Materialism

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coralewisjr

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Do you ever look around your house and think “Wow, I have too much stuff!”? Do you ever look in your closet/dresser/chest and think, “I never wear that.” Do you ever wonder why we think we need so much?

I like throwing things away. This doesn’t bode well with my packrat DH but our apartment is cleaner as a result, and I’ve learned to keep things that are important. It feels very good to go through our closet and the rest of our place and look for things that we don’t use so we can donate them to the thrift store in town. How do you combat materialism? Do you have any advice for living simply?

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
There is alot of junk in my house I would like to throw away. My mother is adament about keeping them. So my father and I slowly sneak things out to the trash.
 
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coralewisjr:
Do you ever look around your house and think “Wow, I have too much stuff!”?
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YES! I often comb through what I own and determine if I can afford to give it away and I do. There are many ways to give.
 
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bogeyjlg:
There is alot of junk in my house I would like to throw away. My mother is adament about keeping them. So my father and I slowly sneak things out to the trash.
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LOL good idea as long as you’re not throwing away things that others can use. 🙂 Good for you, contemplative.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
Do you remember the Bible verse where a rich man comes up to our Lord and asks Him what He can do? He’s been following the commandments faithfully all his life and Jesus says to sell all his stuff and follow Him. That’s quite a challenge.
I used to wonder how nuns can go without so much but now that I know a few girls who are going to be nuns (yay!), it’s easier to understand. They’re quite a powerful witness to others for God!

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
If your house is always cluttered with stuff, you may just be lazy.

To check if you’re materialistic, see not only if your place is full of stuff you could do without but also if you wear, watch, or use stuff that is a bit “out of date”. If it isn’t or you don’t, you’re probably a bit too materialistic.
 
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coralewisjr:
Do you remember the Bible verse where a rich man comes up to our Lord and asks Him what He can do? He’s been following the commandments faithfully all his life and Jesus says to sell all his stuff and follow Him. That’s quite a challenge.
I used to wonder how nuns can go without so much but now that I know a few girls who are going to be nuns (yay!), it’s easier to understand. They’re quite a powerful witness to others for God!
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My wife grew up neat freak, and I am pack rat. I won the battle, in that the house was messy. Good Friday, our house caught on fire and I lost a lot of the stuff. Now I want to be a neat freak, too.

One of our previous associate priests had a Bose Wave Radio CD player – I’d heard them advertised but never seen one. He said he was thinking of giving away the radio and his CD’s because he has too much stuff. I couldn’t grasp it then, but I can now. Attachment to stuff undermines freedom to live and love as life unfolds.

I don’t know why this fire happened to me, but what is has done against me materially it has done for me spiritually. Neighbors helped us, giving us food, clothes, and shelter for the night. From there the insurance company picked it up, and we had lots of help from parishioners and some of its organizations. Truly we should not worry what we are to eat or to wear; we will be taken care of.

Alan
 
used to have on my refrigerator a poem that went something like
Don’t buy it if you . . .
can live without it
can recycle something else to replace it
can get it used
can borrow it if it is for one-time use
can use time instead of money to do the task it is designed for
already have one
used to have one but threw it out
are considering shopping for it because you are bored
can’t afford it
have to charge it
want it because you saw it advertised on TV
your kids are nagging you for it
 
I’m the neat freak and DH is the pack rat. At 50 he still had shirts from high school (!!!) till this last move when I just swept the place out.
If I haven’t used it or worn it in the past 6 months, off to charity it goes.
Yes, materialism is rampant, especially here in the US. We are bombarded repeatedly through the media that we have to have stuff that we do not need.
My mom was the worst - we had an extra ROOM in our house piled to the ceiling with stuff she could not bear to part with. After 45 years of marriage, she still had the letters her first boyfriend sent her during WWII. I think she made me the streamlined person I am today. 😃
 
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puzzleannie:
used to have on my refrigerator a poem that went something like
Don’t buy it if you . . .
can live without it
can recycle something else to replace it
can get it used
can borrow it if it is for one-time use
can use time instead of money to do the task it is designed for
already have one
used to have one but threw it out
are considering shopping for it because you are bored
can’t afford it
have to charge it
want it because you saw it advertised on TV
your kids are nagging you for it
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Oh that’s good! I’m printing it out & putting in on MY fridge tonight!
 
My husband and I wrestle with this as well. He has a truism (or cliche) that goes something like,

“A man will pay $2 for a $1 item that he needs. A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item she doesn’t need.”

I fight my tendency to do this all the time. Because I prefer to try thrift shops before regular retail stores, sometimes I can fool myself into bringing home bags of stuff I didn’t set out to buy, but were such a great find that I just couldn’t pass it by…

For example: the queen-sized quilted dust ruffle that I got at the Salvation Army for $5, when I know it would sell retail for over $75. Just because that’s true, does it mean it needs to come live with me in my house? Since “queen-sized quilted dust ruffle” was definitely NOT on any shopping lists that day, I should have walked away–great deal or not!

My test question now is, “Exactly how will I use this, where will it go, and will I feel bad giving it away in a year if I don’t use or find a place for it?”

Staying attached to an object you never use, only because you remember how little you paid for it, is a kind of materialism.

It feels so good to load up the van with bags of stuff & drop them off at St. Vincent de Paul, or the Goodwill!
 
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StephanieC:
Staying attached to an object you never use, only because you remember how little you paid for it, is a kind of materialism.
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:yup: I’d also say that keeping things you don’t need, “just in case,” is a kind of materialism. I’m not talking about a basic emergency kit, but stuff like a bird cage (“just in case I ever get a bird”), or a Swahili-English dictionary (“just in case I ever go to Africa”). 😛

God wants us to learn to let go and trust in His goodness. If He calls us to a situation where we’ll need to learn Swahili, He will give us the means to buy a dictionary. 🙂
 
maryceleste said:
:yup: I’d also say that keeping things you don’t need, “just in case,” is a kind of materialism.
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Yes. A lot of materialism doesn’t reflect self-indulgence or hedonism. It reflects a fear of the unknown and a desire to control it.

If you may need it “sometime”, someone else probably needs it right now!
 
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BLB_Oregon:
Yes. A lot of materialism doesn’t reflect self-indulgence or hedonism. It reflects a fear of the unknown and a desire to control it.
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This is very true. It took me a very long time to come to this conclusion, but I can imagine entire books being written on the subject.

Alan
 
The lack of a TV in my family’s home helps a lot with combatting the gimme’s. Also, I subscribe to flylady.net FlyLady’s free daily email list and one of the things that FlyBabies do is a 27 Fling Boogie. The name scared me away at first but once I read about what it is, it’s great! From the FlyLady website:

“This is a tool to help you declutter your home. Do this assignment as fast as you can. Take a garbage bag and walk through your home and throw away 27 items. Do not stop until you have collected all 27 items. Then close the garbage bag and pitch it. DO NOT LOOK IN IT!!! Just do it. Next, take an empty box and go through your home collecting 27 items to give away. As soon as you finish filling the box, take it to the car. You are less tempted to rescue the items. If you have two of any item and you only need one, get rid of the least desirable.”

For those who give in to laziness, I recommend FlyLady! I’m a perfectionist and a procrastinator and FlyLady is helping me clean and get a lot more done during the day. God bless you!

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
When my husband and I got married, we moved all our stuff from our parents houses to our new home. Needless to say, I eliminated everything I didn’t need or wouldn’t need in the future. HE on the other hand has 9 large garbage bags, which came from his parents house, full of old clothes (which should be donated) rotting away in the basement. They have never even seen the closet. I get too closterphobic when there is too much stuff. By the way, the basement is not my most favorite place.
 
YES! Marry young, convert to catholic faith, live in a small house, live on a 1 income salary debt free (or very nearly), and make lots and lots of babies!
**:dancing: :rotfl: **
 
Rob’s Wife said:
YES! Marry young, convert to catholic faith, live in a small house, live on a 1 income salary debt free (or very nearly), and make lots and lots of babies!
**:dancing: :rotfl: **
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I’m Catholic (cradle and I love the Church), I live in a one-bedroom apartment, my DH is job-hunting, and we’ve already got a baby in my belly! 😃

dsproule, if he isn’t using those clothes I suggest that you wash them (when you have time) and donate them to a thrift store.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
I just discovered the Freecycling group: www.freecycling.org
check to see if there is one in your area.

Insted of throwing away or storing indefinetly any unwanted items, you can offer it to a member of the group that may be in need of that item. You help the community and the environment.

I like to declutter frequently and my husband is starting to mend his ways too! The bad thing is we both have the same weak spot and we end up buying lots of Catholic books!
 
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RosaLydia:
I just discovered the Freecycling group: www.freecycling.org
check to see if there is one in your area.

Insted of throwing away or storing indefinetly any unwanted items, you can offer it to a member of the group that may be in need of that item. You help the community and the environment.

I like to declutter frequently and my husband is starting to mend his ways too! The bad thing is we both have the same weak spot and we end up buying lots of Catholic books!
Click to expand...
We’re going to donate lots of clothes and a few other things to the Catholic thrift store in town when we finally bring them to the store. We can’t afford to donate anything else, as we’re unemployed and I can’t work (I need to stay off my feet for preborn Baby’s sake). Freecycle was mentioned in the “How to be thrifty?” thread I started a while ago. God bless you!

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
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