
Be happier: Rent Everything - gsaines
http://georgesaines.com/2010/08/10/be-happier-rent-everything/
======
hristov
Yeah it sounds great but have you ever been to one of those places that rent
out furniture and TVs? They are great if you want to make your room look and
smell like a seedy motel room that rents by the hour. You are better off
financially and aesthetically getting a bunch of cheap stuff from IKEA and
assembling it yourself.

As far as renting housing, as a proud home-owner I would say definitely rent.

~~~
noonespecial
This has become my philosophy. You can buy the Ikea stuff almost as cheap as
renting that crummy rent-a-center junk for a few months.

When we move, we just make sure we find a rental close to an Ikea, Craigs List
all of the Ikea stuff before we go and then buy it again when we get there,
saving thousands on moving expenses.

I'm wicked good at assembling the entire "Lack" series...

I'm about to try this with our biggest jump ever. From the USA to Australia.
Selling _everything_ and starting over is hard but has been strangely
refreshing.

~~~
wyclif
What have you found to be the biggest cultural hurdles in moving to Oz?

~~~
noonespecial
Compared to my other overseas adventures, Downunder is a much easier
adjustment. I have a family now and we're all going so I'm happy about this.
Good to ease them into the whole expat thing.

We'll be starting down south, in Adelaide, coming from DC. What struck me most
about the difference in these two places is just how laid back and casual
everything is down there. Right-hand drive is stressful for me though!

I'll be back down there in a weeks time looking for a place to live and
finishing immigration paperwork. Any HN folks in SA who might want to meet up
for a quick pint some idle evening, drop me a line.

~~~
wyclif
Interesting. My wife and I have friends down there. I've often thought about
immigrating. The way our economy is tanking here (I'm near Philly) and
comments like yours are encouraging this line of thought. I'm wondering how
difficult it is for an American to immigrate there compared to less friendly
countries.

------
jerf
Even better, if you're going to go to that extreme to restructure your life,
is to simply attack the problem directly. If you're concerned about your
possessions owning you, just fix _that_. Watch a few episodes of "Clean Sweep"
to get in the mindset, then clean your place out, and make sure you do this
periodically.

Ownership has benefits too. In my opinion when you rent everything you are
simply trading a situation in which your possessions metaphorically own you
for a situation in which your possessions more literally own you, or rather,
the person who actually owns them owns you. Everything you rent has a contract
attached to it; what's the fun in that? My house is full of things repurposed;
an entertainment center with the top cut off, chairs with customizations
induced by pets, a couple of doors I've added internal cat doors to. Chunks of
the "house" I've sold, chunks I've added. And I'm not even "handy".

Don't treat the symptoms, treat the problem!

~~~
dkarl
Excellent point; once you're good at "ruining" or getting rid of stuff, the
stuff you have doesn't bother you. The more you get rid of, the easier it
gets, because you realize you don't regret any of it. Once you've got over the
horror of throwing away valuable things yourself, you can exploit it in other
people. "Hey, do you want...? If you don't, I'm just going to throw it away."
Your stuff ends up in their closet instead of yours. You can also donate stuff
to friends who enjoy having garage sales or selling at flea markets.

Bottom line, as with alcohol, there's no need to avoid it unless you know you
can't handle it.

------
derwiki
Good timing on the article -- I actually ran the numbers early this evening to
see if (financially) ZipCar + public transit was cheaper than TCO for the car
I sold 6 months ago. I looked at 6 month of each, living in Nob Hill. Owning a
car ended up being $2700 and ZipCar about $1600. The cost savings, while
validating, is not the biggest gain. Not worrying about parking tickets (or
towing!), finding a parking spot (always the worst part of my day), getting
broken into (happened once already), mechanical problems -- it's hard to put a
price on that burden being lifted.

Outside of that, since I moved to SF a little over a year ago (to a smaller
place) it made me realize how much junk I have that I don't need and have been
actively trying to minimize my possessions. So far, I've shed a lot of extra
weight and my entire life feels a little less cluttered. It's very re-assuring
that articles like this keep coming up on HN.

~~~
rubashov
Motorcycle is an under-considered car alternative. Fuel is peanuts and total
annual costs only a few hundred; a small fraction of car ownership. Only a few
grand of capital is tied up in the bike.

It's great if you only need to drive a couple times a week and can resort to
other means if necessary.

~~~
gmac
I love the idea of motorbikes, but find the risk of death off-putting. E.g.
<http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/risks_of_travel.htm>

~~~
masomenos
While motorcycles are clearly not quite as safe as cars, every study I've seen
found that the vast, vast majority of motorcycle accidents involved at least
one of the following:

\- untrained rider \- failure to use safety equipment \- drunk

My conclusion is that a properly trained and equipped motorcyclist who stays
100% sober while riding is pretty safe. My 15 years of riding on the streets
has borne that out -- I've had a few close calls due to insane drivers, but
keeping up with safety training has given me the skills to deal. Without
having taken the safety classes, no question I would have had multiple
crashes.

~~~
jackowayed
In driver's ed they also told me that since they're smaller and drivers are
used to looking for cars, drivers often don't see/notice motorcycles. There's
nothing you can do about the fact that other drivers suck.

The real issue is that even if you only get in as many accidents on your
motorcycle as you would have in your car (which is probably nonzero, even if
you're a great driver--other drivers suck, remember), each one is _way_ more
likely to kill you or cause serious injury when you're not surrounded by a ton
of steel.

~~~
masomenos
The visibility problem is one of the first things they mention in any safety
training. You definitely don't belong on a motorcycle if you don't understand
that & don't have the skills to deal -- it's not for everyone.

------
seanc
This only makes sense if you place a high value on mobility.

Many people value putting down roots and committing to a city or neighborhood.
This often comes from having many tangled connections to other people.

My life isn't just about me anymore. It's about my wife, kids, and our
extended family. If we were to move around a lot, each move would require the
whole family to change their lifestyles, as opposed to just one person.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of nomadic families, but they are more
rare than nomadic individuals because of the increased complexity.

For those of us who aren't as passionate about the nomadic lifestyle, settling
down makes sense. And, if you're going to settle down, ownership is the way to
go, especially of your house.

A great neighborhood is worth a lot of money. Good neighbors, good schools,
good transit to work, and so on. If you're renting a house which provides
those things, the idea that a landlord can take it all away isn't pleasant.

~~~
philwelch
Nomadic implies you barely spend a couple years in one place at a time.
Homeownership to stay put implies that you stay put for decades, because
mortgages are usually 30 years. Isn't there anything in between?

~~~
Confusion
Sure, buy a house when you get somewhere, sell it when you are finished there
and accept the losses due to that suboptimal process as costs of the
lifestyle. You can't be picky when you buy it, you'll have to sell in a hurry,
you may have to pay fines for paying of mortgages at an increased rate, etc.
However, it can be done.

~~~
philwelch
But it can be done just as well, or in some cases even better, by renting. No
fines, no selling (worst case scenario you have to rush to sublet, which is a
lot less paperwork and hassle), and depending on the area you even get to be
picky. You can move every 5 to 10 years buying and selling property, but it
sounds like you have to throw away a lot of money to do so, and I thought the
point of homeownership was to avoid throwing away money.

~~~
seanc
At this stage you're beyond rules of thumb and down to evaluating each deal on
a case by case basis, factoring in everything from interest rates to how long
you think you'll be in that particular place.

------
nicpottier
Renting isn't the real goal here, only one of many possible solutions to being
nailed down to one place.

For example, I own a duplex, and furnished the top unit rather nicely and
lived in it for a few years. But I decided to move abroad for a while and
rented it furnished and got a property manager to take care of the duplex.

The key is just to plan for not needing income. I knew that I'd reach the
break even point on my duplex pretty quickly vis-a-vis rent and mortgage, so
although I own property, it isn't really an anchor, instead an investment.

I agree with some of the other posters, seems like if you are frugal and buy
off of CL you are probably going to do just as well. You can also rent entire
houses or apartments furnished for less than the cost of renting stuff
separately, so that's another option.

Keep your options open, that's the real goal.

------
pkulak
How is leasing a car less stressful than owning? I own my car, and at least I
can put it on Craigslist whenever I like. If I was leasing it, who knows what
I'd have to go through to get rid of it. I guess you could actually _rent_ a
car... for $70 a day.

And if I was renting all my furniture and appliances, God, I'd be broke right
now from the payments. If I had enough money to rent everything, I'd just buy
it and save the rest. Or buy better stuff. Or go on vacation. If I want to
move and not take stuff with me, I'll sell it.

~~~
johnkary
Article argued for using public transportation instead of an owned vehicle.

I think you missed the point of the article, which was you can focus more on
your passion (work, family, hobbies, start up) if you don't bind yourself to
ownership. If you own a house, sure, you have an appreciating (???) asset, but
you also are responsible for fixing every little thing that goes wrong. The
"extra" you pay in rent vs owning is for having a landlord to worry about
investing time and your extra money to fix things.

~~~
lsc
yeah, but the problem is that you have to worry about shit you rent. Really,
you have to worry about it more than shit you own. My stuff is, well, mine,
and nobody else will give me trouble if I destroy it.

Rented stuff belongs to someone else. I need to take due care, and if I do
happen to break it, I usually have to pay more than what getting the
equivalent thing off craigslist would cost me.

Also, when you rent, you usually commit to renting for a certain number of
months (or sometimes years) - in many ways a lease is much less flexible than
owning, because I can't sublet, and I can't force the landlord to lower the
price, so if I want to leave, and the market prices of the rental is lower
than what I paid for it, I'm potentially on the hook to pay off not only the
difference between market value then and market value now, but instead the
entire value of the lease.

~~~
rue
That is what insurance is for.

~~~
lsc
yeah... but, for example, buying insurance on your rental car doubles it's
cost. And getting anything out of insurance is such a hassle. If I had a nice
new leased car and my brother put a dent in it learning to drive, I'd have to
deal with it. even if it didn't jack up my insurance premiums, which it would,
dealing with a little dent is probably going to cost you at least 5 hours. But
the thing is, I don't rent; I own a jalopy. so the kid put a dent in it... so
what? It wasn't the first dent, and won't be the last dent. Driving a car that
is worth a weeks pay is a much lower stress experience, for me, at least, than
driving a car that is half of a year's post-tax earnings. Sure, the thing will
die one of these days. but who cares? Push the thing to the side of the road
and call a cab and a wrecker to haul it off to the junkyard. borrow a friends
car (because I'm free with loaning my jalopy, I have some credit) or rent
until I find my next jalopy. It's been pretty good for the time I've had it.

Another example; a while back I stepped on my thinkpad. Now, being a 200lb
guy, the monitor cracked. Will insurance cover "A fat man stepped on it?" If
they do, they'd probably pay retail to replace it (lenovo wanted $700 to fix
it, and that'd be factored into premiums.) I think I ended up paying $80 for a
new LCD and spent two hours installing it. Probably less hassle than dealing
with insurance would have been.

Insurance is best for risks that are beyond your capability to deal with...
Usually for small things, it's cheaper, long term, to deal with it yourself.
And unless you /enjoy/ bureaucracy, it's usually less work, too.

------
moby_duck
My ideal living space would be a medium-sized house almost entirely devoid of
any "stuff". No art hanging on the walls. No stack of crappy DVDs I never
watch. Just a bed, a computer desk, a nice TV, and some kitchen-ware.

But I have a wife, and she stuffs our house full of all kinds of stuff.

BTW, I'm not trying to start a gender flame-war; I'm sure plenty of guys annoy
their wives with stupid toys.

~~~
trafficlight
I don't think I could do without some kind of art on the walls. Bare walls
make a house feel cold and sterile. That's not some place I would want to
spend a lot of time.

~~~
bruceboughton
The grandparent should remember you don't have to hang any old art on the
walls. It's really cheap to get your holidays photos blown up on to canvas
these days, and the cheap-ish cameras are certainly up to it.

------
erikstarck
I agree with Bruce Sterling. Buy an expensive bed and office chair (you spend
most of your time in those and you only have one body). Then only keep stuff
that's

\- Extremely beautiful.

\- Have an extraordinary emotional value to you. We're talking the watch in
Pulp Fiction type of items.

\- Highly practical.

Throw away everything else.

~~~
qjz
I'm sure you'll find many hoarders who can justify their entire collections
with those three rules.

~~~
erikstarck
Bruce Sterling talks about that here: <http://boingboing.net/2009/07/09/bruce-
sterlings-clos.html> It's a great speech filled with nuggets about life in the
coming decade but the parts related to this starts at about 36 minutes in.

~~~
jazzdev
Great stuff in that video about knowing if something's beautiful or
meaningful.

And some great stuff at the beginning about not wasting your time doing
something you can do better when you're dead, like conserving water or
electricity or reducing your carbon footprint. Flawed logic, but an
interesting way to think about things.

------
whatusername
Just remember that renting is like SAAS.. you don't really own your stuff and
don't have control over it. For 90% of use cases - that's fine. But remember
the 10%.

~~~
frio
This is important; to me at least. I'm a tinkerer, and I like to mess around
with things I own. While it might be worth avoiding ownership for the decrease
in stress, the fear of damaging someone else's equipment by toying with it
would be nightmarish.

My old earphones started dying the other day; they'd cut out whenever the
moulded 3.5mm jack moved. So I cut it off and resoldered a new one, and now
they work just fine. If I'd rented (a bad example, I know), they'd probably be
sitting in a dump right now because no doubt the economies of scale dictate
it's cheaper to simply manufacture a new pair.

Similarly, I live in a rented house with flatmates at the moment, and the
things I'd like to do - install a couple of solar panels, run Cat5e through
the house (instead of running it down the halls), rig up some neat project
ideas I have with an Arduino - I can't, because it's not mine.

I guess my point is that we shape the world we live in, and we can't do that
to other people's stuff (at least, not within social norms anyway).

~~~
harry
Yes! Glad someone echoed my sentiment.

A parallel from my own world. I bought a new truck - only if I buy something
that I truly invest in will I care enough about it to care FOR it for the 20
years I expect it to last. I do all the maintenance myself more out of a love-
hate relationship with that type of work. But damn it is nice to drop in a new
set of speakers or a beefier tow hitch when I get a wild hair up my ass.

------
araneae

      Owning a pet can be a delight, 
     but it is also a burden. 
     When my girlfriend visits she has 
     to get a cat sitter and she worries
     when she can’t get a hold of them.
    

If I were going to buy his thesis, I'd want it to be a little better
researched. One of the few things that is pretty well proven to make you
happier is a pet, pet sitting annoyances aside.

~~~
jcl
Obviously, the author is advocating pet rental.

OK, maybe not. But perhaps this represents an unfulfilled need in the
marketplace? You can certainly get some benefits of having a pet without
having it live with you long-term (or hospitals wouldn't bother with pet
therapy). And you only need to look to Japan to see the urban future:

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1570493/Japanese-p...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1570493/Japanese-
prices-for-pet-rental.html)

Edit, after more reading on this fascinating topic: Apparently there was a pet
rental business in the US, but it folded under pressure from animal rights
groups. Pet rental is now illegal in Massachusetts, and maybe the UK and
elsewhere:

<http://www.newsweek.com/2008/07/28/a-dog-for-a-day.html>

Oh well... Perhaps there is still hope for cat cafes:

[http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/japan/090406/tokyos-
cat-c...](http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/japan/090406/tokyos-cat-cafes)

~~~
sliverstorm
I've got to agree with the animal rights groups. Maybe not for the same
reasons though.

An animal can be damaged by an irresponsible renter- killed, traumatized,
injured, de-socialized. Unlike a rental car or TV, we cannot simply throw out
the broken ones (I should hope you agree with me there)

Complicating things even more, the odds that you're not going to know how to
interact with a pet go way up if you don't HAVE a pet!

While animals are not people, they are similar enough to people as to be
completely different from 'stuff', and if you cannot deal with the
responsibility of caring for a pet I do not think you should have one at all.

(In a controlled environment that can include supervision and a responsible
figure who knows what they are doing, perhaps it could work, but not if you're
taking them home for a week or such)

------
bconway
The author makes a lot of claims about renting, but then backs them up with
points that aren't specific to renting at all. For example:

 _Speaking of which, having a car is convenient (and sometimes necessary), but
is a monetary black hole and a source of stress if it’s having problems. My
old Subaru got me from A to B but probably raised my blood pressure by more
than the mileage as I worried about what would go wrong next._

And? How is that any different than leasing a car for X years?

The bigger issue is that the author goes on to talk about the stress of owning
things vs the happiness of not doing so. But at the end of the day, knowing
that a.) you don't owe money on an item (it _really_ belongs to you) and b.)
you are the only one that needs to be answered to for the
status/condition/usefulness of an item brings a helluva lot more piece of mind
than holding other people's property.

That being said, don't waste your time collecting junk, either.

~~~
steveklabnik
> And? How is that any different than leasing a car for X years?

It's not, but it's certainly different than using public transportation or
biking.

~~~
philwelch
Bikes are _awesome_. For a month or two worth of gas, or probably less than a
month of expenses (amortized, all-things-considered) you can buy a used bike.
It's not as convenient, and is harder work, and it sucks going uphill unless
you're in great shape, but on the other hand you can completely total your
bike twice a year and still come out hundreds of dollars ahead compared to
driving.

(What sucks about bikes is the infrastructure, at least in the US. "Bike
friendly" means the city gives you a lane right next to the parking lane, and
expects you to run headfirst into opening car doors and cars turning across
your lane.)

------
arethuza
Best case where owning is _way_ better than renting for me: ski boots.

Rental ski boots are instruments of torture as far as I am concerned.

~~~
sledmonkey
Absolutely. I've got custom foam injected liners and footbeds and will never
ski without them again. Changed my (ski) life.

------
sjunkin
This seems like massive fluff - the "stuff" part I agree with garages full of
random products is wasteful. Pets and houses as being burdens sounds a lot
like "I just got out of college and am afraid of responsibility"

~~~
jimbokun
_"I just got out of college and am afraid of responsibility"_

For such a person, his advice is very sound.

------
mkelly
I agree wholeheartedly with this article, and the PG article that preceded it.
I try very hard to avoiding owning more than I must.

Big moves and traveling help tremendously with this. When I moved to New York
city from southern California, I got rid of everything but a box (shipped),
and what I could bring on the plane. I'd been traveling with much less than
that for a few months before, and that helped me realize how little I really
needed.

Tools and electronics are my weak points. Home laptop, work laptop,
workstation+monitor (high power), bastion machine (low power). Power drill, a
bunch of screwdriver extensions, multimeter, connectors for god-knows-what,
etc.

NYC is very amenable to this philosophy: owning my apartment is out of the
question. I have no need for a car (and my commute has become much less
stressful). Apartments are small and don't give you much space to accumulate
needless stuff.

I haven't considered the idea of renting furniture, but perhaps it's
reasonable. I know services like that exist.

------
AlexRodriguez
Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney in 'Up in the Air' lives out of his
suitcase and thinks he loves it. This sounds like something Bingham would say
in one of his motivational speeches.

------
johnkary
You don't even need to pay Rent. There are a few resources out there to lead
you to living rent-free:

<http://www.caretaker.org/> \- House sitting and property caretaking
newsletter. Basically live in someones house in exchange for taking care of
it.

<http://www.couchsurfing.org/> \- Find reliable people willing to let you
sleep on their couch for free. I always look here when needing a place to stay
and don't want to pay for a hotel. Search in advance if you know your travel
dates and length of stay.

~~~
philwelch
Evidently, the market value of awkward social obligations to strangers
combined with having to move around a lot is several hundred dollars a month,
because I can't imagine doing either of those for free rent unless I was
desperately broke.

------
noonespecial
The real trick in life is finding the balance between what one can acquire and
what one can _use_.

------
yason
I've also grown pro-renting and pro-disowning.

I bought an apartment a few years ago, then relocated and rented a new
apartment for myself, leased my own apartment to an acquaintance of mine,
never went back myself, and finally had _an enormous relief_ when I finally
sold it.

I don't think I'm owning again any time soon, if ever. Even if I lived there
myself all the time this time.

I think that it's sensible to own small stuff, like your pots and pans,
furniture, clothes, and you know, _personal stuff_. You're probably not going
to Europe on a whim _all the time_ and there's always some place you can stash
a few boxes while you're away.

It's just that I've also learned to own very little, to minimize the burden of
owning stuff. So far I've recycled more stuff out of my home than hauled new
stuff in. I'm quite ruthless in choosing what to give out: if I haven't used
or needed something for some time, it's out. It always feels good. Books are a
notable exception, though.

Then, personally, car is a bit of a borderline case for me. I'd definitely
lease if I had to drive a new car. On the other hand, I drive little and only
leisure-like trips that I could simply choose not to drive. So it makes sense
for me to own an old car which is what I've done for the past decade. While I
actually enjoy taking care of the car maintenance, should it happen to break
down it would just remain broken until I would get to fixing it (or have it
fixed). So I don't stress about its ownership either: my car is a convenience
but not at all a necessity.

------
mitjak
I'm sure the practice won't be greeted here with open arms, but I often 'rent'
items from big chain stores with long return policies when I need to and just
return the items before the time goes up. 90% of the time I don't keep the
purchases, but the 10% of items I do keep I use very often and am very happy
with. Call it using the system.

~~~
derwiki
Are these items that couldn't be legitimately rented from somewhere else? I'm
personally very opposed to the practice, but am curious why people feel OK
doing it.

~~~
mitjak
I'm a student so the return policy way is really the cheapest out there. As to
why people feel OK doing it, why shouldn't we? Costco, in particular, offers
an unusually long return policy. I don't exactly return underwear or dirty
plates, but electronic devices I don't see a problem with. A good example
would be needing a good laptop for about a week or two when the university
Debian based towers just don't cut it anymore.

I mean, anyone who's used an IDE written in Java will agree.

~~~
derwiki
It feels to me like living outside of one's means.

~~~
mitjak
If there is an opportunity to have something you temporarily need and likely
wont need beyond the given project, then how is that not simply utilizing the
system in place? It's a life hack.

~~~
bruceboughton
>> It's a life hack.

No, it's unethical and cheap.

~~~
mitjak
Cheap? Definitely. Unethical? Its in their policy. I pay the annual Costco
membership after all.

~~~
dedward
You know what? Just because it's legal doesn't make it right.

If too many people do this, then the policy will change, and ruin it for
everyone else.

You pay an annual membership so that costco can locate their businesses in
cheap areas zoned for wholesale/warehouse outfits, not regular retail, saving
them a ton of money. They have to charge you a membership fee - it's members
only shopping.

------
barmstrong
I did something similar and took off to Argentina for a year. Took with me
only one backpack and and my laptop. Got rid of all my other stuff.

Now that I'm back state side I'm trying to maintain minimal amount of stuff
because it was fairly nice. Two words: furnished apartment.

~~~
bruceboughton
>> Two words: furnished apartment.

Speaking as someone who went the other route (unfurnished, buy stuff), I wish
I'd tried this. If you're going to be paying the money for a nice place
anyway, it's probably worth going furnished.

------
Avshalom
>>Finally, owning very nice things makes using them less pleasurable because
you have to be extra careful not to damage them (as Paul Graham says in his
essay “Nothing owns you like fragile stuff”).

clearly we have different ideas of what constitutes "very nice" cause in my
world very nice implies dependable and nigh invincible.

------
duck
Probably the better general advice would be not to own or rent, but rather
just do without.

~~~
khafra
The problem for me with wearing a hair shirt all the time is not that it
itches, but that it's boring. Asceticism advocacy is a nice applause light,
but not very good as practical advice.

~~~
duck
I wasn't refering to that extreme, but rather as in do I really need an
(iPad|second car|fancy tv|another video game|nicer house|newest laptop|etc.)?
I've lived in some different places to see both sides of this and found if you
can answer no more than yes you'll be happier.

~~~
khafra
Heh, I wouldn't know what to do with another car or a TV, but I can measure
the ways in which my shiny new iPhone 4 has made my life better; and I'd love
to have a house with a project room and a garage and a yard large enough to
grow all the herbs and vegetables I'd like.

------
oinopion
What sense does it make? If you rent apartment(s) for 10 years, you give money
out and you have nothing afterwards. Mortgage, on other hand, is more
investment: you will have something valuable after paying it back.

Is renting everything a new way to be cool?

~~~
mtr
Buying isn't always better than renting especially when you take into account
interest payments, maintenance, closing and selling costs, taxes etc. So
basically if the house doesn't increase in value enough to cover these costs
than you are better off renting.

Check out this cool calculator for some more details:
[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-
calcula...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-
calculator.html)

~~~
dedward
This depends on whether you are buying for investment reasons or other
reasons.

We buy plenty of things for non-ivestnemtn reasons - a house COULD be one of
those things, depending on your situation.

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coliveira
The author is advocating renting stuff instead of buying it. This suggestion
doesn't help much in the long run, because you become addicted in the same
way. A better suggestion would be using less stuff, period.

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sliverstorm
Disclaimer: Renting everything doesn't work if you're broke.

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Shorel
I would change it to:

Rent/Lease in markets where prices are probably going down, buy in markets
where prices are probably going up.

Of course, this rule has lots of exceptions, like computers.

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zalew
_Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out
on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner_

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chopsueyar
This would be a non-issue if he owned a badass diesel truck.

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plesn
Be happier, find or borrow everything.

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rubashov
I dunno. Craigslist has made the market for "stuff" pretty liquid. I can get
rid of most of my crap for a healthy fraction of what I paid with way less
than an hour of effort per item. Hell, a whole lot of my stuff came from
craigslist.

Just deliberately live in a small place, don't buy a lot of crap, and
regularly cull. Buy only high quality and durable items and do it after a
couple day's deliberation.

I'm pretty sure I could be liquidated and out of here in under a week. This
seems to be the goal he's shooting for. I guess that's a good thing if you're
rootless. But it makes one wonder about the days when people bought or
inherited heirloom furniture, made to last over 100 years. The culture of
disposable and cheaply made crap, and rootless people, is ... questionable.

~~~
pkulak
Exactly. And if you buy it on Craigslist, you can usually sell it again for
almost no loss.

