The urge to buy

Stuff ... I had briefly mentioned this craving earlier on my facebook status. Call it the analytical mind or the lazy mind, but I did ponder about this urge/craving to buy quite a bit. Here's my analysis:

Why do I buy stuff ? Primary reasons are want and need. For instance, I lost my nail clipper and I had to get a new one - so I bought one. This is clearly a need. Then there's the want, the desire to buy things. I might see something visually appealing and even though I don't need that item I might still want it. Secondary reasons are boredom and laziness. These two are so intertwined, it's hard to separate the two. I'm bored at times because of laziness and I shop because of laziness. Why ? because shopping/buying is the easiest way to obtain 'ownership'. All you have to do is swipe a card and you own something. Call it my psyche, but there's a momentary gratification in owning a new item. That gratification dies slowly as the item becomes familiar or to put it more crudely, as the item loses it's value. On the other hand, try translating that ownership to something that doesn't lose value over time - a skill such as dancing, playing baseball or any skill for that matter. It's incredibly hard. There's a steep learning curve. Owning a skill is very very hard. The human mind knows this, it's so weird. Given a choice - it always points you to the easier path, or the path of least resistance aka shopping. I can't think of anything that's as easy as buying something. Watching TV might come close but watching TV doesn't give you any ownership. Ok, let me correct myself - watching TV doesn't give you any tangible ownership where as shopping does.

In my opinion, buying something because of a need is fine, because of a want is also fine, but buying something because of laziness or boredom is not. I would rather spend that time in acquiring a skill than squandering my money over some items which, after a while will prove worthless. I've done this repeatedly over and over again - the iPod, the PSP, all those clothes that I gave to goodwill, oh the list is endless. It's high time to stop this meaningless shopping extravagance.