Inspired by a recent Quora question, here are some answers others have given and which I will elaborate on, or some things I picked out of my own navel:

>Lawns, clean cars and other hideous wastes of potable water.

Lawns should not be watered – it is healthiest for the lawn to go though the natural cycles of drought, as it also kills off moss and such.

Cars can du fine with being cleaned one a year (after the winter season when i’d useful to get all the road salt washed off of it and the chassis, but apart from that, you only need to keep the windows and windshield clean so you can see where you drive.

It seems to me that dust and dirt on the car actually protects the paintjob from sun and its UV radiation which bleaches the colour!

Yes, potable fresh water is a precious recourse, as the Californians are finding out this year where the entire state is drought-stricken.

>The constant need to be connected 24X7 with people or information media, whether it is through social networking sites, phones, sms or any other media.

You don’t need Facebook or Twitter or other “social media”. Having these social means of interaction is a convenience, but mostly it is a place to hang out because more or less everyone else is there in this day and age. (Think about that whole notion for a while…. because everyone else uses it… for now). Being there once maybe twice a week is sufficient. More than that is a waste of time or outright attention whoring. And yes, there are a LOT of attention whores out there.

>NECKTIES. They are the most worthless human invention. They spread germs and make it easy to kill you via strangulation or syncope. They also make it easy to get you fired since you come to work late. You waste two minutes to choose one from your wardrobe, another two minutes to tie it, and another 5 minutes to redo everything because it does not look perfect. If you are clumsy and spill some coffee on it during breakfast,it will cost you another 5 minutes. And if you have hypertension and cardiac disease and you react violently to the mishap, it can mean the end of you. The risk-to-benefit ratio for me wearing ties is infinite.

True, and made me chuckle. Also consider whether you’d want to work for a boss who insists on you wearing a necktie. (Try showing up for work with a butterfly).

>Clothing from designer labels.

Massively overpriced simply because it is in artificially scarce supply, and because it is given insanely much attention by the aforementioned attention whores, including women and men whose primary mode of judging other humans are by what brands they wear and whether they’re keeping up with the “fashion” (ie. centrally dictated clothing choices).

You can get very good quality plain clothes for a tenthe of the price of “posh” brands. You might even want to try visiting an old-fashioned clothier to have it sown by hand by a tailor – ie. local labor – instead of the posh elite?

>Rat race.
>Reason: Once you’ve realised that there is no end to the rat race, it’ll be too late; you’ll realise you wasted your whole life running about; you didn’t enjoy the only life you have; you didn’t give time to those near and dear to you; you didn’t see the beauty of nature all around; you didn’t give time to discover yourself, and your hobbies.
>You gain nothing and die unhappy.

Very important to consider and accept this.

>Cars as a status symbol.  I drove the same Honda Civic for 11 years until it died.  To me a car is strictly utilitarian, to get from point A to point B.

A good car is useful if youre e.g. a travelling salesman or otherwise spend a lot of time on the road, but…. as a status symbol? Try injecting some meaning into your life instead.

>EVERYONE’S OPINION

Aye… opinions are like arseholes – everyone has one.

…and you really don’t need to inspect every one of them in detail.

That being said, it’s important to being able to listen to others, but other than that, people should also get used to that they have to qualify their opinions with FACT and RATIONAL METHODOLOGY, isntead of just bitch and whine about X or Y.

>Birthdays are overrated.

Yeah… just say happy birthday, but the stuff with presents and more physical stuff to deal with? Get over it. It spoils you and burdens you and those around you.

>“Winning”.
>A lot of people seem fixated on beating other people. I find it very tiresome.
>I’d rather be interested and fulfilled by what I do than spend my time obsessing whether I did more of it or did it harder / better / faster / stronger than someone else.

Getting to the bottom of life’s purpose here, aren’t we?

>He Who Dies With The Most Toys Wins

Consider this.

…where do you get to collect your prize for winning life?