The Untouchable Economy: Why Americans Are Turning Against 'Stuff'
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
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 that frustrates me no end is the one-dimensional nature of the housing and construction markets.
It seems that inner cities are (generally) expensive. Places are smaller, typically older and definitely more expensive per square meter. The further you go out, the places don't tend to get much cheaper (until you're really far out). They generally just get bigger.
Take Manhattan. I live downtown in a walkup. I could live across the Hudson in Jersey City. I'd pay slightly less but I'd have a much bigger and nicer place. But what if I just want a small place? Doesn't seem to exist.
Whenever this issue comes up I'm always reminded of the line from Fight Club:
The things you own end up owning you. [1]
It's totally true. I see a lot of posts (on mailing lists) from people moving to NYC. It typically starts out "I/we need a 2 bedroom apartment". Reasons vary. Sometimes it's for their "stuff". Sometimes they "need" an office. Sometimes they've simply never had smaller.
You can have that in the city but you'll be paying a fortune or living further out. The tradeoff is more apparent here than most places and it really forces people to make choices. Some cling to their stuff. Some don't.
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?"
I think that stuff might be the single biggest source of stress in my life.
Not acute stress - it's not like I'm underwater on a loan or anything like that. Just a sort of constant low-grade 'micro-stress' that comes from always having to look at a cluttered living space and never being able to find that thing I'm looking for.
It's frustrating to move entirely into a new place, and find that the place looks empty and plain because you simply don't have enough objects to fill the place. In a way, it reminds me of dieting: I hate having to eat like an anorexic American just to look like a healthy Human, and I hate feeling like I need to fill my residence with objects just to feel at home there.
I want to live in a nice ~400 sqft apartment in a city. But those don't seem to exist. I want to pay less than $600 a month for rent, but apparently I earn two times too much to pay so little. So I'm stuck paying too much for a too-big place which feels awkwardly too empty.
Sometimes I work until midnight, while my partner likes to sleep without hearing me, or seeing the light from my monitor.
Screenwriter John August says that Ikea's motto should be, "for now, it'll do".
Non-Ikea furniture often seems horribly overpriced. I think there is a furniture store in Mountain View that sells $1000+ shelves or coffee tables. You'd think there is a middle ground.
My solution has centered around two items; taking advantage of great sales at my preferred high-quality furniture retailer, and only going with the high-quality units for specific pieces of furniture.
Exhibit A: 6-10 year old Jerker desk (no idea of age, bought 4 years ago on CL) is one of the solidest pieces of furniture I've ever purchased.
In the end the "stuff" needed for living by two software developers boiled down to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/7662550710/in/set-721576...
(ok, on top of this there were two motorcycles that we rode over when the snows melted)
The weird thing about the move, however, is that thanks to Berlin rental situation, the flat we have there is bigger than what I ever had in Finland. While flats tend to come furnished, the place still seems very, very empty.
Given that we both have about two blocks of commute, the motorcycles are "unnecessary". But they certainly are fun on weekends.
I have stuff that enables me to cook delicious meals. And I have stuff that enables me to travel. And stuff that I can use to climb mountains or hike in the wilderness. And stuff that I can use to fix things like bicycles and cars and computers.
"Stuff" can be either good or bad. Don't collect crap, but there's nothing wrong with collecting tools that you use regularly or art that you appreciate.
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 glues you into place and most of it is rubbish anyway, it won't make you feel any more fulfilled or complete.
I'd rather have experiences.
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.
I went to college late (~26 y/o) and by that time I had gotten a bed from somewhere (gift from parents I think). I'm married with a house now and don't live as minimally now, unfortunately.
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.
People with junk cars can't afford to ditch them, not can afford to have more cars than rick people.
Most of what us non-poor people can't throw away is either sentimental, rare, or a major investment (a pool in your backyard, for instance) that can't be easily recouped.
In short, if you feel that you have a choice in the matter, that's what wealth is.
Heh ... when I was a poor grad student, my old car died while I was far away doing an internship. I was freaked out when I saw how much some companies charged to dispose of the non-working cars. Then, I came across this charity.
In my case, I ended up getting the car to work again. Yay!
I don't know... I own on the order of thousands of books (don't have an exact number, can't be bothered to count / catalog them all), and it can be fairly inconvenient, depending on the circumstances. In my own case, 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, or buy a house, is to suit my books. And since my books have long since overflowed the amount of shelf space I have available, they wind up stacked up around the place, which gives my place a cluttered feel.
Moving is also a bitch with all these books. Books can be friggin' heavy.
That said, I still mostly agree with pg that books are different from random "stuff." I treasure my books (well, ok, maybe not that copy of "OLE DB Programming in C++") and figure having too many books is far less severe a sin than, say, a crack cocaine addiction.
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/january-2012-links...
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 example, I have a lot of older books on various Microsoft / Windows technologies like COM, DCOM, ADO, OLE, etc. Frankly, it's very unlikely I'll ever use that stuff again.
> http://my.safaribooksonline.com
I'm definitely thinking about signing up for a Safari subscription soon.
Just generic ones from Office Depot. I have four big ones (3x6 or so?) and one smaller one hanging in my living room (which is more of an office for the startup right now, than it is a "living room").
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.
They're large, heavy, cumbersome objects. They're just more objects to be packed, carried, and worried about.
Frankly, I'd love to cast it off and throw it away, but I'm afraid she'd not let me, lol. I love her more than I hate stuff though.
Having an office is nice though, I don't think I could concentrate if I had to work on stuff in the living room while she watched Glee.
Realizing that the space for furniture and other crap costs much more than the purchase price has made a big improvement in our lives.
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.
Children...an investment? Oh, I lol'd. Children aren't an investment, unless by investment you mean 'cash bonfire.'
Purely anecdotal, but it seems those who want kids tend to make more than one or two of them, while many do not procreate. This leaves very little incentive for living in the suburbia.
It was intensely liberating. Sadly as soon as we settled down again, the stuff started acreting like barnacles. Our plan is to repeat the process on a semi-regular basis.
(Discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4421897)
I have to quibble with this. Regardless of the resale value of your home, the balance on your mortgage is the same.