Several months ago when I was moving, I decided not to buy any unnecessary items, for about three of four months before I moved, because I’d have more things to move. To my surprise, I have found that there is a sense of freedom not buying things, for example, unnecessary clothes, shoes, etc. Of course, not spending money is a big factor. I have bought many unnecessary things in my life (mostly clothes) that I did not need. May I ask if you folks only buy things when it is necessary or do you buy things sometimes that you don’t really need? I’m not referring to grocery shopping, as obviously food is necessary, but an example would be if you have 40 pairs of shoes, etc.? Is your stress level lower when you have less “things” in your home? Mine is.
Several years ago, I moved from Texas to California, and I kept only what I could take in my car (a Saturn coupe). For the most part, it was a huge relief not to have to worry about storing things or shipping things. If I missed something, it was almost always a book. However, I lived with my parents at the time, taking care of my dad, and there was plenty of stuff around. I just didn’t have to pay the cost of ownership. Now that I’m back on my own again, I’m trying to find a balance between too spartan for comfort and too much stuff to breathe. Of course, I’m moving to a new apartment at the end of this month, so I’ll be getting rid of stuff no matter what.
To quote the philosopher Tyler Durden;
“The things you own end up owning you”
For me, the biggest factor was reducing time spent on hobbyist forums, fewer enablers and less of a competitive urge to get a cooler “toy”
Heck, I’ve actually been selling off some of my surplus/extraneous “stuff”
Simplicity is better
To elaborate, one of my hobbies is Rimfire target shooting, many hardcore Rimfire addicts have many guns, oftentimes hyper-specialized for specific disciplines, like Benchrest or long distance, or cowboy action shooting, or Appleseed competitions…
At the height of my Rimfire addiction, I had 9 distinct Rimfire guns, then I had an epiphany, I could only shoot one at a time, so I gradually sold off the safe-queens and dropped the collection down to four rimfires, CZ-452 UltraLux and Full Stock bolt guns, Marlin 39a lever, and Dad’s old Ruger Single Six
All good, accurate general purpose guns, and I don’t miss any of the ones I sold off
Experiences like these are what lead to the realization that you’re living to consume, not consuming to live. Unfortunately, most people forget the lesson and go back to filling every cupboard with crap because that’s the culturally-compelled comfort zone.
It’s an experience to learn from, and remember.
In my early twenties, my car broke down shortly after I moved to a new apartment. I parked it in a corner of my apartment complex, not knowing that it would be towed if I never moved it. The towing company junked it without contacting me. Losing the stuff in it (including yearbooks, photo albums, and my saxophone–among others) was wrenching, but it taught me to be able to let go of pretty much any worldly good. This mindset enabled me to move across the country with only the things that would fit into my sedan.
So yeah, I’m happier now with less shit, although it took some heartbreak to get there. Nowadays, the only things I *have *to have are my computer and clothing.
I’ve been ditching stuff, too.
Clothes that haven’t been worn for a year: gone.
Old crap from the military I’ve been dragging around and not used: gone.
CDs: gone.
Guns: gone.
Books I don’t plan on reading again: gone.
Specialized tools or tools I have duplicates of: gone.
2-generation old running shoes: gone.
“Work” jackets/coats that are ripped or stained: gone.
Baby clothes I could bear to get rid of 2 years ago: gone.
Golf gear I haven’t used since I gave it up: gone.
Kitchen utensils, gadgets, and pans I don’t or rarely use: gone.
And about 1,000 other cluttery things I was holding on to for no reason. Like 4 old cell phones and 2 old computer towers. And an extra X-mas tree stand. And, and, and.
Yes, it’s nice to have all the space that crap took up.
Really? Better off with less stuff? The one who dies with the most toys wins. You’ll have to pry my stuff out of my cold dead hands.
I live in a 700 sq ft house. This alone keeps me from acquiring too much stuff. And yes, stuff stresses me out. Stuff collects dust and cat hair. It makes it harder to know where other stuff is. It takes up space. It spills out into hallways and threatens to trip me up. And it weighs me down. I waited way too long to move out of my last apartment simply because I couldn’t stomach the idea of carrying all those boxes down all those stairs.
Wins what?
I don’t know. It’s something, otherwise I wouldn’t be keeping all this crap.
If I grow up, I want to build a shack on acreage without utilities hundreds of miles from anything and live unabomber style. That’s how much I hate stuff.
Wins everything! The ancient egyptians had it right. </sarcasm>
Coming from a family of “collectors” and “we might need that” it’s been tough to let go to the extent I have. For instance, when I was a kid it was known that “I liked cats” so my family would get me cat things for my “collection”. I never chose to have a collection, but suddenly I had 25 cat figures and figured that since this was now my collection I had better add to it. I liked Polly Pockets so mom would get one for me past the age at which I would play with them for my “collection” - again, one I didn’t choose to have, but for my family it was a fact of life that you would have a few collections so I accepted that this string of toys was now another collection of mine.
But all this carried over and as a kid I’d keep broken crayons I’d never use, stones that looked pretty, toys I no longer played with, etc. It didn’t help either that school wanted me to keep whole years’ worth of assignments so that I could hand the whole stack in again at the end of the year for teachers to rate me again on organization. My room was piled with stuff that I felt I couldn’t get rid of because maybe in a year from now I’d need it.
Anyway, I’ve since decided to stop having collections of this sort aside from things I am really truly interested in and use regularly. It took a lot of effort to ditch the majority of the collections I had as a kid. I still place a lot of value in objects I can see and touch. I (falsely, sometimes) feel that I am being more true to the creators of the stuff I like when I buy a physical CD over a digital download. So I’ve been slowly giving away and selling off all those old things that I no longer interact with. My new rule is, if I haven’t touched it in a year, it’s time to go.
One of the things I have a lot of is books. I had a small epiphany a couple of years ago, where I realized what I was collecting was the stories, not the volumes. Therefore, I’ve been getting e-books as much as possible, and divesting myself of the paper. There are 5 large bookcases soon to become in need of a new home.
I also dumped my collection of model railroad magazines in favor of electronic subscription and back issues. Unfortunately, VWife sees the newfound space as being available for all her quilting stuff. :grumble:
There are a lot of issues with “having a lot of stuff,” but other than kind of a quick nod, the cost of that “stuff” kind of gets brushed aside. If you figure it from two angles -
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the money saved by not only not spending it in the first place, but by not having to store, maintain, and generally “feed” whatever the thing is is wealth that can be accumulated and grown;
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not expending a good part of your income on crap means you could reduce your income correspondingly, which is a change most people could put to good use.
Don’t get too hung up on the moving/hoarding/metaphysical “load” of crap and brush off the financial aspects.
When my husband died, I had to dispose of his precious “stuff.” Yard sale, Craigs list, and some to the dumpster in despair of getting rid of it. I vowed then to never ever keep stuff. My ins. agent recommended getting a $20K renters ins. policy. I took the min. ($10K) and doubt I’d even have enough to claim 1/4 of that. That’s how deep my dislike of stuff has become.
Broadly speaking, I agree. I think most people in the USA would be happier if they reduced their collection of possessions quite a bit. Regarding groceries, the same philosophy can be applied even though we must eat something. Some categories of food and drink can be eliminated or trimmed back: liquor, wine, coffee, tea, desserts, &c… In other categories one can choose less costly and fancy options.
I always buy things I want and I don’t need I’ll tell myself I need like clothes, shoes, books and make-up but I know I really don’t because I have a lot already but its hard not too. My home is cluttered but I just can’t throw things out. If I end up doing its only one or two items.
I honestly like having “stuff” but I pare down when it gets too crowded. When I open the closet door and things I haven’t used in 15 years start falling out it’s time for a trip to the thrift store or the dumpster.
I had a financial crisis a few years back (2007), and was forced to sell some valuable old comic books. (I had to just stop collecting, as well – something I had done since 1971.) I also sold some books, VHS tapes, and DVDs.
Losing the comics was like losing an arm. There was just a sense of failure that I had never felt before. I missed the DVDs and books as well, but not like I did with my comic books.
I would dearly love to buy my comic books back, but it is not likely that I will ever be able to do so. It is not so horrible, I can deal with it, but it is not a pleasant feeling.
On the plus side, I now do my own art – I specialize in “Superheroines-in-KO-Peril” scenes – and publish at Deviant Art. My loss of the comics provided the impetus to start commissioning scenes from artists, and then eventually moving on to do my own art. So, there was a “plus side” for me, along with the sense of loss. So, I suppose it evens out!