stuff on our shelves, including old mysteries and dead radios Lloyd Alter
DCL
Apartment Therapy makes and interesting point, that perhaps we should live as if we are about to travel. After a summer on the road, they say "It's been a great reminder that when you're surrounded by people you love and beautiful places, you don't need that much stuff." There is nothing new in living as if you are in transit; that is pretty much how people lived 800 years ago. From TreeHugger:
Witold Rybczynski writes in [u]HOME: A short History of an Idea[/u] that in the middle ages, "people didn't live in homes so much as camp in them. The nobility owned many residences, and travelled frequently. When they did so, they rolled up the tapestries, packed the chests, took apart the beds and moved their household with them."
Apartment Therapy's suggestions about lightening the load:
1. Do You Need the Book? They are now reading e-books, but have lots on the shelves.
Of course that doesn't help us with the books we've already got. But to thin them out we consider: if we had to move, would we bring them? And: in 10 years will I remember this book? If it's a yes then it's worth it. If no, it gets donated to a friend or a library.
Another option is just to get them from the library in the first place.
2. Do You Love It? It's easy to feel you ought to hang onto something, but the real question is, do you love the thing, does it make you feel good, or do you use it?
3. Do You Wear It?. Now that summer is winding to a close, it's easy to see what we've been wearing all the time and what has remained untouched.
Absolutely. In the spring we took about 5 bags of clothes to the Goodwill, where it was graciously received. This fall we are doing another cull.
4. Does It Help You Work? With a new season, we need to clean out our desk and lighten the piles that have accumulated. If you only do this four times a year you might have the same problem I have been having: losing bills and getting late charged, spending more time looking for things than working on them. This should be a constant battle, not a seasonal cleanup. 5. Would You Pack It? If you were leaving on a trip tomorrow, what would you take with you? What do you presently use? Not last year or two months ago, but right now? This helps keep us current with what we actually need. This is perhaps the most interesting and original idea and a bit unrealistic; our medieval aristocracy had a lot of help carrying those trunks. Nor do we want to live like Viggo Mortensen in The Road. and have all of our possessions fitting into a shopping cart. Also, I love my George Nelson desk and my wife loves her baby grand piano; they don't travel well. But it is an interesting lens to look at things through. More at Apartment Therapy
