By Stuff, I mean literally, Stuff, “things”, TVs, books, coffee cups, blenders, sofas, golf clubs etc. etc. Stuff with a capital S.
What do the readers think about Stuff, how do you feel about it etc?
I know Stuff has gotten a bit politicized lately, and also trendy, and trendy in the negative, with hipster minimalism, etc.. But my question is more specific, how do you really feel about stuff these days?
For my part, I feel like I’ve got too much of it, but then I don’t know what I’d get rid of.
I ask the question because I’m starting to feel like both sides of the political debate on Stuff have it bang on. But then how can that be? We seem to live in some sort of zombifying consumerist culture–we work, we get marketed things, we buy them, and are exhausted working to pay for it. But we live in a world where more people have their basic needs meet than at anytime in the history of humanity. We in the west, even the poorest amongst us, live a lifestyle that kings of old would be impressed by. I mean we truly have it pretty damn good.
Does having what we need, by necessity, mean we have far more than we need? Or can we find our way back to the things that are actually important in life. Friends, Family, and time Not spent on a smart phone? Can we have our cake and eat it too?
I was really hoping this post was about the magazine and had SFW pictures. Lame.
Thank’s AML… Can’t a guy be a little serious on occasion?
When people are complaining about Stuff, or waxing philosophical to distract themselves from actually getting anything done about all the Stuff they have and need to get rid of, it means one of four things:
1) You just moved in with someone, and whereas before you had just enough space for yourself, now you’ve lost 50% or more of that space to your significant other’s Stuff;
2) You just got married and people bought you a bunch of Stuff you have no room for;
3) You just had a kid and have been buying / receiving a bunch of Stuff you have no room for; or
4) You’re getting ready to move, and once you started to think about packing, you realized how much Stuff you had to pack and it made you want to cry.
I’m pretty sure I know which of these applies to you.
Just because 1, 2, and 4 all apply to me does not mean this question is irrelevant… Besides 3, and 4 apply to you so you should be with me here on this waxing philosophical thing…
I wish I had time to wax philosophical. We’re scrambling to get as much done at the house for all the visitors we’ll have this coming weekend for LML’s baptism.
By the way, if you need boxes, now’s the time to swing by my place and pick some up for free. 😉
Hmm, I might be taking you up on that later today… I’ll give you a call if I can make it.
Still not sure if I’ll be able to make the baptism, I didn’t even find the time to make it to my own…
dcl – so you’ll still be here after the Rapture, too ???
Cool !
(grin)
As I relocate every other year — usually long distances, to boot — I go out of my way not to accumulate Stuff. No furniture or large appliances, CDs ripped and redistributed, only climate-appropriate clothes, etc. My big weaknesses are books and DVDs. I don’t have the hard disk space to rip DVDs and I can’t bring myself to switch to audio books (and thus mp3s).
It’s not that I’m opposed to Stuff or the accumulation thereof, but schlepping it is a massive pain. Thankfully, I only have to deal with one of AML’s four scenarios (#4).