Programmed to Live Too Large?
by admin on Dec.21, 2013, under Favorites
First, happy first day of winter! Now, back to our story…
Excess – it’s everywhere.
How big a house does a family with two children need? How big a SUV does one person need to drive? How big does your TV need to be?
I was watching a home improvement show one night this past week and was astounded at the size of some of the appliances chosen – for what appeared to be about a 1600 square-foot home with two adults and two children.
Here’s a reasonable facsimile of the range chosen:
This is (granted) a beautiful, full-featured Thermador range.
This 48-inch range also features easy-to-clean porcelain cooktop, ExtraLow® simmering featuring Star® Burners, 22,000 BTUs Power Burner, a large capacity Convection Oven and SoftClose® doors.
Price? How about $11,300 to $11,500.
Then we moved on to the refrigerator…
Yes, it’s pretty and yes, it fits nicely in with the chosen cabinetry and probably the whole kitchen.
But is it worth $6,000?
Do you really need 20+ cubic feet of refrigerator space? Do you need the all-LED sidewall and theater lighting?
Are you planning to move in or does this refrigerator just need to keep cold things cold and frozen things frozen?
Enough with the appliances – how about home size? Do three people really require a five bedroom house of over 4,000 square feet? Maybe, if they are planning to have a couple more children – fairly soon. Otherwise, why would you want to clean, maintain, heat and cool all that extra space? We won’t even discuss property taxes…
I tend to get claustrophobic if there is too much clutter and I like a bit of land around me, but I refuse to believe the home improvement shows and the marketing materials that are trying to convince me, on a daily basis, that I NEED all this luxury, these huge appliances, a huge house, a huge TV, and a big, bulky SUV to drive my 120 lb self around in.
I don’t. If I won a million bucks in a lottery I wouldn’t spend it on a $6,000 refrigerator and a $11,000 range. It just seems ridiculous. Maybe this is because I am in what is the second-half of my lifetime and have realized that some things are important and many are not. Or maybe I could just give a cr*p about what anyone else has or, what they think about my personal belongings.
Excuse the whining but during this season of commercial after commercial trying to convince me to shop and spend – I am just over the top on what so many of us are convinced we NEED to have and NEED to spend.
The definition of “need” is: to require (something) because it is essential or very important.
The definition of “excess” is: an amount of something that is more than necessary, permitted, or desirable.
Just make sure YOUR spending is at least a decent blend of the two, and make sure your decision to spend – if a little “excess” is involved – is because YOU made the decision based on your own preferences versus being “sold.”
