Consumerism trap

Consumerism
The social and economic order and ideology that encourages the acquisition of goods in ever increasing amounts.

I’ve never really given the word any thought. However, in my quest for minimalism, I’ve recently begun to read and listen to all things consumerism, so that I could really understand what kind of hold that it has on everyone. I had no idea that this industry will use any method to make you buy something. The advertisers tap into our fears and insecurities making us think we can’t be happy without their products. That is exactly how they reeled me in, making me think I would be thinner, cuter, happier, or more influential if I’d buy their stuff.

The average American family is no longer able to survive unless they have dual incomes. The consumerism machine runs at full speed making us work harder and harder to buy more and more until our homes are bursting at the seams.

In fact, it’s gotten so bad that 1 in 11 American families spends $1000 or more per year on climate controlled storage units.

• In 1973, the average American home was 1660 sq. ft.  Today, the average American home is 2400 sq. ft.
• 1/4 of American households don’t use their garage for cars, but rather as storage units.
• The average American will move 11 times in their lifetime, often to create more space for their stuff.
• In 1950, the average grocery store had 3000 items, and today the average tops 35,000 items.
• As of January 2017, Walmart has a total of 16,859,211 products on sale at Walmart.com compared to Amazon.com’s 356,901,798 products.

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” ~ Will Rogers

This is where minimalism makes its case.  I admit, when I first started toying with idea of a minimalistic lifestyle, I began to panic about all my “stuff”.  I had to ask myself, if my stuff is stored in a storage unit or my garage, how much am I really enjoying it?  Do I really want to spend more time working away from my family, to buy more “things” that end up in a storage unit?  I look around my area and most families are dual income families.  I never see these families at home enjoying their “stuff” because they’re always working, to make more money, to buy more stuff, to store away until they can use it.  That is very sad to me.  Why have “stuff” if you can’t use it?  I encourage you to take a step back and explore minimalism.  This will free up time, money and your heart.