# No-buy list

This page contains an incomplete list of things I don't spend money on.

## Lottery tickets

From a mathematical point of view, buying lottery tickets is just plain stupid:
the odds are overwhelmingly against you.  Moreover, giving lots of money to
random persons just because they are lucky is a very bad idea, since they could
spend all of it on wasteful luxury items, for example.  Lottery tickets also
increase economic inequality, since those buying them end up poorer while very
few people, the winners, get very rich.

## Candles

Candles are totally useless items as far as I'm concerned and, most importantly,
they are a significant fire hazard.  The only use case I can imagine for candles
is for providing light during blackouts, but I would suggest using LED
flashlights instead.

## Proprietary software

As a free software supporter, I believe that proprietary software is unethical
and should not exist.  Don't waste money on enriching proprietary software
companies: their products are harmful to users and to society as a whole.
Donating money to the authors of your favorite free software programs is a much
better idea in my opinion (if you can afford it).

## Bottled water

I stopped drinking bottled water after purchasing a reusable stainless steel
water bottle, which I refill with tap water several times each day.  That was my
first major step towards zero waste.  Besides the obvious reduction of plastic
waste, drinking tap water has other advantages, too.  Since bottled water is
heavy, and is generally transported by lots of trucks over hundreds of
kilometers, drinking tap water avoids carbon dioxide emissions from all those
trucks.  You also have less traffic congestion and collisions.  Finally, tap
water is much cheaper than bottled water and doesn't need to be promoted with
annoying ads.

## Motor vehicles

I never purchased a motor vehicle (e.g. car, motorbike) in my life, and I never
will.  I don't like motor vehicles because they are expensive, polluting and
dangerous.  I strongly believe the number of motor vehicles in the world should
drop drastically as soon as possible.  My main mode of transport is walking.  I
used to have a bicycle, too, but I donated it because I prefer to walk, for
various reasons.  I rarely take public transport (e.g. train, bus) or other
people's cars because I usually don't have to travel far away or carry heavy
loads.

## Junk food

I never buy junk food (e.g. pizza, cookies, potato chips, popcorn, ice cream,
chocolate, candy, crackers).  The biggest drawback of junk food is that it's
very tasty while also being very unhealthy, and I found out the hard way that I
almost invariably end up eating too much of it given the chance.  The only
solution, in my opinion, is to prevent that possibility by never buying junk
food in the first place, since avoiding junk food at the store is much easier
than avoiding it at home.  Just avoid going to the store when you're hungry, and
avoid the aisles where junk food is located.

## Television

Removing the TV set from my personal room many years ago was one of my earliest
and most important actions for reducing the grip of advertising on my life and
for developing a more critical perspective on many issues.  Unfortunately I'm
still somewhat exposed to advertising because my mother still watches TV and has
no plan to stop doing so anytime soon.

## Air travel

I never traveled by plane in my life, and I have no desire to do so in the
foreseeable future.  Air travel is a luxury the world cannot afford, because
planes emit large amounts of carbon dioxide.  In particular, I'm strongly
opposed to relying on air travel for non-essential purposes, like reaching
far-flung holiday destinations.