Mine even sold their nice old house to have a new smaller one

that's exactly what my mother would do.

she has this mindset that we need constantly changing products. she says it's like with clothing, if you always wear the same cloth, people will get tired of it and you need to buy new clothes all the time. she also says that spending a lot of money stimulates the economy. (she's actually right about this, only that it's her - no, our money that she's spending and the rich peoples economy where it's going to).

i hate these kind of people. in my experience, these are people who are unable to not buy unnecessary stuff and just be content with how things are today.