The Blade“A shortcut to riches is to subtract from one’s desires.” — Plutarch

I recently wrote an article now appearing in the January 2007 issue of the BLADE, a Southern California GLBT magazine. I wanted to reprint it here…

Ten years ago, Juliet B. Schor wrote a book called The Overspent American and she concluded that, “Much of our spending clearly is unnecessary or wasteful, raising troubling moral questions. Moreover, the uphill pursuit of material nirvana is stressing us out. Amid widespread wealth, most Americans aren’t content with their lives.”

Overspending is top-of-mind as we come off the “gift-giving” season and I would argue that American consumerism hasn’t really changed in the decade since Schor wrote her book. Spending, of course, can enhance and define people in fantastic ways, but we certainly risk it overshadowing our lives. And for what we might ask?

I recently interviewed Wes Combs, the co-author of Business Inside Out and asked if money equals happiness. He replied, “Money certainly makes life easier in most cases. Unfortunately, I know too many people who try to replace happiness in their lives with materials goods and do not succeed. As trite as this sounds, it is very true: you have to be happy inside before you can be happy outside. Just buying things is like putting lipstick on a pig – if you are still not a happy soul then you will not be able to buy enough material things to bridge the gap. You might get close…but not close the gap.”

Combs is older and wiser than J.J. Jordan, a twenty-something gay guy in Houston, Texas. He says, “Like many of my friends, I have spent most of my Friday – Saturday – Sunday nights partying, clubbing, dancing, drinking, and wasting money. But over the past few years, I have started trying to self-examine a bit more when it comes to my finances.”

Money means different things to different people. For some it provides escape, and for others, it’s more about comfort or peace. A few years ago, Michael S. Malone at Fast Company interviewed Jacob Needleman, the philosopher and author about the meaning of money.

He said, “Having lots of money can be like a drug. It can make you feel powerful and giddy. It can convince you that everything’s going to be okay. Money makes us unjustifiably feel that we’re better and more important than we really are. When money can make you feel humble, then I think it’s really useful. But if it fattens your ego, which it often does, then look out.”

For me personally, money represents security. Perhaps, it goes back to some childhood deficiency of feeling like my parents were just one paycheck away from living on the streets. In reality, it was never quite that bad, but I was acutely aware of their financial challenges particularly during my grade school years.

Money certainly can provide a foundation upon which primitive needs are satisfied and then as Maslow believes, will allow our emotional needs to come into focus. But so often, we still try to fulfill self-esteem with things.

Jacqueline Clement, an author within the Unitarian Universalist community writes, “Some material goods provide the basic necessities of life without which we might be quite miserable indeed. The risk comes once our needs have been met and we enter the realm of desires.”

And this takes us back to the question: Why do people buy? In the book, Work Less & Play More, Steven Catlin challenges readers to think about purchases and determine how many are based on necessity verses such things as ego, tradition and guilt.

For example, owning a dog would be classified as a “traditional” purchase and he suggests that you might consider what the dog will cost long after you paid the $200 for it. Is it worth it? Or are you just buying a dog because it is un-American to not own a pet?

Perhaps, this is a bad example since many lesbians would never part with their dogs and instead categorize pets in the “pleasure” purchase column. But you get the idea. Think about why you buy and perhaps just questioning it might eliminate 10 percent of the unneeded purchases.

Who knows… you might even be happier and more content without so many things and you’ll be richer for it.