Attitude towards planning purchases an indicator of wealth

[rmark]

I think my father-in-law may have some mayonaise in his refrigerator that dates back to the mid-1980's.

 

[sailor]

Needing to own so little so that a couple can live in an efficiency apartment with room to spare is a little extreme too!

Can you clarify? Why do you think it's extereme? Maybe extreme for middle class?
1. Probably the average size of the world population habitats are less than this.
2. I have "working class" friends who own very little (although I'm sure, that some of them, given more money, would acquire more "stuff")
3. Even in US there are people who somehow manage to own only 100 items (there was a good thread on simple living forums about it)

Sailor,
who grew up as a part of family of 4 on 500 sq feet and who is moderately successful convincing DW to live aboard a sailboat (I'm guessing an equivalent of less than 300 sq feet apartment for the boat we are planning)

 

[youbet]

Can you clarify?

Sure, no problem. I was thinking of the United States and, typically, of people like the participants on this board. (That's who we seemed to be talking about.) I think it would be unlikely that two people currently own so little they could move into an efficiency apartment with room to spare without disposing of a bunch of stuff. A few yes, most no.

Frankly, it's hard to get two students to fit into an efficiency apartment with room to spare........ and if you do, they still want to keep some stuff back at their folk's house!

Sorry if you took the word "extreme" as negative. I was using it in the statistical sense referring to either a very high or very low probability.

 

[audreyh1]

Well, we live in the equivalent of an efficiency apartment (a motorhome), and yes we got rid of a whole lotta stuff to do it. That was a really positive experience and really showed me how stuff can be a serious anchor. My life is better now that I prioritized and kept the stuff that really mattered to me and said good riddance to the rest.

Everything is smaller - smaller fridge, smaller closet, fewer appliances, etc. It means lest waste in our case since we have to be deliberate in our choices.

And now we have to live with the philosophy that if we bring in something new, we get rid of something older. Keeps things nice and uncluttered.

We do have a small 5x10 ft climate controlled storage unit where we keep some old photos and slides and a few items we'd enjoy once we move into a house again. It's not stuffed either.

 

[youbet]

Everything seems to be relative in regard to how much stuff we own and how much space we need!! What's a lot of stuff? A lot of space? How minimal do you have to be to be a card carrying minimalist?

The fella I roomed with for two years at college lives a very "free spirited" life and I love hearing about his adventures. He owns nothing he can't haul in his Subaru station wagon. For the past several years he's been a tech writer and enjoys taking contract jobs in different parts of the country and moving around every few months. And everything moves with him in the Subaru station wagon!

Audry, I can guarantee you that if I showed him the pic of your motor home, his eyes would roll and he'd start talking about the waste of all that space and why have all that "stuff."

I do enjoy hearing about the diverse ways everyone is spending their lives. Thank goodness there is no requirement that we all do it the same!

 

[sailor]

Sure, no problem. I was thinking of the United States and, typically, of people like the participants on this board. (That's who we seemed to be talking about.) I think it would be unlikely that two people currently own so little they could move into an efficiency apartment with room to spare without disposing of a bunch of stuff. A few yes, most no.
Sorry if you took the word "extreme" as negative. I was using it in the statistical sense referring to either a very high or very low probability.

Thanks for the explanation, no ruffled feathers here, just curiosity. I know that average Merkin house is constantly growing (Acording to preliminary estimates 2455sq ft in 2006).
My comment was rather that in my "anecdotal evidence", I have many working class friends and acquintances, who live in efficiency studios, even with whole families. I probably know more middle class people with houses than people in apartments, but one couple in a small appartment is hardly extreme in my experience.

Trying to quantify our statements, if/when I have enough time on my hands (read: be bored enough during a conference call at work), I could dig a US Census data showing a person/sq ft distribution across US population and if a couple in small apartment (let's say 1 person per 200 sq ft density) is more than 3 sigmas (SD) from the median I'll say you are right

 

[mja]

I don't know if any of you followed OAP's old blog, but he posted a few pictures of the place he's staying in sanfran. I'd estimate his "stuff" as taking up about 6 or 8 cubic feet, and he was looking to reduce it by half.

I'm not planning on going quite that far, but for some reason I found it rather inspiring. I'm planning on reducing the amount of stuff I have by quite a lot over the next year. Of course, it helps that I'll be moving in with DGF next fall, and we'll be sharing an 800 sq ft house.

 

[free4now]

Yesterday I was cleaning out my condo storage locker. It's mostly filled with painting supplies, and I finally moved the painting tools (brushes, pans, plaster knives, dropcloths) all into one box. In the past I had the painting tools scattered in 5 different boxes of paint, and I finally realized that wasn't working for me... I was buying new painting tools rather than going through all 5 boxes to see if I already had the tool I needed.

This is the important lesson: If you don't know exactly where some supply is and how much you have, you might as well not have it. If I have a couple of extra bottles of shampoo hidden in the back of the bathroom closet, I end up buying new shampoo instead of using that up. Use it or lose it.

 

[donheff]

I don't know if any of you followed OAP's old blog, but he posted a few pictures of the place he's staying in sanfran. I'd estimate his "stuff" as taking up about 6 or 8 cubic feet, and he was looking to reduce it by half.

When I saw that I remember thinking that, if I moved alone to another city, I would likely take a laptop, a few clothes and a dop kit and that is about it. I would end up buying some cooking and eating utensils and a TV and keep things simple. It sounds appealing. In the meantime, DW and I have built up a pile of stuff - it just seems too much effort to get rid of it.

 

[flipstress]

Sorry to respond to something way back in this thread but here goes...

A real puzzler is the waxed paper. No apparent use for it, but we sure aren't throwing it away. Suggestions?

I shuck corn, wash it, and wrap it in wax paper like I am wrapping a big candy (twisting to "seal" at both ends), cook it in the microwave for 3 minutes, and it's ready to eat.

I melt chocolate over a double boiler, put some mint extract in, dip Ritz crackers in the mixture, lay out the coated crackers on wax paper and then let them cool. They taste like those Girl Scout Thin Mints.

My mom also wrapped my school sandwiches in wax paper, as Khan's mom did hers.

Regarding planning purchases, I'm not sure it's an indicator of wealth but it sure leads to good cash flow and good use of credit. To the extent that this helps one avoid bad credit rates or get into trouble from overspending, then it contributes to financial ease.

 

[kcowan]

... In the meantime, DW and I have built up a pile of stuff - it just seems too much effort to get rid of it.

That is the point I was getting at. These people seem to be overwhelmed by the thought of getting rid of their stuff. One specifically said that he was planning to leave the problem to his daughter. The daughter and son have already been offered their choice so for sure everything is surplus.

I wondered if they might enjoy putting their van in the garage again, especially in the eastern winter. Maybe putting their clothes in a closet where they are not crushed together.

 

[audreyh1]

It can be a great deal of effort to get rid of stuff. That's why a lot of people put it off - it seems overwhelming We did for many years of retirement. Then when we realized that we wanted to live in an RV, we had to put our lives on hold for many months to get rid of most of our stuff so that we could sell our house. But it was SO WORTH IT.

I know a lot of children get saddled with having to clear out their parents stuff when their parents pass on.

Audrey

 

[youbet]

It can be a great deal of effort to get rid of stuff.

Not if the gondola is large enough!

OK, kidding aside, I did have to clean out my Dad's house after he passed away. He was not a pack rat, but there was a large home full of his and Mom's stuff. (She pre-deceased him by a decade. Her personal items were gone, of course, but furniture, etc., was all there.)

I had one week of vacation to do the job and he lived 600 miles from me. I went down in my pickup truck. The first day I called a scavaging service and set an appointment and also scheduled professional house cleaners. The next day I took several hours and loaded the best of Dad's tools and a few small items he built into the truck and went through the house and gathered a couple boxes of family items I wanted. The third day I watched the scavenger service empty the rest. The fourth and fifth day I watched the professional cleaning service scrub down the empty house. Then I went home. It really wasn't a big deal and I did it easily without help from DW or the kids.

It would have been tough for him emotionally to do it and I didn't mind giving up less than one week. Admittedly, he wasn't a pack rat and the scavanger service cleared things out in a few hours. If he had had rooms packed with crap, I suppose that would have been a different story.