The Burden of Ownership
In our consumer-driven society we are constantly bombarded with messages that we should buy more, do more, and be more. We’re painted the picture that if we just had more things (bigger house, nicer car, etc.) that I will finally be happy.
But just the opposite is true.
Ownership is responsibility. Ownership is maintenance. Ownership is sacrifice. Ownership is a burden.
As such, ownership makes sense when:
- The item will grow in value over time (ex: home ownership), or
- The item will decrease costs over time (ex: owning a car vs. leasing a car)
- The item’s value is greater than its ownership burden (ex: education)
- The item enables greater experiences than its ownership burden takes (ex: a computer)
Items that don’t fit into any category above may still be temporarily needed (ex: children’s clothes, toys, books, etc.), but be intentional about rotating these items out of your life.
If you don’t, they’ll pile up and you’ll eventually spend more time maintaining items of low value, as opposed to investing your time and energy into things of high value.
