The Big Things - or the Little Things?

A woman came into my place of business today and bought 170 bucks in unnecessary UGA trinkets and such. My point is not to argue whether the stuff was necessary or not, but to wonder whether or not buying big stuff is as good/bad for your soul as buying little stuff.

These are the things I think of when I'm alone.

You see, the lady in question didn't seem to have a lot of money, if I can be so forthright and arrogant as to judge a person by her appearance and demeanor. She could have been an award-winning journalist, but let's not quibble over that which simply does not fly.

She seemed like the type of person to fill her house with loads of little things, though she is merely an archetype for the college fan. It could just about be anyone in the state of Georgia who shares her affliction.

I wondered, Does it matter if we buy little things or big things? Her house, no doubt, is filled with trinkets and doodads of various shapes and sizes. I didn't quite scoff at her purchases - at least not to her face - but I thought she could have used her money more wisely somewhere else or doing something else.

I am in debt. I can make no assertions of taste in spending, though it does open up the discussion. Would it have been better for her to buy a big screen television? Or a car? Or maybe a table and some groceries? That's big stuff, but it still would not raise her level of affluency in the long run. Is it because she is poor that she chooses to buy more small things than one big thing?

Is it a sociological - or perhaps a psychological - affliction to buy trinkets? Maybe it is, and it's only end of to have a house full of stuff. Perhaps it makes her feel as though she is more complete than before with a small figurine of UGA hanging from her rearview mirror.

But I don't necessarily think that it's about completion. That's a hard distinction to make, because people who buy big things aren't necessarily more complete than those who don't. But does the woman not know what saving money is? Does she expect to sell those little treasures upon reaching retirement age? Will that work?

Maybe she does save, but I know the type of person who saves, and she is not it. To avoid criticism for being snide, I grew up around an entire family of people who did not and still do not save money, as if money is somehow a quickly fading commodity to be used at the soonest behest of its owners.

But it does not change the question: Are you a big buyer or a small buyer? As much as I'd like to say I'm a big buyer, I must say that I'm a small buyer. i tend to spend money on small things instead of getting one big thing, and it's sort of saddening.