Just a random thought in my mind as I was watching Youtube videos showcasing large landed homes for sale. Not that I am keen to buy one even if I can afford one. I am just curious how these large homes are furnished and how the owners live in them, via observation of the items in the home.
This particular semi-d home, has 3 storeys and at least 5 or 6 bedrooms, comes with a basement carpark for 2-3 cars, and have a 10m pool in front of its living room at ground floor.
It does look like a multigenerational family live in it, with young kids included.
But definitely, this is way too much space for this family. But I can also see that they have no problem filling up the house with items.
There's a large basement entertainment room, with long u-shaped sofa that can seat more than 20 people, complete with expensive looking audio/visual gears for some serious KTV sessions. And it also has a bar counter, complete with a wall full of expensive wines/liquor etc, with more in boxes on the floor.
On the second floor, there's a room dedicated to a large altar, facing a balcony. So this is a religious Chinese family!
So what am I thinking?
Well, I am just amazed how people will tend to fill up a home, no matter the size. Give them 10 bedrooms, and they'll use it, and get stuff to fill them up. It's like no end in sight.
I am not envious of them at all. I am just feeling a little grossed out by the fact that in land scarce Singapore, some folks have no problem using their financial resources to get houses that are oversized for their needs, and as a result, end up also buying more and more stuff to fill up the house, since why not use the space right? Yes, it's none of my fucking business how they want to live their lives and how they want to use their supposedly hard-earned money. But from a resource consumption POV, it's just gross. How many toilets does one need? How big a bed to sleep on does one need? How many pillow does one need? Is there no end?
Wouldn't buying more and more stuff just means you will first, have to take care of them using your limited lifespan, second, you have to store or throw them away?
I am not advocating that they live like a shrimp and donate their riches. Heck I don't care if they just keep their money invested or inside the bank, but to consume things at this level, it's just plain gross.
Show this to a regular family (80% of people) living in public HDB flats, I am quite sure most of them will be shocked at the excesses.
Maybe this is a lesson for myself too. I am not rich, but I cannot say I am poor. I am just kind of comfortable and fortunate. Which means I have my fair share of over-consumption and wastage, especially when I was still gainfully employed with a decent pay check. Now at this age, many of these consumption patters no longer give me the same level of joy, which means I either have to up the consumption for more fancy things to get the same feeling, or I need to find that same feeling without more consumption (which is something I should do to secure my financial future).
One thing I realised is, simple things in life can make me happy. For example, regular exercises, simple good food, nice coffee, good conversations with people, and finding good deals during sale to get essentials, and the occasional indulgence of buying a nice gadget. Everything has a point of diminishing returns, and I hope I can be successful in this optimisation exercise
