For the past two weeks, I have been rummaging through my basement in order to separate things I want to keep and things I want to sell for the garage sale my friends and I will be putting on this summer to help pay for our road trip. I also have been packing to back to school this Saturday. I have been asking myself the same question over and over again, hoping that the more I say it the more clear the answer will be.
Why do we have so much stuff?
Why do I have so much stuff?
Why do Americans have so much stuff?
Why do girls have so much stuff?
Why do kids have so much stuff?
It just goes on and on with no definitive answer, but it’s been eating away at me. Sure, growing up as the only child in my house (I do have an older brother but he was in college by the time I was four years old) meant I had more than kids with many siblings, but room was never overflowing with useless things. Yet, somehow, even after separating all the items into keep and sell piles, I still have a ton of stuff I can’t get rid of – either for future use or for sentimental value.
Then, even though I move about three-four times a year (once to school, once back/forth for Christmas break – although I don’t take all of my stuff – and once at the end of the school year back home) I still am always amazed at how much stuff I have to lug around. I mean, it’s not as if I have nick nacks and clothes overflowing in my closet, even though my suitcase did look like this (and that was not all of it):
but compared to a lot of people, I have less clothes and fewer accessories but somehow it all adds up. So I’d like you to tell me – why do we have so much stuff? Why is it that I still go shopping and come home with things even though I already have plenty but I always find a way to justify the purchase and most times use what I buy for at least a little while? Why do we buy things certain that we will use them forever and then find them in boxes in the basement a few years later? Why? Please tell me I’m not the only one!
stuff is fun! without stuff, we’d be monks (and even monks have some stuff!) stuff rocks.
All of us like variety and the feeling of something new or different and we don’t always get rid of stuff as we buy new stuff. I think all of us are guilty of not editing our stuff as much as we should so it piles up. Our society is very fortunate to have the variety of things we have. I think that also leads to having more stuff because we have so much to pick from. God has truly blessed this country with abundance!