Consumerism or Minimalism?

I've helped people move a couple of times.. One was a little looney and nervous about paying trash fees or something and talked me into moving trash bags that had sat around way too long.... the other ones, well, we moved truck after truck of stuff that basically, we should have trucked it to the dump..

The father in law got cancer and we discovered that his house was basically knee deep in stuff.. he was poster boy for "collector disorder".. he croaked and we had to clean and refurbish the house... we had yard sales for months, filled two dumpsters with pure trash, and well over a hundred of the biggest "contractor" trash bags... we had to sort through it all because he had valuable stuff stored right along with trash... we are still going through boxes of papers and whatnot... there is a real "collector disorder", it's not uncommon..

I have too much stuff.. a shed full of tools and amateur radio stuff that I bought but never did much with.. I can have that hobby to a wonderful extent with about a cubic foot of radio and a laptop nowadays... that's what I'll do eventually... so I'm not bad off, I could call the ham club and they would cart off the whole shed full of stuff and I'd be pretty free. I'm moving to where I won't need a car.. basically I can carry all my clothes in two suitcases and my computer... it's not in the way that much...
 
This is the result from the mix between 2 cultures within one person. We had the baby boomers grow up with their frugal parents from the depression, mixed with a new era of easy credit.

So baby boomers consumed immensely, but also saved all of their consumption objects "just in case".

This is the reason for the garages full of junk.
 
Now when I'm thinking of a purchase, I'm looking at whatever and thinking to myself "What is it going to take for me to throw this away?"
 
The father in law got cancer and we discovered that his house was basically knee deep in stuff..
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exactly same story here,but my neighbor is the father of one of my friends. also got cancer..after he dies we come to the house to clean it..2 rooms filled with old TV's,vcr's UP to a chest!
 
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