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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated

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To: Ilaine who wrote (93421)	1/3/2005 1:47:24 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) of 793725

Is the drive to get rid of your stuff age-related? I suppose in part it is. Once I reached the point where I could buy anything I wanted I found I lost much of my urge to buy. That's probably a bit of been-there-done-that. And partly realizing that keeping up with the joneses was not important to me. I don't know that either of those is a result of aging but neither attitude is as likely found among the young. About ten years ago I read the book, "Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence." What I got from it was that we get sucked into demands on our time and money by our stuff. The stuff breaks and has to be replaced or fixed. Or we find some more stuff that matches some stuff we already have just perfectly so we buy the new stuff. Or we need to buy a bigger house to hold all our stuff. In this way our stuff runs our lives. For me the book was more about simplicity and time than about money, despite the title. Anyway, I guess I was predisposed to the message because I embraced it. (It's one of two books that made a real difference in my life.) I still have some residual stuff that I pick at. I never feel more righteous than when I'm divesting. It's like a religious experience. <g> I still have divesting to be done. I would like to be able to fit my stuff into a studio apartment or an RV, not that I would actually live there but I'd just like to be able to fit. I used to have about 35 linear feet of wardrobe. Now my entire wardrobe fits in a closet the width of a standard door. I still acquire whatever I want. I just don't want much. And I get rid of at least half of what I buy soon after rather than bother to find a place to put it. I'm lying in bed now looking at a wall that used to house a dresser but now is empty save a picture. Empty is a lovely thing in a wall. I think part of getting older is wanting to spend one's remaining time well. We move south so we can be outdoors year round rather than cooped up for the winter to make life seem longer. I don't want to spend any of my remaining time on the care and feeding of stuff.

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