My Front Porch during my massive uncluttering and downsizing in 2008. Why did I even own this stuff? But, wait! There's more. |
I
was sitting in my friend's 91 year old mother's living room the other evening
engaging in some conversation with this delightful woman, older than my own
mother would have been at this time. She was telling me she had decided to go
through some of the closets, in her way too large a home for one widowed person
of her age, to get rid of some "stuff." She pointed to her foot she
held up prominently and said, "Ed, how do you like my new shoes?" I
commented that they looked nice.
She
then explained that she found this and another pair of new shoes, neither of
which had ever been worn by her or the person who gave them to the Goodwill
Store in town. She bought them, not because she actually needed them (of
course, they were her size and fit properly), but because they were only $2.00
per pair. Who could pass up a deal like that. She didn't need the shoes and she
wouldn't have bought these particular shoes in a shoe store if she actually
needed shoes, but hey, who could afford to pass up a deal like that even if you
don't need whatever it is?
She
found these shoes in one of the closets she was going through. She couldn't
even remember when she acquired them, just that they cost two bucks at
Goodwill. How much stuff do you have sitting in closets, the attic, the
basement, the garage, the outdoor storage building, a relative's house or in
space your paying rent on just to store "stuff" you really don't need
- or need any longer? Frankly, I'm
guilty as charged.
A partial view of my family room - where did all
this stuff come from?
|
This
isn't a new subject for me. Actually, it's a recurring subject. It's something
that, perhaps, even the poorest people in our society ascribe to nearly as much
as the wealthiest.
I
was inspired to write on this topic again by a recent article posted on another
blogger's blog. Like you, I read numerous blogs. Some I read every posting
faithfully. Some I read semi-regularly. While there are others I may scan for
interesting topics and read only occasionally. Obviously, I subscribe to them,
as I did my trade journals in audio, video and production, for different
reasons and to gain ideas and insights that will improve my life. And so it is
with Joshua Becker's Becoming Minimalist blog.
So,
as I read Joshua's seven reasons, I realized that he had pretty much hit the
nail on the head. I immediately realized that to a great or lesser degree, each
of these seven reasons applied to me. I'll wager that they apply to you as
well. So, take a look and see where these fit into your motivations to acquire
"stuff."
1.
We think it will make us feel secure.
2. We
think it will make us happy.
3. We
are more susceptible to advertising than we believe.
4.
We are hoping to impress other people.
5.
We are jealous of people who own more.
6. We
are trying to compensate for our deficiencies.
7. We
are more selfish than we like to admit.
Cheese & Crackers! Is this REALLY all my stuff? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. |
But,
before you go there, take just a few minutes and think about each of these
reasons and how it impacts you personally. Some may dig deeper into the core of
who you are and your personal motivations than others. I would say that has to
be true in virtually all cases.
The
Bottom Line
Here's
the Bottom Line (and there is always a bottom line), we acquire and accumulate
stuff because it's there to be acquired and because we can, either by
opportunity, such as my friend's mother and the $2.00 pairs of shoes, or
because we have the resources, financial or otherwise. We are impulsive beings.
We are weak in our fortitude to resist the incessant direct, subtle,
subliminal, targeted, hard sell and other forms of marketing and advertising
methods we are exposed to during our waking hours. And, day I say, some of us
even dream about this "stuff" and sell ourselves during our REM
periods of sleep.
It
is estimated, according to Becker, that we are exposed to about 5,000
advertising messages per day throughout our lives. Some of them are obvious.
But, when you see the Apple logo or the Coke or Pepsi can or a specific book or
series of books or people driving a specific brand and model car in movies and
TV shows, I hope you don't believe those props just happened to be handy. Not
at all! They are there to implant a specific message in your mind.
A partial view of the 1 1/2 car garage? Is there no end to this stuff? |
The
intention is simple and clear. Get you to buy, buy, buy more stuff whether you
need it or not. The cable TV shopping channels are amazing. They generate
billions and billions of dollars in sales every year selling tons and tons of
stuff you don't REALLY need, but they convince you that you must call in or go
on line right now because they've already sold over X number of tens of
thousands of these items and they're running short of inventory and this offer
will never, ever happen again (until three months from now).
Can
I Live Without This?
I've
told you this before. Whenever I'm in Costco, Walmart, Target, Kohl's or other
stores and when I'm looking over all the fantastic offers from Amazon, Buy.com,
Ebates, New Egg and the other online marketers or reading reviews on the
latest, greatest, fantastic new pieces of audio, video or photo gear in some of
the trade journals I still peruse, my emotions are stirred. I love the stuff
they are offering. And, yes, I want it. There was a time when I gave in to my
emotional needs too often, driven by one or more of the seven reasons listed
above.
It
took some rethinking and retraining my mind and emotions to begin asking the
question, "Can I live without this?" That question seems to create a
cooling off period when I allow more logical and rational and less emotional, impulsive,
reactive thinking to take control. The result, for me at least, is that I
seldom ever make purchases of things that I really don't need. But, please
note, I'm not a perfect human. I do, on occasion, make a purchase I realize I
didn't need and could have lived without.
The
long term result for me is that I am no longer adding things into
So,
I encourage you to ponder the seven reasons above listed and read Joshua's
article. Then, like me, adopt the question, "Can I live without this?"
Make it a mantra. See how well you can live with as little excess stuff as
possible. Eliminate shopping as a "participation sport" or as a
self-medicating "anti-depressant." You'll definitely realize that less
is, most often, more.