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Possessions often end up costing more than you think
Friday, 21 April 2006
Let me tell you about one of the happiest parts of my life. It was just after I'd finished university. I worked for long enough to save up some money for a big trip overseas. I put a few clothes and other bits and pieces in a backpack and set off, travelling around Europe and down to the Middle-East. After six months of this, I decided to make my way to England, where I had a visa that allowed me to work for two years.
I moved into a large residence in Windsor, a small town just outside London. For a cheap rent, I was given a small private room with a bed and a desk in it. There were forty other people living in the residence, and we had shared kitchens, a dining room, and a television room downstairs. I ended up living there for two years.
All I had with me when I arrived was what was in my backpack. I didn't want to buy too many things, because I knew that when my visa ran out I'd be leaving.
I also didn't have a lot of money, as I was working in temporary jobs. During that time I had no car, no TV of my own, no computer, very few clothes, a stereo that had one broken speaker, and a few cooking utensils. I couldn't afford to eat out a lot, so I taught myself to cook good food instead. I used to read books that I'd borrowed from the local library.
Windsor was a quite compact town, so I'd get around mostly by walking and take public transport if I needed to go further. I was living a fairly possession-free existence, at least by most rich country people's standards.
The other people living in the residence were mostly young and from other parts of the world, like myself. They too didn't have a lot of money. Many of them had moved to South-East England to start off their careers.
Despite our relative poverty, we had a wonderful time. We'd often go out to the pubs and parties Windsor had to offer, and I sometimes drank too much. We'd have dinner parties in the spartan dining room and chat away with our youthful dreams for hours on end. We shared each others lives for two years, and the small amount of material things we had didn't really matter that much. I even managed to save up enough to go on short trips to the continent a few times.
Now I live in a big house in Australia and have all sorts of stuff. I have a nice car, three computers, a plasma television, a digital cable subscription, an iPod, and all sorts of other nice things. I'm content, but I couldn't say I'm any happier than when I lived back in Windsor with virtually nothing to my name. I'm certainly less free, and that's mostly because of my possessions.
To give up work and go travelling now would be much more difficult. What would I do with all our stuff? I guess I could put it into storage, but that would be a drain on my finances at a time I wouldn't be earning any money. What about the house? How would I continue to pay for it?
Having a car is nice, but it's also much more expensive than the sticker price. I have to pay for petrol, insurance, servicing, repairs, tolls, registration and other expenses. Of course, if you live in a city that's spread out and has poor public transport, these expenses are worth it for the benefits a car brings.
Our house is filled with all sorts of junk we've picked up over the years, most of which we probably don't need. We actually moved into a bigger house just over a year ago, because our last house was getting too small to accommodate all our stuff. So now I have to worry more about what kind of income I'm making in order to keep a roof over our heads.
This isn't meant to be some kind of anti-materialist rant. I like having nice things just as much as the next person. What I'm saying is you should realize that possessions often end up costing more than what's on the price-tag. They often come with all sorts of other expenses, the biggest of which is a little piece of your freedom. They often slow you down and cost you ongoing money.
This freedom-consuming nature of material things can threaten to take over your life at times. We all know people that work ridiculous hours and spend sleepless nights lost in worry because they've bought a house and a car they can't really afford. Their possessions have come to own them and, whatever additional happiness they derive is quickly evaporated away by the extra burden they've taken on.
Avoid getting yourself into this situation like the plague. It is the modern version of the gilded cage.
Having a lot of cool stuff is great, but it's not really necessary to be happy. As long as you've got good relationships, a bit of money in your pocket for entertainment, a roof over your head, and enough to eat, you can live perfectly happily without all that extra "stuff" we've been convinced is so necessary.
Keep your love of material things in perspective. And take the hidden costs into account before you start accumulating too much.
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