Keeping Useless Stuff and Collecting Debt
By Matt - Monday, May 11th, 2009
One of the main reasons that I got into as much debt as I did was that I collected stuff, I purchased it with credit and in the end I didn’t really need it. The problem with some of the stuff is that it was expensive so I held onto a lot of it. David’s post at My Two Dollars about getting rid of stuff made me think about this, how much stuff do we really keep that we shouldn’t? Another question that came to mind was: Why do we buy so much needless stuff?
Unfortunately I can’t speak for everyone but I know that I have become a lot better at purging unneeded things yet a few items have managed to move with me a couple times. Going back to David’s post there is a laptop that I bought and used a bit but not excessively that I have carted with me on three separate moves. The computer is now almost 9 years old yet I still keep it. Why you ask? Well it cost $1,800 at the time and I purchased it on a store credit card so in the end I paid over $3,000 for it. It’s not quite junk, yet, I can still use it but it holds little value to me now. Yet I keep it, how much other stuff that should be junk do I keep around?
I also got to thinking about all the stuff that I have purchased over the years and never used, some of it still has some value and use but why did I buy all this stuff? Well I think it has something to do with the consumer mentality that most North Americans get into as they grow up. The latest and greatest gadget comes out and we purchase it, without really determining if we need it.
There is nothing wrong with being a consumer if you can afford it (environmental issues aside), but I doubt that I am the only one that purchased a lot of my stuff with credit. Since starting this blog a while back I have become much more aware of my spending and as a result a lot less useless stuff has been purchased but I am not completely innocent. Now whenever I am about to purchase something that might end up being stuff I stop myself and think do I need this item or do I just want it? With our focus to repay our debt this questioning of purchases is going to increase.
As for that laptop, it’s still tucked away in the basement but it will be tossed when we clean the house in preparation for the kitchen renovation that’s coming up.
This entry is filed under Commentary, Debt, Sites/Articles.
One Response to “Keeping Useless Stuff and Collecting Debt”
1 Revanche says:
May 15th, 2009
at 6:01 pm
You know, I still don’t know what to do with my old laptop that I finally retired. It’s a 6 year old Sony Vaio and the screen has been too dark for years. Seems like I should recycle it rather than throw it out.
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