Is All That Stuff Really Necessary?
In this article, Paul Graham distinguishes an interesting difference between the rich and poor. In general, when you have little money, things seem more valuable. Because of this, says Graham, it is more common that you collect ‘bargains’ because of their apparent value.
I’m a hoarder myself, but can appreciate that just because something is cheap, doesn’t mean it’s worth anything. That said, I can’t pass up a bargain.
Paul continues to discuss that all this stuff that you may accumulate is probably worth a lot less than you originally bargained for. This collection may be weighing you down when you can live a much liberating life if you abolished a lot of it.
What I didn’t understand was that the value of some new acquisition wasn’t the difference between its retail price and what I paid for it. It was the value I derived from it. Stuff is an extremely illiquid asset. Unless you have some plan for selling that valuable thing you got so cheaply, what difference does it make what it’s “worth?” The only way you’re ever going to extract any value from it is to use it. And if you don’t have any immediate use for it, you probably never will.
Is there any help for us hoarders and collectors or are we doomed to live a cluttered and only possibly wealthy life?
Stuff - [PaulGraham]
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Comments
Eugene says on August 8th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I’ve always called it the “Walmart Syndrome”. People walk in for milk and see a toaster for $9.99 so they have to buy it because its such a good price. Of course that toaster lasts 1.5 days past the 90 day warranty so it goes in the trash they they have to then make another trip to Walmart to buy a new toaster and you see a $29 DVD player and have to get it too. Then it dies so you have to replace it, etc.
Remember when things like furniture and silverware and tools you passed down to your grandkids? I have a couple of those items, the ones my grandparents gave me before they died and the rest of the family clean everything out from their house and sold it at a yard sale so they could buy more stuff from walmart.
I’ve gon to where I won’t go into one of those everything under one tool stores anymore. if I want groceries I’lll go to the grocery store, tools the tools store, etc. That way I’m not tempted to buy “bargins”. That and a strict enforcement of some basic purchase rules I’ve made for myself that say everything has to have a place, and has to be inventoried, and fit in or work with the rest of my stuff.
I’m wondering if I can get away with having one of those old fashioned foot locker/trucks for each of my kids at the foot of their bed and everything they own has to fit in there or they can’t have it like my grandparents generation did when they had 7 kids in two bedrooms and that was all the space the kids could have. The government would probably take my kids away from me if I tried it because I’d be “depriving” them. Having went to a public school and not been overweight, I was constantly having to go to the Dr. to get notes that said I wasn’t malnourished under threats to call the childrens services by the teachers and admins.
George says on August 9th, 2007 at 7:13 am
If only there was a way to know what that nick nack would really end up costing us…tubalcainsworkshop.blogspot.com/2007/07/counting-psychic-cost-of-crap.html
Eugene says on August 9th, 2007 at 8:02 am
nick nack
I’ve come to hate that word (well those two words).
Shortly after we got married both of my mother and mother in law kapt tellng us we needed shelves for nick nacks, a coffeee table, pictures on the walls, etc. We went major in debt buying crap like that only to either give it away, sell it for pennies or toss it in the trash a few years later. The credit card bills outlasted the nick nacks we had to buy. Sure we didn’t have to buy them, but we were young and listened to those older than us who we thought we were wiser.
Chessiq says on August 14th, 2007 at 12:56 am
I need to get rid of my books! Finished grad school over a year ago. I will never go back to those books. Books=junk? That’s a toughie!
Complete Geek says on August 16th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
It’s probably me just being a man and not “getting it” but my wife insists that every square inch of shelf space be filled with something “pretty” or “decorative”. I see it as “useless” or “a waste of money”, but hey, like I said, I’m just a man and I’m ruled by logic.