Why Think Before You Buy Stuffs?

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Does buying stuffs makes you feel happy? Then the question may be how do you define stuffs? Well, it could things that you go buy and bring into your house, mostly. Then, as time goes by, you run out of space in your house and you feel the burning need to buy or rent a bigger house. So do we define house a stuff? This is an interesting question since for most folks, a house purchase is probably their biggest purchase in their lifetime and many times it’s probably only one purchase. But still a house is also a stuff, more a thing of consumption primarily. Then, we keep on buying things to fill in our houses until it gets crammed up. Many times fill it with stuffs we don’t need or use only once in a while. Hence in this post we’ll discuss why think before you buy stuffs?

“What consumerism really is, at its worst, is getting people to buy things that don’t actually improve their lives.”

– Jeff Bezos

Why Do We Buy Stuffs?

Do you what is the psychology of shopping is? It might surprise you that shopping makes people happy based on the article published in the Cleveland Clinic. We can explain the science of happiness by phenomena of dopamine release- the hormone neurotransmitter in our brain that makes us feel good or happy. Even before the shopping actually happens, the brain releases dopamine, which gives us the sense of feeling-good. To summarize, there are several scientifically proven reasons we love to buy stuffs?

Instant Gratification

The foremost reason we buy stuffs is because buying gives us instant happiness and gratification. As if the stuffs we buy fills in a void in our lives or souls. Why souls? Is it because there is an emptiness in our lives that we want to fill by buying stuffs even if we really don’t need it? Then the question is, can only material things give us happiness? Can’t we seek happiness in small things? Like enjoying quality time with our loved ones, spending time in the nature, serving the less fortunate, more so appreciating everything that life has given us?

Sense of Control

Buying for sure puts us in the driving seat. Gives us a sense of control over our lives, our desires and wishes. Don’t we love that? How does it feel when we can buy something that we having been yearning for long? Doesn’t it feel like now got things under control because we could finally buy it?

Boost Self-Esteem

Then buying gives us that sense of achievement and boosts our self-esteem. Gives us a sense of fulfillment. Makes us proud of ourselves? Boosting our self-worth? Doesn’t it? Something to consider, is owning stuffs the only way to boost our self-esteem? Aren’t there more meaningful ways to accomplish this? That which can make a positive difference to the world? To other people’s lives?

Overcome Depression

If we feel depressed or are in a continued state of depression, shopping definitely helps to uplift our mood. Get out of depression and feel happy. But then the question is whether buying stuffs the only way to get out of depression? More so, why not try to understand the root cause of depression? And fix it.

Get Purpose in Life

So what happens if we lack a sense of purpose in our lives? Then we will incline towards getting that purpose by buying and owning stuffs. It gets us back to how do we find purpose in our lives? What meaningful things we are doing in our lives that can have a broader positive impact on the world or even the universe? More so, did we find the calling of our lives? What skill we have that we can nourish and develop for the greater good? Something to think about. Besides, life cannot be all about buying stuffs. Because there is more to it. That is what we should try to find or discover.

What Happens When We Buy Stuff We Don’t Need?

So, finally what happens when we buy stuffs we don’t need? We clutter our lives and the place we live in. Clutter it to the extent we look for more space, not only physically but also spiritually. Life is simple, but usually we choose to make it complicated. Would you agree?

Why Think Before You Buy Stuffs?

Personal Finances

A majority of Americans stress over personal finances. Do you? The average American has $90,460 in debt, according to a 2021 CNBC report. 

Here are the average debt balances by age group:

Source: CNBC

And here’s the breakdown:

Source: CNBC

Also, a primary reason for depression and drugs is financial stress. So why are Americans so obsessed with buying stuffs on debt? The annual percentage rates (APR) of most credit cards are around 25% and most people don’t realize they are paying such high interest rates on their balances. Isn’t a debt free life much less stressful even if we have fewer stuffs in our homes? Also, do we really need to buy an expensive and large house when there is a bidding war going on in the housing market? Can’t we live on a modest rent with much less total cost of ownership and expenses? We love the American dream and love to live it the American way. Sounds interesting?

Self-Realization

If we are a slave to debt, then don’t we work our lives to pay off our debts? Then when do we get the time to live our life? Is life all about earning money to pay debt? So when can we get off the rat race and ponder what is the purpose of our life? To realize what is our calling? That means do we listen to our inner voice about what we really want to do in life? Or what gives us the utmost joy and happiness? In a nutshell, can we realize our fullest potential and find true fulfillment in life?

Sustainability Impact of Consumerism

As per The World Counts, we need 1.8 number of planet Earth to provide resources and absorb our wastes. By 2030, we will need 2 planets, but we have only one. That means the current consumerism is not sustainable. Is it now time to think before you buy stuffs? What are we going to leave as a legacy for our next generations? Or is the aim to pursue our mindless consumerism to derive instantaneous gratification? Will this gratification really give us happiness? Can we be happy being selfish?

Do we try to understand the environmental and sociological impact of things that we buy? When did we really try to do the research of anything that we buy? A documentary by DW reveals the true cost of fast fashion clothing that transcends from continents investigates the real impact of consumerism of cheap clothing that adores the closets of western households. Then don’t we need a walk-in closest to house all these clothes? That also means a smaller house doesn’t meet the requirement. To house all these, we need a bigger house. Is it making sense?

Conclusion on Why Think Before You Buy Stuffs?

Did you try living a simple life with minimal stuffs? Most people in the affluent countries have not even tried that. In undeveloped or developing countries, circumstances force most people to live a simple life with meager resources. But in developed countries, people have a choice. With more economic power comes a higher sense of responsibility. Are we willing to take that responsibility? Does it make sense why you think before you buy stuffs?

Further, if you try living a simple life with fewer stuffs you will realize the inner peace. Because you will not be a slave to debt and work that you do just to trade hours for money. You will find and do the work that you truly love doing, even if that pays less. How much money do we really need to live a happy life? In the US, it’s around $75,000 a year. Anything more than that has diminished incremental happiness.

Is it not the time to step back and introspect what is it we truly desire from our lives? When we are in our death beds and we play our life in front of our eyes, what we would like to do differently to achieve the happiness and fulfillment in life that we really yearned for? Because we have only one life. Something worth sleeping on. Would you agree? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

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