Usage. Underusage, that is...
It's no secret that as thing gets used it recovers its costs. If you forget things you buy, you throw your money away. Therefore, only things that you constantly use are the ones you should buy without a doubt. Things like gas for your car, food you feed, clothes you wear, utilities for your home, stuff to keep kids happy, healthy and developing, and any professional tools or equipment you use on your workday. The rest of things we buy are for pleasure mostly. We think that particular stuff will make us happy and when we get into buying mood, no reasonable thoughts could stop us and reconsider. Best thing we learnt to do is to comparison-shop! It's all in my hands from the comfort of my home - products neatly organized by price ASCENDING. How convenient! Here is the best price. Click it! Done! A week later my package arrives, I enjoy my new item for couple of hours, try to use it for couple more days, make my friend jealous, then realize I don't need it with me all the time, put it away and forget. Next commercial, please!
Ever wonder why do we have walk-in closets, while some less fortunate nations enjoy their living spaces by themselves? Home is for humans, and not for tons of unused merchandise, that breaks shelves from time to time. Here is my answer for "It could make me happy" thought - People are living things and only living creatures could make us happy. And most of us, humans, are free to each other. Enjoy free you, me, us, them!
Consumption. Overconsumption...
And that's just one part of the problem. Smaller part. Since you're the master of your money, you may choose whichever way to throw them. But let's think for a moment about where all the things are coming from. From one big blue place called earth, mother to all of us, home to us all. Big on the inside, small on the outside. When speedo of my car makes one revolution around earth each year by just commuting to and from work - I realize, Earth is not as big as my hometown was to me when I was a kid. World Watch report from 2004 reveals that excessive consumption is having serious consequences for the well-being of people and the planet, and leading to societies with bulging landfill sites, declining fish stocks and rising obesity levels. Richer countries need to consume less if we are going to live within environmental limits and allow others their fair share of the Earth's resources. Poorer nations and communities bear the brunt of the pollution caused by over-consumption. Friends of the Earth's resource use campaigner Claire Wilton said: "We have a finite planet, and we are already consuming more than it can sustain. The Government must take a strong lead in encouraging consumers and industry to cut back on the quantities of natural resources we consume and the energy we use."
They urge governments to
1. Introduce economic measures to reduce our use of the world's natural resources. Manufacturers should be penalised for using virgin materials where they could use recycled materials instead.
2. Find a new way to measure quality of life, rather than rely on GDP to signal the need for more and more economic growth