I spent another half hour clearing out another cupboard last night--about half of it I could cheerfully part with.
Anybody need some canning jars? Me, I'll probably cheerfully go to my grave before I actually do any canning of homemade preserves. :)
I've been reading some books to inspire me to rid myself of clutter, and last night's bathtub-reading quoted from a book by Stuart Wilde called "Infinite Self". They were words from a chapter called "Hold on to Nothing". Ahem, the chapter title does not come close to describing me yet, but I liked the spirit of it:
"The whole function of money is not to have it; its function is to use it. The main reason for generating money is to buy experiences. You want to get to the end of your life with zilch in the bank, and look back and say, "My God, look at this huge pile of experiences..."
I like the thought of that. Although the practical side of me still plans to have leftovers from a comfortable retirement fund as well as having had lots of world trips and theatre nights under my belt when I hit age ninety-five.
What do you think is better? Money to buy things you can have and hold, or money to buy "experiences"?
11 comments:
I guess beer counts as buying experiences since it doesn't last very long. I like a mixture - doing things and owning stuff. I'd like to buy a Harley-Davidson and tour the continent, visiting a lot of state parks and historic sites on the way.
Can we have both? My thought is this - you can't take it with you (well you can but it won't be doing anything in the ground with you) so enjoy it!!!
SPEND SPEND SPEND, that's my motto!
Consider how many experiences I'VE had, I suspect I've done more in the 33 years I've been alive than most people do in a lifetime...and I don't plan on stopping any time soon.
So much for retirement savings, but I'll never say, "I should have (fill in the blank), to bad I never did and now I can't."
I am torn on this. I see my parents struggle on their fixed income now and I know they wished they had put more aside. ON the other hand, after a near death experience I have the live for today philosophy. You just never know when your time will come and I say live life while you can! Cram in all the experiences you can.
I'm with Grant on this. You have to both own things and do things. After all, we are all looking at this blog because we spent the money to own a computer and pay for an Internet connection.
The flip side of the coin is: are we going to nothing else but sit in front of the computer and read about other people's experiences (no matter how interesting) for the rest of our lives?
So it is a mix... but Spider, in your clearing out of cupboards, you are right about something else. A lot of the stuff we keep around is just taking up space. Things we've bought and never used, things that were given to us they we didn't really need, things that we needed or used often at one time, but just don't need anymore... those things can all go. Pass them along and say, "Thanks for the memories."
Good post. You've inspired me to try to clear out my own cupboards... again! It is a bit of an ongoing process, but it does get easier with time.
Personally, I would much rather have experiences. HOWEVER...I really need the $$ to get that Nikon D70 so I can take really great pictures of my experiences.
I wish I bought more experiences.
Most of my experiences came when I had little or no money- i've had jobs where I made lots, and spent more. For me, i find too much income makes me a boring person- it cuts my imagination and I rely on stuff to entertain me.
On the other hand- the best stuff i have- the really memorable items-old cameras, pictures, books- were all either gifts or stuff I found at little material cost.
I'll take experiences any day.
message for renee- after many years behind the camera, I have found the best tool is the shooters eye and imagination- a great camera is one that is used by a creative person.
I also support the happy medium maybe leaning a bit toward experiences.
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