BIFL stands for Buy It For Life.
For someone who is into Minimalism & believes in Curating life, BIFL feels like a natural progression to get into.
I personally feel there is not enough literature for BIFL in India. But the traditional Indian philosophy has always been long term, high quality, bang for buck buys.
So here’s my compilation of items which I consider BIFL in all facets of life with a focus on Indian products as much as possible.
Philosophy
Apart from the idea that they should last long, there are some properties these things should usually have
- Material over Brand : Brands ensure material sometimes, but materials triumph in the long term. A fancy high brand furniture will never outlast a solid wood furniture.
- Repairability over features : Things should be easily repairable. Dumb is better than smart.
Picks for BIFL
| Item | Preferred brands / materials |
|---|---|
| Cookware | Indus Valley for cast iron; Hawkins, Stahl for steel |
| Pressure cookers | Prestige |
| Dutch Oven | Le Creuset |
| Mixer Grinders | Preethi Zodiac |
| Glass Jars | Borosil |
| Knives | Victorinox |
| Furniture & Cupboards | Solid wood |
| Hand Tools | Taparia, Stanley |
| Almirah | Godrej Steel Almirah |
| Dumb bells | Flexnest dumbbell set or better; cast iron dumbbell set |
| Water Bottles | Borosil |
| Jeans | Levis Jeans |
| Watches | G-Shock, Seiko automatic/mechanical |
| Coffee machine | Moccamaster |
| Luggage | Samsonite or American Tourister (high-end lines) |
| Desktop PC | Custom-built unit designed to last long (components may be swapped; lifespan 10+ years) |
Some notes
- Layer project : Ironclad lifetime warranty. Looking forward to buy and test it out
- Seki nail clippers: Japanese Nail Clippers, apparently you’ll never need to buy one more.
- Nalgene bottles: Lifetime warranty. Need to check it out.
- Fisher Space Pen Bullet Space Pen
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