We Have Too Much Stuff (you do, too)

Not, no this bad.  Still.

It's true.  We have too much stuff.

Unless you’re a Buddhist monk with your robe, sandals, and begging bowl, this probably means you, too.  We have too much stuff.  You have too much stuff.  Americans have way too much stuff.  And while it might be treacherous…nay, treasonous to say this in a consumer-based economy, it’s still true.

This is not a new position for me.  I was reminded of it last fall when we drove cross-country on I-80 and back on I-40 and witnessed truck after truck after truck loaded with goods from Amazon, Wal-Mart, and all the various trucking companies that haul those containers (many of which come in near us in Portland).  Sure, Christmas was just a month and a half-away, but it seemed like every other vehicle was a truck destined for some huge warehouse or warehouse store.

I was reminded again last week driving through our “new home area.”  As you enter neighboring Scappoose on US 30 you see one…two…three…four HUGE store-it-yourself storage facilities.  There are EIGHT in St Helens on the other side of us.  And we saw two new ones being built elsewhere along US 30 north of here.

The need for all that storage is amazing considering that homes today are much larger than they used to be – maybe 60-70% bigger.  With two-and-three car garages, no less.  We still need more room for all that stuff.  And tell the truth – how many of you know someone who can’t even park any of their cars in the garage because the garage is already filled up with all that stuff?  I can think of several – so many that when counting I run out of fingers.

Of course, some people have more than one home.  And still have the need for storage elsewhere.  That’s crazy.  The whole “multiple home” thing is crazy, too.  OK, I know that some people have a second home for vacationing (Seaside wouldn’t exist without ‘em) and I get that.  But three home?  Or seven?  YOU CAN’T LIVE IN TWO/THREE/SEVEN PLACES AT ONCE.

Multiple homes, cars, phones…it goes on and on.  Sure, you’re a two-car family because you have two people. But why does one person have three cars.  Again, you can’t drive them at the same time.  I can see having a car for transportation and a truck or van for work, but…  And why does one person need three cell phones?  I know TWO people who do so. 

And it seems like everyone has some sort of “collection” that threatens to take over every square inch of living area.  Owning a collection of cars (I know two who collect), or guns (three), or sports memorabilia (two more).  You name it – I collect gambling memorabilia, but poker chips are small (the entire collection fits in a file cabinet). 

Books.  We have a few.  OK, quite a few.  The spousal unit has more than I, but we’re not immune to this (there’s a bookcase in almost every room in the house, and we’ve gotten rid of hundreds of books in the last couple of years).

Google the title of this post – “We have too much stuff” – and you get 1.7 BILLION results.  Lots of good advice.  Probably more advice given in the last few years than ever, as more and more people realize that they are strangling themselves with too much stuff.  Decluttering is popular term, as is “Simplify,” “Downsizing,” and “Swedish Death Cleaning.”

We’ve been downsizing and simplifying and scaling down and doing the “clean and purge” (that’s what we call it) for years.  And we still have too much stuff.

So much so that I have to write another post explaining it all…