SO, garage sale-ing the past 2 weekends has given me a new perspective on "stuff."  I realized just how much "stuff" we have as Americans and how little of it really means anything.  I looked only at my table of paperback novels that were priced at 25 cents a piece and realized that books cost something like $10 at minimum when they're new.  Almost guaranteed, 95% of those books were purchased new, so that table full probably cost around $500.  There I was, sitting in my plastic lawn chair in the hot late-June sun selling them for 25 cents each, hoping to get around $10 for the whole table of them.  And that was just the books...

Living in a small bedroom with all my "stuff" for almost a year now has taught me what the bare essentials are for living.  It was worse than a dorm room in so many ways (nothing to do with roomies).  I stack bookshelves 2 high, put all TV/entertainment equipment on top of my dresser, and use a futon (in couch form) for my bed.  I get a whole lot of "stuff" into that little room.  It has made me slowly get rid of "stuff" here and there to make room.  I have seen that I don't really need all of it.  Or any of it.

It has made me realize JUST how much money I have spent (wasted) on pointless "stuff."  What if I would have saved it?  I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be "holy" or something, but what if I would have spent all that on missions?  I wouldn't have student loan debt, for sure, and there would be a little less hunger in the world.  But I sacrificed it for "stuff."  "Stuff," I might add, that's going for a special deal: 5 for $1!!!