Buy Less Stuff, Go More Places
During my year-long project to see if it was possible to manufacture happiness, one of the exercises I undertook was to make a list of my own rules to live by](https://louplummer.lol/my-rules-for-me/). One of those rules was Buy Less Stuff, Go More Places.
Studies have strongly suggested that memories are more difficult to form when your surroundings don't change. I made the same 30-mile drive to work for twenty years, and the hour and half it took out of my life each day was essentially lost time. I listened to plenty of good books and podcasts in those drives, but the landscape might as well have been a blank slate. On our recent trip to Florida for the Miami Marathon, every mile was fascinating, even if it was through a typical neighborhood. The architecture and landscaping was so different from what I am used to.
This is a hard rule to follow when you have disposable income because you're old and have paid off your bills. Yes, we go plenty of places, but the Amazon delivery mobile has us programmed into their GPS. A couple of points though - We do not have an expensive home, nor do we want one. If anything, we want simpler. I also drive an old, old car. It's not a classic, or anything close to it. It is just ancient. Those two facts alone save us a few thousand dollars a month. This year, we may not take a vacation that includes airfare. We will probably opt for some place in the Appalachian Mountains instead - one of my favorite places on earth. Among our "fly to" vacations, I've prepared heavily for Northern Ireland and Santa Fe. I'm not sure what prevented me from taking full advantage of NYC and Colorado Springs. I had a good time in both places but I left a lot on the table.
The places I like to go to are more often the places we can drive to - or places we can park and hike to. Some touristy sites are fun to visit, but I enjoy exploring a new patch of woods a lot too. Whatever I do, I want to do it with Wonder Woman. Sometimes I feel like she has a stronger sense of adventure, but I think we're actually evenly matched. Her personality is such that she is usually happier to let me pick out the next adventure (I'm not fooling myself, either. I read about why that is true in a book). When I'm feeling tired, and she expresses a desire to do something, it just seems odd, out of the ordinary. It's just that I feel tired more frequently than she does.
I do sometimes feel guilty for buying things. A decluttering spree made me less inclined to buy several types of items: clothes, pots and pans, used books, random personal care stuff. I try to be mindful about what I buy lately. I ask myself if an item will help me feel happier. Will it help me reach a goal? What triggered my desire for it?
Anyway, I think I need to let go of some of the guilt, as long as I am willing to be a good steward of our the money we have and as long as I would always rather go somewhere new, than go shopping for something flashy. I don't need flashy.
I love to track things. I have an app to bookmark places. In the past 10 years, we have visited 76 parks, stayed in 44 hotels/VRBO, visited 28 coffee shops, 14 book stores and eaten in 352 restaurants. I want to at least match that in the next 10 years!
Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇