My family held a garage sale yesterday. I am not too much into garage sale projects, but everyone else seemed to be excited.
The old saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” comes to mind. However, I noticed so much of this stuff from all my family members was at one time very expensive. Now we were selling it for pennies on the dollar. For instance, we had monkey pod wood bowls from Hawaii worth hundreds of dollars. Some of those were haggled and sold for 2 dollars a piece. Electronic toys at one time $80 or $90 going for a buck-fifty or $.75.
As it is with everything ? it all depreciates. Everything…
You buy a car off the lot in the second it hits the road it’s worth a fraction of what you paid for it. It is the same thing with boats, motorcycles and RVs… simply having more isn’t necessarily a good objective. By purchasing more, it means you are losing more too.
Does everything depreciate?
“But Brad, gold doesn’t depreciate, it is a good investment”. If you think gold never depreciates, I would argue you’ve never been in a pawn shop before. Gold does depreciate fast unless you have a way to sell it as a commodity.
Thus my advice is use what you have, sell what you don’t use. And finally don’t buy any more until you are prepared to use it up.
As a society, many of us associate “more” with a better. That simply isn’t true. Having 30 doo-dads lying around collecting dust might be attractive for a few months, but it is likely your taste will change one day and you will have to sell them at a loss or throw them in the trash.
Antiques are worth mucho deniro
Antiques are nice but selling them takes skill.
Too Much Stuff Disease
We simply have more stuff than we can possibly use. I’m speaking as someone who is as guilty of this myself. As I write this I look up at our fireplace mantel and see 11 candles in various candlesticks sitting there. They are not earth shattering attractive by any means — just everyday candles in candle holders.
Question: when is the last time we lit a candle in this house?
Answer: Hmmm… If I remember correctly we lit last year’s jack-o’-lantern. And even then it was on the front porch.
So there sits 11 candles and 11 candlesticks with almost no hope of ever being used. Why 11? Who knows? We probably had to candles up there at one point and someone decided we needed for. Then add on a gift or two or four and we were up to 8, 10 and then a big one in the center. Why? Because 2 candlesticks wasn’t enough. And more is better — right?
It reminds me of an analogy Wayne Dyer said in his program Choosing Your Own Greatness
Right now, as an adult I think we need to get away from the philosophy of buying more because “more is better”.
How to enjoy an ice-cream cone
Enjoying an ice-cream cone becomes unlikely when it is a business transaction. “Trade 2 tomorrow for one today?” Who needs 2 ice-cream cones at one sitting anyway? Do we have a reason for two ice-cream cones tomorrow? Will you be extra hungry? Would you have a friend with you? Whereas one cone today meets an immediate reason you want an ice-cream cone and now is a good time.
Whether it is candlesticks, lamps, figurines, tools or dishes, rational thought instead of “more” reflex can save much heartache and money if we simply take the time to consider what we want and need. A gift of 2 candlesticks when we already have 2 candlesticks (more than we need) is a nice gesture, but to add “more” candlesticks makes for more clutter. It would be better to return the items for a refund or donate them than to succumb to the “more hypnosis.” Moore is not always better and it is often much worse. Having more — costs more. Think for a minute about your house or apartment. Many people choose to live in thousands of square feet. Why? To keep all of this stuff. How come after high school you could live in an 8 x 12 foot room with a roommate, but 10 years later you seemingly need 2000 square feet? Do you now have 20 people living with you? Or has your stuff taken on a life of its own?
With the price of housing you can see that more stuff is more expensive. It doesn’t matter if we are talking computers, TVs, candles or ice-cream cones — there is a maintenance fee associated with all the extra things you buy, receive or otherwise acquire.
So my challenge to you is to count the real and projected costs every time a snap decision arises where you are considering buying something else or accepting a gift for free. Before you reactively jump at the opportunity to get a free shiny new computer, consider the costs of getting rid of your current computer — or the costs of adding on another one to your current home network. Free is never free, and there is always a hidden cost involved. But as bright people — we have to be the ones who can spot the costs before these “things” become an albatross around our necks.
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Have you read the book Affluenza? It sounds as though you might enjoy it. Myself, I cannot walk by a garage sale without thinking of all of the work hours lost on those things sitting in the driveway! It definitely puts things in perspective. My philosophy is that the fewer things I have, the fewer things I have to take care of.
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