1/8/08

accumulating stuff

We returned from all of our Christmas gatherings and walked into our great room filled with stuff. Toys, clothes, games, food and gift cards. We were overwhelmed. Do we need this much stuff? Where are we going to put all of this stuff in our small home?

Pat and I have been talking a lot recently about what our next step is for a home. Do we upgrade to a larger home? Or just upgrade enough for us to have a dedicated studio space for Pat to paint? Do we try to build our "dream" home that is small, modern and sustainable?

We keep saying we have a city mentality. If we lived in the city we'd have to accommodate to a small space and not much stuff. Yesterday I ran across this article and I completely agree with it. Here's just a bit from it.

But one thing that might work is to ask yourself, before buying something, "is this going to make my life noticeably better?"

A friend of mine cured herself of a clothes buying habit by asking herself before she bought anything "Am I going to wear this all the time?" If she couldn't convince herself that something she was thinking of buying would become one of those few things she wore all the time, she wouldn't buy it. I think that would work for any kind of purchase. 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?