Freakonomics has a great little article today asking the question that George Carlin probably asked in a much more “colorful” way: Why are we so attached to our stuff? And why do we value our stuff so much more than we value other peoples’ stuff? (Hint: It’s called the endowment effect.)
I have a friend who is moving half-way across the country to Mississippi, and she and her husband are currently locked in a my stuff-your stuff battle over what deserves to be thrown away or sold. The current battle zone is four big boxes of videos and DVDs. She wants to keep six DVDs, he wants to keep all the rest.
Remember Nora Ephron’s lament in Heartburn? While they didn’t have much of a marriage, boy, did she and her husband have THINGS, many of them unique, expensive and utterly useless. You know, tschotskies.
After 50+ years of living and 30 years of marriage and motherhood, I am hip-deep in stuff. Much of it is paper — in the form of books, cards of all sorts, photos, letters, certificates, agendas, all the things we collect over the course of a life — and that doesn’t bode well considering the fire season we’re having. The garage alone makes me weep.
The Spouse tackled the unfinished part of the basement in recent months, so it isn’t as depressing as it once was, but it still teems with stuff, a lot of it boxes and add-on components for computers and stereos WE NO LONGER OWN. (But we keep the boxes, because, you know, we might have to return whatever came in it that we no longer have.)
That’s irrational, I know. “But irrational instincts make for great business” says the Times article. “Self-storage companies are discovering a growing market in, as Carlin puts it, ‘a whole industry based on keeping an eye on your stuff.’”
Okay, everybody who has rented or is planning to rent a storage unit in which to put all your stuff and other peoples’ stuff that you got stuck with and that is crowding out your own stuff, please identify yourselves. Have you got room for some of my stuff?
Unlike yours, mine is GOOD STUFF.
Update: Karen at Midlife’s a Trip has a fun blogpost on Carlin and his stuff.
July 1, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Boy, you said it! Ugh! One year ago today, I moved out of my house which I rented out, put as much of my stuff in storage as possible and went to house-share. IT FELT SO GOOD! No kidding on the storage buildings, we need to invest. It was hard to find space, all stay close to 100% occupied in my area.
I’ve decided when it’s time to move back, I am taking nothing but what I have with me just to see what living in an almost empty house is like. The only thing I ever think about is my books which I do miss.