Why is it so hard to get rid of stuff? Why does it have such a hold on us, yet get us down?

In a previous series for The Essay, Joanna Robertson took us to some of the international cities she's lived in and told us the Shopping News. Now, she takes on the consequences. Stuff Happens - not just to shopaholics but to all of us. It's the seemingly inescapable curse of 21st century consumerism - however hard we try to declutter and resist.