Getting rid of your "stuff"

[pezar]

I think most of us realize that material things don't make a person happy. I was reading a survivalist forum, where people have all these "preps" stored to ride out some horrible catastrophe, and somebody finally said "I wonder how liberating it would be to come home and find everything burned to the ground". At some point, you don't own "stuff", it owns YOU. I have gradually been getting rid of my stuff, I was a hoarder once like the people you see on cable TV, and I got medicated and threw it all away, and now I'm trying to figure out what I really "need". Not much, it turns out. My parents are a lot like Walt and Billie McCandless except my mom was the breadwinner and they have accumulated so much junk it's unnerving. Every time I go there the rooms are full again. I have less and less need for "stuff", and I hope to have my debts paid off in a couple years and enough money to buy a small RV so I can travel. I wonder if those survivalists are really happy hunkered down in a cave somewhere with all their stuff waiting for the Antichrist.

[Ascetic]

I think most of us realize that material things don't make a person happy.

Ultimately, no. Though, material things, if used as means to various ends, can bring a finite degree of fulfillment in life. The problem with our consumerist society is that it mistakenly believes that material things can provide ultimate happiness. They can't. Finite things can only bring finite happiness. We buy, and buy, and buy, thinking the next thing we buy will satisfy us, but it never does. So on we go looking for yet another thing to temporarily bring us happiness. It seems to me that there are only two options: first, our inherent thirst for unending happiness is a fool's errand, and human beings are, as Jean-Paul Sartre once said, "useless passions," or, two, our hunger for infinite beatitude can be satiated. The latter takes you to the precipice of philosophy/theology.

I was reading a survivalist forum, where people have all these "preps" stored to ride out some horrible catastrophe, and somebody finally said "I wonder how liberating it would be to come home and find everything burned to the ground". At some point, you don't own "stuff", it owns YOU. I have gradually been getting rid of my stuff, I was a hoarder once like the people you see on cable TV, and I got medicated and threw it all away, and now I'm trying to figure out what I really "need". Not much, it turns out.

Agreed. I'm ridding myself of almost all my possessions. I have it whittled down to a few boxes of books. We can definitely live with a lot less than we think. We're just a bunch of junkies, and our consumerist culture is pushing a drug of false, materialistic security. Thankfully, some of us are recovering addicts.

My parents are a lot like Walt and Billie McCandless except my mom was the breadwinner and they have accumulated so much junk it's unnerving. Every time I go there the rooms are full again. I have less and less need for "stuff", and I hope to have my debts paid off in a couple years and enough money to buy a small RV so I can travel. I wonder if those survivalists are really happy hunkered down in a cave somewhere with all their stuff waiting for the Antichrist.

Sounds like you have a plan. We come from pretty similar backgrounds. I've been working in education for the last five years, and I decided not to renew my contract. In two weeks, I'm leaving the security of my job, my income, and my apartment. I'm getting my gear together, and heading west with no definitive destination. I'm thinking of starting where Chris started, near Lake Mead. I'm going to head north eventually on the Pacific Crest Trail. To the extent that I've planned, I hope to end up in Montana.

[Recon888]

Where I live I've noticed that estate homes are being built more often then high-residentials. People need more space for their Cost-Mart junk so they buy a bigger house and become entangled in bigger debt. The Junk they buy needs to be replaced all the time because it is poorly manufactured (in Asian countries) Just spend a few extra dollars and get a well manufacture product made in N.A.....its a viscous circle.

I think they would be happier debt free with a modest home and quality made goods.

How many $34.99 dvd players does Wally-World sell a year?

[denbo]

You know what?

I think Chris burned his money because...... Gee my car got washed out and what good is this money if I have to hike out a zillion miles and don't know if I'll make it any way! Also the righteous rebellious youth thing beacuse Dad was showing off his wealth! It almost mirrors Bible Stories I have read and heard! Denbo.

[Nitzan]

We're just moving out of our house and I notice how many pointless things we have laying in here used for no good. I packed all my things in one box and my clothes in another, I hate feeling like I have many things cause it makes me feel grounded - if you need 4 suitcases to gather you things you can't just get up and leave.

Anyway,
I thought this fits this discussion, "The story of stuff" basically makes you no longer want any stuff by finding out how wrong this whole consuming society model.
http://www.youtube.com/user/storyofstuffproject/videos