Julie’s Everything Site

How much stuff do we actually need to acquire in our lives?

November 4, 2009 on 6:02 am | In Random | No Comments

When folks have serious life changes such as when they move to a different house, divorce or remarry, become empty nesters, or retire, it is common to lose lots of stuff. They have garage sales, give things away to family, and bag up items to give to charity.

If most of us look around our homes, we are able to simply see numerous objects that we don't need and are just taking up space and gathering dust. We have trinkets of all sorts such as outmoded and surplus electronic gadgets, various pieces of cooking equipment that truly were not that required in fact , bits from would-be hobbies or interests that we soon uninterested in, bits of costume jewellery, clothing items that were never worn, must-have products advertised on television, for example. We all have them. The question is why?

For some things that we see around us there was a reasonable excuse for their purchase . Those items were required at the time and received a large amount of use, but have long ago become a white elephant in our home. Some items are particularly dear to us for their sentimental value. We have to scratch our heads about other items as we try to remember their utility and why we found it so crucial to buy them. Some of the items, naturally, are gifts from long ago xmas's, birthdays, anniversaries, etc .

However it occurred that these questionable items appeared in our lives, they're symbols of a culture of spending and amassing just because we can. It would be engaging for the average household to add up the price of the unnecessary items purchased as a reality check. This figure could be weighed against different choices that would have been made such as making an investment in things that give bigger personal value . These would be things that will open entrances to a more pointed and purposeful life like education or training in a selected field of interest, spending valuable time with family, or fitter eating and life-style choices.

Present giving in itself is a tradition that too frequently ends up in things that sit on a shelf with no purpose. Everyone knows that. We've all given these kinds of gifts. We have all received these kinds of gifts. We've all done last minute shopping and acquired something, just anything, so we had something to give. Everyone knows in our hearts that there are better present possibilities, even things that are free,eg giving of our time and ourselves.

These are things which will not gather dust on the shelf, but will accumulate true value in the heart of both the giver and the receiver.
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