by Denise T.
I used to buy it all the time. I filled the void left by my crappy job and wilting love life with stuff, buying one knickknack of happiness $2 at a time. Tiki mugs, thrift store sweaters, light up lawn gnomes and shelves of books. I loved it all. And boy when I saw it in the store I had to have it.
Then I lost my job. I didn't have any money in the bank. Years of working hard and nothing to show for it.... except all that stuff. That's when it dawned on me. I'd worked really hard for years and had spent every last dime on stuff. I had a house full of it.
Suddenly unemployed and surrounded by it , I learned what stuff really costs in the long run.
If only I hadn’t wasted that $5 here, or $15 there, I wouldn’t be worried about rent next month. I wouldn't have been dependent on a job I didn’t like much anyway, a job that had suddenly disappeared.
That's when I realized that stuff is a trap.
When we buy stuff, we have to keep working to support the stuff. It keeps us working forever, chained to our desks slaving day after day to pay for it. Stuff binds us to jobs we hate but have to have – for the money. It saps our financial security, our freedom, and our future.
When I had a steady paycheck, I bought a car. Suddenly I had an avalanche of new bills—car insurance, repairs, gasoline, and parking tickets. I didn't really need a car, I could've taken the bus or ridden my bike. But instead, I gave in and it cost me more than I ever imagined in the long run.
I also bought stuff on credit cards, because I thought I deserved nice stuff—and if I was running short on dough at the time—I deserved it anyway. So then I was stuck paying interest on stuff. And stuck with a big fat Visa bill that seemed to grow ever larger.
I worked a job I hated because I had bills. I worked to pay for car insurance, and that Visa bill. I even paid higher rent for a bigger apartment so that I could keep more stuff.
When I was buying it, I thought "I deserve this because I worked hard." For years I had never had the money to indulge, but as soon as I did I spent it thinking it was a measure success.
But wouldn’t we all quit ours job or take a more meaningful one that pays less if only we didn’t have so many bills? If we could just manage to sock some of our paychecks away at the end of the month? I know I would have. If I had saved some of that money , I would have left that job a lot sooner.
But stuff did teach me something. Stuff for the sake of having stuff is worthless. It doesn't make us happier or better off. Having belongings , despite what TV and advertising tell us, is not what it means to be successful, or what it is to be happy.
I do deserve a treat when I work hard, but now it can be something that's free. Like a walk in the park, or a visit to a museum. It doesn’t have to be stuff.
