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In this Discussion
- 000 July 2013
- 1234 July 2013
- ed_chigliak August 2013
- flossy_log_lady August 2013
- joey August 2013
- kdawg August 2013
- Leland July 2013
- lolo July 2013
- MirandaJuly July 2013
- swamp_knobbler_mahan July 2013
- the_owls July 2013
- YoursTruly August 2013
Consumerism
I made $250 this weekend helping people do a creative project.
Then I spent that same $250 on a dehumidifier. If you count the $6 I spent subscribing to consumer reports online, so I could pick out the BEST dehumidifier for the money, then I spent $256.
You guys, it feels really good to replace a noisy and not very good dehumidifier with a new and efficient one. Opening it up, filling out the warranty registration. Hooking up the hose.
Trying to get my head around why buying things feels so good (even if it's like something boring that I need)
Then I spent that same $250 on a dehumidifier. If you count the $6 I spent subscribing to consumer reports online, so I could pick out the BEST dehumidifier for the money, then I spent $256.
You guys, it feels really good to replace a noisy and not very good dehumidifier with a new and efficient one. Opening it up, filling out the warranty registration. Hooking up the hose.
Trying to get my head around why buying things feels so good (even if it's like something boring that I need)
Comments
This is different than buying things because you are bored, or sad, or feel like you ought to because the world wants you to.
It's like how you can recognize that monogamy might not be the best system but you still would rather die than have your partner fuck somebody else
Or how you know racism is wrong but then somebody points out that something you said is racist
Or more abstractly, it's like how you "know" that "progress" is "good" even if, when pressed, you can't exactly define what you mean by "progress"
It's like how you know how a story is supposed to go
How you think of time as linear rather than cyclical
We're inculturated into these beliefs and modes of knowing, and capitalism is a really monolithic system we've all lived fully entrenched in for generations. So even when your intellect has read David Harvey and Marx and knows all this stuff, deep down you still are and will always be essentially capitalistic in your outlook and the spectrum of your pleasures.
The best is when something has been annoying you and you fix it with shopping!
I'm not doing any shopping for anything other than food these days- strapped, working on big projects- so I try not to be annoyed by anything.
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how can Karl Marx help me with THAT
How much is appropriate for a noisy and inefficient dehumidifier that does actually work pretty well, if you do not need HUGE amounts of water out of yr basement? $30?
I've been buying things for the house. Not crazy things, but, like, I'll be passing Livingscape and just pop in and decide to buy a little blueberry bush for $12. I can do that, now! And it feels so good to buy things that I can plant and cultivate and watch grow. Speaking of which, my golden zucchinis are going nuts out there in the garden and I couldn't be more thrilled.
Also, I bought a rug off craigslist that was $249 originally but the lady sold it to me for $100 and I really like it. When I told Matt to guess how much it cost he said, "Well, I hope you didn't pay more than $20 for it." THANKS A LOT. I like this rug.
Another thing I bought recently: a cheap plane ticket to see my grandparents. I loved buying that plane ticket!
Not really related: About three years ago I bought this adorable little 1950's sea foam green typewriter for $6 at an estate sale and it's just been gathering dust because it doesn't work (or needs a new ream, or whatever typewriters need). I looked it up this morning and someone is selling the same model on ebay for $399! Now I'm looking at it differently. Should I get it repaired and type letters to my friends and loved ones? Does anyone know anything about typewriters?
I am studying the degree to which money is the problem. Or maybe the problem is just where the money is.
If the money was in different places, and if it came from different places, couldn't it be better? Big bad stuff is making big bad money. Good stuff is getting no money at all. Nothing else that anyone talks about matters, (except maybe love).
Talk to me about love.
I don't want J-dawg to think she needs to have money or spend money or hang with people with money. I want her to see and know and do the thing without attachment to the amount. I want her to use the time in her life to do the thing she wants to do, not to rack up numerals.
I am not saying I am right about any of this. Just working through not being vexed if or when there is no money, maybe as a consequence of trying to put money in better places than where it is now.
A repaired vintage Olivetti could sell for $100 I'd think. I'm guessing that's the brand if it's seafoam...
If you say it belonged to Cormac McCarthy it'll go for $254K.
http://instagram.com/p/b_pXlIkqgx/
I've done it before when I knew I needed to buy a bunch of film or whatever. Pretty fun.
And it doesn't have to be that fancy. I can put sentimental value behind anything really. If I am bummed out I can feel totally recharged by buying berries or a bunch of carrots at the farmers' market.
It can be a quick way to exit a brain funk. Like maybe it's getting out of the house, maybe it's being around people, but maybe it's also the most excellent taste of fresh carrots.
The weather has turned and everything wooly is making me so unbelievably emotional right now. The other night I put on cashmere socks at the end of a hot day. It was revolutionary.
The things I own are collected pretty randomly, small town living allows for insane deals on awesome used garments and furnishings. World touring allows for compulsive purchases of much needed socks in German health food stores. Being home leaves enough time to enjoy these comforts and be happy with what I have.
everyone talks about it constantly
I covet the big cold house and endless stacks of beautiful wool blanks on every bed
When I am in a funk I go to Goodwill and look for the perfect coffee mug
I just spent $50 at the cobbler and feel pretty good about it
money money money
must be funny
in a rich man's world
My mother-in-law makes so many quilts that works-of-art end up in the grass outside with melting popsicles and spitting up babies rolling around in them like it's no big whoop.
I love that. I love having fancy things, but using the shit out of them.
That is important. As people get older and can occasionally afford better tools, it's necessary to use them. I have to remind myself of this constantly.
Last night I ate soup, wrapped in a beautiful Irish throw I got from Birdie's and watched an episode of "Hoarders" about an inventor from Santa Cruz who collects cars on his 150 acres property. Rotting vehicles in the mud, rusting under moss. I felt so sorry for him as he had to part with all these cars he accumulated thinking they'd be useful to his inventions some day. It made me think of when the city council came and took away my dad's twenty cars, the hot-rods he never got around to making hot-rods.
Consumerism is a mental trap.
Is the only thing separating a regular from a hoarder the fact that the regular USES the stuff? That is heavy.
Reminds me of the incredible Playboy interview with Stephen Colbert where he tells the story of using his grandpa's WWII goggles or something to go skiing and then breaking them but his grandma was like no biggie, because "things should be of use."
I love the idea of making a beautiful quilt and then just raising gross babies on it. Time-honored! Now I'm thinking about "woman's work" through the centuries and how so much of it just existed for babies to throw up on, and yet they turned it into an art form anyway. So many quilt patterns!!!
Then again, there is "collecting" which is a socially accepted version of "hoarding". Many of the rich and famous probably possess as many things or more as compulsive hoarders do. I guess "compulsion" is the line.
I might be a bit of a postage stamp hoarder, but luckily the collection doesn't take up much space. And if I have any duplicates I either use them up or give them to other stamp collecting friends.
I feel like this might be the thread where I have opened up the most about intimate details! You guys know everything now.