The Burden Of Having Too Much Stuff | yourpublicmedia.org

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Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.

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[Background on, & press coverage of, Unconsumption can be found here and here.]

Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.

Unconsumption is an invisible badge.

Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

Unconsumption is free.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Founder & Editor: Rob Walker, journalist, Savannah, GA

Editorial & Community Manager: Molly Block, marketing and business development geek, Houston, TX

Brian W. Jones, designer & writer, Göteborg, Sweden

Kashvi Kumar, Environmental Studies and Economics major at New York University

Deirdre Nelson, ever threading artist, Glasgow, Scotland

Shanna Trenholm, writer. catalyst. force of nature. San Diego, CA

* * *

Alumnus & Unconsumption logo creator: Clifton Burt, graphic designer, Portland, OR

Further information about Unconsumption can be found here.

9:23 am - Sun, Aug 5, 2012: 65 notes

The Burden Of Having Too Much Stuff | yourpublicmedia.org

Interesting episode of Colin McEnroe Show, via The Billfold.

The guest in the first segment is Ryan T. Howell, whose Personality & Well-being Lab at San Francisco State University “aims to better understand the role of finances and consumption in people’s happiness and subjective well-being, as well as the concept of happiness and quality of life in general.” His site BeyondThePurchase.org includes a variety of “consumer psychology” surveys related to his research. There’s also a blog I’ll be keeping an eye on.

Later in the show, writer Mike McGrath talks about his misadventure in storing his stuff:

There is well over 2 billion square feet of self-storage space in the United States. For some perspective, if every man, woman and child in the United States stood up straight, arms at sides, they would all fit into the storage space that already exists.

In 2011, self-storage facilities grossed around $22.5 billion. Most of that was badly invested money, especially if you think of the value of what’s in storage units and then think of the monthly rental as somehow a cost added onto the original purchase price.

Writer Michael McGrath, who’s on the show today, now looks at the $400 mattress he stored for two years and realizes he accelerated the cost of it to a number topping $1,000. The problem for McGrath — and for everyone — is that he didn’t have just one item to store. He had a bunch. And it was hard to see clearly what was going to happen.

Listen to the show here.