Stuff!

Another reason we think we need larger homes is because we have so much stuff.  The funny thing is that when we upsize to a larger home we feel the need to buy more furniture and decorations to fill up the space.  I’ve actually had this conversation with somebody who was considering upsizing, when they stepped back from their situation to re-evaluate whether or not it was worth the effort, they realised the futility of it.  They said they were already shopping around for extra furniture for rooms they would probably rarely use so that the new house didn’t look empty.  Sound familiar?

George Carlin was a comedian who did a number of stand up routines.  One in particular is my favourite – he’s talking about “stuff” and I think it really sums up our lives, the vanity of the whole lot.  Here’s a bit of a transcript of the skit, Google George Carlin for the rest.

“I would have been out here a little earlier but they gave me the wrong dressing room and I couldn’t find anywhere to put my stuff, and I don’t know about you but I need a place to put my stuff, so that’s what I’ve been doing back there is just trying to find a place to put my stuff, you know how important that is, that’s the whole meaning of life isn’t it, trying to find a place for your stuff, that’s all your house is, your house is just a place for your stuff, if you didn’t have so much damn stuff you wouldn’t need a house, you could just walk around all the time.  That’s all your house is, a pile of stuff with a roof on it, you see that when you take off in an aeroplane, you look down and see that everybody’s got a little pile of stuff, everybody’s got their own pile of stuff and when you leave your stuff you’ve gotta lock it up, wouldn’t want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff, they always take the good stuff, they don’t bother with the crap you’re saving, aint nobody interested in your 4th grade arithmetic papers, they’re after the good stuff, that’s all your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.  Now, sometimes you’ve gotta move, you gotta get a bigger house – why, too much stuff, you’ve gotta move all of your stuff and maybe put some of your stuff into storage.  Imagine that, there’s a whole industry based on keeping an eye on your stuff.  Enough about your stuff, let’s talk about other people’s stuff, did you ever notice when you go to somebody else’s house you never feel 100% at home, you know why, no room for your stuff.  Somebody else’s stuff is all over the place, and what awful stuff it is, where did they get this stuff?  And if you have to stay overnight at somebody’s house unexpectedly and they give you that little room they don’t use very often, someone died in it 11 years ago and they haven’t moved any of his stuff, or wherever they get you to sleep right next to the bed there’s a dresser and there’s never any room on the dresser for your stuff, someone else’s sh*# is on the dresser.  Have you ever noticed how somebody else’s stuff is sh*# and your sh*# is stuff?”

Not sure about you but it makes me want to simplify my life a bit and live smaller.