When you have to rent an apartment to house all of your precious stuff that you don't need right now.Having too much is using could-be living space to house your junk while people sleep on the street.Having too much is paying money to house your junk. Money that most go without.Having too much is having so many clothes that you have to rent an apartment to keep them in while others are naked.'Self storage is the epitome of having too much.
8/19/2010 6:06:43 PM
Very well. You do whatever you want, and so will I.
8/19/2010 6:09:13 PM
says every criminal
8/19/2010 6:10:21 PM
or it could be a cheaper alternative to moving to a bigger house/blanket statements
8/19/2010 6:10:35 PM
^ that's hardly going to satisfy her.I do know this: I wouldn't do a fucking thing in terms of productivity if I was restricted to austerity.
8/19/2010 6:12:53 PM
How about I start by listing all of the other perfectly legitimate reasons one could have for using a self-storage space:1) They're moving or otherwise in between homes and can't feasibly drive all their shit around in a u-haul everywhere they go.2) They are traveling for extended periods of time and have no reason to maintain a permanent dwelling for the time being.3) You're moving into a smaller place and don't have room for the things you had in your bigger place. Maybe you're trying to figure out what to do with them, how to sell them, whatever, or maybe you just think your situation will be temporary.If you have a problem with those, you have a problem with people owning anything more than they can carry in a hobo pack.Then there's the part where your argument -- that storage places would be put to better use as housing -- could just as easily be used for parking lots. "Oh, you need somewhere to put your precious car while you're at work. That parking deck downtown could house a thousand homeless!" (Although, from what I've seen at a lot of parking decks, they already do).And the fact that self-storage places employ people.And the fact that whenever you buy something, you are helping to keep an entire chain of people employed -- from the otherwise destitute Chinaman who assembled whatever you bought to the poor guys that dug up the raw materials to the high school kid who worked at the retail place where you bought it.
8/19/2010 6:26:51 PM
Here ya go, mambagrl:Not featured in this picture are:-my other motorcycle-the tandem axle trailer parked in front of the black truck outside-the '66 Chevy pickup that's torn apart in my grandfather's 2nd workshop, in the middle of restoration.-the empty rooms--with no homeless people--in the 3BR/2.5 bath house that I live in by myselfI can't wait to get some stability in my life where I'm not spending 50% of my time either deployed or in Arizona on training exercises...then maybe I'll add a boat and a half-share of an airplane to the collection.I do plan on selling the 3/4-ton, 4x4, V-10 engined Ram you see in the driveway as soon as I finish the '66 pickup, though. You know, in the name of efficiency and all...I don't really need two pickups....but I might very well pick up a 3rd motorcycle. ...and I kinda want to sell the S2000 and buy a Porsche--Hondas are just so...merely adequate.[Edited on August 19, 2010 at 6:39 PM. Reason : all paid for by my salary from the most fierce branch of the Imperial War Machine...][Edited on August 19, 2010 at 6:41 PM. Reason : ...and my ruthless, capitalistic stock trading, often taking advantage of those selling under duress][Edited on August 19, 2010 at 6:44 PM. Reason : the house was a foreclosure, too, which I still managed to get for nearly 5% under the list price][Edited on August 19, 2010 at 6:50 PM. Reason : ]
8/19/2010 6:37:03 PM
8/19/2010 7:00:47 PM
8/19/2010 7:17:06 PM
8/19/2010 7:18:33 PM
8/19/2010 7:19:53 PM
mambagrill = God? They have that same whiney holier than thou attitude about the stupidest of shit?
8/19/2010 7:23:39 PM
mambagrl trolls harder
8/19/2010 7:24:39 PM
8/19/2010 7:41:42 PM
8/19/2010 7:42:39 PM
8/19/2010 7:45:51 PM
8/19/2010 7:48:56 PM
I will say that I would've spent more by just buying a new Honda Civic than I have tied up in my entire garage and driveway...but that's out of necessity, not because I wouldn't have newer, nicer stuff if I could afford it.[Edited on August 19, 2010 at 8:04 PM. Reason : and, as a citizen of the world, i have nothing in mini-storage]
8/19/2010 8:01:24 PM
I agree with the idea that humans tend to hoard too many "things" but I won't go so far as to point a finger and tell someone that they have "too much". People are rather unique from other creatures in that we need to compile items either for survival, comfort, status, etc. If you think about it our possessions aren't so much owned by us but rather can become our chains. We feel compelled to watch tv or be online to stay informed or connected. I do, however, encourage folks to be cognizant of material barriers that they place in their lives that may hinder or prohibit healthy social interactions or more naturally fulfilling activities. I will refrain for now from going into the sustainability aspect of our consumerism mentality.
8/19/2010 8:08:23 PM
I will agree with pretty much all of that.i have lived well below my means for years at home, and have lived in a converted shipping container in Iraq, essentially a giant house-trailer (but with lots of apartment-style rooms, though the bathrooms/showers were 200m away in a separate facility) in Qatar, and a plywood shack in Afghanistan...and plenty of deployed military guys (not to mention residents of 3rd-world countries) have had it rougher than me.I've never been one to need a bunch of brand new clothes or expensive stuff, anyway. I could be happy in an apartment with a $5000 car...there's stuff a lot more important than money, and a lot of people, like you say, are absolute slaves to their possessions (or the pursuit of them).Really, I only have a house because my electric guitars aren't really suited for apartment living, and with the market so depressed when I bought, I felt like it was smarter financially to buy, especially on a really good deal. If it weren't for resale value, I'd have a very small (like 800 sq ft) house and a big detached garage/shop for all of my toys/hobbies...or hell, just live in a 5-6 car garage/shop with a finished apartment/loft space for me and my daughter. The problem is that I'd never be able to resell it, haha, and neither would I be likely to find any woman inclined to live in it with me....but if I want to fly to Amsterdam and spend cash on hookers and blow, that's my business. While I agree with everything you said, I don't believe that I am wrong for living at a standard well above what would really be quite acceptable, and I take GREAT issue with the idea that anyone should be restricted from living at whatever standard they can afford and choose to.[Edited on August 19, 2010 at 8:25 PM. Reason : ][Edited on August 19, 2010 at 8:26 PM. Reason : also take issue with those fucking things up by living above their means, trying to keep up w/ jones]
8/19/2010 8:11:30 PM
8/19/2010 8:38:24 PM
no such thing. if you want it and can afford it, then go for it.I believe in freedom.
8/19/2010 8:40:29 PM
^
8/19/2010 9:05:32 PM
You know, if you just ignore mambagrl, it will go away eventually.
8/19/2010 9:15:52 PM
i'm not sure about that, though that's definitely no reason not to ignore her.if it had been someone else's thread on a subject worth discussing, i would've ignored her...in this case, i figured i'd play.anyway,
8/19/2010 9:33:23 PM
i too, have lots of shit. suck it, commie.
8/19/2010 10:09:59 PM
8/19/2010 10:20:35 PM
8/19/2010 10:31:30 PM
I can only imagine how much more spartan my existence will be after coming back from living out of a back pack for 6 months hiking the Appalachian Trail. I have read that it certainly changes your perspective on things you feel you "need".
8/19/2010 10:33:10 PM
mambagrl, how would you change things? It is not the case that if Americans wanted less then others would have more. While many people enjoy their work, the vast majority of productive effort was expended for the sole purpose of consumption. If people were prevented from consumption, they would quickly give up on production. I guess you could be like the Soviet Union and make depriving society of your labors a crime punishable by death. Barring that, all the poor people in the world would be deprived of our productivity and they would get far less in exchange for their own efforts.
8/19/2010 10:57:00 PM
8/19/2010 11:24:08 PM
I've never hiked the Trail for months on end, but from my own experiences with living a much more spartan lifestyle than normal (for a middle-class American), I'll say that it will change your perspective on what you "need".You really "need" very, very little. You can even satisfy a significant number of "wants" without having all that much. If you're like me, you'll be amazed at how content you are with pretty minimal stuff. I mean, I'm living in a plywood shack right now with 2 other dudes, eating 2 meals (sometimes 3) at a basic chow hall, and I've been rocketed/mortared 3x this week. I have my laptop (with mediocre internet that I'm paying $100/month for) and an acoustic guitar, and a stack of books. We have a mini-fridge with cold water in our shack, and we have a tent outside with hot showers in it, and a porta-john beside that. Our shack has a couple of fluorescent lights, but we pretty much never turn them on, because we all work/sleep different hours (I just have a small lamp in my "room", which is separated by a couple sheets of plywood and a curtain that go up to about 6' high. I work 7 days/week, and it's about a mile walk from our shack.By middle-class American standards, that's a pretty sucky existance.The 6 month mark will be coming up in just over 6 weeks, and I'll be coming home. There are plenty of things I miss back home and look forward to when I get back there, but really, I could stay right here and be pretty content for a good while longer. Flying combat missions is satisfying (how can you not love dead Taliban), and I get paid a little extra (and spend pretty much nothing) while I'm here--I'd probably volunteer to stay longer if it weren't for my daughter back home and the celibacy that goes along with deployment. ...and yes, I think that living like that changes your perspective at least little on what you need (and I mean what you need to be happy/content, not simply subsist). Part of me wants to sell my S2000 when I get home and replace it with a $2500 used Miata, because I'd still have a blast with that, for a fraction of what I paid for the Honda (I thought about doing this a few times before I left). What I'll probably do as soon as it's clear that I won't be getting deployed again, though, is sell the S2000 and buy a $25,000 used Porsche 911...because, well, why not? I think I have a pretty good perspective on what I need, but my wants are a different matter, haha. Part of me feels wasteful, that I'm squandering money on something like that, but then I remind myself that the whole point of money is to buy stuff, and I've worked extremely hard and gone without a lot of stuff for years, so whatever...not everyone gets to drive a Porsche every day, and I don't want to get old and kick myself for all the things I wish I'd done.It's like I said before...I have a sports car, 2 trucks, and 2 motorcycles because I might as well...not because I feel any need for them. I could be pretty damned happy with, say, a decent mid-90s 240sx and an apartment to live in, as long as I never had to worry about making ends meet.I guess what I'm trying to say--because I've thought about this subject numerous times (due to the disparity of going back and forth between living in relatively spartan conditions in combat zones, living out of hotel rooms in Yuma, and living in my house in coastal NC with more toys and creature comforts than I know what to do with--though it's really a "middle-middle class" house at most, and I only actually have $15-20k tied up in the cars and bikes)--is that you can never "have too much". You can be enslaved by possessions and/or the pursuit thereof, but that can happen whether you have jack shit or live like a baller, and THAT'S where the problem lies--not in any particular amount of "stuff".Of course, none of that is what mambagrl is talking about...she wants the whole world to live as a collective in a uniformly meager existance. I'm really referring to other people in the thread like HockeyRoman.[Edited on August 19, 2010 at 11:29 PM. Reason : ]
8/19/2010 11:24:14 PM
Is this thread a joke?Admin should send it to the chit-chat
8/19/2010 11:48:17 PM
8/20/2010 12:41:05 AM
"having too much" is when you cant move after eating see: thanksgiving, xmas dinner, other large meals[Edited on August 20, 2010 at 12:43 AM. Reason : d]
8/20/2010 12:43:06 AM
To be fair, once some things fall into place in a few years I intend to build my sustainable home (http://www.enertia.com/) so the money saved from not buying temporary knick-knacks now will go into building my dream home. I am not against spending money, I am not Clark Howard, I just have priorities.
8/20/2010 1:10:24 AM
This is just another idiotic thread where she tries to make us all realize that anyone with the least bit of money is evil.
8/20/2010 11:19:37 PM
8/20/2010 11:23:58 PM
8/21/2010 12:28:44 AM
8/21/2010 12:50:19 AM
Yes, it is better to sell equipment than for it to sit unused. But that is not the case here, he uses all seven cars occasionally and clearly values them more than the money he could get for them. All were paid for, he harmed no one else by collecting them. Keep in mind that if he and everyone else like him did not like possessing such artifacts, then they would not have been made. We are all lazy and selfish, if you succeed in convincing us to want less stuff, then society would just produce less stuff, all of us opting instead for shorter hours and more vacation. We can always watch more TV.
8/21/2010 2:03:16 AM
obviously the bank stole some family's money, I mean don't people have a God-given Constitutional right for a place to live
8/21/2010 2:25:06 AM
Does she really not know what storage sheds are for?It's temporary room to store your belongings while you transition to a new house.It's temporary room to store your property while you actively obtain business equipment before you have a place of business.It's temporary space for businesses to store backup machinery and goods.Storage sheds are a very useful tool in society. They have nothing to do with "having too much"
8/21/2010 4:07:17 AM
While mambagrl and theDuke866 may not fully represent either extreme, we should all agree that extreme selfishness and extreme selflessness should be avoided.[Edited on August 21, 2010 at 8:25 AM. Reason : ]
8/21/2010 8:19:18 AM
No, the problem is people who don't work for a living, leech off the taxpayers and those who enable said leeching.People who have a job and buy goods drive our economy. If people like him stop buying things they "don't need" the economic shit would hit the fan.This is probably the stupidest thread in the history of TSB.
8/21/2010 8:30:34 AM
^^^ My folks have been renting one out for 6+ years to house their shit.It actually started out as temp storage for my Dad when he moved out of his place but when he remarried and merged their stuff they ended up keeping it. The funny thing is, they probably have enough room in the attics of their place to store it all.
8/21/2010 9:52:26 AM
8/21/2010 10:04:04 AM
because that is what we really need...more unemployment. I dont care what kind of job a person has....any person who works for a living doing no matter what menial task is deserving of respect.
8/21/2010 10:12:22 AM
lol
8/21/2010 10:17:32 AM
8/21/2010 11:03:55 AM