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Parthon · 08-09-2008, 01:54 AM

Zwynd: Hahaha! "Village dump." - perfect description!

My mum's house is exactly that! She has an entire room and a shed full of junk that she's "going to sort out soon" and it's been almost 4 years since she moved in there. She's even still got my boxes of toys and I moved out almost 10 years ago. I told her to throw them but she said "Oh, but someone might want to play with them some day."

I know my mum's source of the issue, she really likes security, mainly due to not having any growing up. She loves property and stuff, but also has a fair amount of the scarcity mindset going on too and spends much of her time trying to find the cheapest deals around and keeping anything she thinks is valuable even though it could be worthless.

When I saw the pattern for myself, I knew it's negative impact. Mainly the lack of space and the restrictions to your freedom because you think you have to save stuff and buy cheaply. The hidden cost though was spending so much time and energy "saving money" that I missed out on the opportunities to earn more money. Plus there's the new caveat I learnt - If you save money by buying something you didn't need on special, then you didn't save money but spent money on something you didn't need, no matter how much the sale sign says.

So I asked are the impacts of spending money on "specials", lack of freedom, lack of space and wasted time and effort really worth it? Nopes! So I got rid of all the clutter and boy do I feel a lot better. More freedom and space, less work dealing with what I have, and more money! :O That one was a suprise. On top of that, because I have more money I went and bought things I really needed, like an exercise bike, a new computer, and new clothes.

Now if I don't need/want something and it won't be used, out it goes. If I need something, I buy it.

I do believe though that security is the enemy of progress. It doesn't allow for growth or expansion, and keeps you in the same spot. It's source is scarcity thinking and fear of loss. The truth is nothing that is really important can be lost anyways.

08-09-2008, 01:54 AM	#26 (permalink)
Parthon Family Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 1,532	Zwynd: Hahaha! "Village dump." - perfect description! My mum's house is exactly that! She has an entire room and a shed full of junk that she's "going to sort out soon" and it's been almost 4 years since she moved in there. She's even still got my boxes of toys and I moved out almost 10 years ago. I told her to throw them but she said "Oh, but someone might want to play with them some day." I know my mum's source of the issue, she really likes security, mainly due to not having any growing up. She loves property and stuff, but also has a fair amount of the scarcity mindset going on too and spends much of her time trying to find the cheapest deals around and keeping anything she thinks is valuable even though it could be worthless. When I saw the pattern for myself, I knew it's negative impact. Mainly the lack of space and the restrictions to your freedom because you think you have to save stuff and buy cheaply. The hidden cost though was spending so much time and energy "saving money" that I missed out on the opportunities to earn more money. Plus there's the new caveat I learnt - If you save money by buying something you didn't need on special, then you didn't save money but spent money on something you didn't need, no matter how much the sale sign says. So I asked are the impacts of spending money on "specials", lack of freedom, lack of space and wasted time and effort really worth it? Nopes! So I got rid of all the clutter and boy do I feel a lot better. More freedom and space, less work dealing with what I have, and more money! :O That one was a suprise. On top of that, because I have more money I went and bought things I really needed, like an exercise bike, a new computer, and new clothes. Now if I don't need/want something and it won't be used, out it goes. If I need something, I buy it. I do believe though that security is the enemy of progress. It doesn't allow for growth or expansion, and keeps you in the same spot. It's source is scarcity thinking and fear of loss. The truth is nothing that is really important can be lost anyways.