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The President, you and me, we are all consumers.  Government wisdom says spend more to make more.  That does not sound like wisdom to me.  What kind of insane notion is that?

Want to help make our economy stronger?  Spend less, buy only what you need, be fiscally responsible (unlike our government) by not spending more than you have and don’t buy things you won’t use or don’t need.  Pay the taxes required of you but not a dime more.  Our government has no clue how to manage money.

What has consumerism cost us?  Banks that can not keep running, car manufacturers that can’t make cars we can afford and businesses that would have failed without huge infusions of cash, our cash.  Does this make sense?

I love this country, but we have a messed up sense of what is right and wrong.  Why am I paying for the bank, mortgage lender, car manufacturer and the Wall Street mess?  That is just wrong.  For example, in the Wall Street fiasco, the government plunges us deeper into debt while the leaders in that industry receive HUGE bonuses.  Does that make sense?  They exercised such poor judgment that they lost billions in our retirement investments and helped plunge the US into trillions of dollars of debt (read, you and me).  I have an idea, if someone loses billions of dollars in a job that is supposed to make money, fire him.  He is not doing his job.  Certainly do not pay him huge bonuses.  Let someone take his place, like the guy who won the football pool based on excellent draft picks.

It seems to me our goverment needs the same kind of accountability as the banks, auto industry and Wall Street.  Maybe Ross Perot would have made a good President (scarry thought – sorry).

I stumbled across a post on Zenhabits, call Edit Your Life.

I’m a former newspaper editor, and one of the things I learned was to edit brutally (no sarcastic comments about why I don’t do that with my blog posts). Cut out everything that’s not necessary, and you’ve got a more meaningful story. (from Zenhabits, Edit Your Life)

I liked the idea of cutting out everything that is not necessary and having a more meaningful life for it.  There are four posts on Zenhabits for Edit Your Life covering commitments, rooms, closets and drawers and your work space.  I am concerned mostly with my work space at the moment, so I will concern myself with that.  This will go hand in hand with my 100 Things Challenge.

Observations:

1. There is too much stuff in and around the workspaces in my home for me to manage it all.
2. The stuff gets in the way of completing and/or enjoying tasks.
3. I do not have methods and means for organizing the stuff I do have meaningfully.
4. Habits and stuff are the two main contributing factor to this Life Clutter.