Examine Your Stuff

Sometimes it feels like we are all hamsters furiously running on a wheel and getting nowhere. We work, make money to buy stuff that will supposedly make us happy and work some more to buy more stuff. Where does it end? Do we ever look to see if the stuff that we buy will actually give us real and lasting pleasure? I'm not against having material goods. I like having stuff too, but I like to think that I choose my stuff carefully and wisely. For example, I like to cook and some of the equipment I use tend to be a bit pricey. Some of my favorite high-end kitchen tools include a Wusthof chef and pairing knife and my All-Clad chicken fryer/saute pan and dutch oven. I brought them because I wanted to invest my time and money in researching and purchasing kitchen tools that would (hopefully) last forever. Although they cost considerably more than items in similar categories, they are worth what I paid for them. I use them all the time and they perform as well as when I first purchased them. So far I am very satisfied and happy with these products and hope that I will never have to purchase another similar cookware or knife again. And just because I favor those high line items, does not mean that I will turn my nose up on an inexpensive cast iron skillet. As a matter of fact, I have two of those in different sizes and they perform great as nonstick pans. I hope that I will never have to purchase one of those again either.

I only mention this because I see them as a life investment. You do your research and purchase something that will give you a lifetime of usefulness and move on. What bothers me about having a lot of stuff is wastefulness. Some people will buy stuff on a whim, use it, realize that its no good and then buy more stuff. We have become a throwaway society. Some things are not built to last anymore, nay, are designed not to last, especially in the digital realm. Computers are cast aside when a user has been seduced by a faster new model, cell phones become outdated, not because they have stopped working, but because they are no longer "cool" and old tube TVs still in working order are replaced by a new generation of sleeker high definition flat screens. A lot of people complain about not making enough money. We are making more money than the generation before us, but we are wasting it by not carefully considering what it is that we are purchasing and if these things are really necessary to be happy. So in purchasing these things, people have saved up very little for retirement and are worried that they now have to work a little longer to maintain their chosen lifestyle. Others go into debt to acquire stuff that will eventually lapse into "obsolescence" in an obscenely faster rate than ever before. People will talk about salaries that have stagnated and not been keeping up with the rate of inflation, but the fact is that people are buying more unnecessary stuff than their parents did. Just a few decades ago, very few had cell phones and thus, many were free from paying exorbitant cell phone bills. With cell phones becoming a status symbol, some felt it was the thing to do to keep up with the Joneses and now keeping up with everyone can cost upwards of $100+ a month to maintain a family plan. Not only do mom and dad need to have one, but their children need to be connected too. And how many families have more than one flat screen in the home? When there was only one television in the home, the family would sit and watch a show together during family time. Today, family members may retreat into their own spaces to watch their own shows with each individual becoming more isolated than before. Is having more than one television really a good use of money, if seen in this perspective?

Ok. Enough of my rant today. I'm not sure where this was going, but I felt that I needed to put it out there. Thanks for reading.