Skip to main content

Jerry Seinfeld and the finance guy

Image
By
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says "all things exist in different stages of becoming garbage" and describes our home as a garbage-processing centre.



Demotion
"Objects start at the highest level - visible in the living area. From there it goes down to a closet, cupboard or drawer. That's why we have those - so we don't have to see all the huge mistakes we've made."

The garage
"No object has ever made it out of the garage and back into the house. The word garage seems to be a form of the word garbage."

Paid storage
"Now instead of free garbage, you pay rent to visit your garbage. It's like a prison visit when you go there."

What if it all burnt down?

Last week I mentioned Scott Pape's book (The Barefoot Investor (2018 Update): The Only Money Guide You'll Ever Need). He's a finance expert who lost everything in a bushfire. The insurance cheque was a chance to start over. It was also a chance to realise that much of what they lost was pure clutter. He kept the cash rather than get a new set of clutter.

As a finance guy, Scott's also fascinated by how much Australians spend on houses. Why do we have the largest homes on the planet? He says "we need every inch to store all our stuff". When our homes reach capacity, we purchase storage units to cling on to our collection of clutter.

Where does it come from?

Frankly, we buy too much. The result is more clutter and more waste. From 1997 to 2007, Australia's waste per person went from 1200 kg to 2100 kg. Two tonnes per person! Second only to the USA.

While Scott cares about the environmental aspect, as a finance guy he can't help but "think of the millions of hours people worked to buy stuff that's now rotting in a giant hole". Those hours could have be used so much more enjoyably.

So why do we do it?

According to Scott's book, marketers spend a trillion dollars a year (one million million dollars) convincing us to buy stuff - and that we need it.

And it seems to be working. Even at the richest time in history, in one of the richest countries, 62% of Australians believe they can't afford everything they need.

But more money's not the answer. Of those earning $200,000 or more, 53% were angry or frustrated at their cost of living. Meanwhile anxiety, depression, obesity and diabetes seem to be constantly increasing.

Here's some help

Scott says "It's only when you start to see through the brainwashing - all the millions of manipulative marketing messages that are pointed right at you, and make the decision not to buy into it - that you're truly free to tread your own path".

As well as not buying more clutter, we can also reduce the clutter we have now - and turn some of it back into cash. My free resource Less Clutter More Cash can help you do this.
Read more about:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to waste a year's wages

By
A friend recently asked me why it is that so many people (on good incomes) are struggling to save. Often the big three money areas are housing, transport and food. In one sense these are necessary items. But what we spend on them is often way more than necessary. I crunched some numbers on how much extra my wife and I could spend on these things - if for some reason we wanted to burn our money. 1. Housing Our apartment is fairly nice, but also cost-effective. I've mentioned how choosing it saves us $1,800 per year , compared to a similar one we saw. The high end of 2-bedroom apartments in our suburb is $305 per week more than our apartment. Not $305 per week. $305 per week more than ours is. I cannot get over that. Sure it's new and modern-looking, but that's a lot of money. It's an extra $15,860 per year above what we pay. 2. Transport The Australian Automobile Association lists the costs of owning and running a car. It includes many often-overlooked c
4 comments
Read more

Don't dump on charities

By
Netflix causes mass dumping. Here's an alternative. January is usually a big month for physical donations to charity. In 2019 it's been over-the-top (literally) as charity donation bins have been overflowing with items. The Netflix series "Tidying Up" by famous declutterer Marie Kondo (see her book ) has inspired many to declutter their homes. But in the process they've cluttered the streets. What's so bad about donating? When the bins overflow the extra items are thrown away. Having been in the weather, the rain and on the ground, they are classified as contaminated and cannot be sold. To make it worse, much of what fills the bins is not good enough to sell, and is also dumped. Bad donations hurt charities 13 million dollars. That's how much it costs charities to deal with all the junk we dump on them - 60,000 tonnes a year. Lifeline says half its stores have stopped accepting donations. We might think we're helping, but that's a lot
4 comments
Read more

This could all be yours

By
This cartoon kind of happened to me on the weekend. Joking about death My dad has his own unique sense of humour. Flippantly he joked that when he passes away, the first thing I'll need to do is get a rubbish skip (maybe two) and jam it full with all the junk from the garage. I was reminded of Marie Kondo, who says in her book that we have to deal with items either now or later; so it might as well be now. For people who have retired, I guess there's a third option: Ignore it for a few more decades and let descendants deal with it. Don't get me wrong - my dad has plenty of years left yet. But from his joke I'm guessing he's reasonably happy to let it all sit there while he enjoys retired life. Why not deal with it? I can kind of understand. It's an overwhelming task (even to look at). There's also the "I might need that" factor. Which is fair enough, but even if an item is needed, is it findable in amongst everything else? About half the
3 comments
Read more