
10 Unexpected Costs of Owning Things - soundsop
http://almostfearless.com/2008/06/02/the-10-unexpected-costs-of-owning-things/
======
SwellJoe
When we moved to the valley from Austin last year, we downsized dramatically.
We went from a 1430 sqft house with a two car garage and a huge lawn to a 1000
sqft (seems a bit smaller, actually) house with a single car garage spot
(already filled with the landlords crap, except for the spot where the car
would live--so not much room to pile crap up in there). I sold my 350Z, since
I wouldn't be commuting anymore and would be living walkable distances to
almost everything I could need, while my girlfriend kept her car.

In the months leading up to the move, I sold about $4000 worth of guitars,
analog synthesizers and other music gear, keeping only my three favorite
guitars and a minimal set of recording gear. We had a huge garage sale,
bringing in nearly $1000, selling all sorts of stuff that we never used:
camping gear, books, stereo equipment, computer junk, furniture, etc. After
the garage sale, we still had 12 bankers boxes worth of books to get rid of,
so we sold them to Half Price Books (who gave us about $2.50 per box for
them...).

Now we're going through another purge and organization period...because we
realize we still kept too much stuff and it's taking up too much of our space
and our lives. Our rent is going up next month, and I'm considering smaller
digs because of it, since this time I know that I can easily get rid of even
more stuff, if I take the time to do it (the fact that most rental properties
are hostile to dogs is the only major factor keeping me here). With a good
library in walking distance, I no longer buy books. I've bought maybe five
books since living here, all work-related, and all books that I found myself
checking out and renewing from the library several times, so I knew I'd use
them a lot. I've bought no new movies, since NetFlix, Hulu, iTunes, Unbox, and
the library provide all the entertainment we need (Wii games and accoutrement
excluded).

In short, less stuff is a win. I recommend it heartily.

~~~
helveticaman
> We went from a 1430 sqft house with a two car garage and a huge lawn to a
> 1000 sqft (seems a bit smaller, actually)

I've heard of sellers lying about the square footage of an apartment, in Chile
at least. Landlords might too...

------
Hexstream
PG version: <http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html>

~~~
netcan
I've heard a few versions of this. The PG is good.

    
    
      "Stuff has gotten a lot cheaper, but our attitudes toward it haven't changed correspondingly. We overvalue stuff."  
    

In other words, Hoarding is a vestige.

I think this one has a lot of truth:

    
    
      "1. The things you own have a cost of ownership."
    

Moving backwards in house size is nearly impossible. And it's largely because
of stuff.

Ever rented a cabin or tourist flat. They're small & relatively empty, but
most people find it really nice. I wonder if any of that is taking a break
from your stuff.

~~~
menloparkbum
_Moving backwards in house size is nearly impossible._

Retired people do it all the time.

~~~
netcan
At great difficulty. A lot of people can't manage it.

My girlfriend's father & his wife had two house. They liked the smaller one
but it couldn't contain their stuff. The sold it. (and built a couple of new
sheds to contain it's stuff)

------
HeyLaughingBoy
The mistake is the stupidity of doing things like "buying furniture to fill
the rooms." We live in a 3300 sq. ft house and could care less that it looks
so bare. It's not hard to not let stuff own you. The bed my wife and I sleep
in was built by me 10 years ago for about $50 in materials from Home Depot.
Some of our furniture is old (just old, not antique!) stuff that was thrown
out by others and refinished by us -- free. The chicken coop I just built (we
live on a farm) was made almost 100% from materials that were lying around.

There's nothing wrong with owning things, the problem is that too many of us
are owned by our things.

~~~
briansmith
What is the point of having a huge house that is mostly empty? Space is very
expensive, even when it isn't filled up.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
The main point of the purchase was the land, not the house. We needed at least
10 acres and this was the place that best met our requirements. Actually
compared to a lot of our neighbors, our house is pretty small.

------
fallentimes
This is why I own nothing; there's nothing to lose and no one has any leverage
over me with anything.

~~~
delano

      Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

~~~
netcan
And nothin aint worth nothin but its free

------
kaens
I agree with the general point of this article.

I stopped buying things that were just _things_ a while ago - if I can't (or
won't) use it for something, I don't buy it.

My current personal possessions amount to little more than an adequate amount
of clothes for the different seasons, a few musical instruments, a laptop,
some books, and some furniture that was mostly found.

It works for me. I end up playing around with things that educate me in some
fashion instead of spending money left-and-right, and the things that I do own
don't sit around gathering dust.

