What is so important to people that they feel the need to buy too much? I understand the retailer's need to sell since that's how they make money, but why do we need to own so many things in our lives? Why do things make us feel more useful and leave us with the impression that our neighbors aren't as valuable as us? Even young children have a propensity to think that they need everything they can grab, taking it away from their playmates. Why are we so greedy? Why do we put as many things in a shopping bag as we can handle when a store is having a special sale where everything in the bag is 50% off the entire bag? It takes too much energy to store, sort, organize, clean, and remember where all my stuff is. I'm cleaning up! My belief is that we should abandon the idea of ​​excessive consumption by spending less and renovating or renovating what we already have. Therefore, the next question is: will spending and even overspending make you happy? Having enough is a personal decision. There are those who strive to have everything that their friends, family and neighbors have. Their status according to them, elevated by the quantity and quality of the goods they have in their possession, or at least so they think. According to Tammy Strobel in the article “But Will It Make You Happy?”, written by Stephanie Rosenbloom, “The idea that you have to get bigger to be happy is false.” The economy wouldn't collapse if we all used a little more common sense in our purchases and bought a little less. Our resources need a break.Page 2We need to slow down our consumption. Consumerism has quietly spiraled out of control, and because it makes no noise, we are able to ignore it. The fact is that people are ... middle of paper ......om). I agree with this thought, in fact this is the direction my husband and I have been headed these last few years. Our thinking is: use what you have, repair what you can, and buy what you have to. Life is much less messy and shopping and paying bills becomes much less of a burden. When you are able to downsize, buy less, and consume less, then you will find that you have time to play and money for things that are more important, maybe a little extra money and time to take that much-needed vacation. Works Cited Livingston, James. "It's Black Friday: Spend for your soul". Los Angeles Times. November 25, 2001. Web. November 5, 2013. Rosenbloom, Stephanie. “But will it make you happy?” New York Times. 08 August 2010. Web. 07 November 2013.Wente, Margaret. “Consumerism is good for the soul.” The globe and the mail. 15 December 2012. Web. 02 December. 2013.