Do we have too much stuff?

Irish_rat · 20-07-2019 10:52am

I bought brand new house 3 years ago and whenever I get something done like gas boiler service they think I just bought the place, I don't believe in hoarding and dump most things that come in the door.

The only thing I would have is a couple of Lego sets really but they are put on shelves away from everything else.

suicide_circus · 20-07-2019 11:07am

i need a bowl, spoon, pair of jeans, shirt, jocks n socks, pair of shoes, jacket, phone, phone charger, sunglasses, wallet and its contents. thats it. everything else is an anchor round my neck.

kowloon · 20-07-2019 1:09pm

Graces7 wrote: »

If you can, watch the BBC programmes on Hannah Hauxwell especially the last one. My life caught the end of that era when we had so little everything was saved and could be useful.. drummed into folk in the war.. I have moved too many times .. I do "hoard" knitting yarn but it does get used. No access to shops helps! Especially charity shops... second hand books I yearn for

My mother stores wool in her attic space where the only thing it's displacing is more insulation, which can be wool itself, so I'm not sure it counts as hoarding.

whisky_galore · 20-07-2019 1:51pm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Thankfully that isn't gonna happen

Yes. Nobody 'shovels' turf.

Strumms · 20-07-2019 3:07pm

I’ve around 900 CDs. I’ve been a music lover from as long as I can remember and compulsively bought music weekly since I was about 18... so 20 years. Now with Spotify they are obsolete and essentially worthless bar the odd boxed set, bootleg or rarity. Here I am in a room with stacks of CDs, money spent, space taken up, eons of time spent trawling through music shops home and abroad yet the iPad in my hand basically with the touch of the screen can take me anywhere in music. Still, the walking would have done me good.

Graces7 · 20-07-2019 3:17pm

kowloon wrote: »

My mother stores wool in her attic space where the only thing it's displacing is more insulation, which can be wool itself, so I'm not sure it counts as hoarding.

when I was first in Ireland I met a lady like that who was delighted to clear some so she had space to buy more! I was delighted to have wool to work with so it was a happy encounter. Wool is appallingly addictive!

BalcombeSt4 · 20-07-2019 4:03pm

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

I get the feeling you’d be on the first train to the ‘re-education camp’. The sort of lad who’d be up at nearly 6 in the morning spouting shïte on the internet isn’t going to be a good and loyal comrade.

We wont have education camps, just torture camps were you are forced to listen to Taylor Swift on a endless loop.

BalcombeSt4 · 20-07-2019 4:04pm

whisky_galore wrote: »

Yes. Nobody 'shovels' turf.

Not yet anyway.

Graces7 · 20-07-2019 5:43pm

stuff breeds you know. Increases when your back is turned..

freshpopcorn · 20-07-2019 5:53pm

I think a lot of people are in the middle.
I know people at both ends of the scale. Somebody who keeps nothing and people who are bad hoarders.
They'd both turn you off being like them.

ceadaoin. · 20-07-2019 6:00pm

We moved house in November and so took the opportunity to have a massive clear out. It actually feels great not having cupboards stuffed full of crap, but organised and tidy. Problem is the new house is big and has tons of storage space so plenty of space for "stuff" without it being cluttered. So yeah, I probably still have too much stuff but you wouldn't know it. There's a big difference between that and hoarding which is an actual mental illness.

20-07-2019 6:05pm

I don't have a lot of stuff. I moved around a great deal and for that reason I kept things simple. I also live pretty simply and I'm one of those people who has a good think about something before I buy it, instead of impulse buying. At a conservative estimate I'd say I own less than a third of the amount of clothes than my friends would, but I wear more of them. They seem to have much more stuff but use only about 10% of it.

the_pen_turner · 20-07-2019 6:31pm

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I think a lot of people are in the middle.
I know people at both ends of the scale. Somebody who keeps nothing and people who are bad hoarders.
They'd both turn you off being like them.

The chronic dumpers are even worse than the chronic herders. They are same but feel superior

It's the people in the middle that are grand. Most people are normal

iamwhoiam · 20-07-2019 6:35pm

39 years in this house now and yes we have too much stuff . Much of it is the “ we might need that one day “ . We came through 2 major recessions and find it hard to throw anything out that looks like it might be handy .

Capt'n Midnight · 20-07-2019 9:27pm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I think it falls in to 2 categories...
I don't want to throw it away in case I need to use it again.
I don't want to throw it away because I spent x amount on it.

Category 3

I threw out something that sat in a drawer for two years and had to buy a replacement 3 days later :mad:

Capt'n Midnight · 20-07-2019 9:32pm

Strumms wrote: »

I’ve around 900 CDs. I’ve been a music lover from as long as I can remember and compulsively bought music weekly since I was about 18... so 20 years. Now with Spotify they are obsolete and essentially worthless bar the odd boxed set, bootleg or rarity. Here I am in a room with stacks of CDs, money spent, space taken up, eons of time spent trawling through music shops home and abroad yet the iPad in my hand basically with the touch of the screen can take me anywhere in music. Still, the walking would have done me good.

Microsoft just pulled the plug on it's eBook store. Gone forever.

Best you can hope for is a refund
consumers exchange money for goods because they preferred the goods to the money.

Capt'n Midnight · 20-07-2019 9:33pm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I've enough tools to rebuild a house in the morning despite me not knowing what half of them actually do.

Do you have a stick for stirring paint ?

NewbridgeIR · 20-07-2019 10:14pm

Strumms wrote: »

I’ve around 900 CDs. I’ve been a music lover from as long as I can remember and compulsively bought music weekly since I was about 18... so 20 years. Now with Spotify they are obsolete and essentially worthless bar the odd boxed set, bootleg or rarity. Here I am in a room with stacks of CDs, money spent, space taken up, eons of time spent trawling through music shops home and abroad yet the iPad in my hand basically with the touch of the screen can take me anywhere in music. Still, the walking would have done me good.

They're not obsolete if you still get enjoyment from them. Spotify is overrated and doesn't have everything. CD sales are falling but stuff goes OOP a lot quicker than it did. Reissue market still buoyant. I've bought records since 1981 and CDs since 1986 and have no intention of stopping.

SEPT 23 1989 · 20-07-2019 10:16pm

You think you own it but

It owns you

PoisonIvyBelle · 20-07-2019 10:29pm

I've moved around a fair bit, both in Ireland and outside of it, so i wouldn't say I've a lot of "stuff" accumulated really. I'd say a lot less compared to most people (especially other women - all my clothes and shoes fit in one wardrbobe!). I've had to fit my life into a suitcase more than once so i'd say that sort of stuck with me! That said, I do keep some things for sentimental value and I wouldn't consider myself a minlmalist either

20-07-2019 10:58pm

Yes, far, far too much stuff we don't need. Way too much packaging, way too much plastic, way too much waste in every respect. People are just consuming much more than they need. Look at the placement in supermarkets and you'll get an idea of how messed up things are - massive preference and priority of place given to sugar-loaded junk and you have to search for the healthy stuff.

A 330ml can of Coke or Fanta on a Saturday was once the treat of the week. And we packed our shopping into those brown empty banana boxes, by the way - not into plastic bags. When the 500ml 'supercan' of Coke came in about 1985 it was a big deal because it was relatively huge. If the parents were feeling really generous you might get a lucky bag or some new gimmick thing like that sweet stuff you'd put in your mouth and it would crackle (Pop Rock?) or those Hula Hoops that could fit on your fingers. And if you had a really sweet tooth as a kid you might rob a packet of Chivers blackcurrant jelly out of the baking press once in a while.

Now, every day is "treat" day, and the portions are all so much bigger. It's as if time-poor parents keep buying their kids ephemeral happiness with "treats" when what kids need most of all is their parents' time and attention.

There's an enormous amount to admire in somebody who buys only what they need and who ignores the all-pervasive brainwashing that is advertising in all its forms. There are loads of people like that in my parents' generation, but not many at all in mine.

glomar · 21-07-2019 2:19am

Chicken George wrote: »

Throw it all up on Adverts... turn it into cash!

Swap for a broken playstation !

glomar · 21-07-2019 2:23am

Strumms wrote: »

I’ve around 900 CDs. I’ve been a music lover from as long as I can remember and compulsively bought music weekly since I was about 18... so 20 years. Now with Spotify they are obsolete and essentially worthless bar the odd boxed set, bootleg or rarity. Here I am in a room with stacks of CDs, money spent, space taken up, eons of time spent trawling through music shops home and abroad yet the iPad in my hand basically with the touch of the screen can take me anywhere in music. Still, the walking would have done me good.

feel your pain have about the same or more in dvds .. reluctant to bin them or even worse CEX them ...some of them are extremely rare

Swamp_Cat · 21-07-2019 3:07am

Absolutely yes. I'm too sentimental so have so much junk i can't throw away on top of all the other junk we accumulate.

Swamp_Cat · 21-07-2019 3:10am

glomar wrote: »

feel your pain have about the same or more in dvds .. reluctant to bin them or even worse CEX them ...some of them are extremely rare

I miss the days of wandering music stores and real book stores. Last time I was in Ireland there was still a lot of great book stores and used book sellers @ what we call flea markets & somewhere in Waterford that I can't recall.

21-07-2019 3:44am

Used to have a lot of CDs, sold them or gave them away to charity and secondhand stores, wish i kept them now so i have started collecting them again. I just cant do the subscribe every month to online music.

I tried it and was like I have this cd at home and i'm paying for it every month, so i just got a sony mp3 player and a 256gb card and swap out my music from the pc now.

Hundreds of dvds but sold a lot of them and upgraded to blu-ray so really just replaced like for like,

I love movies thats why i collect them, online services like netflix and amazon don't offer director commentary or behind the scenes footage and the like so thats why i collect them, and will continue to do so.

My biggest collection between me and my brother was around six or seven hundred vhs tapes, we eventually stopped, had them stored in the attic and it has taken me a while to sort that mess out out.
So yes way too much stuff but if i really like it and appreciate it i will buy it.

Rubberchikken · 21-07-2019 3:57am

this is why i love Spotify.
all the music i need and none of the 'stuff'.

always bought vinyl when i was a teen and still have them but only because my kids insisted that i dont throw them out. if they hadnt i would have gotten rid of them years ago.
they were great when i bought them. listened to them over and over but that was then.

NewbridgeIR · 21-07-2019 12:25pm

glomar wrote: »

feel your pain have about the same or more in dvds .. reluctant to bin them or even worse CEX them ...some of them are extremely rare

Hang on to them! Take pride in your collection and display it.

Harry Palmr · 21-07-2019 12:28pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Do you have a stick for stirring paint ?

A stick?! You need at least half a dozen miscellaneous lengths of wood! :mad:

take everything · 21-07-2019 12:43pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes, far, far too much stuff we don't need. Way too much packaging, way too much plastic, way too much waste in every respect. People are just consuming much more than they need. Look at the placement in supermarkets and you'll get an idea of how messed up things are - massive preference and priority of place given to sugar-loaded junk and you have to search for the healthy stuff.

A 330ml can of Coke or Fanta on a Saturday was once the treat of the week. And we packed our shopping into those brown empty banana boxes, by the way - not into plastic bags. When the 500ml 'supercan' of Coke came in about 1985 it was a big deal because it was relatively huge. If the parents were feeling really generous you might get a lucky bag or some new gimmick thing like that sweet stuff you'd put in your mouth and it would crackle (Pop Rock?) or those Hula Hoops that could fit on your fingers. And if you had a really sweet tooth as a kid you might rob a packet of Chivers blackcurrant jelly out of the baking press once in a while.

Now, every day is "treat" day, and the portions are all so much bigger. It's as if time-poor parents keep buying their kids ephemeral happiness with "treats" when what kids need most of all is their parents' time and attention.

There's an enormous amount to admire in somebody who buys only what they need and who ignores the all-pervasive brainwashing that is advertising in all its forms. There are loads of people like that in my parents' generation, but not many at all in mine.

So true.
If you ever look at footage from say the sixties, seventies or even eighties it's actually hard to find obese people.

Almost everyone is thin.

It's one symptom of a bloated society generally though.

Mentally, physically and spiritually bloated.
Too much information.
Too much credit.
Too much food.
Too much stimulation in general.

Do we have too much stuff?

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