CIndymac,

LOL.

But they probably would say "she had a great sense of style" or even "she made a wonderful home for her family".

Like everything ... balance.

I expect the current popularity of the shows we've been dissing - Love it or List it, Chip & Joanna, etc. - is part of the reason for the explosion in "stuff". They always throw out nearly everything and get new "stuff" for each re-do.

My FIL has moved to a retirement community and is preparing to sell his house. His new apartment is less than a third the size of his house, so he's busy getting rid of the "stuff"! For Easter he had an egg hunt for our generation (3 kids, 3 nieces plus spouses). Each plastic egg had a number; you got the "stuff" that corresponded to your numbers. I think each of the six drew fifteen numbers each.

Yesterday my DH took a huge box to Goodwill - some stuff from our house, and most of the things we brought home on Easter. :)

Donna

They've opened Hobby Lobby around here recently..wow..I've never encountered so much useless decor thingies yet. Definitely a winner..

"Driftwood on Stand." Now $31.48 at World Market.

LOL! I rest my case.

Add to the Stuff Problem - my husband and I merged two entire houses when we married, and... he's kind of a hoarder. I refuse to go to yard/estate sales anymore and when something new comes in, something old has to go out. As for gift occasions, I usually ask for something consumable - movie passes, spa treatment, a dinner out. Anything that doesn't add to the heap!

We are such a throw-away society; it makes me sad. I sometimes succumb to it, but I'm trying to wean myself, reduce and reuse, and become lower maintenance.

The stairs to a house I like on my favorite island inspire bringing less stuff on vacation! I told my kids before they ever get engaged they have to bring the person here, to wean out the high maintenance types (snorkel gear remains in the car at the bottom of a hill that you have to walk up before even getting to the stairs.) The views from the house are worth it. :)

Most useless stuff that I purchase are nothing more then impulse buys. If I walk into Home Goods, I guarantee you there will be something that I think I have to buy right now because it may not be here next week. And I don't need another darn (trying to be nice) thing.

Yes. SO maybe we should all agree to a 24hr window. Go home and sleep on it. Of course HG relies on your perception of scarcity. Same thing with buying something when you travel...

I think it is interesting how this new stuff relates to "old lady" stuff. If I go buy some furry or feathered thing to hang on the wall from any of the stores above it is current and modern. But hanging somethings from a relative is "old lady"..... In the end it is all just stuff and we have far too much and really should stop buying and importing so much of it

Ohhh. I can relate. Just came back from a weekend at our beach house -- a home I swore I would not fill with "stuff." But you know what, it's full of stuff. Not as much stuff as my full-time home but still...enough. Problem is, there are lots of shelves. Built-ins in almost every room. I can't leave them empty! So yeah, the kitchen shelves have cute red and white polka dot pitchers and ice buckets... the bathroom shelf has a cute box of soap...the guest room has baskets...all from Home Goods. I do have some cute things from thrift stores/antique shops mixed in. And, lots of books. And of course any time someone visits, they bring us more Stuff. A beachy print for the wall, a beachy tray, a bowl shaped like a flip-flop, starfish salt and pepper shakers. Why can't people just bring beer and lobster rolls?

This weekend I did some spring cleaning and boxed up some "stuff" which is now keeping company with a couple more boxes of stuff in the garage. Our neighborhood has an annual yard sale and I might actually participate this year.

I found some really great beach stones near Newport this weekend and brought some home. This is the kind of stuff I'm gradually replacing the other "purchased" stuff with! Love my beach stones and shells.

For me, the unique beach stones, and cool souvenirs from our travels, are in a different category of "stuff" and not subject to my regular bouts of purging. :-)

I walked around yesterday at Costco with a faux orchid. When I first saw them I though they were real, even to feel them. I picked it up, thought about where I could put it, nothing came to mind, so I walked around with it, trying my best to figure out where to put the darn thing, I wanted it so bad. Happily I can say I put it down and came out empty handed, felt good. I really didnt need it.

I mistakenly thought the phrase "shop 'til you drop" was relatively new (perhaps within the past 3 decades or so), but just read online that it's found in advertising print as early as the 1920s, and possibly earlier than that. I do remember a time in my life when my peers/circle of influence considered it a cute and clever saying, because we could relate. It's what we did. It's what we seemed expected to do. When we got together socially, we went shopping. I wonder if many women today still consider shopping a "sport", or at the very least, a worthy pastime.

Oh, and RA - I came home from Home Goods with a faux arrangement in a glass bowl filled with faux water. I carried it all over the house once home, and found absolutely no place to use it, so it's going back. I hate to even admit this, but when I saw it on the shelf I kinda had this immediate feeling that I had suddenly "won" something, and was a bit relieved that I didn't have to leave empty handed. I like your approach better, because now I have to make a special trip to return the damned thing.

Just wait until you have to pack up all that crap and move it. Did that for two households last year and after that I won't be bringing any more stuff into my home. I need nothing more and want nothing more.

Browsing stores the last few days, all I can think of is - the landfills! There is so much cheap, ugly junk and apparel out there! Scary stuff.

I can't remember when I stopped loving shopping and began hating it. Maybe when I went off my parents' bankroll and I was spending my own money.

I swear, I can't find a damn thing in Macy's to wear. Nothing. And I'm not that fussy. I hate too many choices and also not enough of them. I'm impossible to please.

Linelle's post reminds me that modern stores seem to be filled to the brim with "stuff" but most of it I don't want, it's either too trendy so won't last, poorly made or useless. So to me it is just an annoyance I have to wade through to find the one thing I need. Clothes shopping is the WORST for me, which is why I do most of it with catalogs from a few companies I know and like. As for home decor, it is often like searching for a needle in a haystack for me to find the one thing that I need in a style I like.

I hate trying on clothes. DH is always amazed when we're shopping and I pick a bunch of stuff out and just buy it. I'm pretty good at guessing if something will fit.

I am a STUFF person, but I cannot imagine going to a store to fill a room with "decor". My home has been filled with mementos of experiences, memories, things that evoke love for me. Saying that I love a good theme and could go crazy in Home Goods for a party atmosphere/wedding....

I rarely go into any store because I rarely need anything but I was thinking the very same thing my last few trips to town. Who uses all that stuff? How can any store sell it all? I was looking for a bowl scraper. There must have been 20 different choices for color, material, and shape. I just want a bowl scraper! And I don't want to look through a 4x6 pegboard of bowl scrapers to find what I want! The packaging alone would have kept my house warm for a couple of hours if burned in a wood stove.

I don't like stores and hate to shop, and places like the ones shown above leave me feeling really empty. There's nothing there that engages the soul. My "stuff" is paintings and antique Chinese porcelain and I don't want to part with any of it. Lately I've bought things for the house but I hope that they're useful and beautiful, and will last a long time.

I wouldn't want to admit how many candle holders I have. I did get rid all but pewter,a few wrought iron & the ones for our Christmas tree.

So, I guess this is the non-'old lady' stuff the rest of us are supposed to want. ;-)

I always enjoyed browsing in stores, clothing, home decor, whatever. I have never been much of a buyer, but used to find it somewhat relaxing - for want of a better word- unwinding to browse through stores. In face, my typical Saturday morning jaunt is to some of these-TJM, Marshall's Ross home goods target / When I want to switch it up I go to the actual mall. I am finding it less and less enjoyable. I don't know what it is but even when I need something i am unable to find it. I agree with Linelle. I have gift cards to TJM, Macy's etc and am unable to spend it. I was so thrilled when I finally got a much needed replacement wallet at Macy's a few months back.

It really is mind boggling the amount of STUFF out there for us.And should I add that I read the Marie Kondo book a few months ago and that really has an impact on the consumption mode.

When we moved into our new home almost 2 years ago, DH made a rule that when something new comes in, something old has to go out. For the most part, we've kept to this and I've made some good money on Craigslist.

Nh, I make my kids do that with clothes, and DH. I am exempt.

There is an amazing amount of choice in the marketplace. I think back to my first place and how difficult it was to find anything stylish to purchase that was affordable. Back then, there was no Pottery Barn or Home Goods. You bought your furniture at a real furniture store or at a department store if you could afford it. More likely, you used hand-me-downs from family. Pier 1 existed and offered wicker peacock chairs and rattan pappasan chairs, but not much else.

I was envious of people like Caroline Kennedy or India Hicks who had generations of well-traveled forebears who passed along furnishings and knick-knacks with true historical significance and wonderful stories attached to them.

Edited out my comments about the "old lady" reference after reading the cordial thread.

I had occasion twice to go to a dollar type store, both quite a few years ago, and was overwhelmed by all the totally useless trinkets cheaply made all likely overseas and with no real purpose. Along with all the superfluous packaging everywhere, has always made me concerned over our rapidly filling landfills. I, too, have way too much stuff, a lot of it unnecessary multiples. One thing at least, I'm very selective and mostly I hang onto things, don't change out or replace things, so have had same furniture for years, same vases, lamps, etc. But even so the possessions have been just ridiculous during the move. Word to the wise: if you have a lot of stuff, and think you may have even a chance of moving in the next few years, start decluttering now!

My favorite places to look for "stuff" include a couple of thrift stores and a pair of rummage sales. I figure I avoid the bad part of the making of all this "stuff" and it's original packaging. I figure too that I am "renting it" and once I am tired of it I return it to to thrift store for someone else to "rent"

good thing i like vintage stuff

I had a houseguest for a week. It was the first time I've been able to stop working on my house and "live" in it. I decided, it's pretty good as is. I don't need more stuff unless it speaks to me. Walls can be bare; window treatments don't have to be perfect --- my friend of 41 years was perfectly comfortable here and we had a great time. She slept better here than at her home and I believe it was because she was free of responsibilities at my house.

What I find truly annoying is when I am looking for a specific item or look and just can't find it among the gazillion of things everywhere.

I then think it's all the same stuff everywhere.

I too have lost my enthusiasm for recreational shopping. I used to do it a lot - when DH and I were married we had nothing. But we both worked, our careers progressed into good jobs and we were gradually able to buy lots of stuff. Everything we needed plus stuff we didn't.

However, now that we're getting more mature (60 +/-), we don't need anything. We've already bought it. So where's the fun in buying if you don't need it, already have it, or don't have a place to put it if you do buy it?

I do have to struggle with DH sometimes - he says, "But it's so cheap! or "It's on sale!" But we don't NEED it, I say - "Leave it for someone else to buy, someone who really NEEDS it and will appreciate the bargain."

I have never been a recreational shopper. Well maybe a little. I used to go to antique shows/stores and rarely buy anything. I'm an "I need X" and go find it sort.

I've been thinking about this acquiring thing recently. I have a relative who has always been about acquiring things. At an age when many (most?) people would be letting things go she is still acquiring. Not in a hoarder sort of way. Her house has more stuff than I like but it is beautifully decorated. She'll find a chair, buy it and push another (perfectly fine) chair out the door to make way. She just seems to need constant change or something and I'm not that way so it's rather bizarre to me. She's probably had five couches in the time I've owned my "perfect" one. Different way of looking at "things".

TR, I feel that way about clothes and hardware and foodstuffs, too. There's just. So. Much.

You want to see useless stuff, head to your nearest Hobby Lobby. It's so bad my husband actually commented on it to me. He went over the weekend unbeknownst to me for some tiny tool, and asked me at supper that night if I had ever been to HL. Before I could extoll the evils of the place, he said, "it's just a big place filled with junk!" I was impressed because he likes stuff. But not their stuff, I guess!

Something about Home Goods gets on my last nerve, I cannot stand that store. Ditto TJ Maxx and Marshalls. However, in the Makes No Sense category, I love Tuesday Morning. Go figure.

And then there's all the stuff that was produced long ago and is still around

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/h/?pagenum=1&ah=306-f821e

Oh, don't get me started on "stuff"...oops, I guess you already did <g> I am anti-stuff. I think long and hard about purchasing "stuff", asking myself several questions about said "stuff". I usually walk away. A lot of people buy "stuff" because they're not happy with themselves or their relationship or just with life in general. It's a fix, albeit a short one. And then they need more "stuff". And as society gets more unhappy with it's self, there is more of a demand for more "stuff" to fulfill a void. More demand, more supply. I keep wondering when will we run out of ideas for more "stuff". But, I also remember wondering, as a newlywed, looking at all the grocery items for sale and wondering how can man come up with any more ideas (food related). That was 36 years ago!

I agree with so much here. I used to love "the hunt", but have been frustrated the last few years. Most of the stores listed here look exactly the same, carry the same items, etc. Heck, even Lowe's is carrying stuff like these stores. I remember growing up, Pier 1 was so unique, I loved it. Now it's yet another clone of the others. I find myself still enjoying going to boutiques, especially in smaller cities, and finding things on CL or at yard sales.

I think the internet has a lot to do with this. Blogs, online shopping, etc, has helped create a homogenized look. It has a domino effect, society wanting disposable things NOW. It's hard for bricks and mortar stores to compete with the world wide web. It's easier and quicker to find everything under one roof -- a sign of the times, I guess. However, as we see on this board, talented people can still find things from these places, and incorporate them in their own personal ways.

Things seem to go in cycles, though, so it's possible upcoming generations will rebel against the mass production consumerism, and things will be more balanced. My daughter, 23, loves really unique and eclectic designs, as do many of her friends. They're all smitten with vintage and antique, yet still hip-looking, decor, and hunt for things at boutiques and yard sales. I'm impressed by them! :)

After downsizing recently, I have made a vow to not buy "stuff" just cause I need a filler. It's hard for the house to not feel completed, but I'm going to take my time to find what I love.

However, those places are fantastic for candles, fun table and party decor!

I can't even remember when I quit 'shopping', but it's really been quite a while. I think someone calls it 'buying' now, when I just go out and buy something when I need it like new underwear. Like many of you I order online and with all the free shipping both ways, end up sending a lot of it back that doesn't work.

As for décor, the first thing that came to mind when I read TR's post was Hobby Lobby. How is it that when I go in to buy something like poster board, I'm assaulted by fake flowers, metal junk, a gazillion candle holders, and stuff-I-don't-need?!?

I've been making a conscious effort to clean out. DH? No. He's made a few small attempts but nothing seems to show yet unless you open a few drawers and closets. I've still got a lot of work to do yet.

I have a lot of stuff. It has been collected over a lifetime. Most of the decor items I have are antiques. Family pieces or antique shop scores. There is an antique show going on this weekend and I plan on going to look for a small chest for my bedroom hall.

We have a Home Goods and a Kirkland's. I have been in HG once (didn't but a thing), and Kirkland's twice once with DD, again left with nothing. IMO, it is mostly cheap junk though there were some cute items but still cheaply made and not worthy of carrying home.

Our town is just the worst. I don't think 90% have mirrors or if they do fail to use them. Sloppy clothing, unkept hair, and worn out shoes abound. Our Macy's left town probably because most won't spend money on their appearance. I can't imagine that we need another home decor shop when most in our county don't even bother with their appearance let alone their home but the large space that housed Macy's is going to be a home decor store. How they plan on surviving in a community like our's defies sense but it is what it is.

"Just wait until you have to pack up all that crap and move it."

My SIL just bought a retirement home so they are decluttering their current house as a preparation for selling it--she keeps telling me she can't believe how much STUFF she's got to get rid of. When I go to their house I always admire how it looks nicely organized and without extraneous things all over. However, I also admire her tons of closets and storage space which she says leads to keeping, you guessed it, all that stuff LOL. I've decided I will play a mental game this summer and pretend we have to move; maybe that will be my motivation to get rid of much unnecessary and unused stuff in our house!

I use the holidays and shopping for gifts to satisfy any yen I may have to be a retail hunter/gatherer. The past few years I increasingly feel as if I am gorging myself after staying on a careful and healthy diet; by the time January comes I feel so psychically bloated from all the shopping /buying that I need another year to rest up and recover!

It's interesting to me to watch my young adult daughter who is setting up her first home. She loveslovesloves Home Goods, Marshalls, Pier 1 etc. And when I go with her I usually find stuff I could easily buy. I have a rule that I can't take anything from those places home the day I see it. That usually short circuits the purchase, I'm rarely motivated enough to fight the traffic and crowds to go back a second time!

It's overkill, no matter what it is you're shopping for. Finding a specific brand in clothing that works for you makes it easier, which is what i've been doing the last couple of years. Going to one store only does take a bit of willpower, but sure saves a lot of time and footwork, easier on the feet. Like others, i'm *done* w/shopping for my home! I still love to look, especially going to smaller towns w/small boutique-like shops where the 'sameness' isn't everywhere you look. I may buy a few smaller things such as fudge(made on site!),an apron, dish towels, candles, or possibly a larger item for my space at the antique mall, but never decorating stuff for my home. It's become a conscious effort, for sure! If I do ever decide to sell, I may go a different direction with decorating, and get rid of *almost* everything, or paint the wood pieces I have. ;)

This is my new "stuff" I got over the weekend on the beach. These were different from the beach rocks we usually find -- they're super smooth and the burgundy-ish colors are kind of unusual.

Oooh, pretty rocks, Sue. I keep quite a few rocks around the house too, and have one of those striped ones also -- so cool.

Love the rocks....

I flounder between "buy what you love, and you'll find a place for it" and "if you don't have a place for it, don't buy it."

What I have on my side is children, because they are expensive. So when I see a set of pillows or a lovely vase, I equate it to the price of a new pair of cleats or the German Club dues.

Once my kids are gone, I'll probably be the biggest hoarder on the planet.

Sueb20, I love your rocks! This type of "stuff" is my exception. I have many decor items from nature that are beautiful that I collect, such as driftwood and tree fungus.

I say collect the stuff - but when it either suffocates or owns you; let it go.

I don't buy much home decor, unless I need it. Like lisad82, I have children who suck all my money from my wallet. I try to avoid buying anything plastic after watching a documentary on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with Lisa Ling. I don't even like to buy markers. Plastic is everywhere!

I still have too much stuff. I still buy too much stuff. I like that there is a lot of stuff available, because my needs can be specific, and the no plastic thing. I recently found a shop that is basically a thrift store with booths rented by different vendors. It has a lot of old stuff. It opened a few months ago and I bought a few things there that I needed. We moved into this house two years ago, and I am coming to the end of needing stuff. Spaces are being used and walls have stuff on them.

There are a lot of things in our basement storage that I want to purge. Things we won't use that are leftovers from other houses and seasons of our lives....like a baby changing table. Our youngest will be 10 this year, and I still have a baby changing table (although not the pad). Maybe I should paint it with waterproof paint and make it into the potting table I need on the back deck.

I never believed the saying, "You spend the first half of your life acquiring things and the second half trying to get rid of them" - but it appears to be true. My daughter and her husband are minimalists, so I can't even pass on anything to her.

I don't like stuff. House is pretty clutter free. This was reinforced yesterday. I have a cleaning person who comes every other week. She went to a dear friends to give an estimate, friend knows what I pay. Friends house is smaller, probably 30‰. My house being post and beam has more architectural detail to dust, i heat by wood which is messy. I have 2 cats and 2 dogs, she has one cat. Friend will be paying 30% more because her house has more stuff and is harder to clean. So not buying stuff means I save money and not having stuff saves me money too.