“Junk” and “Stylish” New Furniture

I’ve got to say that I do not think that there is a difference between “junk” and “new”.  I’ve long ago noticed that designers invent a new color and a new curlicue, every single year.  The reason they do this is to motivate people to buy new, in order to be “hip”.  Stylists date, furniture, clothing and even sheets in this manner.  The other point here is how we, as Americans, interpret ourselves based on our belongings.  We actually invest our personal self value in our material wealth.

If you have an old piece of furniture that your grandma once owned and this piece of furniture is NOT an antique, then what is it?  It is furniture that says “I’m broke and I cannot afford to pick out what I want.”  On the other hand, if you acquire something that stylists say is this year’s color and has this year’s curlicue, then you may show it proudly to your friends and pronounce “I can afford keeping up with the Jones-es.”

This kind of perception is powerful buying motivation for people.  This is the perception that keeps furniture stores busy and clothing stores swamped with customers.  It’s interesting, because in the end, no one is better off except the people who own stores and manufacturers.  Our normal and everyday self does not benefit from a new piece of furniture in any way.  There are those that say that new clothing is a nice ego boost, and I can’t argue with that.  But, I can ask, and do you need a new ego boost every week?

The point is, that business owners using a thing called marketing, via TV, internet and print, convince people that they are “better” via a concept called wealth and that humans should prove their wealth by purchasing things.  As a result of all of this purchasing, we own thousands of square miles of something called “Storage Space” and tens of thousands of square miles of something called “Garbage Dump”.  It’s not productive and it saps energy, but there it is, too much stuff…