131–140 of 144 posts
Even as a child, I was pretty indifferent to stuff (A 9th grade essay wanted us to write about our most prized possession and I couldn't come up with anything except my computer). But I think the final break for me happened when inadequate backup procedures caused me to lose several years worth of digital photos. I was initially heartbroken but then I started thinking how many times I had actually looked at any of th…
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. Wow, Paul, you really don't understand what it is like to be poor. The poor people don't have a lot of cars in their yard because they can afford lots of cars. They have lots of cars because they never throw them away. Rich p…
The thing you seem to think I don't understand is in fact one of the main points of the essay. When you're poor you instinctively accumulate stuff. If you read a few more paragraphs on you'll come to that part.
If that is the case, why is this instinct part of poor people and not rich people? I tend to see it most often in people who have lost a lot, like one of the other comments mentions living through the great depression. I see it in my grandmother and she also lived through the great depression.
However, I know some younger people who are poor and didn't live through a time of loss and do not accumulate a lot. They are minimalists. This seems to indicate to me that accumulating a lot of stuff is a learned behavior rather than an instinctual one.
Also, if it is instinctual in poor people, why is it not also instinctual in rich people, or simply all people? Is there something genetic that predisposes people to being poor? Are you implying that or am I incorrectly inferring it?
Books: for a long time I thought that I had done something when I acquired one. Yet clearly there's a difference between the book once dipped into and on the shelf for years, and the Indian cookbook with turmeric stains all over or the tech reference with its spine worn out. I have tried lately to be more discriminating in my book buying, and not to buy another book of some type (tech, history, fiction) before I've f…
Books^2: When I buy a paperback novel to read on a plane (or while waiting to get on a plane :-) I often finish it in some distant city and leave it someplace where somebody else can find it. Just too much work to sell for a pittance, and too valuable to simply toss out. So I leave its fate to Fate.
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The thing you seem to think I don't understand is in fact one of the main points of the essay. When you're poor you instinctively accumulate stuff. If you read a few more paragraphs on you'll come to that part.
When you're poor you instinctively accumulate stuff. If that is the case, why is this instinct part of poor people and not rich people? I tend to see it most often in people who have lost a lot, like one of the other comments mentions living through the great depression. I see it in my grandmother and she also lived through the great depression. However, I know some younger people who are poor and didn't live through…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am from Honduras one of the poorest countries in Latin America, and if you go to poor neighborhoods you will see very cheap and small houses, but in their garage you will see very good cars, they rather have a nice car than live in a nice house or decent neighborhood. It's strange.
South Africa is one of the poorest countries, yet the #1 selling new car is a BMW. Even if they can't afford the rent, somehow people find ways to spend money on their vehicles, buying crap like alloy wheels and pointless spoilers or darkened windows. I know many people like this, it's very counterintuitive.
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It's not especially inconvenient to own several thousand books Until you find yourself having to move.
It's really not that bad. The things that are time consuming about moving are packing, disassembling, organizing, reassembling and so on. I own over 1000 books and live on the 5th floor of a building without an elevator, and even so, with 4 people it took us about 5-10 minutes to move the books in. Packing them into boxes took maybe 20 minutes. Even though by weight it's much lighter the book shelves are a real pain…
I often think about this. And of one more hidden cost of stuff, especially furniture: it occupies space in a place you pay rent for for. If that sofa takes 2 square meters out of my 40 square meters apartment, that means every 20th rent I pay is just because of this. If my rent is approximately the same as the price of that sofa was, I refinance if every 1.6 years.
> If that sofa takes 2 square meters out of my 40 square meters apartment, that means every 20th rent I pay is just because of this. If you get rid of the sofa, does your landlord give you a 1/20th discount? If he doesn't, then your reasoning is a bit unsound...
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STEVE JOBS AT HOME IN 1982 — “This was a very typical time. I was single. All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and that’s what I had.” —Steve Jobs http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0712/y_walker08.html
Some time later: http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2004/07/24/ho_jobs_1.jpg http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0911/gallery.ste... $3000 Eames lounge chair, hand-made carpet, etc.
What Paul doesn't really devote enough time to describing is the pleasure that getting rid of stuff brings. Reducing the amount of stuff you own is liberating. You feel physically lighter. Its not just about avoiding a burden. It is physically pleasurable to reduce the amount of stuff you are responsible for. Go through your house and give to charity or throw out anything you haven't used in 12 months. Its amazing ho…
This is one of the greatest insights that I have had lately - throwing stuff out is liberating and makes you feel physically lighter . Sorry to repeat you verbatim but that is exactly how I feel. I fight with my wife over this. She wants to put something in the basement (which is already packed to the ceiling) and I am like: If you don't need it, for God's sake get rid of it. If I had my way I would thorw out everyth…
Your method of dealing with gifts is a good idea. I've always found publicly opening a stream of gifts a bit vulgar. Whenever possible I deal with any gifts in private or with only the gift giver there. Having an audience, celebrating the giving and receiving of stuff just seems distasteful.
"gift feeding frenzy" That is the perfect name for it.