Owning Less – So It Won’t Own You
Courtesy of jsdart
Someone had made a comment on one of my previous blogs that talked about how most people wouldn’t work jobs they disliked if they didn’t own so much stuff.
I couldn’t agree with them more.
As someone who leads a pretty minimalistic life, I wanted to share a few more in depth ideas on how to own less so it won’t own you.
*Buy what you need, not what you want.
As someone who continues to build a 100% debt free life, I know this may not be easy for some people to hear. I have to admit I’m sometimes guilty of this too – because no doubt… I have a lot of stuff I want (versus what I need).
However, at some point we have to draw the line.
For instance, I remember back about 10 years ago when I was living off of credit cards and finally decided to do something about it. The sad thing was, I was still paying the credit cards bill – and most of the stuff I was paying for YEARS later… was already gone.
Sound familiar? It doesn’t make sense to keep paying for things you don’t even have anymore. Does it?
So why do it?
*Travel more.
Because of the continuous problems with taking excess baggage on the airlines it almost forces you to own less… Plus, it’s just annoying to carry all of that baggage around knowing you may not need everything you brought along.
Because of this, I don’t know anyone that travels with more than a bag or two. This pretty much forces you to own less.
*Start questioning your purchases.
How? Again, by using cash when you purchase anything (which I know is still foreign to some people). Yet when you do this, you start to see all the other things you could buy for $200 or $300 instead of a pair of jeans. Then, it starts to become really hard to throw a few hundred bucks on the table.
After going to the register, one would hope you would have a bag full of stuff for a few hundred bucks. Right? But when you look down into your bag, seeing one pair of jeans gets you to start questioning your purchase – “What did I just do? I could of used that money for so many other things that I needed (versus what I wanted)?”
That is when reality sets in – and helps you to understand the value of money a bit better. It’s hard to understand the insanity of what we sometimes pay for things, until we start to consistently pay cash for it.
*Move on.
In a few weeks I’m moving out of California and most likely relocating to Seattle, WA (after visiting some family in Florida). For me, I’m just excited to move on from here.
However, the thing I’m most excited about is that I’ll get rid of a ton of stuff I don’t need at our garage sale. Why? Moving forces you to look through boxes you don’t need and lose what you don’t use.
Although, I must confess… I don’t have much to sell (besides the furniture that isn’t worth moving)… its great to know that most of the things I own, will never own me. You?
Follow Me: @jaredkessler
11 Responses to “Owning Less – So It Won’t Own You”
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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?
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.
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.
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).
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.
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!
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!
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).
I like your blog design. What template did you use ?
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.
Great info, thanks for useful article. I am waiting for more