@rachaelspooky honestly, preach.

up until recently I was considering getting a new phone, even though my financial situation is all but great, just because this one is a Xiaomi from 2019, it stopped getting updates in 2022, there's no custom ROMs for it and the battery is getting weaker by the day.

I completely changed my mind when I realised that I can order every replacement part I could ever want for it on AliExpress. Now I am determined to keep the fucker working until it crumbles to dust. Sure I would prefer updated software, but I'd much rather not throw this thing away as long as I can get any kind of use out of it.