There are many reasons why humans want to own things. Many buried deep within our psyche due to how we evolved over hundreds of thousands of years:

• Identity - what we have are symbols of the group we belong to., or want to being to. For example, why people wear football team shirts

• Sexual attraction - we think owning stuff will make us more attractive! Cars, clothes, swanky houses etc. we think they make us look hot! My new coat definitely does.

• Power - what you own can demonstrate how much power you have and can inspire feelings of awe, respect or fear in others.

• We live in a material world - we need food, shelter etc, without these we would be very unhappy!

• It makes us feel good - buying things releases dopamine in our brains making us feel good. Searching out the ‘new’ brings these chemical rewards. Which may go some way to explain why we are rarely happy with what we have got.

So far, so boring!

All of these evolutionary psychological reasons for possessions are largely based on ‘things’. Which can be great and rewarding in their own way. How about non material possessions? Perhaps our most valuable possessions are:

• Free will - the ability to do what we want!

• Free time - having the time available to do as we please

• Free love - oops, scratch that one, it’s probably getting the wrong message across.

• Freedom to choose friends and social activities

All of which sound full of infinite possibilities that could fill your life with joy and delight (afternoon delight in the case of point 3, but again, that might be getting the wrong message across. This is serious god dammit!).

What we sacrifice to get material and non-material possessions

We need to sacrifice our time for work in order to earn money for some material possessions. It’s a fact of life. Your time will need to be sacrificed to provide shelter, food, warmth, etc. just so you can survive.

But after those needs are met, our sacrifices should be more considered. For most people, more money means more time spent trying to obtain it. Less spare time means more expense as you seek convenience and that comes at a cost. Case in point: I had a takeaway tonight because I couldn’t be bothered to be go shopping, so my dinner cost 5-6 times more than if I had done it myself.

Family, religion, friendship, These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business. - Monty Burns, The Simpsons

What demons do you have to slay?

Make no mistake, this is a psychological battle! You need to decide which side you are on. Material or non material possessions? Favouring one over the other will certainly mean sacrificing something:

• Family / friends or more time at work to get money to buy a car.

• Missing the school sports day to finish a work project to get a bonus to spend.,, on sports gear for your kid because you are guilty about missing school sports day!

• Getting a bigger house that you need to work harder to keep, so you spend less time in it and more time in the office.

• Getting a bigger house and never being able to go out and see friends because you can’t afford to go to dinner with them. You get to stare at more expensive walls instead.

Can you see how circular all this is? One sacrifice leads to more of the same. No matter how expensive your car, you still look at the same road. No matter how expensive your house, you still watch the same programmes on Netflix.

I sell my time to get enough money to buy it back. - James Richardson