Yes, generally I would agree with you. As I got older, I realized that most of the stuff that I own was "unnecessary crap". I, too, cook. Most of my expensive knives sit doing nothing for 350 days a year, the one that I use most is Baccarat cuisine pro utility knife which cost me AU$5.95 on special. I have a decent set of 3 Baccarat stainless steel saucepans, and a medium frying pan which gets used most of the time, a couple of enamel plates and a few glass bowls. Most of the rest of the stuff that I accumulated in 50+ years of cooking like garlic presses, mixers, and fancy specialised cookware has gone to the local charity shop. I would probably have saved thousands over the years if I had learnt simple lessons like: Most non-stick aluminium pans are crap and have a very limited life before they start sticking…
My argument is based on local conditions where an average car costs AU$900 a month to own. Most households have 2+ cars which works out a car for every person in the State (including children). So, in future, are most households going to spend $19,000 a year to own 2 cars when 1 owned car will do? I remember in 1955 when my father bought the 4th car in our Norfolk village (population ~120); public transport was not ideal, but was better than it is now. Assuming that the wheels don’t come off (which is looking likely - pun intended) we are almost certainly going to have to go down the route of fewer private vehicles (pun again).
Something which to me seemed strange in these Covid times, is that our State government is getting behind electric scooters and cycles to help relieve suburban transport. Even though public transport is free in our city centres, many don’t like having to wear masks in public transport, travelling with potentially infected people. You can buy a scooter with a 30km/hr top speed and a 90km range for <$1,200 and recharge it for free from your solar panels (25% of our houses have solar panels). A faster 2 seater Vespa type electric scooter with a a similar range is $5,000 (Before COVID, I noticed Teipei has many thousands).
For longer journeys, I can use public transport, travel 45kms for $4 on all buses, trains and ferries; and commence the return journey within 3 hours on the same ticket. Outside commuter times, as I’m a pensioner, I travel free. Yes I have a car, a 46 month old VW golf, with 17,000 kms on the odometer - Mostly it’s used for shopping, recreation and medical appointments, I could Uber those, but as you imply it’s just convenient to have a car…