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Finally, there are those who reduce, as with my family’s attempt at a slow-buy year.
最后，还有一些人减少了购买，就像我的家人尝试“慢慢买”的一年。
Some have reduced their possessions to just 100 things.
有些人把他们的财产减少到只有100件。
The 2021 Netflix documentary The Minimalists: Less Is Now challenges viewers to consider getting rid of one thing in the first month, two things in the second, three things in the third, and so on – selling, giving away or trashing the items.
2021年，Netflix的纪录片《极简主义者：时机已到》要求观众考虑在第一个月扔掉一件东西，第二个月扔掉两件，第三个月扔掉三件，以此类推——卖掉、送人或扔掉这些东西。
Another version is the rise of a kind of “heirloom materialism”, in which people try to purchase only items that will endure for many years – planned perseverance instead of planned obsolescence.
另一种方式是“传家宝唯物主义”的兴起，在这种唯物主义中，人们尝试只购买能多年使用的物品——有计划的坚持，而不是有计划的报废。
My family’s attempt to slow-buy for a year fell into this last category.
我们家“慢慢买”的这一年属于最后一类。
My initial panic endured for a week.
我最初的恐慌持续了一个星期。
I kept coming across things that I “needed” to buy – sunglasses, a bouncy ball to play with my daughter after our favourite one got a hole, a new book, a gift for a friend who had a baby.
我不断遇到“需要”买的东西——太阳镜、跟女儿一起玩的弹力球（因为上一个我们最喜欢的球破了个洞）、一本新书、给一个刚生了孩子的朋友买礼物。
Let it be said: I resisted all these temptations. I reminded myself to be grateful for what we had, and I found ways to make do.
不妨这样说：我抵制了所有的诱惑。我提醒自己要对我们所拥有的一切心存感激，并且想到了一些办法去凑合应付。
But then the pandemic hit, and suddenly, our small house became my office, gym and vacation spot – the place where our family spent almost every moment of our lives.
但后来大流行来了，突然间，我们的小房子成了我的办公室、健身房和度假胜地——我们全家几乎每时每刻都在这里度过。
Hesitantly, we started house-hunting.
在犹豫不决中，我们开始找房子。
By April, we had bought a piano book and a new bike for my daughter.
到四月，我们已经给女儿买了一本钢琴书和一辆新自行车。
A hole finally opened in the toe of one of my running shoes; I had no choice (I thought) but to buy a new pair.
我的一只跑鞋的脚趾上终于开了一个洞；我别无选择（我想），只能买一双新的。
After all, my physical fitness depended on it. My wife bought two books as a gift to a friend.
毕竟，我的身体健康就靠它了。我妻子买了两本书作为礼物送给朋友。
Then things got dicey. Some permanent pens accidentally went into a load of washing with nearly all my clothes.
然后事情就开始失控了。一些永久性钢笔不小心和我几乎所有的衣服一起洗了。
Still, I resisted buying new ones. But then, the next month, we saw a great house for us.
不过，我还是没有买新的。但是，下个月，我们看到了一栋很合适的大房子。
We made an offer, knowing – half-accepting, half-denying – that to make it our home, we would have to buy a lot more than five things each.
我们提出了一个条件，心里明白——半接受，半否认——要想买下这个新家，我们每人买的东西将远远不止五件。
When our slow-buy year was on the brink of failure after just six months, I came across a harsh but hilarious screed against minimalism, written by Chelsea Fagan of the Financial Diet blog.
6个月后，我们“慢慢买”的一年就到了失败的边缘，我看到了切尔西·费根在Financial Diet博客上写的一篇反对极简主义的文章，这篇文章严厉而又有趣。
Fagan levels multiple arguments against all forms of minimalism.
费根对所有形式的极简主义提出了多种反对意见。
She writes that it is classist, a fad for the rich, because people in real poverty don’t have to worry about what not to buy, and because of how expensive “sustainable” and “heirloom” items often are.
她写道，这是阶级主义的，是富人的时尚，因为真正贫穷的人根本不必担心不买什么，也因为“可持续”和“传家宝”的物品通常是非常昂贵。
“‘Stop wasting money on all that Ikea nonsense!’” Fagan imagined a minimalist saying.
“别再把钱浪费在宜家那些乱七八糟的东西上了！’”费根想象了一个极简主义的说法。
“‘With this $4,000 dining table hand-whittled by a failed novelist in Scandinavia, you will never need another piece of furniture!’ – which really just points to having enough disposable income to ‘invest’ in your wardrobe and surroundings.”
“有了这张价值4000美元的餐桌，你再也不需要其他家具了，它是斯堪的纳维亚一位失败的小说家手工雕刻的！”’——这实际上只是为了表明你有足够的可支配收入来‘投资’你的衣橱和周围的环境。”
Furthermore, she derides the idea that a simple aesthetic and decluttering equals moral worth, a “faux spiritualism”.
此外，她嘲笑那种简单的审美和整洁等同于道德价值的想法，这是一种“虚假的唯心主义”。
Every form of minimalism, Fagan concludes, “is just another form of conspicuous consumption, a way of saying to the world, ‘Look at me!
费根总结道，每一种形式的极简主义“都是另一种形式的炫耀性消费，是一种对世界说，‘看看我！
Look at all of the things I have refused to buy, and the incredibly expensive, sparse items I have deemed worthy instead!’”
看看那些我拒绝购买的东西，以及那些我认为值得购买的昂贵而稀少的东西！’”
