Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Less is More

It's Christmas time.  The news just told me the average person in North America will spend $600 on Christmas presents this year. That is actually down 8% from last year. Considering the fact that I'm paying ZERO for Christmas presents, someone out there is buying $1200 to compensate for my lack of Christmas "spirit".



I have written in the past about the law of diminishing returns when accumulating things. Basically owning 100 TVs won't make you 100 times happier than owning one TV. However, owning one tv will probably make you happier than owning none. Somewhere in between you will find a maximum return on investment. I would also suggest that owning 100 TVs would make you less happy than owning one TV. (Search Laffer Curve although it really isn't connected to my theory.) Owning 100 TVs would cost a lot of money. That money could be spent on other things. It takes a lot of space to store 100 TVs. That space costs more money to hold your 100 TVs. Then there's the electricity bill. Simply put, owning 100 TVs is an inconvenience.

TVs aside, everything we own has a similar affect on us. There's a point at which accumulating more does not bring happiness. I think we're beyond that point in North America. There's a very interesting contrast happening in my life right now. I am actively working at reducing the amount of stuff cluttering my life, all the while people around me are actively shopping for more things because its Christmas. I've been giving away a lot of clothes lately. It's ridiculous how much I've accumulated, and I'm actively trying to reduce my consumption.  I have about 20 pairs of shoes. How does that even happen?

In one of my multiple homes I have a room to store my shelves that hold my boxes that house my things. Those things are rarely, if ever, used. I have 3 sombreros. I know Mexicans who don't own 3 sombreros.

I am working to bring more to my life by having less. Less things, more money. Less things, more time. Less things, more happiness.

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