The hidden costs of too much stuff

[jamesgang]

Well said "trumpeting angel"!

"Less is more & more is less"! I've been preaching this to the wife now for a few years, to little avail. Somewhere we have crossed that invisible line in our psyche whereby more stuff actually became a disadvantage. If only we could see the subtle "quality of life" things that have been lost. Very similar to that invisible line we cross whereby something changes from a passing pleasure to an addiction! If only we had the wisdom to stop at that point & go no further!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My girlfriend and I have swapped roles.

Four+ years ago when we met and I was making mid six figures, I was Mr. "Hey, lets get it, its only money...I'll make more". and she was Ms. "But do we really need that?".

The last year, other way around.

 

[panhead]

This is a great thread ! I am a big believer in reducing the amount of stuff that detracts from your life, but there is another consideration, that is to make room for the stuff that actually increases your enjoyment ! For some they could carry this on their back, for others, it's a bit more. My car/motorcycle hobby keeps my garages pretty full of stuff, including tools. Somebody mentioned tools earlier, yeah, this is a big one for me, but they get used. The tough ones are the specialty tools, which aren't used very often and are hard to rent. These need to be justified.

I love to take long motorcycle and hiking/camping journies. It is amazing how little you actually want/have to take when you know you have to carry it on your back for 20 miles ! Motorcycles are the same, there is only so much you can stack on your bike, so only essentials get to come. I have to admit every time I see a Gold Wing pulling a trailer I get a little sick to my stomach !

I also have the very reasonable 1200sqft house with used furniture and no big/flat/plasma screen TV home entertainment stuff, which has housed myself and up to two roomates at one time or another. Hell, if you leave me my favorite Harley and the clothes on my back the house could burn and the only thing I would think about is that I got a check from the insurance company, the rest was just stuff (I built my Harley so I have a some nostalgic love for her).


I travel alot for extended stays, and often I'm not in the same place for more than a couple of weeks to a month, so when I travel, I take my laptop, and one backpack which I can always carry on the plane. I get some interesting comments about how little I take to travel 4000+ miles and stay for 3 months ! Hey, it's all I need !

JG, I hope you enjoy your trip to get the bike ! How long is the ride ?

-pan-

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Although I've put thought into these ideas before (about simpler living and less STUFF), I've had the issue forced on me for the last year+. My sister died (age 47, no kids) and I'm her only heir. In addition to inheriting her well-tended IRAs and savings, I have had her lovely house and all of her (fairly well-organized and not-over-cluttered) STUFF to manage.

What to do with clothes that fit me, almost? With clothes that I like, almost? With any number of evening gowns (I didn't even own one!)? With these beautiful dishes? (I already have dishes.) With furniture that's beautiful but will never be "me?"

Now please don't write back with answers to all these questions; I've had the auction, done the dumpster, consigned much, donated more. I don't need to keep everything just because it was hers and she died tragically young. But the act of making those decisions, and so many of them, and the act of dumping out boatloads of MY old stuff just to make room here for the stuff of hers that I'm going to sort out - it really makes one sit up and take notice that there's a helluva lot of STUFF.

And as I dumped, I began to notice that life started seeming a little simpler and easier. And of course, as I am cleaning out the stuff of a loved one who died far too young, it makes me ponder: am I doing what I want to be doing with my life? Life suddenly seems too short to spend tending mountains of stuff.

Hence my take on this as spiritual. "Human" is a fine word for it, also.

Anne

 

[wabmester]

It's tragic that it sometimes takes tragedy for us to properly reprioritize. It's even more tragic that the priorities often fall back to their "wrong" values as we fall back into the rut of the daily grind.

I always try to remember the pleasure of my early days traveling light and the satisfaction of "struggling" on a meager salary. Over the years, I have tried to relive that experience by purging "stuff," quitting my job, and taking a year or two to reset.

I'm almost two years into retirement now, but this is actually the forth time I've "retired." You can't retire too early or too often

Now that I have a kid, I try to emulate her joy of discovery and her lightness of being (although, she already has too much stuff).

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I just finished breakfast, and I'm STUFFed. (cough)

And I have two large, furry, dog shaped meatloaves sleeping by the door waiting for a walk...

 

[russ1910]

and that's it and that's the only thing I need, is this. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray. And this paddle game, the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one - I need this. The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. And this. And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair.

Steve Martin as Navin Johnson (The Jerk)....


But in all seriousity, I'm pretty good at not collecting junk, unless you count electronic gadgets....

I would rather spend my mad money on a good meal, or a trip somewhere...

 

[John Galt]

Although I completely endorse the concept of uncluttering your life, in our case we have done a lot of
backsliding. We are both "junkies" at heart and sometimes it just seems easier to leave things where they are rather than make the effort to dispose.
For example, my wife is taking a load to the "free table"
at the nursing home where she works. I was poking around and found four (4) audio tapes of environmental
sounds that I had not listened to in 5 years. That's right, I held them back. MIght want to listen again someday
don't you know?

For panhead and anyone interested, my bike ride is about 900 miles. Hoping for good weather . I will
plan my departure based on the best forecast I can
get. After that it is all up to the "biker gods"

John Galt

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I have two junk areas to resolve. My former "office" now looks like an electronics factory took a direct hit. I think I have about (in all seriousness) about 300 cables of various types, many of which are unrecognizable. Even after hucking a truck and a half full of stuff during my last move, I still have a lot of crap.

And my garage. Since I do all my own work on the house and cars, I have just about every tool known. Unfortunately I'm not good at putting my toys away, so over the last year there has been an increasing flow of stuff from the drawers and shelves to the top of my work bench, which is now a foot deep, and then onto the floor and coursing away from the bench.

The sick part is that in both places I know where just about everything is.

 

[charlie]

I sort of organize my stuff in piles. However, there
was this guy at work who never filed nor threw
anything away. His desk was piled a foot high and
you had to remove a stack from his guest chair to
sit down. He always knew right where to find
something, however. There is probably somebody
like that in every organization.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[panhead]

TH ! Ha ! Man do I know what you mean ! I try to be good about putting away my tools, but if you do alot of work on different things for a couple of days, work late and are lazy putting stuff away, the creeping mess sure does start. Like you, I own an amazing amount of tools, forget SAE and metric, hell I own a full set of witworth tools too. If you know what they are, then you know how bad it is. I try to clean it up before I start on another project though, caring for my tools is very important to me since they are all very good quality. Then you start pulling out the welders, lighting up the drill press, fire up the compressor, ah geez, there goes the house !

John Galt, 900 miles eh ? Man, I wish I was in your neck of the woods, sounds like a nice putt. How many days you gonna do ? sounds like a minimum of two (ouch) and could be stretched into a comfortable four with plenty of stops for, uh, sudds !! Throw some camping in along the way and I'm in heaven. I'll say a prayer to the biker gods for ya, keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down !

-pan-

PS: The weather sucked here in the south of france for the weekend, so my ride never happened. Guess I got next weekend to try. Happy Easter !

 

[John Galt]

Hello panhead. Sorry to hear about your weather.
Hope it improves.

I have no planned number of days to ride the 900
miles back to Illinois. Will take my time, but if I get some
really good weather days I will go further. The
important thing is that I don't have to be anywhere
at any particular time, once I leave Texas. I try never
to set any firm deadlines when I am on the bike.

John Galt

 

[BusyMom]

Rewind 20 yrs. and everything I needed would fit into my Volvo...fast fwd w/2 kids and I have it down to one large U-haul. Had a yard sale last year and netted $1300..my daughter was thrilled until I pointed out that it probably cost us $5K to purchase. "Stuff" gets in the way and requires cleaning-usually with dryer sheets.

Much easier to spend less than to make more $$$.

 

[John Galt]

Hi BusyMom! Yep, way easier to cut back than make more $$$. I was killin' myself chasing the buck pre-ER.
My son (kind of a gypsy) used to try to keep his possessions down to what he could get into whatever
vehicle he owned. Suspect his "pile" has grown, but
the desire to be mobile remains. As Martha S. used to say "It's a good thing!"

JOhn Galt

 

[unclemick]

My sister/husband(empty nesters) moved this year from Kentucky to Washington State - $6400 and Pete rented an airplane hanger(cheaper than storage lockers) for stuff until they find a 'larger' rental house. And that's after the usual garage sale, Goodwill, trips to dump ritual before moving.

At least I converted a couple of nephews to Bogleheads - although one did move a Creola 32 from Norfolk to Whidbey. This time it's up from sale.

 

[BusyMom]

My former neighbors had 2 new vehicles ($50K) in the driveway, not in the garage, due to boxes of clothes, etc. BIG hail storm...2 more new vehicles ($60K this time) still in the drive with maybe $500 worth of stuff in the garage. Not the brightest bulbs in the pack..

This same neighbor remarked that she was putting her new appliances, furniture, etc. on her new mortgage since she had 30 years to pay for it all....I was really happy to be the one building her house.

 

[BusyMom]

There's a great deal to be said for the lack of stuff. My early 20's are referred to as the "I remember when" days and the only thing I miss, other than being just 22, is the simplicity of daily life. I was sooo broke, working 2 jobs but the days were full of simple pleasures and simple choices.

I have a younger brother who has gone over the edge w/resentment for my traveling but won't let go of his acquisition of stuff, even tho' it's taken over his life. He's in the middle of building a 40x60 outbuilding for add'l storage...bldg will have HVAC, bath, etc. so while he's out looking at his "stuff" he can be comfy?? oy.

 

[unclemick]

Last Hurricane evacuation(Isadore/Lilly 2002) we took family photos,tax/financial records, a change of clothes and pets.

House and all it's stuff are expendable and uninsured. Was tested only once - tornado took roof in 95 and rain wiped out interior. About 20k and sweat equity was sufficient - and four weeks staying at the neighbors.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

This same neighbor remarked that she was putting her new appliances, furniture, etc. on her new mortgage since she had 30 years to pay for it all....I was really happy to be the one building her house.

Those are going to be some darn expensive appliances.

We used to have something similar at my old company. People used to say they were driving a $200,000 car...but it was a taurus. They sold their stock in 95 or 96 just before it went up by a couple of orders of magnatude. I guess the good news is they're only driving a $30,000 car these days...

 

[BusyMom]

Funny that I just ran into the same neighbor this morning and she said they were having a hot tub delivered, compliments of their tax return. Of course, it wouldn't make any sense to them to pay on the loan we are carrying on some add'l acreage they bought from us. Trust me, I'm not complaining, I look forward to that little check each month...and she has 14 more years to pay for it!

I'm not trying to ridicule her but these are the type of people who complain about "having to work" and finish most sentences with "they/you can afford it." What movie had the line "Our lives are dictated by the choices we make." ? Not sure if the mindset is from upbringing (mine wasn't) or something learned along the way (mine was).