Quit Buying So Much Stuff and Use What You Already Have!

My sister gave me a great poster for Christmas, which I’ll use as my new motto’ “Give Love, Buy Nothing”.
Like most Americans I have tons of stuff. I have stuff to decorate my house with (like tons of draping fabrics), stuff to make my job easier in the kitchen (like two pizza cutters), stuff to keep the house clean (like 3 brooms), and stuff to just have (like an altar to Fairies). But how much of it do I really need or even use?
Lately I have decided that the point to having this stuff is to use it, so I have been going through all my stuff to find stuff that is not being used and use it. Being a costume artist I have lots and lots of it so what I have done, for starters, is to compile as much of my stuff as possible into my best costumes, so that now my favorite costumes are even more spectacular! It’s a great feeling knowing you are using what you have!
I am no longer going to buy stuff for the hell of it. It’s a total waste. We are wasting money, natural resources and people’s energy just to make all this stuff. Somehow we all came to believe that to consume is part of our duty to keeping the economy alive. In fact we were told that and have been taught that since the 50’s.
You see we all collect stuff we need, or think we need, stuff for fun and stuff to make our lives more comfortable. But I bet if you looked around you would see a lot of stuff that you have that you never use! How much clutter do you have in your house when you really look at it?
I recently heard that 99% of the stuff we obtain gets trashed or becomes useless soon after we buy it. Here is a great link about the Story of Stuff. It will really make you think about the wastefulness of such massive consumerism and has lots of enlightening facts to consider. http://www.storyofstuff.com/
And let’s not forget what a distraction all this stuff is too. We are so involved in our stuff (moving it, reorganizing it, shopping for it and earning money to buy more of it) that we don’t seem to have enough time for the things that are really important to us like family, friends and relationships.
Just start to pay attention to it and you will see how all your stuff even wastes your time just thinking about it constantly. It is time for us all to reconsider how we spend our time and money, how we consume and how we really truly support the economy. Take time to think about how we can best support the economy without being so damb wasteful! Please, for the sake of every one of us (and the planet) quit consuming and use what you’ve already got!