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The Art of Wanting Less

Original Article

Posted By: earlybird, 7/29/2021 1:13:20 PM

There are some practical steps we can take to get more out of life than what money can buy.“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” –Socrates I had always loved to shop. A lot. I could spend a whole Saturday going from store to store without stopping. In fact, some of my earliest memories are of happily shopping the day away with my Grandma Wittebort in downtown Morgantown, West Virginia. The roots run deep. Macy’s, Dillards, Pottery Barn, Banana Republic, J.Crew—I frequented them all. In fact, I shopped at Anthropologie so often that the sales ladies greeted me by name,

Comments:

Something different. Thought-provoking. And a word to think about: habituation.

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Reply 1 - Posted by: padiva 7/29/2021 1:44:52 PM (No. 861323)
Last year, I cleaned out a lot of clothes and books. It felt good. Less is more. Money can't buy happiness. It only disguises (spiritual) poverty.
21 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: DogFacedPonySoldier 7/29/2021 1:46:01 PM (No. 861326)
That's why "thou shallt not covet". I'm glad I read this article just now. I was about to step to "buy" something I don't really need.
13 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: bad-hair 7/29/2021 2:00:05 PM (No. 861338)
Don't NEED to read past the head line. Don't WANT to read the rest. This is for the kiddies on their "smart" phones. He is richest whose needs are modest. In a physical sense of course.
8 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: coyote 7/29/2021 2:09:27 PM (No. 861341)
You sound like my wife.
4 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: LC Chihuahua 7/29/2021 2:17:25 PM (No. 861349)
I'm a firm believer that whatever one owns also owns them in return. I'm also a firm believer in saving my money so I'm not a spendaholic. I do fine with alot less. I don't run around or travel much either. I'm a home body, and I'm happy with that. Told this story before...in September of 2019 I flew to Florida for the winter, and stayed with a friend. In February of 2020, COVID hit, and I decided to shelter in place in Florida rather than return to New York. In August of 2020, she fell and broke her hip, and I decided to stay indefinitely. She wants me to stay with her in Florida. It is July of 2021, and I'm still in Florida even though 90% of what I own is in New York. There is no room for my stuff. What's really different is discovering there are only a few items that I really miss, and those are items of sentimental value. I may well be discarding most of what I own. If I can make it work.
19 people like this.

Reply 6 - Posted by: unagator 7/29/2021 2:29:13 PM (No. 861358)
The wife and I are moving next weekend from the house we’ve lived in for 17 years. I started clearing the attic a few years ago and it’s paid off in spades. It’s continued to the point where I joked last night that “we’ve run out of things to throw out or give away.” It feels great.
15 people like this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: Bur Oak 7/29/2021 2:31:45 PM (No. 861360)
"Money can't buy happiness, but it can finance a frantic search for it." XX Martin
12 people like this.

Reply 8 - Posted by: formerNYer 7/29/2021 2:53:34 PM (No. 861375)
FTA: “We’re unhappiest when we become dissatisfied with what we have and decide that we want more...” I couldn't agree more: My wife and I are getting ready to retire, when I asked my investment counselor if we had save enough he laughed and said we have save more than 95% of the average American, we have both fully funded our 401Ks, we paid of our mortgage years ago. There is little that we want except to enjoy our retirement. We see friends constantly buying jewelry, cars and big ticket items and we couldn't care less for all of that stuff. We may buy an RV to travel in but then we might just stay in hotels who knows, all we do know id if we need something we buy it, if we don't need it it's just more stuff.
11 people like this.

Reply 9 - Posted by: marbles 7/29/2021 2:55:26 PM (No. 861376)
Thoreau said to "Simplify, simplify" . Everybody needs the same basic things, food clothing and shelter. How you interpret that is personal . She's sounds like she had a shopping addiction. Addiction to anything is rarely good. Her shopping addiction was her life, HER life. No need to feel guilt for buying stuff, liking stuff , owning stuff.
8 people like this.

Reply 10 - Posted by: sanspeur 7/29/2021 3:11:04 PM (No. 861385)
never fail thought ..repeat to grandlings often : Use it up , wear it out , Make do , or do without
8 people like this.

Reply 11 - Posted by: janjan 7/29/2021 3:32:19 PM (No. 861408)
Learn to live and let live. If people want stuff and have the money to buy it it really isn’t anyone else’s business. Same for people with a different perspective.
10 people like this.

Reply 12 - Posted by: DARling 7/29/2021 3:58:52 PM (No. 861443)
I don't need a new car. My ten-year-old model runs just fine. I don't need a McMansion. My smallish house is paid for and meets my needs. I have no desire to eat in restaurants for every meal. I like cooking my own food in sensible portions and knowing what's in it. We are a bloated, lazy society. You'd think that with COVID, people would be taking better care of themselves and setting aside money and supplies for a potential economic downturn. Yet so many people emerged from their homes wondering when their favorite Chinese buffet would be opening up and griping about why their McDonald's order is more expensive than it used to be. It is as though people have learned nothing over the past year.
7 people like this.

Reply 13 - Posted by: WhamDBambam 7/29/2021 6:11:06 PM (No. 861565)
Funny, I only see these "you can do with less" articles during Democrat administrations. Funny, that.
6 people like this.

Reply 14 - Posted by: Geoman 7/29/2021 6:16:02 PM (No. 861566)
This article is a high degree of resonance in those beliefs handed down to me by my parents. They both grew up during the Great Depression and my dad was a WWII Pacific veteran. He stayed in the military as a senior enlisted man throughout Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War, so they never made much money; however, they always seemed to have enough to help out less fortunate family members and complete strangers alike. That they knew hardship is without question but when they had a chance to spend money they had saved for decades, they chose to continue saving. I buried both of them a few years ago and it really hit me that they had denied themselves some of the things I knew they wanted, like a new Escalade or full size GM pickup truck and Airstream travel trailer but they were careful to continue to live frugally so as to not become a burden on their children. They didn't have a lot but what they had was always high quality, as my mom once remarked when I was a kid, "we're too poor to buy cheap." I didn't understand that until I had kids of my own. Often, it makes more sense to focus on quality instead of quantity and that having the latest cool gadget is less fulfilling than planting, tending, and enjoying or sharing the bounty of a productive vegetable garden. Many of us who can be happy with less "stuff" have our parents to thank for that and a roadmap for passing on meaningful habits to our kids and grandkids. I understand better why my parents didn't give in to the new Caddy SUV or Sierra pickup and I no longer feel bad for them having denied themselves the things I heard them say they admired.
3 people like this.

Reply 15 - Posted by: msliberty1937 7/29/2021 6:30:41 PM (No. 861573)
Have to agree with Wham...articles like this are preparing us to choose to do with less because, at the pace things are going, we will have to do with less...not of things we might want, but things we NEED.
3 people like this.

Reply 16 - Posted by: ColonialAmerican1623 7/30/2021 1:53:12 AM (No. 861842)
#14 You mother was right. Are we being conditioned ?
1 person likes this.

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