As you are strolling along in Best Buy you round the corner from where you have just picked up a new stack of blank cd's, and there right in front of you held aloft in shining display is the object of your dreams. This is no ordinary object, no this is the defining element of happiness you have been searching for since you realized the meaning of possesion. As you stand there gazing at it time seems to waiver from outside your aura and the object itself shifts toward you, as if becoming more 'yours' the closer it gets. Though your mind is entranced you pick up the faint screams of a child behind you, "MINE!", he yells, "MINE!". With that sudden spell breaking scream your rational mind takes hold and breaks the everstrong connection between you and the thing on the endcap. "Why did I feel that I owned this thing even before I could touch it or know what it really was?", you ask yourself, "Would I have purchaced the object even without knowing the price or quality?"

Several thousand miles away a village of peoples from the Northern Territory of Australia gather for their evening meal outside their home. No, this is not a cookout, this is what the family does every evening. As their silhouettes dance by the fireside the outline of there home becomes visible in the near background; at first you barely notice it because it is rather small, only a foot or two higher than anyone entering the place. The room seems domed, in fact it is difficult to tell exactly where the roof ends and the wall begins as the entire structure appears as a candy dot. Though being small it houses all of the families belongings quite well. Placed end to end it is doubtful that what they had could circle the place even once.

What is it that makes a society such as ours so much more possesive and rather needy than say, the bushmen of Australia? Part of this is quickly explained by the laws of the land, structure of society, and how we were raised. Most of these things we cannot change nor should we. For instance, it is unlikely that our government would allow nude bathing in the river next to our hut, and it is just as unlikely that we could get away without using currency as part of our possesions. But, when do the necessities of life and society begin to go too far? For a mere college student this would not be that difficult to figure out, but for someone of a little more wealth and property perhaps it would be. However, anyone can follow a simple structure of determining what exactly they need and what things they can pass up when tempted to buy something.

For someone of poverty level the basics of need are food, shelter, and alcohol to deal with not having more. Though I am a huge fan of the intoxicating effect of certain liquids, I must put more than food and shelter before this non-vital aqueous. Among these things are clothing and education. I would put education before all of these things, but again laws of the land forbid nudity in school and libraries. As for clothing much can be eliminated here. I would venture to guess that the majority of americans have quite a few peices of clothing that no longer fit them or are not suitable to wear. Living in a small town I see all too many people my age and older wearing T-shirts with stupid, crude, and uneducated humour written on them. They wear these cheaply made shirts so much that they often are completely worn through. Now, I am not picking on the poor population here, believe me I have and am there, but I must make it known that you if you can afford these cheap t-shirts and ratty looking jeans, you can afford nice clothing that will look far more presentable and last longer as well. instead of having a closet crammed full of junky old or too small cloths, get rid of absolutly everything you have that you will never wear or should never wear. Though you may have little left in the drawer, you have a wonderful starting place. Now is the time to shop frugaly, but wisely. Just because you walk into a store doesn't mean you have to buy something, if you do come into a deal, don't buy up all they have. Instead choose the material that is more durable, even if it cost a few bucks more it will be worth your while. And remember that quality comes before quantity.

Enough of clothing though, our residence is far more important than just about everything else. Take a look around at the room you are in and roughly take note of what percentage of things in this particular room are (1) Decoration (2) necessities (3) Educational or (4) crap you really don't know what is doing there. Personally education is what I would want my room to be most full of, but for style I try to keep it looking as clean and neat as possible with reasonable decor. Depending on what room you are in you may have quite a few necessities, such as the kitchen...usually not a problem, but that trinket/gifts/things I found in my pocket crap is many times the prominant thing in ones home. These things only weigh us down and need to be gotten rid of. I can't explain enough how much this will take a load off your shoulder. I worked for two years for a moving company that received business from the very rich and the very poor. In both cases load after load of absolute crap was hauled to bigger places to house it. For everything we gain, we must determine if this addition is worth the hassle or not. Can I get rid of another object to make room for this or is it worth adding it to my collection.

Last thing I will mention is your car. Now this isn't something we can take care of as easy as a mr. potato head vs. a very good book. The best thing I have learned about car ownership when poor (because that is the only experience I have) is that you should keep a very tuned sense of what your car is doing, and then if you know something is wrong, it should be fixed with very high priority. Also, if you have any mechanical ability or have a good friend who has such skills, USE IT! Take advantage of what tools you have because it is easy to lose months of paychecks to mechanics. It is amazing what you can do on your own with a few instructions. Lastly, if you have a lemon, very carefully weigh what components of the car are new and what could go wrong and whether it is worth investing in something else. A very good bit of knowledge when finding something new is this: if you are thinking about getting something brand new from the dealership, think again. Buying something just a few months old can be very cost effective, but be careful that the reason the first owner didn't want it was because something was very wrong. Come to think of it, this has nothing to do with the subject. So, uhhh keep your car clutter free. There, back on subject.

I have recently come to know that being able to pack what you have in one or two car loads is incredibly valuable. Having the ability or even knowledge that you could up and move with ease is a great feeling. Believe me, it's great.

Posted in: on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at at 11:04 AM