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Comment by pchristensen | Hacker News Reader

That's fine, you just don't need to pay for space for stuff. Space is very, very expensive monetarily and psychologically.

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So is the psychological cost of never knowing where you will sleep.

I'm a touring musician and it's not that bad. I like waking up and not knowing where I am. I find that when I get comfortable I become stagnant.

There's a big difference between the space for you (important) and the space for 200 DVDs, or 60 changes of clothes, or a set of lawn tools, or rarely used sporting equipment, or ...

Indeed, there is, but at least one of the people profiled in the article doesn't even have a space for himself.

Space is expensive monetarily, but how is it expensive psychologically?

I find _not_ having enough space to be psychologically expensive. Nothing better than going for a walk through your own house, knowing it's all yours and nobody can invade it. But hey, different people have different preferences...

http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html

Just because space is expensive doesn't mean you should have none.

I love that essay.

That's not an argument, that's a link to an essay. Besides, that essay is about "stuff", not "space". Personally I'm not a fan of having too much stuff, but I'm not sure it's so easy to have too much space. I'd have a hundred acres of forest if I could afford such a thing (anywhere convenient). But I don't want, say, a deep-fryer.

If you think space is psychologically expensive, why not phrase it in your own words?

Stuff (in this case, physical possessions as opposed to digital) takes up space. Most people buy space so they can fill it with stuff. If you're buying space because you actually want the space, that's great! But paying for a mortgage, a storage unit, a parking space, etc is space for your stuff. And, as pg explained, stuff can be a problem.

I think most people get mortgages so they have space for their families, not space for their stuff.

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