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So Much 'Stuff:' How They Suck Us In and How We Can Resist!

November 06, 2024

Careful what you ask for. In his book “Stuffocation,” author James Wallman details how in the post-industrial revolution US economy of the 1920s and 1930s, there was too much of everything, everything produced by farmers to industrial machines. We overachieved! Rather than produce less, the goal became getting consumers to buy more, even if they had enough. Advertisers had to up their games.

The trick was how to get people to lose the “lasts a lifetime” expectation and develop a desire for the newest version, model, or edition that industry was now only too happy to churn out. The fashion industry already exemplified this and now the rest had to catch on, landfills be damned, and provide cheaper, disposable, fashionable everything. 

Fast forward 100 years and the "buy more" concept has persisted and matured, leaving no industry untouched, and guiding us into what you could call a stuffidemic. Here are a few examples to get you thinking like the advertisers do. 

GADGETS.

Millions regularly trade in their favorite gadget—whether a phone, tv, fitness tracker, or otherwise—for the next model the moment it’s released, waiting in line to ensure they are the earliest of adopters. That's why companies like Apple have big dollar marketing campaig slogans like, "Trade in. Level up." And tech's just the obvious example.

Apple wants you to trade in your laptop and other products and pay for the next greatest

COLORS!

Have you thought about why there are “colors of the year” and “of the season” that pop up in your feeds and inboxes, often with seasonally suggestive names, like “breezy blue?” All the companies fall in line with their similar version of the “it” blue of the season, until it’s suddenly a beautiful gem green and yet again you rethink your clothing and home decor choices. Colors can also create a sense of urgency to buy before it's gone, like this example from Character (which does sell delightful products!).

Character promoting its charcoal black toolbox for the holidays

DESIGN CONCEPTS.

Design concepts trend just like colors. Recently “glaze” has popped up on hot pink garments from Lulu Lemon and green frames from Framebridge. This is not to be outdone by “scalloped” edges on picture frames from Archival Methods, mirrors and tables from School House, and toilet paper from Charmin. Product and marketing experts know how to get modern buyers to buy. 

MATCHING SETS AND COMPOSITIONS.

Here’s yet another reason to buy – sets. Whether that’s a matching clothing set or a gallery wall of frames, moving you to buy not one, not a set, but MORE all at once. I mean, the picture shows 10 frames make a gallery, so I guess I need one of each, right? 

Maybe these tactics do not sway you. You have a certain style, and you stick to it. Timeless. Functional. You! What about ...

ENTICING DISCOUNTS.

... the sneaky “up to 30%” off offers? Have you fallen for those? You browse or click and nearly nothing you’re interested in is 30% off, just a tactically chosen few which you overlook as you accelerate through the checkout process because you are already there in the store or your credit card or other digital payment means is already available on your phone or laptop. 

6 Strategies to Help You Muffle the Calls to Buy

We first published this story in honor of Earth Day and in recognition of our general philosophy here at Artifcts that you should stop and smell the roses more often when it comes to your ‘stuff’ to appreciate what you have and why you have it, we’ve curated some easy tactics you can use to halt more stuff from coming into your home. We're republishing it today so you can revisit these strategies before your holiday shopping begins and hopefully save some money and avoid being lured to buy 'stuff' you'll regret later. If nothing else, put #3 into action today!

1. Unsubscribe. (Yes, catalogs, too. Check out options.). Have you heard of that movie from 80s, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil?" That's the idea. If you are not seeing those emails and notifications, you are so far ahead of the game. Worried you’ll miss a sale? Set a reminder to check back when you know they usually have sales. Or simply sign up again later if you truly miss seeing their emails. 

2. Delete payment methods. Unless you are on a recurring payment plan that requires a purchase, delete and/or do not save any payment information anywhere. Make it inconvenient to make that purchase. You’ll have to get up out of your seat to get that credit card, giving you time to think again. 

3. Work ahead for sales. You’re a deal hunter. Fabulous. So are we. Save items to your shopping cart weeks before that next big sale. In the US, big sales are like clockwork on major holidays. By preloading items to your cart, you have time to think on it. When you return weeks later you might discover that at least some of those items are not as “must have” as you first thought. 

4. Visualize where it will go, where and when you will wear it. Maybe you love a beautiful, framed picture, a side table, a cool clock, a dazzling watch, or a “travels-beautifully” dress. Pause to think, where exactly will I hang this picture in my home? Where will this table fit? You already have a watch. Why do you need or want this one? 

5. Keep savings goals front and center. Do you have debt to pay down? A big trip you’re dreaming about? What about ambitions for a lower stress summer with the kids in camps they’ll love? Keep photos of your goals around you. Track your savings each week. Or add to your savings each time you resist a purchase as a reward toward your goal, even if it’s only skipping that espresso. Whatever it takes for you, remember the thrill of that purchase might be short-lived compared to your still more thrilling goals. 

6. Skip “{fill in the blank} math.” Here’s a recent example of this straight from our teenage daughters and their talk about “girl math.” Normally the swim tops and bottoms are individually $30 but there’s a buy one-get one sale. Dear daughter picked out a swim set and said, “Awesome, I have $30 more dollars to spend.” On something, anything, no idea what, but let’s go spend! Sigh.

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We feel better already, reminding ourselves of these strategies. We're not turning over a minimalist leaf or shaming anyone for enjoying a bit of shopping. But we do hope your buying does not lessen anything else in your life, from enjoying your home to taking those trips of a lifetime you save for and remember always.

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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When Insurance Isn't Enough: Preserving What Truly Matters

Across the US, homeowners are watching their insurance premiums skyrocket. According to an analysis of insurance industry reports, average premiums have risen over 20% in the last year alone, with no signs of slowing. And when disaster strikes — from hurricanes and wildfires to floods and theft — insurance payouts can take three to six months or longer to be fully processed and received. 

Even when claims are approved, homeowners are often left grappling with another harsh truth: some things can be replaced, but many cannot. And often the things that cannot be replaced are the ones that we value most. They may not be the ones that hold the most financial value, but they certainly tend to hold a lof of what we call “heart value.” 

What’s a Needlepoint Pillow Worth? 

Let’s say your insurance company writes you a check for the fair market value of your damaged or stolen items. Refrigerator? Check, that’s easy. Sofa and loveseat, double check.  

But what’s the monetary value of Nana’s handmade needlepoint cushions that sat in her living room for decades? Or the vintage charm bracelet your mom wore every holiday? How about your child’s first fingerpainting, lovingly framed and hung in the hallway? 

The answer: There is no replacement cost high enough to recover the meaning of these items. And that’s why we Artifct. 

There is no replacement cost high enough to recover the meaning of these items

When Disaster Strikes, an Artifct Is Your Memory Vault 

Natural disasters don't give us time to prepare. But a digital record of your most sentimental belongings means you can prove ownership, document financial value (when possible), and most importantly — preserve the memories even if the object is lost. 

While insurance companies assess damage and estimate costs, your family won’t be left trying to remember what that cherished object looked like or where it came from. You’ll already have a rich, secure record, and a legacy to pass on. 

This October, we challenge you to Artifct the irreplaceable. Not everything in your home, just the things that would break your heart to lose. Start with: 

  • A family quilt with generations of history sewn into its fabric
  • The wedding china no one dares eat off of, but everyone remembers
  • Dad’s old fishing rod, full of childhood memories
  • A handwritten letter tucked in a book from someone long gone 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Vintage Handwritten Love LetterClick on the image to view the Artifct, one of many irreplaceable items of this family's history.

At the end of the day, no insurance policy (or AI algorithm for that matter) knows what matters most or what items have the most heart value to you and your family.  

Your Family’s History Is Worth Saving 

As you celebrate Family History Month this October, don’t stop at genealogy charts and old photographs. Think about the physical items that tell your family’s story. Think about the why behind them. And give yourself (and future generations) the gift of preserving not only the item, but the history, stories, and memories that go along with it. 

Because in the end, your history is more than names and dates. It’s the objects you touch, the stories you tell, and the people you love. 

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Looking for additional tips to help you be prepared for all of life's what ifs? You might also enjoy:

Insurance & The Art of Artifcts

How to Choose the Right Home Inventory App for You

How a Simple Act Saved One Man's Most Valued Memory of His Dad

© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Your Future Family Heirlooms

What is a family heirloom other than some object that someone decided was important in some way and decided to keep it and pass it along to another family member. That’s it. For what it’s worth, Webster’s dictionary agrees with us – and it all hinges on the word “special.” 

: something of special value handed down from one generation to another

No one ever said family heirlooms have to be financially valuable or historically significant.  

A family member might have an inkling that an heirloom carries with it some history. But then again, even if so, how will you gain access to that history? Usually it’s a conversation, a sticky note, a journal that’s also hopefully passed along. We can do better. We need to do better. 

Artifcts and Heirlooms Go Hand-in-Hand 

Each Artifct you create carries the potential of heirloom status. How you may ask? Many ways, including: 

By creating awareness that this object even exists, or that it has some interesting origin or story, you increase the probability someone will care about it and claim it as their own. It’s no longer just ‘stuff.’  

One of our Artifcts members thought her china set was doomed for the Goodwill bin. However, when she Artifcted it and shared the story with her family, she had children and grandchildren eagerly offering to take it off her hands. Why? Because it wasn't simply a china set that she had received as a wedding gift as long assumed. No, it was a set she purchased while stationed overseas in sub-Saharan Africa as a newlywed under instruction from the US Ambassador that, "Martha, you need a china set for 12 because you are going to start hosting diplomatic dinners." Who would have thought!

Because it wasn't simply a china set that she had received as a wedding gift as long assumed

By serving as a unique digital asset, a digital heirloom. Someday, your loved ones can inherit your Artifcts collection and the stories, memories, and more captured in each Artifct will live on. If you haven't already done so, simply designate your primary and secondary legacy contacts for your Artifcts account to ensure your heirlooms live on for generations to come. 

By creating new family heirlooms from existing ones. One of the earliest examples of this that we saw here at Artifcts was Grandmom's rolls recipe from the early 1900s that was reborn and brought out for everyday enjoyment when engraved in her mother's handwriting on a cutting board.  

One of our favorite tips for Artifcting future family heirlooms is to include a photo of a family member using, wearing, or otherwise enjoying the heirloom-to-be. It helps connect the dots between the object and your loved one, and adds context and visuals to the story or lore. 

What family heirlooms are you the keeper of? Do you have many? Artifct them today to ensure those heirlooms and their stories make it to the next generation. 

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Heirlooms on your mind? You might enjoy these related ARTIcles by Artifcts: 

Gift Your Loved Ones a Why

Estate Planning of Things

How to Artifct Family History and Heirlooms

Grandma’s Secret, Not-So-Secret, Coin Collection

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

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Family History Month ... Your Way!

We’ve all heard the expression “greeting card holiday,” sometimes even used against one of your personal favorites. So many love-hate relationships out there with national days for everything from your dog to your sibling to coffee and doughnuts.  

Then there are the months generally preserved for themes of broad societal significance, like heart health, black history, hispanic heritage, and even family history. Hello October, and hello Family History Month!

This October we’re sharing a few ideas from the Artifcts Community to help even those of you who may think you have no interest in family history to find some value in a month dedicated to exactly that. Use the month as an excuse or opportunity to get to know and capture your own family history and legacy a bit better.

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Hello, Family Genealogists (And Those In the Making)

An Artifcts community member once lamented to us, “I’ve spent so much time and money researching all of this history, and I have the files, but I really haven’t taken that next step to share with my extended or even immediate family. Without me they’d have to start over.”  

And then she told us that all her research is locked up behind a subscription-paywall. Hmmm. If you can relate, here are some tips to help ensure your family history is not lost to the next generation: 

  • Purchase a second research subscription for someone who can pick up the research alongside you to carry it forward to the next generation. Guide them through the myriad of resources online and through special archives and libraries as well as in your own family collection. If you have a tech-savvy grandchild in the family, this may be the perfect way to spur intergenerational connection AND keep the family history/research going. 
  • Take a class or catch a speaker! You can find a plethora of them by searching online or go local. Check your library, community center, museums, or local genealogical society for special events this month (and beyond). Confernce Keeper has a wonderful listing of genealogy related conferences and events, a lot of them for free too. Share what you learn with your family and friends. 
  • Create a family videography to highlight key moments in your family’s history, roles family members have played in historical events, and the modern-day family branches. For beautiful, professional videographies, we adore Lori and her team at Whole Story Productions.  
  • Self-publish a book(let) to document your research findings in black and white. Distribute during a family reunion, taking preorders (and payments) ahead of time. If you need an assist in your family history, we recommend our partner at Legacy Tree Genealogists
  • At Artifcts you can share the family history behind old photos, cherished heirlooms, even Grandma's china! Your family members need not be Artifcts members to view the Artifcts you share with them. Want to make sharing your Artifcts with your family even easier? Create family invite-only circles for easy group sharing, and off you go! We recommend using a special tag like #NickersonFamilyAssociation to easily sort your collection. Some of genealogists at Artifcts also use the ‘Location’ field when they create an Artifct to list a URL or folder path where additional information is stored. 

Memorable Family Dinners, Recipes, and More

You’ve been away from home for months or years, you return, and as you walk in the door, dinner is on, and you get that first smell of your favorite dish. Do you have the recipe? Who came up with it? Do you know the key steps? Special or secret ingredients?  

Some family favorites are born directly out of the original farm-to-table concept, before it was so hip, and those origins become a key part of the family recipe story. You grew potatoes and found a million ways to prepare them. You had fresh citrus, wild asparagus, or vibrant rhubarb all around you, and the specialties of your youth reflect it. Capture that history! 

  • Start a virtual family dinner club. You could create a group online to swap recipes or go a step further and once a month someone is the virtual host. Send the recipe ahead (as an Artifct!) so everyone has the ingredients on hand. Then run your own cooking show and enjoy the meal together after. 
  • Collaborate on a special family recipe cookbook. Ask each member of your family to contribute their favorite recipe AND the story behind it. How did it come into your family? Are there any secret ingredients? Who made or makes it best?  Create a cookbook that builds all the family history and the stories that go with those recipes. You’d be surprised, but even one generation removed, family members will start to lose track of the details never mind the actual ingredients or instructions. 
  • At Artifcts recipes, cookbooks, and treasured kitchen objects come alive through stories and histories, but also with supplementary video and audio snippets. Artifct your favorite recipes, add a video snippet of a crucial step, and share with your family. Our co-founder Heather Artifcted her mother's cranberry sauce AND included a video to show her teenage daughter how to know when you've got a good batch of cranberries. 

Share the History

The reality is not all families have a family keeper, that person who by choice or default holds onto the heirlooms, photos, recipes, and slew of documents that represent generations of a family’s history. Or maybe you are the last keeper or recent inheritor of all this family history and are thinking, “Now what? I really don’t want this stuff.” 

There’s a second reality that is important to recognize: family history is not only family history. Sometimes family history is part of local, national, or even global history. It offers clues to key figures, ways of living, and the social, political, and religious practices of a place in time. So, consider sharing pieces of your family history with the world through donations. 

  • Philanthropic donations. Consider galleries, libraries, research centers, foundations, and museums with specialties that may overlap with your items. Donations are not necessarily only in the realm of inherently valuable objects. Often, you guessed it, the story behind the object is the key. Don’t know the story either? That’s okay. Reach out to an institution, share your items, and give them the opportunity to tell you!  
  • Archival donations. Transform your personal family history into elements of a shared community history by offering your items to professional archives. What types of items might fit this category? As a starter: original works of fiction or non-fiction; scrapbooks, journals, letters, and diaries; original business materials (certificates, advertising, shares, board documents, voting records); media (photographs, slides, film, even websites too). You can learn more at the Society of American Archivists
  • At Artifcts, before you donate, Artifct the items to retain the family lore and history that’s relevant to you, and then share with family. Make sure no one else is interested in the item before you donate it, and attach any documentation related to your donation to the Aritfct. You can then rest easy knowing your family’s history will be in the capable professional hands of institutions that will preserve and protect them for generations to come. 

Let's Talk Wills and Legacy

Hear us out. Wills may be about death, but they are also all about easing the burden on those we leave behind. We all too frequently ignore the items we've collected over time. And, no, they will not sort themselves into piles to sell, donate, or bequeath. First someone must go through it all, a family member or two, or maybe a specialist hired to help. And in the end, someone will have to make 1000s of decisions about what becomes of every single item. Do you really want to leave a burden as your legacy? 

Wouldn’t you rather everyone be better prepared and informed? Not only will making a plan and creating documents make it easier for your family to pick up the pieces, but they can also help loved ones understand why you valued the items you are leaving behind. We've got some tips to help:

(Dramatically) Simplified checklist: 

  • Don’t have a Will? There are many wonderful estate planning attorneys in each community who can help you with this process. But this is an industry transformed by the digital revolution, and then some. If you are looking for a digital, self-guided approach, check out our fellow AARP AgeTech Collaborative partners at Trust & Will.   
  • Haven’t really seen your Will in a while? Give it a checkup. There's no time like the present. Add it to your to-do list this month! 
  • Confirm: Are the major themes covered?  
        • Estate 
        • Minor children 
        • Relatives with disabilities 
        • Retirement 
        • Powers of Attorney 
        • Living Will 
        • Stewardship of digital assets (profiles, accounts, photos, web pages, etc.) 
  • Is there a list of tangible assets referenced in your Will? Your Will may provide for a separate “Memorandum” that can be updated and changed at any time without making any changes to your Will.  
        • No list? Start. Just take a first cut by looking around the house (or your Artifcts collection!). 
        • Already have a list? Double check that it covers at least those items of greatest financial or heart (sentimental) value. 
  • At Artifcts, pick three or four of your most treasured items to Artifct and let your loved ones know why each item matters to you. Use the "In the Future" field to think through and record what you would like to happen to this item one day. Will it be passed down? Rehomed? Sold? Consider sharing the Artifct with your estate planner or attorney to list with other tangible assets referenced in your Will.   

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Artifcting Starter Resources 

We have all sorts of helpful resources that we want to be sure you know about to take the pressure off and let the fun begin: 

Inspiration Checklists

Videos on YouTube

Artifcting Quick Tips

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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