Too Much Stuff.
August 16th, 2007
I need to clear out the attic as our spare room is being converted into a part-time home office. It’s an annual cycle, I throw out/donate stuff and move other stuff from the spare room into the attic. So Paul Graham’s Stuff really did resonate – in fact I know it’ll resonate with anyone living in a small unit (anything built in an Irish town or city in the past ten years). I like his point that people will take services over goods any day. Perhaps thats why the product based software business is dying a death.
I really don’t think I have much stuff! Maybe I have lots of small stuff, I dunno…
There’s a great Fight Club quote which I was reminded of reading that essay – “The things you own end up owning you”. After living out of a backpack for more than a year, I visited home and realised that I too had lots of small stuff, boxes and boxes of stuff in fact (half my parents attic, which is already full of stuff from before I moved out) – none of which I had actually needed in an entire year. Moral of the story? Less stuff is good, consume less.