing moving abroad, but I’d say it’s generally a good rule of thumb that the longer a brand has been around, the more likely it is to sell long-lasting goods.

You may not be able to check all the boxes on this list—and that’s okay. For example, most of Patagonia’s clothing is plastic, but they do offer repairs, which greatly extends the useful life of their products. (I just sent my son’s winter coat off for a repair after he managed to get a slit in the back while skiing.) The point is to assess a product primarily based on its construction, secondarily on how it can be cared for and repaired.

I’d love to come up with a catchy phrase that embodies this ethos of buying something durable and long lasting and maintaining and repairing it over time. The best I’ve come up with are “Buy smart, that’s a start” or “Buy smart, don’t let it fall apart,” but I’m open to all your suggestions.

Tell me: Would you like to read a deep dive into how to buy sustainable, long-lasting furniture? Or would you be interested in a piece on how to buy high-quality clothes? I’d love to explore both in this newsletter, if you are curious.

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Related reading from the Living Small archive:

All I really need to know, I learned in wood shop

Repairs and well-loved things

We need a repair revolution

A Few* More Things

The best small space I saw last week was this small-ish Australian house featured on The Design Files. I love seeing a modest size house built to such high efficiency standards. (The Aussies are so far ahead of us with sustainable design and construction.)

Listening: After writing last week’s newsletter about the ripple effects of care on communities, I got sucked into this episode of the podcast Homing with urban designer David Engwicht. David’s ideas gave me a lot to think about, and I requested the only one of his books that is in my library. Do you listen to any home-related podcasts? I’m doing a deep dive into the field and would love your suggestions.

Reading/Writing: Over the years, I have often been disappointed in the New York Times’ spin on things, but the article “The Right Way To Much” (with a photo of DYED mulch!) was a new low for me because I had written on this topic last year but with very different (and IMHO better) advice.

Reading: Another New York Times article about Roosevelt Island’s cherry blossom defenders (gift link) both cheered me because people cared enough about trees to defend them, but also depressed me that trees needed defending thanks to Instagram.

More reading: I picked up Climate Wayfinding at a reading by Katharine K. Wilkinson and so far, I’m really excited by this book, which invites those of us concerned about the climate crisis to start doing something about it using our own particular talents.

One last thing: I might need to upgrade to this. (It’s a fundraiser for NYC!)

*quite a few more this week!

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