In “It’s Time to Say Goodbye to All That Stuff”, Jane E. Brody confesses that she is a person who has difficulty in throwing things away, and her three-story house is full of stuffs, which she bought on sale, claiming to prepare for out of stock and end of production, which so far hasn’t occurred. After reading about the characters who died under 100 tons clutter in the book, Homer & Langley, written by E. L. Doctorow, she decides to solve her problem with a help of the book, The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life, in which Dr. Robin Zasio suggests some good ideas how to throw things away.
When I was skimming New York Times homepage, the title of this article caught my eyes. I love the song, Time to say good bye, very much, and started to read it humming the song to myself. Then I found out that the article is something for me! It also comes to me “as if by fate”.
Are you good at putting things in order? If you are not sure, please check your bookmarks on your computer. Are they well organized? Can you find the website you need to see without any problems? If so, you must be good at keeping things tidy and in order. Although I occasionally check my bookmarks and delete some of them, I always have difficulty to find the URL I need. I have to click some files until I find correct one. I know that I keep too many URL in my bookmarks. Yes, I am also one, who can’t throw things away. As Brody, it is difficult for me to decide which good should be thrown away, and which should be kept, so I keep it until I decide. Yes, I make “Undecided” box, which should not be done according to Dr. Zasio’s book. Also here in Bangkok, I have a problem. I can’t understand why the far much bigger apartment we live in is also overflown with goods as same as our small house in Japan. I know that a goldfish becomes bigger if it lives in a big tank, whereas it remains small in a small aquarium. Is there any kind of similarity here? Is there any formula about it?
I know that not only me, but also quite a few Japanese have this problem. This is why people prefer houses with enough storage spaces, and TV shows and magazine articles about tidying up are very popular. There are some reasons (excuses) why houses of Japanese are full of goods: first of all, on the average, Japanese houses are small, having four seasons requires different kinds of clothes, cooking not only Japanese but also Chinese and western needs different kind of tableware and cooking utensils, and also because of traditional mottainai thinking, which means “throwing away goods which still can be used is not good thing”.
While writing this post, I remember the book, Material World: A Global Family Portrait written by Peter Menzel and others, in which there are many “portrait of the family members outside their home, surrounded by all of their possessions”. of all over the world. When I saw the book, I was impressed the differences of each families possessions, and thought about things which we really need to live. I also remember that I tried to throw things away after reading the book, and gave away soon.
Anyway, a kindl which I ordered recently will be delivered around Chrismas, and I hope that at least I can stop the increasing of number of books by using it.
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References
Book description of Material World: A Global Family Portrait Amazon.com Retrieved November 21, 2012 from http://www.amazon.com/Material-World-Global-Family-Portrait/dp/0871564300/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353437449&sr=8-1&keywords=Material+World%3A+A+Global+Family+Portrait+%28Sierra+Club+Books+Publication%29
Me, too.
ReplyDeleteI read this article a couple of days ago and emailed it to myself as something I might blog. I'm glad I chose the one about palaeoanthropology instead as I was having my coffee this morning.
I'll write about my plastic shopping bag collection (something I think I share with Katie) and my foam and plastic container collections later. And the mixed collection of stuff that fill two large wardrobes - it's so many years since I've even looked at it carefully that I really don't even know what might be there.
And then there are the boxes of treasures that my youngest brother has asked permission to burn (after he had burnt them!) after looking after storing them for me this past quarter century.
I also will be classified to hoader. When I packed up my stuffs to move to Bangkok, I was suprised that my house was full of too many stuffs and I had spent a lot of money for the things which didin't look useless. However, although my decision my house in Bangkok is still full of my family member's belongings. It's not easy to decide whether throw away or not on something, sometimes I used to leave the things to the 'undecided' box. Arrangement is difficult for me.
ReplyDeleteI also have difficulty to sustain my increasing household stuff. I have discarded old things which I think they aren't useful when I move to another house, but my stuff is accumulated in my place by rapid. Strangely, some needs make me search the old things again which I throw away a long time ago. Missing old things cannot help my needs. So, I hesitate to throw things away.
ReplyDeleteAfter having a kindle, I stop collecting my books except some cases. If you want, I can give my e-book contents to you, though most of them are novels and some my interesting subjects.
My kindle has helped me a lot, too, to cut down on the weight of my possessions, and books are very weighty. Of the hundred or so books I've bought over the past twelve months, only two or three have been paper books, the rest all sit ready and light in my Kindle.
DeleteIt's even motivated me to lighten my shelves by giving away a lot of books. I'm rather hoping that I will soon be able to give away my DVD collection as well - they also take up a lot of space, though not so much when the needlessly chunky cases they come in are thrown away.
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DeleteI wasn’t good at cleaning my perimetric environment. Thus, When childhood, I were scolded by my mother so many times, especially, I was compared to my sisters who are good at cleaning and organizing. Though I really didn’t want to be treated as a messy boy and to be compared with my sisters by my mother, I couldn’t avoid being heard my mother’s rebuke. I think and insist that I wasn’t a dirty boy, but I was just clumsy boy to clean the room. Hence, I’ve had a habit. Every weekend, I clean my household items and try to make my living environment better. If I use only a couple of times a year, such as unnecessary clothes, newspapers, stationery and so forth, I would throw them right away or give my relatives or friends my belongings. I know that cleaning house once a week is demanding, but if I didn’t clean, I would be regretted by disorderly room and smelly house. Weekend is just around corner. Perhaps I am going to clean my surrounding as usual. Shall we clean?
ReplyDelete