How owning stuff makes you feel

fandango

It's the little things that make life easier. A decent Stanley knife, say. Or a bradawl. Except I gave my bradawl a bit too much and the end snapped off. And now it's not so sharp and pointy. Sigh. A really useful tool that cost pennies. Have I bought another yet? No, not yet.

How does owning a bradawl make me feel? Like I can get things done better around the house. Ditto a Stanley knife and a host of other tools.

Cars? Hmmmm. For those shirking luxury, I guess you haven't done a 150 mile 3-4 hour drive to get to work? So how would owning a luxury car make me feel? More comfortable and less tired than driving a clapped out Fiat Punto.

I suppose I do have stuff that's a bit overkill for what I need. I'm not going to give you the contents of my house, but I do have too much stuff*, and that makes me feel like I need help sorting it out.

* Mostly though, it's stuff that needs sorting and binning.

earwighoney

Reverend said:

I have loads of stuff. My two tvs are flat screens but both are fairly basic and not that big. However i do have literally thousands of CDs and LPs. Hundreds of cassettes and hundreds of singles. I have 100 band shirts in my pile to sell. I have 3 70s marshall.heads, as well as a few other amps. 4 book shelves full of books. I really need to have a sort out. Again.

Do you have many home copied tapes?  The convenience of MP3's and so on is superb but I find there's something special about a home copied tape, especially the ones which were made for you by someone.

RaymondLin said:

To fill an emotional void with materials.  It never works, well it does for like a day until whatever i bought arrives. 

I'm in agreement. 

dindude

I try to own as little as possible really, it gives me a more Zen feeling! 

Easy to fall into the trap of thinking things are good to own, but if I haven’t got time to use them then it becomes a distraction/frustration.

In the words of Arcade Fire “‘til every room in my house is full of shit I couldn’t live without”

ICBM

I like the stuff I have, but I would generally prefer to have less of it. I do currently have a couple of thousand CDs which I'm trying to cull a bit, I've cut down on guitars and amps quite a lot, and I need to make more of an effort to get rid of junk. Having to empty half the loft today to get at the pipes for a leaking water cylinder brought it home just how much I 'store in case I need it'. I'll try to put as little as possible of it back when the job is done...

Dominic

He who dies with the most toys wins 
I'm thinking Yachts , Ferraris , Sexy Russian holiday companions etc

guitarfishbay

I sold all my games consoles years ago and don’t regret it. There are only so many hours in the day and I’d rather play music. However music isn’t my job, loads of music people I know play games as their hobby because they get enough time doing music.

I wouldn’t worry about stuff unless you’re lacking space and that’s causing you stress (I’ve had that in the past). More important to assess if you’re spending your time in a way you actually enjoy rather than being stuck in a rut doing things you don’t value.

tone1

I’m with JJ Cale..... Travellin’ light is the only way to go....

https://youtu.be/k3mrpVwpeFY

JerkMoans

Dominic said:

He who dies with the most toys wins 

Precisely why me and my lads hijacked that container truck of dildos outside Kettering.

PolarityMan

Reverend said:

. I have 3 70s marshall.heads, 

I missed the space there for a second......

McSwaggerty

Nobody needs loads of Stuff.
It's much better to have a smaller material lifestyle so you can experience a bigger life, full of passion and purpose. 
Own less to live more. 

monquixote

I'd like to have a lot less stuff. 

Recently got rid of all of my CDs, Books and nearly all the DVDs except some kids films which can come in handy. 

Despite being a software developer I only recently bought a laptop having previously just used what was provided by work and I've never owned a tablet. 

I could do with getting rid of a few musical bits that I don't really use as they just take up space. 

My main bug bear is the amount of plastic shite that is generated by having 3 children. 

Ideally I'd like to own a couple of nice guitars and a laptop and that's about it. The amount of shit I actually own is just insane. 

LuttiS

We were in a good position when moving into new house as we could do it gradually and not have to get everything over on one day. 
So we went with bare minimum then went back for things we actually needed. We had 10years of shit that we just didn't need. 
Huge amount of shit has gone.. still have too much though got so many books that I don't want to get rid of.. but I'm working up to it.. 
Tech wise, we have a couple of tvs, I have a desktop PC and a laptop, Mrs.L has a laptop, couple of phones and I think there is a ps3 in a bag somewhere... 

It's our hobbies that take the room... Got a cupboard full of guitars/amps etc, and rest of it full of wool for Mrs. L's crotchet.. takes a surprising amount of space.

Musicwolf

I'm having a clear out at the moment.  This is a sort of precursor to the major clear out that is planned for January after I retire.  My office / studio will become studio / home-office and, as much as it's about making space, it's also about making the mental shift from work to play.

The 'loft of mystery' needs de-cluttering (I'm actual concerned about how much weight is up there).  I recently cleared out a pile of DVDs and CDs then, the other week, I had to get the box(es) of old photos down (my boss and had asked my wife for old photos of me for my leaving presentation - I'm not supposed to know be she didn't know where the photos were).  An important tip - do not waste your time taking holiday photos of places.  30 years on any photo that hasn't got people you know in it will go straight in the bin.

As well as my studio, loft and shed I also need to sort out my parents loft.  Despite being 87 years old my Father can still get up there to add even more stuff and he won't throw anything away.  I recently managed to sneak an old vacuum cleaner out without him seeing.

2020 is going to be the year that I get on first name turns with the guys at the local re-cycling centre.

slacker

I view anything non guitar related as an uneccesary expense and delay buying it. I like computer games but upgraded x boxes last year. I was given a secondhand tv to use with it. I ran 15 year old cars until I got a company car. 

I do have a strat les paul gretsch ric es125 matchless bad cat morgan klon king of tone dmm and other stuff that is way more than i need,

McSwaggerty

Over the last 2 years l have got rid of loads of stuff.

Clothes and Shoes l didnt wear,  Books l would never read again,  CDs l wouldn't listen to any more,  Chairs nobody sat on,  Drawer units that were full of useless rubbish.... .

The amount of shite up the loft was ridiculous...... 20 years worth of 'l will keep it for now just in case'.....or.....'Its too good to throw out' '

Some stuff went on Gumtree, some on EBay but most of it went to the recycling centre. And l have never missed one single thing. 

Owning less is great.... And it feels great..... It really frees you up. 
And l have discovered there is another benefits of owning less......
I now want less. lnstead of wasting money on stuff l don't really need, l now use the money to go and do stuff l couldn't afford or have the time for before.....

I totally recommend it...... You will never ever get bogged down with stuff again...... Freedom.!!!!!

boogieman

Musicwolf said:

I'm having a clear out at the moment.  This is a sort of precursor to the major clear out that is planned for January after I retire.  My office / studio will become studio / home-office and, as much as it's about making space, it's also about making the mental shift from work to play.

The 'loft of mystery' needs de-cluttering (I'm actual concerned about how much weight is up there).  I recently cleared out a pile of DVDs and CDs then, the other week, I had to get the box(es) of old photos down (my boss and had asked my wife for old photos of me for my leaving presentation - I'm not supposed to know be she didn't know where the photos were).  An important tip - do not waste your time taking holiday photos of places.  30 years on any photo that hasn't got people you know in it will go straight in the bin.

As well as my studio, loft and shed I also need to sort out my parents loft.  Despite being 87 years old my Father can still get up there to add even more stuff and he won't throw anything away.  I recently managed to sneak an old vacuum cleaner out without him seeing.

2020 is going to be the year that I get on first name turns with the guys at the local re-cycling centre.

My parents had exactly the same vacuum cleaner. That’s from the 1960s..... and I bet it still works. 

I used to hoard things (definitely a tangible thing filling an emotional void type deal) but a divorce and  a couple of house moves have made me slim down things a lot. I’ve also got to the stage where I don’t want to hang onto things. They won’t mean anything to my wife and kids when I go, so they’ll just end up in the bin. We’ve got fairly old tech tv, phones etc and I’ve not played any games for years.  The only new-ish thing we own us our car. Most of our money goes on holidays and experiences rather than possessions. 

ICBM

boogieman said:

Musicwolf said:

My parents had exactly the same vacuum cleaner. That’s from the 1960s..... and I bet it still works. 

Mine too . It was also sealed with tape around the end section...

Theirs went to the dump about 20 years ago when the plastic handle snapped though.

strtdv

Marie Kondo is definitely onto something when she says "keep what brings you joy".
There's quite a lot of enjoyment to be had in something that's really well made, like good quality tools or a nice guitar. 

The other principle I apply is that there's no value in objects intrinsically, they have to serve a purpose.

Combine those two things and I guess I like nice quality things but not too excess.
It's easy to get caught up in the capitalist rat race, particularly at this time of year. The planet would be better off if we bought less stuff but it was built to last. I wouldn't mind paying more for it either in those circumstances.

prowla

I prefer owning things to not having things and wishing I did.

McSwaggerty

prowla said:

I prefer owning things to not having things and wishing I did.

So you like owning stuff, and owning lots of stuff makes you happy. 
That's cool......no worries
Each to their own.