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The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#11

Post by ZanderEarth32 »

neverm0re wrote: post #9

For fifteen years, I've been at a point in my belongings that I can pack and move out of a place in hours. Why hang onto all this stuff? Why spend on all these things we don't need? Why not be flexible? At this point everything I own fits into my car. Everything. I've moved from city to city while telecommuting because I could and in fact, on average I move to a new city every two years if not quicker. Stuff just glu…

This works in theory, and in practice for some people, but not everyone. For example, I don't have a lot of 'stuff' but I do have a couple of hobbies that require 'stuff' like rock climbing and backpacking. My girlfriend who lives with me is an avid scrapbooker, which inherently means she will have a lot of stuff.

It's easy to not have 'stuff' if your entire life is online, but once you start to accumulate hobbies that aren't online then not having stuff gets much more difficult.

My goal is to not have stuff that doesn't serve a purpose. Nic-nacks, gifts from trips, decorations, etc.

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#12

Post by Retric »

mindcrime wrote: post #8
jseliger wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own more books than can comfortably fit in my apartment, which means one of the biggest motivations I have to rent a bigger apartment I know the feeling, but a friend showed me the Container Store's "Elfa" shelving, which is pretty easy to install and provides seven to eight individual shelves in a particular space. You can see a picture of my setup midway down this page: https://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/j…

Cool stuff. My problem is, I don't really have more wall space for shelves. The two remaining walls that would make good candidates for shelving, I use for hanging whiteboards. :-) That said, I could get rid of some of these books... especially older tech books that aren't relevant, either because they're plain out of date, or because I've made a conscious decision to move away from that technology, or both. For exam…

I would suggest dumping all but the very best tech books and buying them again if you actually need them. Sure, they cost's 50$ a pop, but for most tech people that's not really an issue.

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#13

Post by geebee »

mindcrime wrote: post #6
jseliger wrote: post #2

Compare this to pg's essay "Stuff": http://paulgraham.com/stuff.html : I have too much stuff. Most people in America do. In fact, the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have. Hardly anyone is so poor that they can't afford a front yard full of old cars.

I've now stopped accumulating stuff. Except books—but books are different. Books are more like a fluid than individual objects. It's not especially inconvenient to own several thousand books, whereas if you owned several thousand random possessions you'd be a local celebrity. But except for books, I now actively avoid stuff. I don't know... I own on the order of thousands of books (don't have an exact number, can't b…

I agree with you about the burden of moving books. In that sense, they do carry the baggage of "stuff".

However, I don't put books in to the same category of visual clutter. When I look at a messy room or garage, overflowing with stuff, it makes me unhappy. Even after it's better organized, I still feel a little unhappy realizing that so much storage space is taken up by stuff.

Books do feel different. I enjoy seeing them, the sight of a lot of books is actually a little relaxing. They don't stress me out the way other kinds of stuff does.

Sounds like you have a lot of books stacked around... I could see how it might get to the point where you're feeling cluttered. And the main reason I like getting books from the library isn't so much that I don't have to pay for it but that I don't have to find a place to put it after I'm done.

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#14

Post by Retric »

ZanderEarth32 wrote: post #11
neverm0re wrote: post #9

For fifteen years, I've been at a point in my belongings that I can pack and move out of a place in hours. Why hang onto all this stuff? Why spend on all these things we don't need? Why not be flexible? At this point everything I own fits into my car. Everything. I've moved from city to city while telecommuting because I could and in fact, on average I move to a new city every two years if not quicker. Stuff just glu…

This works in theory, and in practice for some people, but not everyone. For example, I don't have a lot of 'stuff' but I do have a couple of hobbies that require 'stuff' like rock climbing and backpacking. My girlfriend who lives with me is an avid scrapbooker, which inherently means she will have a lot of stuff. It's easy to not have 'stuff' if your entire life is online, but once you start to accumulate hobbies th…

You can put a lot of stuff in a car. I have a fair amount of snowboarding stuff for example, but it does not actually take up all that much space. Camping is probably a better example, you can have an insane amount of camping stuff or a backpack full, but quality dominates quantity.

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#15

Post by yequalsx »

cletus wrote: post #10

This resonates with me. Frankly I'm tired of owning "stuff". All I really need is a place to sleep, a laptop, a tablet, a phone and clothes. I'll get limited furniture but it'll be cheap Ikea stuff that I'll simply dispose of when I move. I don't own a TV. In fact I doubt I'll ever own a TV again. Nor do I own a big sound system. I do own a table and chairs, a sofa and a desk. All but the desk I regret. One thing tha…

I reached the same conclusion as you in January. I've since walked away from my mortgage on a two bedroom place in the burbs and bought an efficiency condo in downtown. I paid cash and in retrospect realize that my need for a two bedroom place was not well founded. I don't have kids and am not married so a two bedroom place wasn't necessary. Right now all of my expenses to live in my efficiency is 10% less than what my mortgage payment was.

I think the message of society (and by this I mean media and advertising) is that more is better. There tends to be a glorification of buying stuff merely for the object of buying stuff. "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" was ahead of its time in this regard. Now we have all kinds of such shows. I fell into the trap of going along with this type of thinking but have since seen the way in which my subconscious was manipulated.

The keeping up with the Jonses mentality is real and it's hard to step back and ask, "Why is this necessary?"

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#16

Post by personlurking »

There was an article that appeared on HN probably earlier this year about a guy who said he was a minimalist and only owned 15 things (apparently this included "toiletries" as one thing). If my clothes are one thing, then I basically own 3 things (MBA, clothes and cell phone) and it all fits in two suitcases which I take with me as I move about S. America.

Having a second suitcase on Brazilian airlines means paying a pretty penny which usually equals the cost of the flight itself. It was only yesterday that I realized that it's possible what goes in that second suitcase is not worth the second suitcase fee. Keep in mind, I've already paid 300-400US in fees for it at this point with just 3 moves.

Just because you are a minimalist doesn't mean you own the correct few items (correct for you). It's oddly easy to forget this.

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#17

Post by jaggederest »

neverm0re wrote: post #9

For fifteen years, I've been at a point in my belongings that I can pack and move out of a place in hours. Why hang onto all this stuff? Why spend on all these things we don't need? Why not be flexible? At this point everything I own fits into my car. Everything. I've moved from city to city while telecommuting because I could and in fact, on average I move to a new city every two years if not quicker. Stuff just glu…

A good bed? I'm not aware of any that you can pack in a car that won't give you back problems in the long term.

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#18

Post by ZanderEarth32 »

Retric wrote: post #14
ZanderEarth32 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This works in theory, and in practice for some people, but not everyone. For example, I don't have a lot of 'stuff' but I do have a couple of hobbies that require 'stuff' like rock climbing and backpacking. My girlfriend who lives with me is an avid scrapbooker, which inherently means she will have a lot of stuff. It's easy to not have 'stuff' if your entire life is online, but once you start to accumulate hobbies th…

You can put a lot of stuff in a car. I have a fair amount of snowboarding stuff for example, but it does not actually take up all that much space. Camping is probably a better example, you can have an insane amount of camping stuff or a backpack full, but quality dominates quantity.

That's true and I could fit all my camping and climbing stuff in my car, but the picture I get from people who tout "all my stuff fits in my car" philosophy is that they live in a room with no furniture, a coffee mug and their laptop. Having less stuff for the sake of having less stuff doesn't seem to really serve a purposes. Keep what you need and want and ditch the rest. Not that complicated.

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#19

Post by zwieback »

The stuff equation changes once you have kids. Cars and appartments get bigger and stuff accumulates. Luckily you can live on a lot of hand-me-downs that get handed down again but at our house there are also continuous trips to Goodwill to get rid of stuff.

Re: The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'

#20

Post by apike »

My wife and I of this generation, but it wasn't any economic conditions that inspired our dislike of "stuff". For me it was watching our parents' generation be driven further and further into the suburbs by the process of buying stuff and needing space for that stuff.

Realizing that the space for furniture and other crap costs much more than the purchase price has made a big improvement in our lives.

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