ipl-logo

Summary Of Buy Yourself Less Stuff By Mp Dunleavey

760 Words4 Pages

“Money” Analysis Paper In MP Dunleavey’s essay, “Buy Yourself Less Stuff”, she discusses various flaws with our society’s use of money and suggests a few solutions to correct those flaws. Most people assume that buying things and having stuff will give them a lasting happiness, but the truth is the happiness that having material items brings is only short-lived. People continue to chase after this lasting happiness which creates what Dunleavey refers to as the “never-ending treadmill of consumption.” To avoid being on this treadmill, she suggests spending money only on things that will benefit people’s long-term happiness. Throughout her essay, the author uses her own opinions, stories of others, and researcher’s studies to adequately develop …show more content…

Companies are always coming out with something bigger and better. Dunleavey focuses on how because of the way the “normal” is always changing, people are constantly wanting and buying more to try to keep up with the world around them. She uses the two examples of how the average square feet of the American home has greatly increased over the past 30 years and how she always thought if her salary could increase by ten to fifteen thousand then she would be satisfied to effectively convey her point. One of the main reasons consumers get stuck on the “treadmill of consumption” is because people are never satisfied with what they have. It is Human nature to try and “keep up with the Joneses” as Dunleavey mentions. Some one else always has something bigger and better which will always makes people continuously crave more …show more content…

Throughout her work, she discusses money’s positive and negative effect on people’s happiness. Halfway through the essay, the author says, “‘Conspicuous consumption is not about buying things you need, but about buying things as a symbol of your earning power, a signal to others that you’ve attained a certain level of wealth.” Dunleavey shifts from using trying to achieve happiness and satisfaction as the motive behind people’s spending habits to using power and wealth as the motive. This quote is the only mention of power or wealth as a motive in the essay. The idea behind power and money is undeveloped in the essay and could be unconvincing to some

Show More
Related
776 Words | 4 Pages

Nevertheless, the interviewees frown upon being labelled as someone that values luxury over reasonable spending. Hence, they expressed their emphasis on the importance of needs over wants, and that practicality should triumph over extravagance. They see “limited” consumption as a form of self discipline, where excessive spending was only justifiable when it is spent on the family and invested in the children. If

Read More
535 Words | 3 Pages

William Hazlitt composed his passaged, “On the Want of Money” to express that “one cannot get on well in the world without money”. Although many believe money is not necessary to be happy Hazlitt provides his audience with a substantial argument that money is needed to live happily. Within Hazlitt’s sharp excerpt, he uses several different rhetorical strategies to strengthen his argument and express his views on the importance of money. Money in fact, is very important to each person since in today’s world, money is used for everything. The problem is occurring is it is almost impossible to not desire or need money in our society.

Read More
1079 Words | 5 Pages

The short story “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingang shows that while money may not be able to buy happiness outright, it does give access to comfort and contentment. In the story “Folding Beijing” we see three different class sets and how each of them live. It opens following Lao Dao though his home of Third Space describing the ratty nature of his clothing as he sees people at food stalls before the change in Space. Lao Dao thinks to himself about how he has been skipping breakfast to save money stating; “He used to spend about a hundred each day on this meal, which translated to three thousand for the month” (89).

Read More
1393 Words | 6 Pages

Mark Spitz states that “he was crestfallen when he ate at another location for the first time” and he recognized the “same stuff on the wall” (189). This moment is crucial because it emphasizes how even the most precious and sentimental aspects of our life are a result of consumer culture. Many aspects cleverly crafted to appear as a one-of-a-kind product or experience actually result in a slightly customizable template. Similarly, Sorensen explains consumerism as “the capacity to realize and replicate itself by borrowing against the guaranteed promise of the future as the site of more of the same and of endlessness of reproduction without difference” (562-3). Whitehead further supports this idea by illuminating the reproduction of a one-of-a-kind

Read More
655 Words | 3 Pages

Can money bring you happiness: many Americans believe that having lots of money can bring happiness? However one writer, Gregg Easterbrook, in his article, “The Real Truth about Money,” promotes that having a lot of money in your pocket doesn’t bring happiness in this world. He writes this article to persuade his audience that money doesn’t bring happiness. Easterbrook begins building his credibility with personal facts and reputable sources, citing convincing facts and statistics, and successfully employing Logical appeals; however, toward the end of the article, he attempts to appeal to readers’ emotions weaken his credibility and ultimately, his argument. In his article, Easterbrook starts his article by showing people how life has changed since the World War II and the Depression eras of life, and then he outlines that people that people spend lots of their time trying to keep up with the norms of life and draws the comparison that people who have higher income have depression or unhappy with themselves.

Read More
1130 Words | 5 Pages

With the inclusion of a multitude of perspectives, experiences, and emotions outside her own, her expertise heightens allowing her to be more respected as an influential writer on the subject at

Read More
1175 Words | 5 Pages

People in the United States take money for granted like no other country in the world. We don’t seem to understand that people across the world are starving to death, and making less money in a day than a casual American will spend on a soda. America is only the 3rd most giving country in the world! Which I find astonishing, one might think that’s pretty good, however with all the resources we have in this country, I feel that is an embarrassing statistic. Throughout this reading I will be talking about two well-known philosophers Emmanuel Kant, and Peter Singer and their distinctions on the way people are spending their money, and how we can save life’s by maximizing possessions.

Read More
328 Words | 2 Pages

Huxley opposes Orwell’s ideas by stating that what we love will ruin us. This couldn’t be more true. It proves to be a major issue in today’s society especially. Not so much in the concept of temptation, however. It’s a person’s greed that ruins them.

Read More
274 Words | 2 Pages

Secondly, Hill argues that buying all the luxuries won’t bring us any happiness. Hill expands on this by saying “the reverse may be true” (Hill 1). This reminded me of when I bought my first pair of Nike sneakers. I had two options.

Read More
107 Words | 1 Pages

In Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac, he stated that “Woman and wine, game and deceit make the wealth small and the wants great”, which means that when someone focuses on luxuries, extravagance, and immoral activities, they are not only left with more of an untamable desire, and also less money to take care of these wants. This aphorism is undeniably true because of the fact that the majority of humans, no matter the conditions, can control their desire for luxury after being exposed to them, nor can they control themselves financially after exposure, leading them to only repeat this perpetual cycle as their desire only grows more.

Read More
739 Words | 3 Pages

“Stuff Is Not Salvation 1.Anna Quindlen gained the knowledge of appreciating our everyday needs rather than the materialistic things that more than often we convince ourselves we need. Choosing to spend money on pointless “ junk” such as; designer clothes and accessories, flat-screens, gadgets, and immense homes isn't worth half the money. Especially when hard earned money is needed much more for rent, health insurance, and tuition. Quindlen gives an example of how a mother made a statement saying her children will appreciate the smallest things in life when having less possessions. She also gained many of society's attention and credibility by connecting the essay with the recession.

Read More
161 Words | 1 Pages

In his Ted-Talk “How to buy happiness”, Michael Norton (2011) states that happiness can be bought with money by giving it to other people. I fully agree with Norton. I received my first paycheck around Christmas last year and the first thing I bought with that money was a present for my mother. Christmas is a great example: giving and receiving gifts bonds everyone together, because it shows that we care about each other. Even helping someone you barely know is really satisfying, you did a good deed, it is good for your self-esteem.

Read More
901 Words | 4 Pages

In today’s world and society, everything is extremely money-oriented. People have the tendency to put lots of value on tangible objects around them and fail to realize that some of the most important things are not something you can touch. The things that people tend to cherish more are treasures, or, things that carry sentimental value and cannot be sold; these are things such as love, friendship, health, family and more. Other times, people choose to put value on luxury items or things with a big price tag because they are materialistic or have a notion that owning these items will make them happier.

Read More
680 Words | 3 Pages

One study revealed that money was an essential need for happiness, but it was not what made the people happy. They established satisfaction in close relationships with loved ones, community work, fulfillment and pride from their work and accomplishments (Diener and Biswas-Diener 162). The highest life satisfaction was found in societies of wealthy nation while the unhappiest nations were the extremely poor ones. When it comes to materialism, it does not matter if someone is rich or poor, all that matters is that “your income is sufficient to your desire,” and that “differences in aspirations lead to very different amounts of happiness” (Diener and Biswas-Diener 170).

Read More
753 Words | 4 Pages

“Curbing Consumption’’ In the article “Curbing Consumption”, Catherine Morris writes about the problem of high risk drink affecting college students in the United States. Morris shows the problem of high risk drinking through the number of use of date rape drugs and binge drinking. Through these examples the author's argument is strongly supported. The first topic Morris writes about in her article is date rape in the university, “according to the NIAAA, 696,000 students report being assaulted by an intoxicated student another 97,000 student’s reported being sexually assaulted on an alcohol-influence situation”.

Read More

More about Summary Of Buy Yourself Less Stuff By Mp Dunleavey

Related Topics

Open Document