For the past 25 years, a rare Pacific ecosystem has been undisturbed.
Now, the Trump administration is opening nearby waters to commercial fishing.
“"The Americans' fishermen have never had a better ally in the White House than Donald Trump."”
This week on the Sunday Story, we discuss what's at stake for this wild ecosystem.
Listen now to the Sunday Story from the up-first podcast on the NPR app.
"You're listening to life kit from NPR." "Hey everybody, it's Mario." "I've been getting a lot of desperate sounding emails lately." "Okay, some are desperate. Some are demanding. You've been vaguely threatening." "Here's a sampling of subject lines. Time is running out on the best deals of the year.
Our biggest sale ends two night. Last day, $55 off. You deserve it. Take up to $23.43 off your next order." "Our sale is still on." "Y'all, everybody wants my money." "And yours." "The question is, what do I want? And what do you want? How do we actually want to spend our money?" "There are so many moments of the day where retailers are going to try to sell you stuff."
"And we at life kit thought it was worth coming up with a framework." "You know, should I buy this thing?" "A list of questions to ask yourself and details to consider before you tap your credit card or click that buy now button. In this episode, I'll lay out that framework with the help of our experts. And hopefully it'll help you tune out some of the noise."
"So you're asleep, retailers. Would you leave me alone?"
One A is named for the first amendment, which protects the freedom of the press and your freedom
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"Whatever point you're at in the buying process, lazily browsing your favorite retailers, website while also watching something on TV, or at the store, in those aisles right before the register where they place the stuff they wanted to buy on impulse, stop and ask yourself,
“"Do I need this or do I just want it? This is an important distinction and it's our takeaway one."”
"Asia Evans is a licensed mental health counselor and financial therapist, and she says needs are basic. Food, shelter, transportation, healthcare, clothing, shoes. If you needed to live, like Ben, that is a need. There's a gray area here, of course, like for clothing. If you have enough clothing to survive in your environment, but you would just like more, than you're moving into want territory." "It's kind of like, yes, I know I have five black sweaters,
but it doesn't have buttons on it, and I want one with buttons. That is a lot." "And she says there's nothing wrong with wanting something." "I don't want to vilify wanting a better pair of rain boots, or wanting a new pair of shoes, or wanting to look really fabulous when you go out with your friends. There's definitely nothing wrong with it, but we need to be able to decipher what the difference between a want and a need is."
Separating the needs from the wants will help you prioritize when you're making purchases with limited funds. And most of us have limited funds. At life kit, we've done episodes about budgeting,
“and you should definitely check those out. What I'll say here is everyone's in a while, do the”
math. How much money are you making? Then subtract your fixed costs, whatever you spend on basic needs, like housing, groceries, transportation, also subtract any debt payments you're making for a credit card, or a student loan, for instance. What's left over? You'll use that to save for an emergency fund, or for a vacation, or for your other financial goals, and what's left after that is your everyday fund budget." Okay, so back to this particular item you're considering. If it falls into the
want category. Next, you're going to ask yourself, why do I want this thing? Maybe you want a new pair of rain boots because it's been raining a lot this year, and your sneakers keep getting wet on your walks home. That's understandable. But it's worth considering whether you have other reasons. Wanting it because you want people to look at you a certain way, and having this item, or this piece of clothing may signify something to somebody else. That is when we're starting to get to like,
all right, is this for you? Is this for somebody else? Why does that feel important? Did
Yourself a steam field better when you feel like you're walking around in the...
Like, that's where the juicy stuff starts to happen. This brings us to take away, too. Before you
“buy something, pause and check in with yourself. Am I upset right now? Am I trying to celebrate?”
Yeah, I'm a hungry, angry, lonely, tired, the acronym whole is pretty popular for people that just kind of take a state of your emotional well-being when you find yourself going into shopping behaviors. I've noticed that sometimes I'm just feeling spendy. Like, I'm ready to go buy something. Usually it's a little vintage treasure or antique. And if there's nothing I want to buy, then I want to eat some chocolate instead, or just do something that feels good.
Sometimes, and maybe y'all can relate to this, I don't actually want to own a new thing.
I just want to buy it to go through the act of discovering it and making a purchase.
And that's that also familiar dopamine rush of like searching something out, right? Of hunting for it, if you will. That anticipation is very exciting to our brains. Asia says there are signs that you're shopping as retail therapy, rather than because you actually need or even truly want
“to own a new thing. I would first look at frequency. How often are you shopping in that kind of way?”
Is it intentional? Is another question I would ask? If you find yourself doing this over and over and over and over and over again, that this is something that's happening multiple times a week, every single weekend you are driving up state to go to the different antique to search, then we have to peel back another layer and ask what's going on. Again, we're not trying to shame ourselves here for feeling spendy or for buying things. But if you're constantly
mindlessly spending on stuff you don't even really want, you can undermine your financial goals. And make it harder to build a life that you love. Okay, next up, takeaway three is to ask yourself, "Does this item fit with my lifestyle?" And particularly, am I willing to do what it takes to own this thing? Brian Vines is a deputy editor of Special Projects at Consumer Reports. On Saturdays, he puts on music and cleans his house.
His series have carpet on them, and he doesn't have one of those little hand-held documents, right? He has an old Hoover that he's had for eight years. It still works great. But it's not very good with going up the stairs because I'm literally holding this big vacuum cleaner the base in one hand and the handle in the other hand going on each individual's stamp. So every week I debate with myself, should I buy a hand-held vacuum cleaner to clean these
stamps? And his answer every week is no. I cannot have a single purpose vacuum cleaner in my world. I don't want the expense. I don't want to acquire it. I don't have any place to put it. It is a dialogue that goes on in my brain because I know that things could be easier, but I'm not willing to take on the real price of that ease.
“So Brian says, if you're considering a purchase, ask yourself, do I have somewhere to put this?”
Is it going to crowd my closet space? Maybe it will, and that's worth it to you. Factor in what your lifestyle is. Like are you a senior who maybe this could be advantageous for you? Do you have limited mobility or strength and dexterity where it's just not possible for you to do what I do with my able body privilege of holding my heavy vacuum cleaner and spot checking the stairs? Now let's say you want to make an even bigger purchase to get a dishwasher or a new sink or something
like that. You're going to ask yourself, what will this entail and what will the installation cost? How old is your plumbing? Do you really want to get into pulling on this thread if it's going to unravel $2,000 worth of expenses for you with your water line and your electric? Also ask, do I want to deal with the upkeep, especially for appliances? Can I afford repairs and replacement parts? Before making a big purchase, make sure you understand what repairs would entail.
Email the company or ask a sales associate. Is this item repairable and what would the process look like? Do I have to call the manufacturer? Is there a local person? Is there an authorized dealer repair person where I can compare prices? You can also look for info about this in a retailer's frequently asked questions and do a quick search online to see what other people's repair experiences were like. We'll have more life kit after the break.
This week on sources and methods 260 days at sea. We're learning more about the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which President Trump says hasn't been deployed long enough.
I was talking to one retired animal who said, you know, the problem is they didn't plan this.
That and more of the week's big national security news on sources and methods,
you can listen on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts. Once you've decided that you are going to buy an item, a dishwasher, a new pair of shoes, whatever, maybe it's a need or it's a want, but you're okay with that. The next step, take away for shop around, do your research, consider whether this model or product is the right
version of this item for you. First of all, I want to say, most purchases are not urgent,
so if you find yourself feeling that urgency because of retailers shouting at you in your emailing box or because of all the pretty outfits you've saved on Pinterest, take a deep breath, especially if this is a want. You have time to mold this over. So you're going to look at reviews of the product, but make sure you're considering a mix of opinions and using resources you trust. The first thing you're going to want to do is not log onto an unboxing video or go to
some kind of goofy experiential review of someone who got paid to do one. Consumer reports where Brian works has dozens of laboratories where their staff put products through their pieces.
“We bought $32 million worth of products last year that we went out with secret shoppers and got”
just like you were. We went into stores, put our credit card down, walked out, took them back to the labs. Other journalistic outlets that do this kind of research? Wirecutter, good housekeeping, popular mechanics, tech radar, just a heads up that consumer reports and all these other outlets do make money from the purchase links on their websites. What you want to do is make sure you understand how the outlet or reviewer is making money and that you feel okay about that and there
are lots of options for reviewers depending on the product you're looking for. Brian says you can also ask the people in your life for product recommendations. Call your rich aunt who buys all of the things that you're interested in having and see if she actually likes it. Call the person you know who is the most cost-conscious and ask them the questions. Consider quality and durability. Like if a product is made from fabric, is this a material that tends to last a long time? Will it
quickly pill or become thread bear? If you're not sure, look up the materials. They should be listed in a product description or on the physical product tag. Also, again, look at reviews, see what other folks have experienced. And whenever you can, take a product for a spin. Let's say it's a mattress. Find out what their turn policy is and how long you get to try it out. And as you're looking over specific models and products, make sure you understand a retailers return and warranty policies.
Though Brian tells me you can ask if they'll bend the rules for you, but that's a whole other episode. Take away five. Figure out how much you're willing to spend on this product. I told Brian that lately I've been daydreaming about buying a black velvet blazer. And he reminded me, there are a lot of those in the world at many different price points. Is that blazer going to cost you 250 bucks? Because you went to a sample sale for a brand
that usually sells them for $2500 or you're going to get that same blazer for $60. From a second hand store, for example. And if I do buy the blazer second hand, he says,
“I should consider what kind of shape it's in. How long do I think it'll last? Could I repair it?”
What might that cost? That should all factor into what I'm willing to pay for it now. You do that quick math. When you're standing there and like, oh wow, these shoes look great. I can see there's a little scuff here. I can buff that out. I'm going to take them to my shoe guy versus, all right. Am I going to go down this already? Get those sparkly new knockoffs from whoever had them on the runway last week. These are all the calculations that we make daily.
And oftentimes in 10 seconds while it's in your hands. One thing to remember about price
is that more expensive does not always mean more durable or higher quality. Sometimes you're
paying for a brand name, but it's all smoke and mirrors. Vanity name plates and fancy design features. Whether you're talking about a refrigerator or a dishwasher or a TV. The price does not guarantee performance. We've seen that over and over again, and we test for reliability. And sometimes the repair costs on these high-end brands outpace replaces a cost on mid-range brands. When you're shopping, also see if you can negotiate down the price. There are different phrases
you can use with a sales associate or customer service grab. Let's say you're buying chairs at a second-hand store. You might ask for a discount for purchasing all four of them. Say something like,
“can I get all four for 200 bucks? And if they say no, you could ask, okay, what about free delivery?”
And you can always ask if there are any discounts available that day. Brian says also look at the
Price matching policies that retailers offer.
expensive in store than on a retailer's website. Say, hey, online, this says that this Apple
“sauce is $1.75, but it's $2 here on the shelf. They'll price match against themselves right”
there for you. So make yourself aware of those price matching policies, because my grandmother said that money looks a lot better in my pocket than it does in comp you global mega-corps pocket. It's possible that once you've done the research, you'll realize you can't afford the version of this product that you want to buy right now. But you could if you saved up. When Brian moved into
his first New York City apartment, somebody gave him advice. Don't buy the mid-range table
when you want the one that's a bit more expensive, but that you know will last. Go get a folding table that costs $15 instead of a $35 table that you're not going to be happy with and is going to fall apart in six months. Save up your money and buy the one that you want. That's the quality work. Alright, our last takeaway starts with a donut. Brian was at the movies recently and he was hit with a donut craving. So after the movie, he and his partner went on the hunt and they walked into a
grocery store. They have four glazed donuts for seven bucks and I did not want to pay $7 for one donut and I didn't want four. I spoke to the bakery manager and he said, "Well, you know,
all we have is those over there." So I walked away. I was not going to take a muffin for half a
pie or a slice of tiramisu when I wanted one donut. Sometimes the best purchasing decision you can make is walking away. That's takeaway six. I have a personal rule when I'm trying on shoes or clothing. If it's at all uncomfortable in the store, if it's pinching somewhere, it's too tight, it's going back on the rack. If there's any inkling, release it, release it, release it. If it's not what you want and what is going to fit into your life, walk away because there's still making
stuff 24 hours a day and someone is going to make the thing that you want, the way you want it, at a price that you're willing to pay. Seriously, you can save a lot of money and closet space this way and it's way better for the environment. All right, time for a recap. Take away one, stop and ask yourself, "Do I need this thing or do I just want it?" This is an important distinction. It'll help you prioritize when you're making purchases with limited funds, which most of us are.
“Take away two, consider your emotions. Are you trying to meet an emotional need by shopping right now?”
Is this a need you could meet in another way? Take away three, ask yourself, "Does this item fit with my lifestyle?" And particularly, am I willing to do what it takes to own this thing? Take away four, shop around, do your research, consider quality and durability, and whether this model or product is the right version of this item for you. Take away five, figure out how much you're willing to spend on this product, and you know,
try to negotiate. And take away six. Sometimes the best purchasing decision you can make is walking away. All right, before we go, I was wondering, would you rate and review life kit in your podcast app? Tell us a favorite tip, or what kinds of episodes you like the best? We love hearing from you. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Margaret Serino. Our digital editor is Malika Grieve, and our visuals editor is CJ Rekalon. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor,
and Lauren Gonzales is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagel, Claire Marie Schneider, Kayla Latamore, and Sylvia Douglas. Engineering Support comes from Quasile. I'm Mary Elcegarba. Thanks for listening. Fall is right around the corner. That means the midterms. Hey, it's Miles Parks from the MPR Politics podcast. Now is the perfect time to calibrate your news diet for the fall. Follow our
show for short daily episodes that will help you stay ahead of the most important midterm
“storylines that you need to follow. Find the MPR Politics podcast on the MPR app, or wherever you”
get your podcasts. Okay, so you're driving to work, or you're on a walk, or you're at the gym or whatever, and you just need to clear your head. That's the perfect time to hit the play button on MPR's all songs considered. It's not the news, it's not work, or whatever else is weighing you down. It's just a good time with good friends and great tunes. Listen to all songs considered every Tuesday in the MPR Music podcast. Big news stories don't always break on your schedule,
but with the MPR app, news, culture, and podcasts are ready when you want them in your pocket.
