The interesting thing is how folks that got mixers in 72 still have them—usually along with the houses they bought not long after getting married.

Very very true

I completely agree with you. These days, planned obsolescence means that many products come with an "expiration date," and at the same time, we are constantly being pushed towards unnecessary consumption.

I'm moving forward, and when I need to buy something, I get whatever looks easy and good to fix—I even check out used stuff—and I try to repair everything I already own that breaks. I'm tired of this consumerism that shoves us into a garbage pit of indifference, hypnotized by the shine of things that seem new but are nothing more than obsolescence.