Despite having an uncountable number of consumer goods available at the click of a button at prices our grandparents would have found astonishing, our homes are full of junk that isn’t worth the wholesale cost.

New washing machines last a year or three at best, according to Americans who buy them. Worse, they don’t even wash clothes well, reined in as they are by government diktats about water and power consumption.

I spent $15 for a beautiful, indestructible lifetime blender. Yes, the pitcher is glass.

The same is true of almost every other appliance and machine in the contemporary American home. But it didn’t used to be this way. First, I’m going to tell you a story. Then I’m going to come back to the present and show you how to live like a king or queen on a budget with yesterday’s consumer durables.

Merit-ocracy

My mother was standing over the dishwasher in our kitchen in 1986. It was a model from the 1950s, one of the wheeled, portable ones you brought over and hooked to the sink tap with a hose. The top-loading machine’s lid had what you might call formica “inlay” in 50s colors with random sparkles embedded. It was meant to be used as a countertop so that the bulky machine wasn’t merely a space-taker in a small kitchen.

My mother was holding a broken clock radio. The digital display had “zeroed out,” showing only 00:00 no matter what time it was.

“Damn it,” she said, exhaling from her Merit Ultra Light 100. “I just bought this a few months ago. There was a time when ‘made in America’ meant something. We used to make the best-quality goods in the world. Whatever you bought you could depend on for a long time. What the hell happened?”

The dishwasher’s faithful service proved her point. The “outdated” 1950s dishwasher still cleaned dishes trouble-free. That was probably the first time I contemplated what it meant to call an appliance “outdated.” Within a few years, it was evident that “outdated” only meant “not in colors the people on TV think are modern.”

The new clock radio made in 1986 couldn’t even give us three months’ service before going kaput. But the 1956 wash-o-matic was whirring its way to clean dishes in May 1986 as well as it did for its first owner during the Eisenhower administration.

New phone, why dis?

How many of your devices or appliances offer such simple, consistent performance? Are you satisfied with your new low-water front-loader and its Byzantine maze of touch-screen “options,” none of which are “wash my clothes in 25 minutes”? How about the repair bill for the chipset when the “smart” computer inside it fails, leaving the perfectly good mechanics idle?

Do you like buying a new phone every few years? Think about that. Do you remember getting a “new phone” all the time 30 years ago? The very idea is absurd. Sure, our telephones in those days were simply and only telephones, not dating machines, compasses, and navigation systems. But are we sure that planned obsolescence in our every-device-in-one-wearable-computer is a lifestyle upgrade?

You can get a new microwave, blender, or vacuum cleaner at Walmart for astoundingly low prices adjusted for inflation. In fact, you can get each of these in multiple versions and colors. But what, specifically and actually, are you getting? Cheap plastic that looks good on a display shelf but that scuffs, cracks, and loses tension-holding shape after a few uses.

And do you need a new microwave? A new vacuum? If you said “yes” to that, are you sure? What is it that you “need” from a new appliance that you’re not getting from the old one? Assuming it’s not broken — and a lot of appliance purchases are made simply to “upgrade” — what’s wrong with your old vacuum?

Be honest. You know that you don’t “need” most of these things. You’re buying them because of free-floating anxiety about keeping up with the Joneses. You want a new microwave and a new vacuum and new stainless-steel-fronted appliances because everyone else’s kitchen looks like this. Despite their inflated claims, the “updated” versions of almost all of these simple mechanicals do nothing different than their ancestors from 50 years ago.

But now they’re ugly and short-lived.

RELATED: Ode to an Electrolux model L

Matt Himes

Sucks to be new

You don’t have to do any of this. In fact, you can live like royalty for almost no money, with all your mechanical and appliance needs met at the contemporary level of convenience and comfort you want.

You can have yesterday’s quality today by buying old, solidly built appliances for a fraction of their price when new. This is how I live. For at least two decades, the only brand-new things that have come into my home are computers and consumables. My furniture, my lighting, my appliances — all of it came from secondhand stores or online auctions.

I made a mistake recently in deviating from that path. When I sold my first house two years ago, I left my late 1970s all-mechanical-dial Kenmore washer and dryer behind. More fool me; as soon as I can use this brand-new modern junk-box General Electric calls a washing machine for shotgun target practice, the better.

Observe. This was my mother’s Electrolux vacuum from the early 1980s:

Josh Slocum

Power everything. Has never broken. If it does, a repair shop makes quick, cheap work of any repair I can’t do. Yes, parts and bags are still made. This machine cost the equivalent of $600 to $1,000 in today’s money when it was new.

This is my working blender. It’s a 1961 Waring “Blendor,” one of the most durable ever made:

Josh Slocum/smartstock/Getty Images

And do admit, it’s got art deco beauty even though it bears the scuff marks of age. Yes, it’s as solid and heavy as it looks. It has all it needs: two speeds and off. The colorful fabric cord is a replacement I put on, as the old one was frayed; all that took was a $5 cord and a Phillips-head screwdriver. $10 at the flea market, $5 for a cord. I spent $15 for a beautiful, indestructible lifetime blender. Yes, the pitcher is glass.

If you’re willing to expand your thinking and put away silly modern fears, you can also have beautiful, practical lighting that gives your home real warmth.

Josh Slocum/elleran/Getty Images

This kerosene lamp would have been found in your home in the late 1880s. It was as common as any electric gooseneck from Ikea today. This model, the New Juno, is now 140 years old and it works as well as the day it left the factory. I paid about $95 for it.

Antique kerosene lighting is my hobby, and I light and heat my home with three to five out of my collection of several dozen throughout the winter. This lamp alone is enough to heat my medium-size living room during a Vermont winter. It’s bright enough to read and work by, and in a pinch, you can cook over it during a power outage if you rig up a trivet. There are no solar panels or cussed digital panels to go wrong. Yes, replacement parts like glass chimneys and wicks are still made.

RELATED: Cold plunge: How I survive winters in the sticks

Mladen Antonov/Getty Images

Seek the antique

My guess is that readers find this pretty appealing even if it’s the first time they’ve considered stocking their homes this way. Once you get over the marketing-inculcated idea that you’re weird or missing out by not having the latest model of this or that, you realize that you can live like a king or queen for almost no money. You can have the same work-saving devices you’re used to. But these will work better for longer.

Aren’t they more charming to look at? When I share pictures of my working home goods on social media, people seem to love it. A common response: “Your house looks like my great-grandma’s!” They mean it as a compliment, and I mean my house to look and feel that way. I think we’re all getting tired of waking up to “updated” homes in Millennial Mortuary Gray and Bare Bones Joanna Gaines Shiplap bulls**t. The sterile field look wears better at the dentist’s office than it does in the den.

I haven’t given anything up. I have all the mod cons that do the same work as any new equipment, but I got them cheaper, they will last longer, and they please the eye. Try it — you may fall in love.

​Appliances, Lifestyle, Planned obsolescence, Smartphones, Electrolux, Home goods, Intervention 

A high school cheerleader who dreamed of becoming a nurse was shot during a party in a wooded area of Alabama. The 18-year-old died after being taken off life support because her gunshot wounds were so severe.

Kimber Mills was a senior at Cleveland High School, where she also ran track.

‘We shouldn’t be burying our little sister.’

Mills was attending a bonfire party over the weekend in a wooded area known as “The Pit,” according to AL.com.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that deputies responded to a report of a shooting in the town of Pinson just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday

“Upon arrival, deputies discovered three victims suffering from apparent gunshot wounds: a 21-year-old male, an 18-year-old male, and an 18-year-old female,” the sheriff’s office stated, adding that all three were taken to area hospitals.

Trussville Police Chief Eric Rush said Mills was shot in the head and the leg.

The sheriff’s office later learned that a fourth shooting victim, a 20-year-old female, had been transported to a hospital in a personal vehicle.

The three surviving victims have non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said the preliminary investigation indicated that a “verbal and physical altercation escalated and resulted in gunfire.”

Kimber’s sister, Ashley Mills, told AL.com that the alleged shooter was trying to talk to one of Kimber’s friends, offering her drinks, and trying to get close to her.

“The girl told her boyfriend, a fight involving multiple people ensued, and shots were fired,” AL.com reported.

Ashley Mills said, “Kimber was caught in the crossfire.”

The sheriff’s office named 27-year-old Steven Tyler Whitehead as the shooter. The suspect remains in custody at the Jefferson County Jail. Whitehead is being held without bond.

Whitehead initially was charged with three counts of attempted murder. However, an additional charge of murder was filed against Whitehead on Wednesday after Mills died.

Image source: Jefferson County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office

Mills was taken to the University of Alabama Hospital in critical condition, but Ashley Mills said there was “too much trauma to her brain,” and Kimber was placed on a breathing machine.

“There is no surgery that would give her a life worth living,” Ashley said.

But Kimber had already decided to be an organ donor — to give others a chance at life.

“We’ve already got it set up for her to be an organ donor because that’s what she wanted,” Ashley said.

Ashley Mills told WBRC that Kimber’s heart and lungs have already been matched with recipients.

On Tuesday, the hospital staff joined Mills’ family and friends for an Honor Walk — a ceremony during which medical staff line the hallway to honor a patient before being transported to the Legacy of Hope organ center roughly two blocks away.

Kimber’s brother, Michael Mills, led a prayer in the hallway.

“Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for this young woman, my sister, I love her so much Lord,” Michael prayed. “I pray for swift hands of the surgeons, Lord, that we do what needs to be done to save other lives Lord.”

Michael continued. “I pray no fear, no sadness Lord, no hatred. Thank you, Lord, for Kimber. Please protect us in these uncertain times.”

A Legacy of Hope representative told AL.com, “Today we stand in awe of a true hero, giving of themselves so that others may live.”

“May the recipients enjoy restored health and recognize the magnitude of such a rare and remarkable gift,” the spokesperson stated. “Thank you, Kimber, for the life-saving legacy you are leaving behind. We honor you today and always.”

RELATED: Minnesota trooper charged in ‘full throttle’ crash that killed high school cheerleader weeks before graduation

Mills died Tuesday when she was taken off life support, WBRC reported.

“We shouldn’t be burying our little sister. It should be the other way around,” Ashley Mills said. “It’s supposed to go from oldest to youngest not youngest first.”

According to WBRC-TV, Rodney Green, superintendent of Blount County Schools, released the following statement:

Our school district is deeply saddened today to learn of the passing of one of our students, Ms. Kimber Mills. Kimber was a bright, outgoing senior cheerleader for Cleveland High School. Kimber’s smile and infectious personality will certainly be missed, but she will always be remembered. Our heart is burdened for her family and for the impact this will have on the students, faculty, and staff at Cleveland High School. Please keep our Cleveland Family in your thoughts and prayers! I do want to thank everyone that has reached out to this family and supported them during this tragedy.

AL.com reported that Kimber was planning to attend the University of Alabama next year with a dream of becoming a nurse.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched to help support Mills’ family, which cited Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Blaze News.

Anyone with information related to the shooting is urged to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 205-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

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​Cheerleader, Cheerleader killed, Cheerleader murder, Kimber mills, Murder, Shooting, Crime, Alabama, High school senior, Fatal shooting, Arrest, Organ donation 

President Donald Trump announced late Thursday evening that he was terminating all trade negotiations with Canada.

The president — who struck a positive tone about the northern nation during his meeting earlier this month with Prime Minister Mark Carney and signaled a desire to make a deal on steel, aluminum, and energy — indicated that the decision to nix trade talks was in response to “egregious behavior,” namely the decision by a provincial government to run TV ads critiquing tariffs south of the border.

‘CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!’

“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs,” wrote Trump. “The ad was for $75,000,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments next month regarding the legality of the tariffs imposed by Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Trump apparently saw the ad earlier in the week, telling reporters on Tuesday, “If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also. They’re actually on television taking ads.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office indicated last week that it was spending $75 million on an anti-tariff ad that would air on ABC, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, ESPN, Fox News, NBC, Newsmax, and other networks.

Ford noted on Oct. 16, “It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched. Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.”

RELATED: After years of woke land acknowledgments, some Canadian homeowners may soon be evicted

Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The premier, a staunch critic of the raft of high tariffs Trump has imposed on imports from Canada, reportedly suggested to a crowd of Toronto businessmen last week that he was hoping the ad, which contains audio from former President Ronald Reagan’s April 25, 1987, radio address regarding protectionism, would resonate with Republicans.

In his address to the Toronto crowd, Ford cited new research from Yale University’s Budget Lab indicating that “consumers face an overall average effective tariff rate of 18.0%, the highest since 1934,” and that U.S. tariffs and foreign retaliation would cost American families roughly $1,800 a year in lost income.

“That ad — it’s not a nasty ad. It’s actually just very factual,” said Ford. “Coming from a person like Ronald Reagan, every Republican is going to identify that voice.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute issued a statement on Thursday, claiming that the ad “misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address, and the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks.”

A spokesperson for Ford’s office denied wrongdoing, telling Canadian state media, “The commercial uses an unedited excerpt from one of President Reagan’s public addresses, which is available through public domain.”

Reagan’s remarks in Ford’s ad all hail from the same five-minute speech in which the former president discussed both America’s commitment to free trade and why he felt compelled to impose duties on select Japanese products. Contrary to the suggestion by Ford’s spokesperson, the excerpt of the speech that appears in the 60-second ad has been substantially edited with the apparent intent to drive Ford’s anti-tariff theme. For example:

multiple sentences were cut; one sentence was lifted from its original spot at the outset of the speech and inserted midway through the ad with a “that” apparently swapped out for a “but”;another portion, which originally appeared just before the opening remarks heard in the speech, now appears toward the end of the voice-over; andthe second-last last line of the original speech — “America’s jobs and growth are at stake” — has been moved to serve as a conclusion for the ad.

Below is a transcript of the Reagan voice-over for the ad. The ellipses signal where content was dropped, and those segments lifted from their original context elsewhere in the speech appear in bold:

When someone says, “Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,” it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works — but only for a short time. [But] over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. … High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. … Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs. Throughout the world, there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. America’s jobs and growth are at stake.

The foundation indicated it was “reviewing its legal options in this matter” and provided a link to the full speech on YouTube, which is labeled as “unrestricted” for both access and use restrictions.

Trump leaned in to his criticism of Canada and the province’s ad on Friday morning, writing, “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.”

“Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country,” continued Trump. “Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer.”

Blaze News has reached out to Premier Ford’s office for comment.

Canadian state media indicated that Carney’s office did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

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​Tariffs, Tariff, Trade, Foreign, Canada, Donald trump, Supreme court, Scotus, Ads, Doug ford, Mark carney, Canadian, Trading, Reagan, Politics