So Much Stuff

We live in a world of SO MUCH stuff. It's overwhelming just how much stuff there is in our world, at least in the US part of the world.

Yesterday, I had a couple of hours to kill, and because my husband and I have decided we would prefer to furnish our home with antiques, I decided to take a walk through the local antiques mall. The antiques mall is in an old building downtown that used to be a JCPenney, so if you're familiar with the JCPenney stores of the 1970s and before, you'll know what I mean when I say it's big, really big, as in 3 floors of stalls of antiques.

And the antiques range as far as they can from crochet-edged hankies to pyrex bowls to cast iron hand pumps to hoosier cupboards. Truly, if you're looking for a specific item, and you're willing to spend the time, you'll find it in this store.

So much stuff. 

Most of it just sits there, collecting dust. Like wall-hanging thread holder which I first spotted the first time I went into this store a year ago. It's marked $10 which is a good value, and if I had had $10 to spend, it would have come home with me.

So how much stuff is there? Well this antiques mall is in the downtown district of Wapakoneta, OH, and there are a dozen or so similarly themed stores up and down the downtown street. They are all filled with similar stuff. And there is a thrift store in addition to the other thrift store out on the edge of town, right across from the super walmart.

So much stuff.

We are taught to consume, to buy, buy, buy. The economy! We have to keep the economy going!

But there is already so much stuff that we have already produced, and so much of it is just sitting there collecting dust or worse -- it's already been dumped into a landfill or shipped out to the great disposal in the oceans, as if it has NO value at all.

This has to stop. It really does. It has gone on for too long, and it has gone too far.

I look around the thrift stores I visit regularly and at all the antiques stores, and I am astonished with the amount of stuff that is available at such low prices, yet there are still full-price retail stores pumping out more stuff.

I propose that we stop buying new. Truly. Just stop. If I really, really, really NEED something (and I have a roof over my head, adequate clothing, and transportation, so my basic needs are truly covered), then my first stop can easily be the thrift stores and the antique shops, because it's probably already out there! No new production needed.

So much stuff.