Thoughts about "stuff" ...

Just a quick observation ... there are a few invasive species that have been unleashed across the West  ... self-storage companies and various forms of "dollar" stores.  

Almost every town, large and tiny, that we've driven through has one or more self-storage facilities.  Even in towns where it doesn't look as if the citizens have enough to fill one home, much less a self-storage room, there are thriving, new self-storage companies.  We're particularly mindful of self-storage companies because we are participants ourselves in the great self-storage phenomenon.  We have the remains of our Maryland household in self-storage and are constantly aware that we need to make the final steps in moving by dealing with our stuff.  Some things we long to have; some things we wonder why we bothered to store them; some things we just don't know what to do with them.  But, we are owners of stuff ... lots of stuff (despite what felt like near heroic efforts to donate, give away, sell our household stuff) ... we have a large (double wide) storage room filled with stuff awaiting our attention while we continue to support the growth of self-storage.

The other invasive species,  and they might be related, is the growth of "dollar" stores ... Family Dollar, Dollar General, Dollar Tree ... filled with more stuff.  And, that doesn't include the growth of various big box stores that specialize in providing stuff on a large scale, Wal-Mart, for example ...

I don't have any particularly great ephiphany about "stuff" ... just the awareness that "stuff" seems to take up a disproportionate about of time, space and energy in our lives ... acquiring stuff and storing stuff ... and then eliminating stuff ... based on the number of self-storage companies and "dollar" stores ... "stuff" is the new boom economy.

Added note:  I mentioned Wal-Mart above ... and in an earlier blog posting about using their parking lot and shopping for food.  We do have an awareness of the challenges of the Wal-Mart employees to get a "living wage" that allows the employees to have a decent chance at a middle class life (without having to use the SNAP food stamp program or Medicaid to make ends meet).  We made a donation to Democracy for America based on an appeal from Robert Reich (former Secretary of Labor) to pressure Wal-Mart to address income inequality for its workers and provide them with a living wage.  (The six Wal-Mart heirs are worth more than the bottom 41% of Americans combined).   While the parking lots at Wal-Mart are welcoming for RVs, we also want the workers at Wal-Mart to receive wages that someday allow them to use those parking lots for their own adventures.