Michael Mihalik's Debt is Slavery
The third post in this series deals with the effect our possessions has on our finances and our lives.
His main point is that each piece of “stuff” you bring into your life costs not only the price you paid for it, but also will cost you in many other ways:
- If it was purchased on credit, you're paying interest on that stuff.
- You're spending time to maintain that stuff.
- You're possibly spending money to maintain that stuff.
- You may be paying money to get trained how to use the stuff correctly.
- You may even be paying money to be able to use that stuff legally.
- You're using space in your garage to store that stuff when you're not using it.
- You're perhaps paying a self-storage company to store that stuff.
- You're probably paying a “stress premium” just having that stuff co-habitating with you.
- Lastly, you may have to pay someone to take that stuff away, or spend your time selling it or giving it away, when you can't stand it anymore!
Ben over at Money Smart Life apparently agrees that excess stuff is detrimental to your peace of mind.
What's more, we not only pay to bring stuff into our own lives, we pay to bring it into other people's lives as well! (These particular flavors of stuff are called “gifts.” 😉 )
He gives ten suggestions in this section (chapter 3) for lessening the grip that stuff has on us. Here are a few of them:
- “Don't love something that can't love you back.” It could be a car, a boat, a PS3, whatever.
- “Give experiences instead of gifts.” This reduces the transfer of “stuff.”
- “Life is meant to be lived, not preserved.” A few things are OK, but how many pictures or how many videos do you really have time to look at?
- “Be a creator, not a consumer.” Before I go out to get a Monette trumpet, I probably should really learn how to play the good one I have. Or, better yet, earn enough money playing it to pay for it!
More discussion on Debt is Slavery
John,
Here's a government generated chart of what you just described.
http://www.binarydollar.com/2007/03/14/finance-ch…
Hope the kid's doing great!
-h
I agree with "Give experiences instead of gifts" but it can be hard to find time. Unfortunately it's often easier to give stuff instead of spending time on something personal. I need to work on that.
If only GG charts would be that easy to understand. 😉 Kid's doing great, Henry. Thanks for asking!
Ben: Me too.
Experiences vs. stuff? That is why I encourage people to drop the "showers" people through to get more stuff. My wife and I look back and really wished we setup a travel fund instead of a "wish-list." We got more stuff we didn't need, and all our vacations end up being paid by us selling off the items we don't need!
You’re probably paying a “stress premium” just having that stuff co-habitating with you.