
Do I Really Want All This Stuff? - georgebonnr
https://medium.com/editors-picks/4728ca0774be
======
westicle
For anyone interested in what happens to all this "stuff" at the other end...

I administer several deceased estates (the process for which is to locate and
prove the will (if applicable), gather in and dispose of the assets,
distribute the balance).

As most deceased people tend to be in the 70+ age bracket, it is very unlikely
that you can even comprehend the volume of "stuff" involved in that
undertaking.

Typically, 1% - 5% of the stuff has any commercial value. There might be
jewellery, an antique or two. I can usually get $100 for a working fridge.
Unfortunately we live in a disposable culture - we are geared to buy new
rather than re-use old.

Some small proportion of the rest of the stuff can be donated (ie. charities
will accept it). The rest fills up 2-5 rubbish skips (6 cubic metres each) and
subsequently landfill.

Look around your house. Experience indicates that on your death I'll recover
approximately $900 from selling your stuff.

~~~
sliverstorm
_Unfortunately we live in a disposable culture - we are geared to buy new
rather than re-use old._

I think a lot of that has to do with the markets for new & used goods. There
are many things I would be perfectly fine buying used, but have no hope of
locating for sale in any reasonable span of time.

~~~
jodrellblank
Are you suggesting there's room for disrupting eBay?

------
ryandrake
Wow, hate to sound insensitive, but there seem to be a lot of "First World
Problems" on Medium today. "Do I really need all my possessions?" and "I'm
leaving my great job at Google because I'm sad".

Why can't people just enjoy the fact that they're doing better than 90% of the
planet, and not always be trying to find something to have an emotional crisis
over? As someone who's been unemployed and weeks from insolvency, I'm happy
for the job and stuff I have, and appreciate it, because it could be taken
away at any moment.

~~~
InclinedPlane
It's funny, people always say "money can't buy happiness" and yet when it
comes to talk about "rich people with problems" nobody seems to believe it.

Despite the ordinary prejudice against the wealthy that has developed over the
past few years it is still a universal truth that life is a difficult thing,
and figuring out how to lead a rewarding and fulfilling life even more so.

~~~
thenomad
That's an excellent point, and one that I've not really considered before.
Those two common memes do indeed clash in an interesting way.

And on this subject - it's worth noting that one of the most popular books on
how to be rich of recent times, "Four Hour Work Week", devotes a substantial
section at the back of the book to a discussion of how to cope once you are
rich - talking about depression, search for meaning, and similar things.

That's pretty good evidence that being rich, in fact, does not automagically
cure all problems, and that there's not a one-sentence answer to those
problems remaining.

------
ChuckMcM
It is insidious. In what I thought was a clever inversion there was a gal in
LA who had a 'reverse' birthday party, which was that it was her birthday but
the living room was filled with things they didn't use, so the rule was
everyone had to _leave_ with a gift and no one could bring one.

I find I have a hard time throwing stuff away that I know _somebody_ would
use. (example a complete orignal Xbox with about a dozen games, two
controllers, remote etc) Freecycle used to be good for this, Craigslist still
is. Weird though when people get into fights over something you're tossing.

~~~
kaybe
That sounds like the Hobbit way of celebrating birthdays.. the prologue of
Lord of the Rings is quite interesting in this regard.

..'anything that Hobbits had no immiate use for, but were unwilling to throw
away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded
with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of
that sort.'

------
jpmattia
The wife and I moved cross-country two years ago, and were living out of
suitcases for a couple of weeks while the moving truck caught up to us.
Somewhere around day 10 we realized: If the moving truck was vaporized by a
meteor, and they handed us a check for the amount it was insured for, we would
have considered it a good trade.

So a lot of crap got ditched (after paying to move it clear across the country
_facepalm_ ). We now live by the equal-volume rule: For anything that comes
into the house, something of equal or greater volume must leave.

~~~
reeses
Now the question is, if a meteor vaporized the moving truck, and you did _not_
receive a check for the loss, would you be satisfied?

------
Negitivefrags
"Stuff" really is the worst. I'm only 27 and I'm already feeling the pain.

All I can say is that I'm very happy that media no longer takes space to
store. My father has acres of shelf space dedicated to books, CDs, records and
even cassette tapes.

I will never buy a physical book again, and I really need to get around to
giving away all the books I have now. I've never owned a physical CD or a DVD.
I wont be plagued by photo albums.

And then there is paper. If I never receive another letter in my life it will
be too soon.

~~~
lpolovets
I bought a ScanSnap scanner a few years ago. It's a $400 scanner that can scan
pretty much any document -- even double-sided ones. It applies OCR to printed
text and can create searchable PDFs for you. At first I balked at the price
tag, then bit the bullet and purchased the scanner, and now I think it's one
of the best purchases that I've ever made. I've been able to recycle thousands
of documents thanks to this thing.

------
orofino
Last year we sold our things and left to travel around the world. We'd lived
in a house for three years, I'd lived in an apartment for two prior to that.

It required two garage sales and countless trips to goodwill. It was sickening
at times, how little you could sell your things for. We got back a thousand
maybe 1.5k on our goods, the rest was a write off. Even still we had about 8
boxes of stuff when we moved out.

We came back from traveling sooner than expected and had to re-buy a lot of
things, but we've been cautious not to get too many 'useless' things. That
isn't to say there is nothing to adorn our apartment, just... much less.

In general I'm happier this way, we've got pictures we took on the walls, a
few things we picked up traveling, kitchen stuff, and furniture. I hope never
again to get to the point where we were before.

Worst part of selling your stuff: getting rid of our books.

~~~
keithpeter
_" Worst part of selling your stuff: getting rid of our books."_

The actual mechanics is easy, OXFAM. Its the choosing I find hard. I cleared a
couple of single shelves (out of 34!) and ended up re-reading about 5 books.

------
chops
Ever since watching a few episodes of Hoarders, I've become acutely aware of
all the clutter and crap I own, and the line from _Fight Club_ ("The stuff you
own begins to own you") resonates with me quite well.

I'm also given a regular reminder by my parents who have a nice plot of land
in the suburbs, a pool, hot tub, and whatnot, and all the time that's spent
keeping up their impeccable lawn, keeping their pool and hot tub clean,
frankly, I'd rather just pay my $14/mo for a gym membership to have that pool
and hot tub when I want without having to dick around with maintenance.

That said, I still have a stack of old decommissioned servers that I just
can't bring myself to throw away despite the fact that a cluster of a few
Raspberry Pis will be just as powerful for significantly less power. I need to
just bite the bullet and scrap them.

~~~
bebna
I framed my old cpus, perhaps you too can make wall decorations out of these
servers (or parts of them).

------
6d0debc071
Small apartments can be nice:

[http://youtu.be/cWnFgpiCrQo](http://youtu.be/cWnFgpiCrQo)

Though I probably wouldn't go _quite_ that far.

\---------------

The majority of my 'stuff' by volume, and probably by weight, is books. Even
with the advent of ereaders, I still prefer having the thing in my hand.
They're interesting things but I find it a lot harder to just flick through
reference manuals and the like picking out interesting things in that format.

Next up's probably clothes - it just takes a lot of space to hang stuff
properly; if you fold a nice dress into a draw, it can easily get ruined.

~~~
3stripe
Thanks so much for posting that video link, the best thing I've seen on
YouTube this month!

------
Luyt
This immediately reminds me of pg's essay on 'Stuff',

[http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html)

 _"...once you've accumulated a certain amount of stuff, it starts to own you
rather than the other way around. I know of one couple who couldn't retire to
the town they preferred because they couldn't afford a place there big enough
for all their stuff. Their house isn't theirs; it's their stuff's."_

(I recently translated the essay into dutch; it's at
[http://www.michielovertoom.com/articles/paul-graham-
spullen/](http://www.michielovertoom.com/articles/paul-graham-spullen/))

~~~
3stripe
My parents just built an extension onto their 3 bedroom house (just the 2 of
them living there) because the dining table didn't fit comfortably into the
kitchen/dining room.

A good chunk of the space is used up by a sideboard and a display cabinet full
of fancy china which is used once a year at most.

I asked them why they didn't just buy a smaller table but they wouldn't answer
the question. I have a hunch their relationship has failed and has been for
some time and they are using the extension as a distraction.

Since I moved house earlier in the year I've had 5 boxes of "stuff" sitting
under my desk. I make bravado about selling it but I haven't had the balls to
yet. What if some day I need all those CDs of mediocre 90s indie? Instead I
read endless blog posts by preachers of minimalism and take comfort in my good
intentions to do something about my own shit, some day.

~~~
mapt
CDs are the low-hanging fruit. Digitize them. All it requires is about three
hours per linear shelf foot of ripping... or half an hour of queuing up
illegal downloads.

------
mathgladiator
Obligatory George Carlin Link:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac)

~~~
simonebrunozzi
"their stuff is shit, and your shit is stuff". LOL.

------
thelogos
All the stuff I have, -Herman miller chair -army cot -2 blankets -small
foldable table -mbp -iphone -casio f91w -10 pairs of dress pants and dress
shirts (custom tailored in SE Asia), a black suit, 2 jackets, 2 pairs of shoes
-two pelican cases -a cup, a pair of chopsticks, a spoon and a small knife

One thing I do really miss is my piano.

Not owning too much stuff feels really great. I get this strange anxiety
whenever I have too many possessions. Moving is a pain in the ass if you have
too many things and I don't like staying in one place for too long.

At the end of the day, it saves money and you can spend that on traveling,
good food and other entertainments.

I'll never understand why more people don't live like this.

Most people wouldn't have to work so much if they didn't waste all their money
buying useless stuff. Hell, they might even save enough to retire early.

Some of my buddies in college had a whole kitchen of utensils, giant tv, desk,
couches, humongous bed, piles of clothes, etc.

When it came time to move out, it took me an hour to pack up. It took them
days.

One occasion, I helped a friend move out after his lease ended and he was
taking a vacation in Taiwan. He took me to his storage unit and I was in awe
at the sight, piles of plates and cups (I had no idea why he needed all these
plates), brooms, fans, old tv, etc.

I think it costed him more money to store this stuff than the values of the
stuff itself. In the end, he ended up never coming back to the US.

------
harrytuttle
I'm currently helping clear out my wife's grandparents place. They are 93 and
95 years old. So far we have thrown away over 2000kg of crap accumulated over
the 62 years they have been in the house. None of it has any use or value at
all. We have to pay to get it taken away in a skip. We're probably half way
through now.

I've watched them for the last decade clinging onto these things and I think
it's kind of pitiful that possessions hold so much value and are so important.

They have sacrificed their health and remaining life to have a large house to
hold it all rather than take a bungalow which they can actually get around and
live in.

There is no conclusion here apart from: please don't end up like this - it's
heartbreaking to watch people enslaved by it.

I myself have a precise "100 things for me and 100 things shared with the
family" policy. I will never compromise on that.

~~~
keithpeter
_" They have sacrificed their health and remaining life to have a large house
to hold it all rather than take a bungalow which they can actually get around
and live in."_

Having had similar experiences recently, that may not _just_ be the things. It
may be the memories of children, life &c, coupled with a reluctance to face
the loss of independence.

------
mathattack
The "stuff" I struggle with pitching is books. It just seems criminal. And I
hate that I can only get 10% of what I paid from a used book store. But I miss
very little of anything that I've pitched over the years. Out of sight, out of
mind.

~~~
kens
It's interesting how books have this almost religious aura to them, that it's
morally wrong to throw them out. Like discarding a book on Windows 95 will
somehow lead to book-burning and totalitarianism.

Is this a universal view, or are there people who have no trouble discarding
unwanted books?

~~~
zachsnow
I have a ridiculous number of Sci-Fi and fantasy novels hanging about. I never
get rid of them. I think it's because each one represents something like an
entire year (often much more) of one human's efforts.

With movies, say, you know it was hundreds of people. So it's no big deal. But
with books you are tossing someone's whole world.

Also I like to reread them. Honest.

~~~
mathattack
It took me a long time to pitch old SF books but I never reread them. I feel
that each time you read a great book you can get half the remaining insights
so unless a book is awesome I will go for new ones.

------
MaxScheiber
"The things you own end up owning you." Tyler Durden

I'm enjoying the life of frugality as a college student right now. My summer
apartment has little besides my laptop, a couple of books, clothes /
toiletries, my saxophone, and food. It's rather nice. It's hard to waste time
being idle. If I'm bored, I need to be social and hang out with someone; I
can't waste time playing video games or watching TV. (I'm fortunately pretty
sparse with my computer use — GChat, vim, and music mostly.)

Every now and then, a friend, upon entering my apartment, will comment on how
bare it is. I just smile and say, "Isn't it much simpler this way?"

~~~
derefr
Articles like this reminds me that I'm probably not the target audience of the
Palahniuk quote.

I tend to think things like "do I really need to own a large pot? Couldn't I
just do several smaller batches of food in a small pot?" and "why do I need a
chair in my bedroom if I can sit on my bed?"

But I actually try to banish these thoughts--they're almost as dangerous a
mindset to get into as that of a hoarder, I think--because the experience of
sitting crosslegged on your bed typing on a laptop, with your back aching,
reminds you that some possessions actually _are_ a marked improvement to your
life. There are a certain number of objects I am alright with being owned by.

~~~
MaxScheiber
I certainly wouldn't call owning a chair being owned by your belongings. :P

I think the bigger picture to look at here is that we, as humans, are
creative. When we move into an empty apartment, we see a blank slate, prime
for decoration. It's very easy to browse Target, Marshalls, or Ikea and want
to buy things that look cool because hey, I have a decent salary and cheap
housing. Case in point — I bought a Nerf basketball hoop as a spur-of-the-
moment purchase. Haven't touched it once. I definitely had to use restraint on
other such purchases. So I guess that's what worries me. It's so _easy_ to
acquire junk that isn't essential. A pretty Spartan summer definitely showed
me what is really essential and what isn't.

~~~
nileshtrivedi
> I certainly wouldn't call owning a chair being owned by your belongings. :P

You could give up the bed (get a futon on the floor) and keep the chair. :P

------
mjbellantoni
A lack of stuff is really liberating. I've always been a minimalist about
things, but the notion was really brought home after learning of Bruce
Sterling's categories of possessions (via Scripting News):

1\. Beautiful things 2\. Things with emotional value 3\. Functional things 4\.
Everything else

Here's a link to the Scripting News article which has got a link to Sterling's
talk. Listen to the whole thing!

[http://scripting.com/stories/2009/10/21/bruceSterlingAtReboo...](http://scripting.com/stories/2009/10/21/bruceSterlingAtReboot.html)

------
NoodleIncident
I'm all for getting rid of stuff; stuff costs money, takes up space, and you
have to think about it every time you come across it.

But you can take my heat and air conditioning out of my dead, 72°F hands.

~~~
mtts
This was actually somewhat of a weak point in the story: Chinese people do not
leave the heater off out of frugality but because they think it's unhealthy to
have a large temperature difference between the outside of a container (a
house, say, or your own body) and the inside.

Of course modern, wealthy Chinese are starting to eat ice cream in summer and
turning on the heat in winter (and, to be fair, in places where it gets
really, really cold, like in Beijing, they've always had heating in winter) so
this attitude is changing, but some of it still persists. Bottled water (and
beer in restaurants!) is mostly sold unrefrigerated and Chinese shopping malls
in summer are nowhere near as glacial as their counterparts in SE Asia or the
west.

------
Oculus
I had a rude wake up call not too long ago when I realized our entire world is
filled with consumerism and that a lot of us (including myself) are guilty of
participating.

------
stevewillows
One of the best things I ever did was get divorced and walk away from nearly
everything.

I took: \- clothes \- laptop / server \- chef's knife \- cutting board \-
kitchen table

Results.

~~~
reeses
You might be forgetting the other thing you left behind that was causing even
more pain than, say, a car. :-)

------
scotty79
“But we have so many vases already.”

I'd love to hear that from my life partner. In her case I'd like "vases" to be
replaced with "pots", "flowers", "mugs", "cups", "plates", "furniture",
"shoes".

------
evadne
I live out of a backpack. Everything of emotional value is scanned or
photographed then recycled; for the originals that I have to keep, they’re
kept in safe deposit boxes.

Going with good enough alternatives that could be rented instead of bought
goes a long way. That said, I don’t own cars, desktop computers or musical
instruments, so YMMV.

------
lifeformed
All the stuff I own that I care about fits in just enough space to take with
me on a plane. When I move, I just give away or sell things like furniture and
kitchen stuff. It's not too expensive replacing it all with cheap Ikea items.

~~~
nileshtrivedi
Lucky you. Don't have books or musical instruments? Those two are the biggest
blockers for me. Furniture and kitchen stuff is easy to give away and buy
again.

Edit: Things could be worse though. I play guitar, not drums. :)

~~~
lifeformed
I have instruments: some midi controllers and 2 audio monitors to go with it.
I found a perfect sized bag that can fit it all, along with my computer stuff.
I just have that bag, a big suitcase of clothes, and my carry-ons.

I do have books but not too many, and I don't take them with me. I keep most
of my stuff like in long term storage (my parents basement).

