03181 Stuff

Strategies for reducing your use of stuff:

Borrow stuff! If it’s something you won’t use much, try to borrow the item rather than buy.

Rent! This is particularly useful when it comes to tools, since most cities have businesses that rent tools to the public.

Clothes do not make the man, nor the woman. While it is certainly not necessary to dress in a shabby manner, we can question how many outfits are prudent in light of the ecological costs of clothing.

Organize what you’ve got so you can find the stuff you have. If you have so much stuff that you can’t find stuff, then what you effectively own is a large amount of trash. Don’t buy something because you need something and can’t find it. That just complicates your problem.

Beware of hoarding! Permaculture is about the responsible distribution of surplus. While energy storages are important, they should not consume our available space and drain us emotionally.

If you buy new, buy as much quality as you can. For example, it should be possible to buy a watch of good enough quality that as long as you didn’t lose it, you would never have to buy another watch for the rest of your life. I use canning jars, a pressure cooker, and cast-iron cookware that I inherited from my grandmother. Some of these items are more than sixty years old and still going strong. The generation that follows me will inherit them and continue to use them.

De-cluttering your existing stuff. Everything you own can be divided into these categories:

• Beautiful things,
• Emotionally important things,
• Tools and other items that efficiently help you do useful work,
• Consumables — food, clothing, etc.
• Everything else.

Beautiful and emotionally important things help you enjoy life, remind you of who you are and where you came from, and are part of life. They can become “too much of a good thing.”

Tools and other useful items are important to help you do the necessary works of your life. They could become “too much of a good thing.”

Consumables are important and some storage of these items is necessary and prudent, depending on your household and circumstances. The category that sometimes gets us in “stuff trouble” is Clothing and Accessories. How many pairs of pants — or dresses — shirts — blouses — shoes — etc. do you actually need?

“Everything Else” is the big problem category. These days, people with 3,500 square foot homes rent storage units to store their “toys.” “The one who has the most toys, wins” is the general attitude.

This attitude is kills the earth and litters the planet with land fills.

Everybody needs to learn and practice moderation in our use of the goods of the earth.

If you have a surplus of stuff, stop hoarding. Put your stuff into circulation via the after-market. Have a garage sale, advertise items on Craig’s List, sell stuff at a flea market. You can raise some capital this way that will be helpful for the implementation of your permaculture goals for your life.

Alternatively, give your excess stuff to a thrift store or charity that helps the poor, or give items directly to other people. Give books to libraries and to students. Keep the ones you need and especially love. Put others into circulation so that people can enjoy and learn from them too.

You should be in control of your stuff. Your stuff should not be in control of you. By limiting your acquisition of new stuff, you live a more energy conservative life and that is good for you, good for others, and good for the planet and all of its associated creatures. What’s not to like about that?