Since retirement, I have sought to rid myself of a lifetime of collecting stuff. I was never a spend thrift, spending money without purpose on expensive toys. I preferred watching money grow through savings and investments. I preferred the satisfaction of donating money to good causes. And I preferred spending money on education and travel. That isn’t to say that I didn’t spend money on things someone convinced me that I needed. I did.
Because I enjoyed dressing up for work, creating and maintaining a comfortable and beautifully decorated home, gardening, and cooking and entertaining, I accumulated a lot of items to help me achieve these lifestyle choices. But now I’ve slowed my roll. I don’t have anywhere to wear all these clothes, shoes, coats, handbags, scarfs, and jewelry. I no longer cook and entertain on the scale I once did. And I’m not so keen on redecorating for every season as I once was. In the past, I was fond of having an occasional garage sale, but those days are over. Now, I’ve taken to donating a lot of items, passing some on to the kids, and I’m writing down the instructions for an estate sale in my will. The point is that you can’t take any of this stuff with you and while you’re here, it all becomes a mental burden to look at while it collects dust.
It’s hard for younger people to grasp this. I had a heated conversation with a family member about the danger of spending every available dollar on expensive toys, foregoing savings and investments. I realize that people have different mindsets when it comes to owning things. In my opinion, that family member has an unhealthy attachment to his stuff because it interferes with his mental and financial stability. Despite the overwhelming credit interest and maintenance cost associated with his expensive toys, my son in law can’t imagine selling any of his items. In the past, I made the mistake of paying off their creditors when I saw interest rates to the tune of 25 -29%, only to have them turn around and purchase more stuff on credit because that money was freed up for new monthly payments. I learned my lesson to never do that again.
We live in a nation where most people don’t have $400 set aside for an emergency. I think we have created an unhealthy relationship with the accumulation of things. No item should be paid for multiple times because of credit interest. My credit card pays me, not the other way around! There are a couple of rules I learned in my thirties that have served me well. First is that immediate gratification and impulse buying lead to financial debt. The second rule is that things do not make me happy. While certain things have utility, I keep them around, but after that, I get rid of them because I find that clutter is a mental weight.
The problem is that everywhere we go, everywhere we look, someone is trying to sell us some item that is guaranteed to make us better or happier. It’s usually a lie. What I’ve discovered through the years is that there is greater happiness in breaking free of the clutter from useless items and even greater satisfaction in donating to good causes. However, the greatest satisfaction comes from watching my savings and investments grow with every dollar I do not spend on frivolous items. This practice has provided my current financial security and future benefits for my grandchildren. Some call it building “generational wealth” and you can’t do that by spending every dollar you make.