Decluttering
16/05/19 04:16
I read an article about home organization and decluttering that had a couple of paragraphs focusing on books. “Once read most books will sit unused on shelves, or even the floor, for years, yet many of us are reluctant to discard them.” it is true of me. I have a hard time dealing with books. In my early adulthood, books were my treasures. I collected them. I boxed them up each time I moved and carried them to their new home. We moved a lot in our early marriage, so we were constantly sorting our possessions, yet we rarely discarded books. I would occasionally find a new home for one or two books while at the same time collecting three or four new ones.
I’ve begun the difficult task of culling my library. I’ve been sorting books for months, although a casual observer wouldn’t notice because a number of my books continue to occupy shelves even though the decision has been made to get rid of them. One of the first things I learned is that books that have value to me have very little cash value. Most of the books I intend to cull from my shelves have less value than the cost of shipping them. I’ve found a few that I could sell to companies that buy textbooks and other volumes and have amassed a small amount of credit at amazon.com by selling books to the giant retailer. I have credit at a local used book shop that will never be used. Most of the books are likely to end up on the rummage sale one day and we have at least three boxes of books that are sorted and ready for the next church rummage sale. There are plenty more to follow.
I bring up the topic of books because I suspect that one volume that is going to show up on a lot of yard and rummage sales is a volume by Marie Kondo titled “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.” The book begins with the words, “Tidying can transform your life.” Kondo is what I would call and evangelist. She is eager to change the lives of other people. She is passionate about convincing others to live their lives the way that she lives hers, which gives her happiness and pleasure. She wants to share the joy. In the process, she puts books in other people’s homes. 11 million copies of the same book! The thought of all of those books brings a smile to my face. I’m the one who thought it was funny to find, when we were cleaning out the home of my in-laws, a saved newspaper clipping on how to declutter. Its role once had been to inspire, but it became part of the clutter that needed to be cleaned out. The thought of Kondo’s books appearing on yard and rummage sales all around the world brings a smile to my face.
One of Kondo’s pieces of advice is to go to a room, pull out every item in the room and evaluate one by one. Keep only items that are useful or “spark joy.” I’m telling you that her system simply doesn’t work fo me. In the first place there are rooms where I couldn’t stand to have every thing out at once. Sometimes, I need to go drawer by drawer or shelf by shelf. A whole room would overwhelm me. Secondly, there are plenty of things that spark joy in me that I should not retain. My copy of “We Seven,” the book by the original US astronauts sparks joy in me. It belonged to my father. We enjoyed reading the same copy of the book and talking about it. I love the memories it brings to mind. I’m never going to read that book again, and if I did, I could easily find a copy at a library. My Ivan Doig novels spark joyful memories of reading with my mother and my father-in-law. I don’t need to keep them. I’m not going to read them again. They would spark even more joy if I could find someone who has not yet read them to whom I could give them. Well, perhaps not “Bucking the Sun.” That wasn’t Ivan’s best work. Getting rid of that book will cause me no pain.
I know that there is value in decluttering. I’m not trying to defend my tendencies to hoard items. But I spend quite a bit of time in decluttered spaces that are not happy spaces. One of the clearest examples of this are the rooms in nursing homes and care centers. The rooms are the last vestiges of private space for their occupants. Most of them have reduced their possessions through moves from a house to an apartment and an apartment to an assisted living facility and from the assisted living facility to the care center. Their lives are now reduced to a single bedroom. But those rooms are not all the same. Some are filled with mementoes and photographs. Some are bare and have only medical devices and equipment. I can tell when entering the rooms which are happy places. I know how to pick up a conversation about a family picture or while admiring a memento. Despite Marie Kondo’s claims, I’m not convinced that decluttered spaces are the most joyful. While it is true that people can become weighed down by their possessions, it is also true that empty spaces tend to feel lonely and sad.
I’m sure that Kondo has heard the Albert Einstein quote so many times that she is weary of it. Einstein, who was known for his messy desk, reportedly said, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”
I’m pretty sure that Kondo is happy with here completely decluttered life. After all she has the proceeds of having sold 11 million copies of her book, which should enable her to know that she can purchase any item she chooses, should she find a need for it down the road.
I’m more drawn to the University of Minnesota study that found a messy environment can make a person more creative. Those who occupy more orderly surroundings tend to more more likely to conform to traditional expectations.
I’m not out to evangelize or change anyone else and I won’t be writing a book, but I hope that Marie Kondo knows that some of us are not unhappy in our clutter. We prefer to think of ourselves as creative.
I’ve begun the difficult task of culling my library. I’ve been sorting books for months, although a casual observer wouldn’t notice because a number of my books continue to occupy shelves even though the decision has been made to get rid of them. One of the first things I learned is that books that have value to me have very little cash value. Most of the books I intend to cull from my shelves have less value than the cost of shipping them. I’ve found a few that I could sell to companies that buy textbooks and other volumes and have amassed a small amount of credit at amazon.com by selling books to the giant retailer. I have credit at a local used book shop that will never be used. Most of the books are likely to end up on the rummage sale one day and we have at least three boxes of books that are sorted and ready for the next church rummage sale. There are plenty more to follow.
I bring up the topic of books because I suspect that one volume that is going to show up on a lot of yard and rummage sales is a volume by Marie Kondo titled “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.” The book begins with the words, “Tidying can transform your life.” Kondo is what I would call and evangelist. She is eager to change the lives of other people. She is passionate about convincing others to live their lives the way that she lives hers, which gives her happiness and pleasure. She wants to share the joy. In the process, she puts books in other people’s homes. 11 million copies of the same book! The thought of all of those books brings a smile to my face. I’m the one who thought it was funny to find, when we were cleaning out the home of my in-laws, a saved newspaper clipping on how to declutter. Its role once had been to inspire, but it became part of the clutter that needed to be cleaned out. The thought of Kondo’s books appearing on yard and rummage sales all around the world brings a smile to my face.
One of Kondo’s pieces of advice is to go to a room, pull out every item in the room and evaluate one by one. Keep only items that are useful or “spark joy.” I’m telling you that her system simply doesn’t work fo me. In the first place there are rooms where I couldn’t stand to have every thing out at once. Sometimes, I need to go drawer by drawer or shelf by shelf. A whole room would overwhelm me. Secondly, there are plenty of things that spark joy in me that I should not retain. My copy of “We Seven,” the book by the original US astronauts sparks joy in me. It belonged to my father. We enjoyed reading the same copy of the book and talking about it. I love the memories it brings to mind. I’m never going to read that book again, and if I did, I could easily find a copy at a library. My Ivan Doig novels spark joyful memories of reading with my mother and my father-in-law. I don’t need to keep them. I’m not going to read them again. They would spark even more joy if I could find someone who has not yet read them to whom I could give them. Well, perhaps not “Bucking the Sun.” That wasn’t Ivan’s best work. Getting rid of that book will cause me no pain.
I know that there is value in decluttering. I’m not trying to defend my tendencies to hoard items. But I spend quite a bit of time in decluttered spaces that are not happy spaces. One of the clearest examples of this are the rooms in nursing homes and care centers. The rooms are the last vestiges of private space for their occupants. Most of them have reduced their possessions through moves from a house to an apartment and an apartment to an assisted living facility and from the assisted living facility to the care center. Their lives are now reduced to a single bedroom. But those rooms are not all the same. Some are filled with mementoes and photographs. Some are bare and have only medical devices and equipment. I can tell when entering the rooms which are happy places. I know how to pick up a conversation about a family picture or while admiring a memento. Despite Marie Kondo’s claims, I’m not convinced that decluttered spaces are the most joyful. While it is true that people can become weighed down by their possessions, it is also true that empty spaces tend to feel lonely and sad.
I’m sure that Kondo has heard the Albert Einstein quote so many times that she is weary of it. Einstein, who was known for his messy desk, reportedly said, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”
I’m pretty sure that Kondo is happy with here completely decluttered life. After all she has the proceeds of having sold 11 million copies of her book, which should enable her to know that she can purchase any item she chooses, should she find a need for it down the road.
I’m more drawn to the University of Minnesota study that found a messy environment can make a person more creative. Those who occupy more orderly surroundings tend to more more likely to conform to traditional expectations.
I’m not out to evangelize or change anyone else and I won’t be writing a book, but I hope that Marie Kondo knows that some of us are not unhappy in our clutter. We prefer to think of ourselves as creative.