I used to like owning things. I tended to keep anything that could have some value at some point. That’s been changing for a few years and now, frankly, I’d be perfectly contented if my house burned down with everything in it except the cats and the library books.
How about you? How much stuff do you like having around? Do you like to be surrounded by your things or by empty space?
I have a small house full of stuff, and I want it all. There are a few things that could go, but there are also other things I don’t yet have, but want, so it would even out in the end.
I’ve moved nearly every year since childhood, and each I move I get rid of a little more stuff. For the last four years or so, I’ve been down to only a little bit more than I can carry: clothes, bedding, electronics, a pot, a pan, a good kitchen knife, and random knick-knacks. I own a chair and a mattress now, which feels like a big deal. Can’t imagine having an entire house-full (or more) of crap to weigh me down. Often it feels like I have all that I need, save for those moments when it seems as though there aren’t enough possessions to anchor me to the world. But what’s the point of having stuff, anyway? I only really regret getting rid of all my books; it would be nice to have those again.
I have some stuff which I really like - computers, cooking utensils, books. I have a bunch of stuff which I probably don’t need, but it’s keepsake stuff. Then there’s useful stuff like clothes and furniture.
I think I have everything I need. And, I’ve gotten to the point where there are very few things I want. I’m content with things the way that they are, and I look forward to being able to downsize when these kids all finally move out for good.
I like what stuff I have, but I’m not very sentimental about it. I’ll cheerfully spend an afternoon going through drawers and getting rid of things, and I think that if I had to start over with absolutely nothing, I wouldn’t feel like I was missing much. The exceptions to this would be my laptop and my current wardrobe (by current wardrobe I mean the clothes that I wear regularly and like, not just all the clothes in my closet). I’m more about spending money on experiences rather than tangible objects. My attitude will probably change when I grow up some more and establish my own household, but until then I’m cool with maintaining my itinerant Spartan lifestyle.
I like not having stuff. When I was in college I moved at least once every year and I didn’t have a car, so it was generally a huge pain (have you carried everything you own half a mile to your summer sublet?). I spent a year in Europe with only a large suitcase worth of stuff – I didn’t miss anything. It helps though that I’ve always had roommates with kitchen supplies and other essentials so all I really own are clothes, books, electronics, my bike, and Craigslist furniture.
I grew up with packrat parents who kept EVERYTHING. We have rooms of our house devoted to pure junk: toys, books, clothes, newspaper clippings, kick-knacks. Occasionally my parents will talk about moving to another city or at least into a smaller house – then they just laugh because they know they’ll never be able to deal with all the stuff they own. I love my parents but I never want to live like that.
I don’t own very much at all. I was really beginning to collect stuff when I was living in Chicago, but when I left to go to Bulgaria I had to get rid of virtually everything I owned. Furniture, clothes, my computer, lots of books… I shipped about ten boxes of stuff (mostly books) to my parents in California. So that was pretty much everything I owned in the world.
Now I’m back in America and I have some small, cheap pieces of furniture from IKEA, but that’s it. No TV, no stereo, not even a sofa (too hard to move without a car). I have a new computer, my books, and Max the Bad Bulgarian Cat.
I don’t mind. I strongly suspect I’m going to have to repeat the getting rid of stuff process again in a few years and my parents are getting annoyed with me using their house as a storage space, so I don’t really *want *to acquire any more stuff.
I’m an insane packrat with an Amazon wishlist 40-pages long so I can keep track of stuff that I want. I’d have absolutely no problem living in a 20-bedroom mansion full of crap. Non-ownership is great for buddhists and hippies, but not me.
18 years ago, I moved to Calgary from two provinces away with one car full of stuff. Today, I have a 1000 square foot house full of stuff. I think most people are amazed at how quickly you fill up a house once you have one - it just accumulates, you know? We are planning to move this summer, and I’ll go through the house and throw out/give away (hopefully) maybe one fifth of the stuff in our house.
I like to have everything I need and want in my house, but I also want to not live in a crowded, overfilled house, so I am eternally vigilant to not get too much stuff in here. My husband, however, has packrat tendencies, so we need to find compromises on that. I’m thinking floor-to-ceiling deep shelves in his room that he can completely fill, and storage boxes in a storage room, and after those are filled, too bad. I won’t live in a house full of crap - my father was a hoarder.
I have no wife, kids, house or bills beyond my rent, food, and cell phone.
I basically live out of a duffel bag and have done so off and on for years. I have done the whole “nicely appointed apartment” thing and it’s ok, I liked it, but I didn’t need it really. I could literally live in a hotel room for a year and it wouldn’t phase me in the slightest.
All I need is my health, my laptop, something to read, cash in the bank and a sense of purpose. Oh, and some love. Love would be nice right about now.
I have a ton of crap. I want it all, but I don’t need a lot of it. I just like to have things. Odd things. Suits of armor, brass statues of Shiva, old glass soda bottles, Four copies of the same painting. I need it all.
Tools, must have tools; power tools, hand tools, mechanics tools. Oh yeah, and golf wedges: pitching, sand, lob, gap in multiples. E-Books and an internet connection.
I was about to say “very little”, but on reflection… I’ve got a lot of stuff. I’m a big accumulator of books, art, and kitchen stuff. That said, I have nothing in the way of bric-a-brac, everything I own serves a purpose. I like open spaces and clean surfaces.
I try to live by the maxim that everything I own should be beautiful or useful. There is a lot that could be shed, but living in a relatively small space helps me to be careful about what I accumulate.
I’m not really a “possessions are like … chains man” sort of person, but living with stuff for the sake of stuff is anathema to me.
I currently reside in a small room in a house with 3 other roommates, and as such, I don’t have a ton of room for stuff. But even so, I’ve been slowly getting rid of crap whenever I clean–and yet, I still have too much shit. I want to be portable, and I’m not nearly there.
I remember when I was in my teens, I wanted a lot of material goods. Now, not so much (though I love some of my gadgets, such as my laptop and iPhone), but in general I feel like I have too much shit. I’m being weight down by a 27" CRT HDTV, surround sound system, several game consoles, bed frame, and tons of books/games I likely won’t ever read/play again. I already sold tons of games on Ebay and made a small fortune off of them–guess it’s time to go through the rest.
Honestly, all I really need is my computer (plus internet). Without that, I’d be lost. I tend to get bored of most other things way too quickly to justify their purchase.
I would like a house someday. It doesn’t have to be big or luxurious. I’m still relatively young, poor, and single, so that’s a long way off.
I was thinking about this just the other day, when stories of the Victorian bushfires were happening. I’m not a ‘things’ person really, but wondered how devastating it would be to lose everything you own.
I’m not talking about the plasma TV or the latest laptop, but the little things that we all pretty much take for granted…our favourite coffee cup, the knife that slices tomatoes, the kettle and the comfy chair, the snuggle blanket and the only non-stick frypan in the house that is still non-stick. All the simple stuff really.
I certainly don’t ‘need’ everything that I currently own, much of it is superfluous crap that could be discarded easily…but I don’t know how I would fare if it were all to go in one fell swoop. I think I’d be floundering without the familiarity of stuff that I know.
I don’t want that much - like others my most valuable possession at the moment is my computer. If my flat burned down and everything in it went up in smoke the only thing I’d want to save would be my PC. I don’t want that to happen, and it’s not like I don’t care about anything I own. But I’m not very sentimental and don’t really have things I’m attached to that don’t have any real utility. I keep meaning to put photo collection online and once I’ve done that there isn’t really anything that I need to have as a physical presence.
I’d rather have very few nice things than lots of crap, and besides things don’t make you happy.
I guess it’s from age and the length of time I’ve been in this house, but I’ve got too much stuff entirely. Some of it might even be valuable: I just discovered I have a paperback car book that regularly sells for almost $200 on eBay. WTF?!? But there’s just too much and I want more minimalism.
I realized it late last year and I’ve been working on it slowly and systematically. Donations to the local school (you guys want a like-new b-flat cornet?) and library (you guys want a few thousand dollars worth of hardback reference books?*), throwing stuff away (if nobody wants that microwave oven, I’m trashing it!), I’ve even got my nephew and his friends working on the old Spirit R/T: when they get it running, it’s his car. But he has to take the full set of factory service manuals, the special service tools, and all the spare parts and collector crap that goes with it: yes, even the Spirit R/T t-shirt. (So much stuff in the files, it took me five hours of searching to find the mis-filed title.) My sister, her husband and my Mom were out here yesterday and they noticed that I’d been busy. As I told them, though…it’s going to be a year before I’ll be done giving away and throwing away stuff. My trash man’s *gotta *hate me.
But I’m with kambuckta on this: I’m keeping track of my favorite coffee mug!!
*I figured I’d done well when the books hit the shelves instead of the used-book sale tables.
What do you want? What do you need? What do you think you deserve?
I want everything I have. I value everything I have. I wish to Gordita I had oodles of money and I would give it to people who need it more than I.