This link has been bookmarked by 151 people . It was first bookmarked on 31 Jul 2007, by KO -.
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09 Jan 19
Yee Sian NgI have too much stuff. Most people in America do. In fact, the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have. Hardly anyone is so poor that they can't afford a front yard full of old cars. It wasn't always this way. Stuff used to be rare and v…
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07 Jan 19
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22 Sep 17
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the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have.
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We overvalue stuff.
That was a big problem for me when I had no money. I felt poor, and stuff seemed valuable, so almost instinctively I accumulated it. -
Most of the stuff I accumulated was worthless, because I didn't need 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. -
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.
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once you've accumulated a certain amount of stuff, it starts to own you rather than the other way around.
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The really painful thing to recall is not just that I accumulated all this useless stuff, but that I often spent money I desperately needed on stuff that I didn't.
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one thing that might work is to ask yourself, before buying something, "is this going to make my life noticeably better?"
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Before you buy anything, ask yourself: will this be something I use constantly? Or is it just something nice? Or worse still, a mere bargain?
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Nothing owns you like fragile stuff.
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Another way to resist acquiring stuff is to think of the overall cost of owning it. The purchase price is just the beginning.
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Some give more than they take. Those are the only things worth having.
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Stuff used to be valuable, and now it's not.
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03 Sep 14
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31 Jul 14
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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.
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But it would be closer to the truth to treat stuff as worthless.
In fact, worse than worthless, because once you've accumulated a certain amount of stuff, it starts to own you rather than the other way around -
But there's more going on than that. I think humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model of what's around them. And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you have left for conscious thoughts. A cluttered room is literally exhausting.
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The really painful thing to recall is not just that I accumulated all this useless stuff, but that I often spent money I desperately needed on stuff that I didn't.
Why would I do that? Because the people whose job is to sell you stuff are really, really good at it. -
"is this going to make my life noticeably better?"
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The worst stuff in this respect may be stuff you don't use much because it's too good. Nothing owns you like fragile stuff
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Every thing you own takes energy away from you
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04 Mar 13
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16 Jan 13
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19 Jun 12
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I have too much stuff. Most people in America do. In fact, the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have.
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Stuff used to be rare and valuable. You can still see evidence of that if you look for it. For example, in my house in Cambridge, which was built in 1876, the bedrooms don't have closets. In those days people's stuff fit in a chest of drawers. Even as recently as a few decades ago there was a lot less stuff. When I look back at photos from the 1970s, I'm surprised how empty houses look.
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Stuff has gotten a lot cheaper, but our attitudes toward it haven't changed correspondingly. We overvalue stuff.
That was a big problem for me when I had no money. I felt poor, and stuff seemed valuable, so almost instinctively I accumulated it. Friends would leave something behind when they moved, or I'd see something as I was walking down the street on trash night (beware of anything you find yourself describing as "perfectly good"), or I'd find something in almost new condition for a tenth its retail price at a garage sale. And pow, more stuff. -
In fact these free or nearly free things weren't bargains, because they were worth even less than they cost. Most of the stuff I accumulated was worthless, because I didn't need it.
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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.
Companies that sell stuff have spent huge sums training us to think stuff is still valuable. -
worse than worthless, because 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.
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And unless you're extremely organized, a house full of stuff can be very depressing. A cluttered room saps one's spirits.
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I think humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model of what's around them. And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you have left for conscious thoughts. A cluttered room is literally exhausting.
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(This could explain why clutter doesn't seem to bother kids as much as adults. Kids are less perceptive. They build a coarser model of their surroundings, and this consumes less energy.)
I first realized the worthlessness of stuff when I lived in Italy for a year. All I took with me was one large backpack of stuff. The rest of my stuff I left in my landlady's attic back in the US. And you know what? All I missed were some of the books. By the end of the year I couldn't even remember what else I had stored in that attic.
And yet when I got back I didn't discard so much as a box of it. -
The really painful thing to recall is not just that I accumulated all this useless stuff, but that I often spent money I desperately needed on stuff that I didn't.
Why would I do that? Because the people whose job is to sell you stuff are really, really good at it. The average 25 year old is no match for companies that have spent years figuring out how to get you to spend money on stuff. They make the experience of buying stuff so pleasant that "shopping" becomes a leisure activity. -
ask yourself, before buying something, "is this going to make my life noticeably better?"
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The worst stuff in this respect may be stuff you don't use much because it's too good. Nothing owns you like fragile stuff.
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the "good china" so many households have, and whose defining quality is not so much that it's fun to use, but that one must be especially careful not to break it.
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Another way to resist acquiring stuff is to think of the overall cost of owning it. The purchase price is just the beginning. You're going to have to think about that thing for years—perhaps for the rest of your life. Every thing you own takes energy away from you. Some give more than they take. Those are the only things worth having.
I've now stopped accumulating stuff. Except books—but books are different. Books are more like a fluid than individual objects. It's not especially inconvenient to own several thousand books -
I'm not claiming this is because I've achieved some kind of zenlike detachment from material things. I'm talking about something more mundane. A historical change has taken place, and I've now realized it. Stuff used to be valuable, and now it's not.
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In industrialized countries the same thing happened with food in the middle of the twentieth century. As food got cheaper (or we got richer; they're indistinguishable), eating too much started to be a bigger danger than eating too little. We've now reached that point with stuff. For most people, rich or poor, stuff has become a burden.
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30 Jan 12
Miroslav KostyakovI have too much stuff. Most people in America do. In fact, the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have. Hardly anyone is so poor that they can't afford a front yard full of old cars.
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28 Sep 11
Karen Coararticle on materalism and freeing yourself from too much stuff
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08 Sep 11
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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.
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In fact, worse than worthless, because 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.
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Why would I do that? Because the people whose job is to sell you stuff are really, really good at it. The average 25 year old is no match for companies that have spent years figuring out how to get you to spend money on stuff. They make the experience of buying stuff so pleasant that "shopping" becomes a leisure activity.
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Before you buy anything, ask yourself: will this be something I use constantly? Or is it just something nice? Or worse still, a mere bargain?
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If I want to spend money on some kind of treat, I'll take
services over goods any day.
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29 Aug 11
Robert Lysik"I have too much stuff. Most people in America do."
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10 Aug 11
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13 Jul 11
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01 Mar 11
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15 Sep 10
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30 Aug 10
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July 2007
I have too much stuff. Most people in America do. In fact, the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have. Hardly anyone is so poor that -
they can't afford a front yard full of old cars.
It wasn't always this way. Stuff used to be rare and valuable. You can still see evidence of that if you look for it. For example, in my house in Cambridge, which was built in 1876, the bedrooms don't have closets. In those days people's stuff fit in a chest of drawers. Even as recently as a few decades ago there was a lot less stuff. When I look back at photos from the 1970s, I'm surprised how empty houses look. As a kid I had what I thought was a huge fleet of toy cars, but they'd be dwarfed by the number of toys my nephews have. All together my Matchboxes and Co
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14 Aug 10
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08 Aug 10
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26 May 10
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25 May 10
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
happiness psychology consumerism words-to-live-by culture delicious
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05 Feb 10
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21 Sep 09
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11 Dec 08
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16 Aug 08
R. Richard Hobbs"I have too much stuff. Most people in America do. In fact, the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have. Hardly anyone is so poor that they can't afford a front yard full of old cars."
blogs advertising culture productivity money lifehacks economics consumerism clutter materialism Paul-Graham
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07 Aug 08
Leslie RiegerAn excellent essay on the value (or not) of "stuff"
clutter stuff life simplicity organization happiness articles money home culture essay psychology
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06 Aug 08
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And unless you're extremely organized, a house full of stuff can be very depressing. A cluttered room saps one's spirits. One reason, obviously, is that there's less room for people in a room full of stuff. But there's more going on than that. I think humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model of what's around them. And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you have left for conscious thoughts. A cluttered room is literally exhausting.
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How do you protect yourself from these people? It can't be easy. I'm a fairly skeptical person, and their tricks worked on me well into my thirties. But one thing that might work is to ask yourself, before buying something, "is this going to make my life noticeably better?"
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03 Jun 08
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23 Apr 08
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21 Apr 08
David CorkingYour stuff owns you! This isn't philosophy, but common sense, and affects nearly everyone in the developed world.
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But except for books, I now actively avoid stuff. If I want to spend money on some kind of treat, I'll take services over goods any day.
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27 Mar 08
Dan HowardFantastic article explaining why we have too much stuff. That stuff isn't worth as much as it used to be. That we really don't need hardly anything. By Paul Graham (good essayist).
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13 Mar 08
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29 Jan 08
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15 Jan 08
Craig RettigStuff has gotten a lot cheaper, but our attitudes toward it haven't changed correspondingly. We overvalue stuff.
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08 Jan 08
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27 Dec 07
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15 Nov 07
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29 Oct 07
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16 Oct 07
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31 Aug 07
James CorbettThe value of stuff is the value your derive from it. Stuff is an extremely illiquid asset. Most stuff is worse than worthless, because once you've accumulated a certain amount of stuff, it starts to own you rather than the other way around.
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25 Aug 07
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12 Aug 07
Jacobo de VeraPaul Graham on Stuff
lang:en life stuff lifehacks for:sto_helit for:ruyk for:pollopipo for:mojopikon for:miguev
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10 Aug 07
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09 Aug 07
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08 Aug 07
Gordon RossIn industrialized countries the same thing happened with food in the middle of the twentieth century. As food got cheaper (or we got richer; they're indistinguishable), eating too much started to be a bigger danger than eating too little. We've now reache
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brockmoellerWhat 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.
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electrastephIn fact these free or nearly free things weren't bargains, because they were worth even less than they cost. Most of the stuff I accumulated was worthless, because I didn't need it.
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07 Aug 07
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06 Aug 07
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Every thing you own takes energy away from you. Some give more than they take. Those are the only things worth having.
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03 Aug 07
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02 Aug 07
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01 Aug 07
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ken .Paul Graham, Good stuff :) Learn to cast off the burden of stuff, enjoy services, accumulation v appreciation (active flows us-with-them), needs v wants, "do not want" (lol :)
advertising books flow life marketing principles services values wisdom
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';DROP TABLE USERS;The purchase price is just the beginning. You're going to have to think about that thing for years—perhaps for the rest of your life. Every thing you own takes energy away from you. Some give more than they take. Those are the only things worth having.
blog paulgraham happiness money shopping lifehacks for:fizzgig import:delicious
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31 Jul 07
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