Keeping, buying, and forgoing

If the joy you get from owning something is greater than how much you'd get if you sold it, it's obvious that you should keep it.

A simple house plant might sell for a few dollars (or a few hundred) but if it makes you happy to see it, how much it costs is irrelevant. If it adds more to your life than what you’d gain from letting it go, it’s usually worth keeping.

Of course, people often make the opposite choice all the time. They buy things that don't make them happy and hold on to things that, if they got rid of, might actually improve their lives.

Many people value the act of having money in the bank more than many of the things that money can buy. And yet some of those people continue to shop out of boredom or habit without ever asking why.

What's money for? What can we do with it, and what can't we?

It's a useful exercise to ask these questions and others like them. Because money, of course, is a tool-one that's mostly made up.

What matters is the story we tell ourselves about it, and how we use it to enrich and enhance our lives.