less stuff

I heard on NPR last night that if you converted the square footage of the nation's self- storage facilities into acres they would cover the entire city of San Fransisco and the island of Manhattan. Do we really need so much stuff that it overflows out of our already large (compared to the rest of world) houses?

My husband and I generally don't buy a lot of stuff. We have two weaknesses: books and gear. We love books. We love their smell, their feel.. I'm rarely without a book in the bag I take to and from work. I'd be happy if the walls of our house were lined with books just so I could gaze at their titles.

For gear we've got rock climbing ropes and gizmos, SCUBA gear, four bikes, ten surfboards, cross country skis, a snowboard, three kayaks and a canoe. But, we actually use all this stuff. To make up for our hoarding of books and gear we only have one small TV, a fairly small house with a tiny lot, and almost all of our modest collection of baby stuff is hand-me-down. And we still have plenty of storage in our small attic.

A friend recently started bugging us about our TV. It's old, it's small, and my husband found it on someone's porch. It works fine. Our friend told us we should by a new plasma screen and mount it on the wall. I honestly don't see the point. We don't need a new TV so why should we buy one?

A lot of Americans over the past few decades buy things because they want them. Over consumption has become a disease. As a society we really need to rethink what we need and what we want. If you treat yourself to something you want on occasion, as opposed to every day, then you will appreciate your possessions so much more. Plus, if you don't buy all that stuff you don't need you'll probably have less debt, more savings, and you can spend your extra cash on traveling to new places. And memories only require storage in your brain, not in a rented 10x8 storage unit.

Reduce Footprints has posed a challenge to all its followers to go on a "no spending diet" for a week: " ... don't buy anything new (except for food, health and safety products). No new clothes ... no new shoes ... no new gizmos or gadgets ... forget about a new car, new furniture or new appliances ... nothing new for one week! "

I propose to expand that challenge and make it a daily practice. Do you really need that new 60" TV, or those shoes you'll probably wear once, or that shiny new upgrade to your one-year-old ipod or cell phone? The last time I replaced my cell phone it was because it went for a swim in my biggest jellyfish exhibit. And I recycled the old one.