A cluttered life: Middle Class abundance

[Exterous]

I came across this project by some UCLA anthropologists who studied a group of middle class Americans. One thing really stuck out to me:

We have 3.1% of the kids in the world but have 40% of the world's toys. I thought about some of my friends and family with kids and most of them have toys everywhere.

They also noted “Contemporary U.S. households have more possessions per household than any society in global history,” which surprised me at first but made sense once I actually thought about it. We photograph a lot of houses with shelves and cupboards everywhere filled with things. All the houses around me with 2 and 3 car garages but everyone parks outside because they are so full of stuff.

They also covered food and space usage a bit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AhSNsBs2Y0

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

People keep buying huge houses to store all the crap too. I keep expecting domes to become popular since everyone seems to want a 2600 square foot space with no walls.

 

[madoka]

People keep buying huge houses to store all the crap too.

That's ridiculous!

Everyone knows you should buy the house next door for storage.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've always liked the idea of being able to load my stuff into say one car or a small van and just move. Excepting furniture of course.

The only possessions I have in abundance that I don't need is my DVD collection.

The line in 'Fight Club' about things you own end up owning you is something that has struck a chord with me ever since I first watched the film; I think it's absolutely true - the less crap you have, the more flexible you can be.

 

[lxskllr]

I have waaaay too much crap, and I don't hardly use any of it. I could fit my essentials in a large backpack. The rest requires a 3 bdrm house :rollseyes:

 

[ImpulsE69]

All the houses around me with 2 and 3 car garages but everyone parks outside because they are so full of stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AhSNsBs2Y0

It's funny you bring up the car/garage thing. My grandparents raised me, and my grandfather kept everything. One thing that stood out about this was that we had 4 garages - all of them packed full of stuff that was never touched for years. Then later they built a huge 10 car pole garage which filled up too. They always parked the cars outside. When I got married and we were looking for a house, I was very aware of my lean towards keeping everything indefinitely. The one we bought had a 4 car garage and I told my wife this and said, I never want to be parking the cars outside. 20 years later while we have to do some spring cleaning occasionally, the cars still go in the garage.

As for crap accumulation, when I hit about 40 I said enough. I buy no more hobby stuff and I'm very selective about what I do buy. I also throw things out more often. Sometimes you just have to let go. I also told the wife that if she wants 'more' stuff she has to get rid of some...not that it's worked...women...

 

[lxskllr]

I also throw things out more often. Sometimes you just have to let go.

My problem is my stuff too good to simply throw out. I can't bring myself to be wasteful, but I also can't be arsed to attempt selling stuff. I do need to get some stuff cleaned up, and taken to goodwill or something. That's easier than actively selling. Just need to get to it. One day...

 

[IronWing]

Visiting packed houses inspires us to purge so we keep it under control. We still have too much stuff but I feel another significant purge coming.

 

[ImpulsE69]

My problem is my stuff too good to simply throw out. I can't bring myself to be wasteful, but I also can't be arsed to attempt selling stuff. I do need to get some stuff cleaned up, and taken to goodwill or something. That's easier than actively selling. Just need to get to it. One day...

Yea that's the balance...I'm more or the less the same way. When I say 'throw out' it could mean sold or trashed. Generally I only trash the trash (or things I think have no value).

 

[boomerang]

We moved 1500 miles last May after selling our house and having a new one built. Everything we had we either gave away, sold or threw away. We brought only essential things that would fit into our two cars. We have got a lot of space in our closets now.

I have a friend that moved from Georgia to Michigan over thirty years ago and it took three full size moving vans to move his stuff. His move actually resulted in a change in corporate policy when they move key employee's. Only one moving van is covered now. He's long since retired now and has talked of moving back to Georgia but has accumulated a whole lot more since.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

But if I got rid of all the stuff in my garage, I couldn't build more things!

 

[Chaotic42]

I have waaaay too much crap, and I don't hardly use any of it. I could fit my essentials in a large backpack.:

Including your army of feral cats?

If I got rid of my books I'd have a very reasonable amount of stuff. My books take up at least half of my boxes when I move, if not more. I really should start giving them away.

 

[child of wonder]

My wife and I were discussing this recently as well. This time of year is where Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, our anniversary, Father's Day, and my birthday all fall within the span of 6 months. We have no clue what to buy each other for gifts anymore. If her or I want something, we just buy it.

Sure, I could get her jewelry or something but that seems so impersonal.

Honestly, what I enjoy the most is a few times we've taken 20 minutes to write each other a handwritten letter, maybe 2 pages long, talking about what we're thinking or feeling at that point in time. Those will be awesome to re-read as the years go by.

 

[lxskllr]

Including your army of feral cats?

If I got rid of my books I'd have a very reasonable amount of stuff. My books take up at least half of my boxes when I move, if not more. I really should start giving them away.

They'll pull my chariot, like Freyja's cats :^P

I have a shit ton of books also. Literal tons. Nobody reads anymore(including me :^D ), and it's a sin to throw out books, so here I am...

 

[tynopik]

not a new observation, see Afluenza, or, the more possessions you own, the more your possessions own you

 

[balloonshark]

NSFW language warning! George Carlin knew all this back in the 80's.

 

[mindless1]

Okay but you can sell or throw away your stuff and move into a tiny home any time you want.

It's normal and beneficial to not chuck things into landfills if they can be reused... just don't go hoarding things to the point where it interferes with playing with your stuff or walking through rooms, cleaning your home, or making an eyesore outside, etc.

On the other hand, taking on debt while buying all that stuff, not a good financial decision.

 

[Ns1]

After watching a few seasons of Hoarders and American Pickers, this does not surprise me.

 

[Ns1]

not a new observation, see Fight Club, or, the more possessions you own, the more your possessions own you

Ftfy

 

[brianmanahan]

After watching a few seasons of Hoarders and American Pickers, this does not surprise me.

those shows are always so dumb

 

[skull]

Hey look a study that shows why people don't even have $400 to their name. I work in peoples houses for a living, I know why they're all broke, its not because lifes tough in america like some goof balls think.

 

[lxskllr]

My biggest problem lately is buying military clothes. I have enough to last the rest of my life, but I can't help myself when I see them. I go to thrift shops to find that rare treasure I actually can use, and end up buying clothes I don't need. They were kid of hard to get for awhile, but with the switch to operational camo, the shops are getting flooded with old stuff, and I end up buying it. Otherwise, I don't get much stuff. A chainsaw and axe were the last big things I got, with the axe being purely for fun. I don't need much anymore.

 

[PlanetJosh]

I like the idea mentioned earlier in the thread about being able to put all your stuff in one car or van. That way if my parents kick me out I'm ready to go in just a few minutes.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Keeping up with the Jones'.

It has to do with our countries pompous attitudes - and their stupidity of always try to compare to others based on possessions (and I don't mean monetary possessions). My in-laws are a good example. They are always recycling their next vehicle debt. God forbid you just..dont...have a loan at all? Is that a hard concept? Then their neighborhood pool simply wasn't enough, so they have to get their own - even though that is another loan. Wife always has to take pictures of whatever wine she is drinking while in-front of their new 70" ultra-deluxe TV.

They also have one single child - and H-O-L-Y shit, if you want to see American-ized spoiled, this is a perfect example. We are often over for the holidays, and they will have 80% of the presents (10-20 depending on the year) for the kid. He opens that shit so fast it's insane.... RIP OPEN PAPER... "OH COOL!" *throws to the side* RIPS OPEN NEXT PRESENT *OH COOL*... rinse and repeat. Jesus fuck, I hate to do the whole "Back in my day" speech, but at the very least I would have checked out the presents inbetween opening the next one - in addition to thanking if it was from a family member.

I like to think that generations are able to learn from the mistakes of the others - but sadly it seems like they repeat the mistakes and create new ones. Idiocracy, etc, etc..

Hey look a study that shows why people don't even have $400 to their name. I work in peoples houses for a living, I know why they're all broke, its not because lifes tough in america like some goof balls think.

Bingo.

And thats why our P&N is such a cesspool of retarded liberals that honestly think the middle and lower classes have it more and more rough. Of course, all of them live in the upper-middle class and have no real clue of what it's like to live in a middle class neighborhood. We live substantially below our means - and in general I live in a middle-class blue collar neighborhood with a ton of Latins and other culture upbringings.... For the longest time I kept trying to understand why no one was using their garage to park their cars, and often park on the street daily.... Then you catch them with their garage open and it all makes sense... It's filled with total complete shit like an episode of Hoarders.

As I said, I live waaaaaaaay below our means. Our house payment is roughly 3% of our gross income to put that into perspective.

 

[Thebobo]

And thats why our P&N is such a cesspool of retarded liberals Conservatives that honestly think the middle and lower classes have it more and more rough easier and easier. Of course, all of them I live in the upper-middle class and have no real clue of what it's like to live in a middle class neighborhood. We live substantially below our means - and in general I live in a middle-class blue collar neighborhood with a ton of Latins and other culture racist upbringings.... For the longest time I kept trying to understand why no one was using their garage to park their cars, and often park on the street daily.... Then you catch the brown people them with their garage open and it all makes sense... It's I'm filled with total complete shit like an episode of Hoarders Hannity.

Because only brown people store stuff in their garage?

Everything with you comes down to us vs them, eh. Oh and I fixed your post for you.