Deriving happiness from possessions

Don't plan on proposing to my GF yet. I mean, I'd have to start a whole new thread before I do that! :p

I am trying to get rid of a lot of my stuff, but it's hard when the value drops so much and the hassle of selling something on Ebay, just for say £20, when it cost 10 times that.

Going from a thread about cosmic flatulence to a rather philosophical one on material posessions. You intrigue me, Blazin.

Work can be mind numbing sometimes, so it leads to me thinking a lot, which comes in the form of threads in GD :D
 
i don't impluse buy but i do get a little buzz form buying something new.
its the buildup to it, but very quickly after you are back to normal and it's just another thing.
if you can concentrate on building friendships, family relationships and helping others.
more of a reward for you and others
 
I tend to overthink purchases. The few impulse buys of my life tend to be the best for me. A SuperDry leather jacket for one, and a BMW 330i for another. On both occasions I barely thought about the purchase. I didn't run to the internet to see if I was getting a good deal, nor did I ask for advice. I simply bought them!

On the other hand I've pondered long and hard about items, such as a MacBook Pro and came to the conclusion that it was simply the best laptop known to man and I must have it. I bought it and yes, a fantastic laptop, but hardly essential. I ended up selling it shortly thereafter.
 
We're all guilty of it. I more than a lot of people since I'm an avid collector and have been all my life. Be it coins, shells, stamps, comics, CDs, DVDs or Vinyl records. I'm always been interested in amassing collections and making those collection grow larger and larger which is always enjoyable [apart from the fact that space becomes a problem].

Really though, you have to be careful in what you buy. Something like a musical instrument can be relatively expensive but can give you years of interest and joy. Also there is only one thing you can use it for. Something like an iPad can just make you happy or unhapppy dependant on what you use it for: if you use it for Facebook whoring and Twitter and to look at porn that won't be good for you, and you could ultimately end up spending more money in other areas as a result. But if you use if for Word docs, writing, planning etc it will serve you well.

Ultimately anything you buy that yields creativity or inspires you is a good purchase. Anything that makes you want more things as a result is not a good purchase. With PC enthusiats upgrading can be fun but at the end of the day you reap little reward for it save a few numbers on overclocks and higher FPSs on games. However I will argue that the process of building computers CAN have a creative throughput to it, and building or fine-tuning an attractive functioning PC is a bit like Lego [more like Mecchano].

However, buying more and more useless items can just result in the purchase of further useless items with no hapiness derived therefrom. So purchasing stuff is good, just depends what. Sometimes quality > quantity, unless you are a collector, in which case it can be the reverse.
 
The need to buy new stuff doesn't come from me, it's an external peer influence, so I try not to buy anything (that I don't truly need right now).
 
I like buying stuff :)

Last week Iv bought a shiny new guitar amp and two canada goose coats, one for me and my misses :)

This year I bouht ..., a Hang Glider and loads of kit for it,

Awesome! I want to do the course for my birthday in March :)
 
Awesome! I want to do the course for my birthday in March :)

I still have 3 days of the second (CP) course to go but yeah it's amazing fun. A bit pricey to get started but once you have the kit and join a club, the only real expense is petrol money!

Where will you be flying?
 
I still have 3 days of the second (CP) course to go but yeah it's amazing fun. A bit pricey to get started but once you have the kit and join a club, the only real expense is petrol money!

Where will you be flying?

Awesome! I'm thinking of doing the course at the Peak District and flying there mainly. Where do you fly? Also how much was your glider? I see the prices vary dramatically from beginner to pro stuff...
 
I just purchased a 1080p projector and its waiting for me when i get home to open. I am happy and i think i will continue to be happy as a result of the projector. :D

I don't realy buy things that i don't think i will need. I usually spend far too much time deciding whether i should buy something, like months and even years at times. This prevents me from just buying things on a whim because i realy put it off until i think that i realy need it. Ive been wanting to buy a projector for years but only just bought one. I bought a nexus 7 and use it a lot but not realy enough to justify owning it. But it comes in handy, when on the toilet, when in bed at night and when travelling on work and holidays. But other than that i don't realy use it.

You have to manage your ups as they say, if you get too excited about things, then you are setting yourself up for a bigger low. That is why its best to not get too "high" so that when you crash, you don't go depressed. It is what they teach you in psychology.
 
unfortunately i would have to say im guilty of this, i don't have the money to buy constant objects however i buy constant games to appease myself when im gaming, for example i have something like 120 game on steam, i play maybe 4-5 of those regularly (at the moment none cause i'm addicted to world of tanks) some of those games i have less than 30 minutes play time cause i have bought them to appease my buying impulse.

I am also the same when it comes to being down, when im done i buy more stuff, no matter what it is aswell as food, i binge on food when im down, running to the shop everyday for food of some sort. Not because im really hungry, but because i want something to do, that feeling of buying something.

Its a thing, i can't save money, it just has to be spent after a while (however i only have like 10 maybe 20 quid a week to spend so there is little to save) idk, i just rather than buying constant stuff try to find something that i can play for hours and not get bored with, that i start looking for something else to buy. This is how i deal with it.
 
I'm very minimalist and barely ever buy anything. I havent been bothered about gadgets since I was a teenager.
if you can afford it then I guess there's nothing wrong with it
 
I'm definitely not guilty of this; there are countless other things more "valuable". If I do buy things, it's not for the material possession but for the value/use it has. In my case, it has been camera + lenses but even then the last related purcahse was 2 years ago. My last console was a PS2, last PC purchase 2009 and my phone has been in use for over 2 years.
 
I go through phases of buying stuff to feel happy and then feeling sad because they didn't make me happy and my life is a loveless empty husk.
 
I frittered money away on things I didn't need when I was with my last girlfriend. We'd go out for meals 3 or 4 times a week, I'd drive a few hundred miles to go on a shopping trip, I'd buy every new tech item that came out, my PSU broke so while it was out for the count I bought a 5970 and a 5870 (neither of which I needed). This was all because I was frustrated and unhappy in my relationship. I bought 'happiness' which kept at bay the reality of facing the issues I had with my girlfriend.

Anyway, 2 years on I have a girlfriend that I can actually bear to spend time with and not just avoid with money. I have a lot less disposable income then I used to, but I'm a lot happier and don't feel the need to spend like I used to. Obviously I still spend money, I recently upgraded my PC and am switching out my 7970 for a 290 or 290x. However, the big difference is, I'm not doing that to mask an insecurity, I'm doing it because I enjoy it as a hobby. Plus, the parts I've saved I'm going to use to build a gaming PC for my girlfriend as she's shown an interest. So it's win win! :D
 
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Awesome! I'm thinking of doing the course at the Peak District and flying there mainly. Where do you fly? Also how much was your glider? I see the prices vary dramatically from beginner to pro stuff...

You're probably going to go to Airways then? I've been learning at the South Downs and will be joining the club there once qualified.

If you think it's for you, you're probably looking at between £1500-2500 for a second-hand glider. I was told to go for an intermediate wing which is a bit faster but not quite as easy to land as the beginner single surfaces! There's absolutely no way you'd be looking at a "pro" glider to start with.

You'd need a harness, emergency parachute, flight suit and other accessories as well. In total, I'll probably end up spending about 5K getting started which sounds like a lot of money, but in all fairness, I was spending more than that on getting hammered over 8 or 9 months before I sorted myself out.

Best thing to do is book the EP 5 day course to make sure it's for you. You won't need to even think about buying your own stuff until you want to move on to the next stage.

HTH - mail in trust if you want to know anything else. :)
 
I go through phases of buying stuff to feel happy and then feeling sad because they didn't make me happy and my life is a loveless empty husk.

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