New for old?
A couple more thoughts on the subject of why do
people like myself save things. For some older
people, I think it’s a hangover from the days of
economic austerity during and just after WW2 – a lot
of stuff was kept for recycling rather than throwing
it out. Our economy relies on people buying new
items all the time (eg cars and electrical
equipment), to keep up with the Joneses.
I’m quite happy to carry on using my old Windows 98
computer, which is pre-Pentium, until it dies on me,
rather than buy a new machine every few years. If I
were more into computer games, graphic design and
composing music, then I would be buying new
machinery and software.. but I’m not. A younger
member of my family has a completely different
attitude, and updates everything he owns frequently
– and encourages me to do the same, in a teasing way.
It’s the same with cars, we have an old (L reg)
Peugeot 306 diesel car, which goes well. Repair bills
are quite high, but depreciation is minimal. One of
my affluent neighbours has just changed his motor –
he kept his last car a couple of years during which
time it depreciated about £12k. He has just bought
a newly new Mercedes, which looks fab.. Why do
people change their cars so quickly – are the repair
bills and reliability so bad?
I think another reason for holding onto things from
the past is bound up with feelings of loss, or
holding onto good memories from the past...which
sounds contradictory. I recall seeing a TV series,
about decluttering people’s houses, where the TV
presenter and her team of workers emptied out all
the clutter. Most of the participants were in tears
about letting go of items like baby clothes, or a
shawl that belonged to a granny. Usually a
compromise was reached whereby the owner was
allowed to keep a few treasured items from the past,
and to put them up on a wall/shelf for display. All
the junk was lobbed.
I’m gradually coming round to this way of thinking.
I can’t take it all with me when I’m dead, and
then which member of the family would want my
clapped-out old computer, a rusting car, and my old
audio-tape collection? Nothing of any value to take
along to the "Antiques Roadshow" in years to come.
people like myself save things. For some older
people, I think it’s a hangover from the days of
economic austerity during and just after WW2 – a lot
of stuff was kept for recycling rather than throwing
it out. Our economy relies on people buying new
items all the time (eg cars and electrical
equipment), to keep up with the Joneses.
I’m quite happy to carry on using my old Windows 98
computer, which is pre-Pentium, until it dies on me,
rather than buy a new machine every few years. If I
were more into computer games, graphic design and
composing music, then I would be buying new
machinery and software.. but I’m not. A younger
member of my family has a completely different
attitude, and updates everything he owns frequently
– and encourages me to do the same, in a teasing way.
It’s the same with cars, we have an old (L reg)
Peugeot 306 diesel car, which goes well. Repair bills
are quite high, but depreciation is minimal. One of
my affluent neighbours has just changed his motor –
he kept his last car a couple of years during which
time it depreciated about £12k. He has just bought
a newly new Mercedes, which looks fab.. Why do
people change their cars so quickly – are the repair
bills and reliability so bad?
I think another reason for holding onto things from
the past is bound up with feelings of loss, or
holding onto good memories from the past...which
sounds contradictory. I recall seeing a TV series,
about decluttering people’s houses, where the TV
presenter and her team of workers emptied out all
the clutter. Most of the participants were in tears
about letting go of items like baby clothes, or a
shawl that belonged to a granny. Usually a
compromise was reached whereby the owner was
allowed to keep a few treasured items from the past,
and to put them up on a wall/shelf for display. All
the junk was lobbed.
I’m gradually coming round to this way of thinking.
I can’t take it all with me when I’m dead, and
then which member of the family would want my
clapped-out old computer, a rusting car, and my old
audio-tape collection? Nothing of any value to take
along to the "Antiques Roadshow" in years to come.
posted by justin at 5:58 am
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2 Comments:
Hi Justin. I wrote you a long, involved comment on pack-rat-itis a few days ago but Blogger ate it and I was too lazy to try again. I was mostly comparing my own tendency to toss against my husband's tendency to hoard. As a retired physician you probably know that there's a link between depression/brain chemical levels and the tendency to hoard things. It creates a sense of security. My husband hoards more while under stress. I have a similar but opposite tendency. When I'm feeling high levels of anxiety I get this restless need to control and organise my environment, and with it comes an irresistable desire to purge (things, not the contents of my stomach! :). Once we discovered these truths about ourselves, we have both come a long way towards meeting in the middle.
Yes, that's very interesting, Andrea.... I think I'm prone to mild S.A.D., which affects how I feel about having clutter around me. I'll write more about this, later this week.
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