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Cents and Sensibility

We are not our possessions

Christa

@ April 10, 2008 8:56 PM Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (0)

As I was watching "Oprah" last night, I was struck by a couple on the show who had lost basically all of their material possessions. They had to file bankruptcy and their house was foreclosed on.

Check out their story here and let me know what you think. They could be anyone in a suburban American neighborhood, and you would have never guessed they were in trouble.

The reason I think their story really resonated with me is because even though I am not in a situation like they were, I have had the realization that "stuff" does not make us happy. In fact, having few things that you truly care for and appreciate is so much more meaningful than having a house full of things and clutter.

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What others are saying

Tifton Reacher Solves Energy Crisis

Please check out the article in the Tifton Gazzette about the reacher who has found away to solve the energy crisis!!!!!!!!! j C Bell Bell Bio-Energy, Inc.

By Lydia Anderson @ 06/18/08 05:45:46 PMreport abuse
Clark ruined my life

My wife starting listening to Clark about two months ago, I think she's in love everything is Clark says this, or Clark would be upset if he knew you just spent that much money on a shirt. The light bulbs in my house have been changed, I can't eat lunch out anymore,the water flow to my sinks and toliets have been restricted, I'm worried she will place a restriction on the toliet paper next, Clark you have created a monster I never thought anyone could change her spending habbits, she's even got money on Fridays now.Way to go clark

By Patrick @ 06/17/08 04:25:54 PMreport abuse
Stuff

It is true what we own owns us. Less is more as in peace of mind and less stress.

By Eva Frady @ 06/09/08 05:30:09 PMreport abuse
Stuff

A number of years ago, I read an article written by a cancer survivor. She taught me a very valuable lesson. As she was preparing to enter the hospital, she realized that she had so many bathrobes that she couldn't appreciate any of them. She had to choose one that she would wear for her hospital stay and she really had to look at each robe. When she returned home, for the first time, she looked at her largess and decided that she needed only one or two of each thing in order to appreciate what she had. I learned a lot from that article.

By PCC @ 05/30/08 03:31:54 PMreport abuse
Amanda Bynes

Tell Clark that Amanda Bynes starred in a show called What I like about you, which also starred Jennie Garth of 90210 fame.

By Jim Clark @ 05/29/08 01:22:53 PMreport abuse
Short Sale

Here is an article you might want to read about short sale. Clark should read this artical and correct or give his own opinion about it on his show.

http://homebuying.about.com/od/4closureshortsales/qt/060907SScredit.htm

By Lee @ 05/26/08 04:18:17 PMreport abuse
We are not our pocessions

It took a house fire for me to realize that I was different person than my posessions. The best part is that I can make choices about what I am shopping for based on needs rather than wants. With this thinking.

It is funny that by losing everything(We has no insurance to help with the loss.) I was able to stop spending money.

Our communities would be a lot better if more people learned to purchase their needs and only part of their wants. Then as we could start saving money.

By Darla @ 05/14/08 07:47:18 PMreport abuse
Stuff

There's actually some good info here, and it is entertaining, just look beyond the eco-propaganda.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

By SanFranciscoKevin @ 05/13/08 02:28:49 AMreport abuse
another great book to check out....

Affluenza by DeGraff (&etc). Written in early 2000's changed my life. I highly recommend it. Also on the documentary channel there is a "20/20 like" documentary by the authors also called Affluenza. Both are entertaining too!

By Jennifer @ 05/01/08 02:53:10 PMreport abuse
what we own vs. what we do

Amen, Christa! Our self worth being tied to what we own vs. what we do has gotten out of hand. I once heard Maria Shriver say of her mother, Eunice Shriver, (founder of Special Olympics), "I NEVER saw my mother excited about a new dress or a new pair of shoes." Think about that -- and what that tells/teaches our kids.

By Kira Perdue @ 05/01/08 08:57:26 AMreport abuse
Good News Network Featured your show's link

Hi there,

Just wanted to mention that the Good News Network featured some positive news that Clark wrote about. It's on the front page today, Sunday, and filed in the business section.

see it at:
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/business/general/green-jobs-for-ex-cons.html
or find it by Googling "good news"... where my site is #1.

Also check out the Top 10 Good News for Earth Day for show great show ideas for Earth Day:
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/earth/general/top-ten-earthday-08.html

I doing a bunch of radio shows Tuesday on Earth day...

btw, a reader of mine submitted your link this morning, which is how I came to link to the Clark Howard show.

By Geri Weis-Corbley @ 04/20/08 08:07:58 AMreport abuse
your comments

Thanks for all of your comments. I think that we as Americans are conditioned from an early age to equate success with stuff.

I am a big believer in continuous improvement, but I think I used to think buying that great outfit or that nice piece of furniture would somehow "improve" my day, home, or life. I now realize I am happier with fewer things that I cherish.

By Christa @ 04/15/08 04:40:51 PMreport abuse
Our Possesions Own Us

Hi Christa and welcome to the blogosphere! You can't be a big Clark fan (like myself) without being a Christa fan too. I appreciate what you do over there at TCHS; which allows Clark to be of so much value to myself and others. I also love it when you chime-in, your commentary provides great balance, and the best is when you set Clark straight and put him in his place.

Christa, I learned not too long ago and only after much struggle and hardship, that our stuff owns us because in my mind: Stuff = Obligations.

I think it's terribly sad that lives are spent working for wages to afford the initial cost of unnecessary stuff, only to then spend even more time, money and worry maintaining that stuff unnecessarily. It's not baseball; shopping is our national past time. When I walk my dog and glance into open garages, I witness the symptom mindless consumption. Stuff, clogging the lives of dissatisfied people, just like the plaque that clogs their arteries. They are both slow poison. The garage becomes the final resting place of stuff that often times is still earning interest for the credit card companies. The result is perpetual wage enslavement; few will ever know true freedom.

Now I know this sounds dire, because it is. It's only natural, people seek meaning in their lives only they’re not going to find it at the mall, but they will keep trying. So people continue to pursue that elusive goal of happiness when they should realize that what they really seek is freedom. If they would only pursue freedom as their goal, they could then be open to the possibility of happiness and their ultimate success would be much more certain.
SanFranKevin
FYI: 3 great books of which TCHS needs to be aware,
“The Road To 850” (RE: FICO'08)
“Gotcha Capitalism” (We are being robbed blind) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17898418
“Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill)” (This will raise your blood-pressure) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17808622

By SanFriscoKevin @ 04/15/08 02:35:51 PMreport abuse
"stuff"

My 8 year old is really getting to where she is all about her possessions as a way of feeling better about herself... not good. We got here a cellphone(for MY peace of mind while she is with family & friends), and she's really played it up. "I want my friends to be jealous" she says.
Recently she found an old PDA of mine, and asked if she could have it. It is left over from when I was more about having more toys to make my life better(didn't work). She carries it around, and can't wait to show off to her friends. I hope she can learn these lessons early. I think for now I'm going to let her get whatever "high" she can from it, then I'll be there to point it out when the PDA is forgotten. Maybe I'll help her sell it on craigslist at that time, and give her the money? I think that'll be a pretty good lesson.

By Will @ 04/15/08 11:16:23 AMreport abuse
CHRISTA'S BLOG

Why can't people be content with someting thay can afford? Does not matter how much you make or have made if you lose it all(if you owed you did not really own it). We need to live more like survivors of the Depression, those folks save and make full use of everything and re-use it . Debt is really a four letter word to many older Americans.I apreciate my Mother instilling that value in me.

By Lew @ 04/12/08 06:29:11 PMreport abuse
CHRISTA'S BLOG

...definitely...now we have so much junk and material possessions, we have to buy new houses to store all the junk.......I threw away 17 bags of junk I will never use, and have not used since 1985......our material society makes us pack rats.....

By JOHN @ 04/11/08 11:59:47 PMreport abuse

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