3680: The Cluttered Lives of Middle-Class Americans by J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly on Minimalism episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 28, 2026 · 12 MIN

3680: The Cluttered Lives of Middle-Class Americans by J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly on Minimalism

from Optimal Finance Daily - Financial Independence and Money Advice · host Optimal Living Daily | Diania Merriam

Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free. Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home. Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com Episode 3680: J.D. Roth shares what a team of UCLA anthropologists found when they documented the possessions inside 32 typical American homes, from overflowing garages to a second refrigerator out in the garage. He explains that we have built plenty of ways to bring things in and almost none for letting them go, and that the pile carries a real emotional and financial cost. He also describes his own decade-long purge and the sense of control it gave him back. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.getrichslowly.org/cluttered-lives/ Quotes to ponder: "Contemporary U.S. households have more possessions per household than any society in global history." "We have many mechanisms by which we accumulate possessions in our home, but we have few rituals or mechanisms or processes for unloading these objects." "As I purge Stuff from my life, I gain a greater sense of satisfaction." Optimal Finance Daily is a daily personal finance podcast where we narrate the best articles on financial independence, investing, saving money, and money management, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your wealth a little more every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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3680: The Cluttered Lives of Middle-Class Americans by J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly on Minimalism

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