11 Responses to “Owning Less – So It Won’t Own You”

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  1. Working from home as a freelancer after years with major newspapers- and raising five kids on my own between marriages, before I married my second husband, who up and died on me in 2001- I have found CLUTTER DISRUPTIVE. Not only do I do a quick straightening up every day and “clean” once a month,but twice a year, usually spring and fall, I go through as though I was getting ready to move and throw out, give away, or otherwise discard whatever is not wanted in my “new” house. Of course I never plan to move again; but do NOT store even Christmas boxes in the attic (hey, I am 64 raising teenage grandkids- since they were babies- and don’t like to climb so I use garage shelves)and don’t believe in storing “your best things for company.” We use our best (and only) dish sets; don’t need winter and summer clothes because we live in Florida (just a jacket, couple of sweaters and layer-layer-layer)- keep all our sports equipment (for the community pool; tennis basketball courts etc..) on hangers in the garage. And with the amount of paperwork busy freelance writers generate, I use the backs of all scrap and first drafts for notes, grocery lists etc… throwing them all into a “pretty” basket beneath my small living room corner desk. Using a laptop helps too- I got rid of the “office” atmosphere; keep a desk only for bills and supplies; work out on the screen porch overlooking the garden; and rely on two file cabinets and manilla files for each and every job; client; contacts in a certain field; and anything else from my granddaughter’s doctors to correspondance and FILE, FILE, FILE. Once a day, it takes 2 minutes. Once a week-15 minutes. Any longer, and things get too overwhelming. And if you don’t use something for 6 months or more, why the %$#@ is it still in the house?

  2. Jared Matthew Kessler

    Hey Penny… great stuff. Thanks for sharing. I know what you mean about clutter being disruptive. I think some people spend more time trying to find things through the clutter than it might take to organize it all. But that’s another blog. :)

  3. Monica

    thanks for sharing this, you have great ideas. I’d like to share that I’m in my late 30′s and have never owned a credit card, and its worked out just fine. :) I say, if you can’t afford to pay cash for something now, then you can’t afford it.
    Another thing I stopped doing is saving receipts and bills. While its smart to file these things away and keep them organized, especially to keep a record of bill payments, or to save receipts in case you decide to return an item to a store, there comes a time when they’re no longer relevant or useful. I stopped saving all this paperwork a while ago. I see it this way: if I were to die tomorrow, I do’nt want to leave a pile of junk for my loved ones to have to sort through. Keep things light.
    P.S. – I hope you enjoy Seattle. :)

  4. Jared Matthew Kessler

    Thanks Monica. I had such a big smile when you said, “If you can’t afford to pay cash for something now, then you can’t afford it. You know I’m always impressed when others don’t use credit cards (and so glad you shared that). Unfortunately, the younger generation are continuing to think that “buy it now and pay later” is ok. And when major companies spend billions of dollars on saying that this is ok, sometimes you don’t have enough OTHER people saying, “it’s not.” So thanks again for stepping forward and sharing your thoughts on this.

    The receipt idea is a great one (although I do keep mine – just incase the gov’t doesn’t believe me around tax time). :)

  5. I am a great believer in decluttering. I don’t like a lot of stuff. Don’t get me wrong I did at one time get a great buzz out of beautiful things but then found that after having purchased them the buzz frequently left or someone else would come into my life who really admired them so much more and I would give them away. That actually gave me a bigger buzz and I still visit their homes and see my little bits and pieces take pride of place :-)

    Keep it simple is how I like to live. Maybe that is because there is a gypsy heart in me and I like to think when it is time to go, I can just go, with my one bag and a heart and mind full of memories. Those are the only things I want to carry.

    My kids are the same, global minds and global feet I think.

  6. Nathan Tillett

    Jared,

    I have to say that this blog matches me to the “T”. For years now I have lived on and off of my credit cards. I used to have about 9k in debt between them, but in recent weeks I was able to save for a very long time and with the help of a tax man I have been able to pay almost all of that 9k. The saying “If you can’t afford to pay cash for something now, then you can’t afford it” is a way of thinking that I also recently inherited. It was hard for me not to have a credit card to live off of. I recently worked in a sales position where at times I wouldn’t know if my paycheck was going to be enough that week to take care of the bills. So I figured, I’ll just put it on the card and work a some longer hours and pay it off in the next week or so. But that week or so turned into 2-3 weeks, months and in one case, even a year. And you’re right, you find you’re self paying for stuff that in some cases you don’t even own any more! What’s that all about!? And what I really like about this blog is that I really connected with it because this year I made the resolution to start being debt free, well from credit cards for now. I’m not sure how I can manage to get rid of my student loans as quickly as I want, but I’m working on it.

    Lastly, being a media professional now it’s hard for me to say if the things I have is stuff I wanted, or stuff I needed. A lot of my purchases were items that I felt I ‘needed’ to enhance my career. But after reading this blog and user comments, I am starting to think that a lot of the books and computer equipment that I bought might have been more of stuff that I ‘wanted’. The more I type I am starting to feel that that stuff was more of what I wanted. It’s said Jared, I think my stuff is owning me… Help!

  7. Jared Matthew Kessler

    Hey Imelda,

    Great points. Someone once said, “don’t keep up with the Joneses, because most of them are broke.” :)

    And such a great example you are setting for your kids. Great job!

  8. Jared Matthew Kessler

    Hey Nathan,

    Thanks for your comment. You know, you’re not at all alone. It’s really a completely different thought process (to live debt free). The two books my girlfriend and I have applied to our life are, “Financial Peace” and “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey. His free radio show was vital for us in the beginning to listen to and it made you feel like you could take charge of it.

    Two great web sites on living more of a minimalistic life are http://www.zenhabits.net and http://mnmlist.com. Check them out Nathan (and let me know if that helps).

  9. I like your blog design. What template did you use ?

  10. Jared Matthew Kessler

    Thanks so much. I can’t do it on this screen, but if you scroll all the down to the bottom it should tell you.

  11. Great info, thanks for useful article. I am waiting for more

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