Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Confronting Clutter



Every day we are bombarded by clutter. We live in a period of time when there is just a lot of stuff and every time we turn on the TV, open a magazine or newspaper, or go online we are overwhelmed with advertising to buy more.

My mother was an orphan during the Great Depression. She had nothing. A scrap of paper, the stub of a pencil, a couple of spoonsful of leftover porridge - all was to be used, treasured and saved against a time of want. She taught all of her children well. Do not waste! Gather against a time of need.

The mindset that drives hoarding is fear and anxiety. Feelings of safety and security can come from having stuff. But when you mix yesterday's mindset for dealing with scarcity with today's reality of being bombarded with stuff, it's a recipe for disaster.

Having stuff takes work, and possessions can become an obstacle and a burden. That is the mindset that goes with the minimalist lifestyle. Those who have always had enough are not frightened by having only a little because there is a sense that there will always be more to get when you really need it. 

The current pandemic has stopped us in our tracks. Could we find ourselves without what we need? Loss of health, jobs and income bring back anxiety and an urge to save and collect against a time of want. The long term economic impact of the coronavirus is yet to be understood and it could be represent create systemic poverty for a long time, perhaps we are entering the next Great Depression. 

How are you managing the scarcity or abundance mindset? What strategies are you using to manage the day to day clutter? I'm caught in the middle. If only I had a crystal ball!



1 comment:

  1. I must be your only commenter - but here goes anyway: It's true that a change in circumstances, whether personal or global, does trigger a change in behaviour. But upbringing has a lot to do with it, as you point out in the example of your mother's thriftiness. When I attended the church self-reliance finance course I thought about this a great deal - primarily because my behaviour and experiences were so very different from those of the rest of the class - particularly the ones in their twenties and thirties. One huge challenge in my life has been reduction. I first faced this when I moved from a 2000+ square foot house to one that is about 950 sq ft. Even though I gave away, donated and threw out a ton of things, I was only here a day or two when I realized I'd brought too much. Four years later I married my husband and we decided to sell his acreage, which had a house, garage and at least four outbuildings full of tools, gardening implements and assorted stuff. Once the sale was finalized, he put things in storage temporarily, but it seemed every day when I got home from work more and more stuff had migrated to the house and was taking up space we did not have! It was definitely a nerve-jangling experience. It was months before we managed to sell some items, donate others and generally reduce to a point where we could navigate around the furniture and feel a semblance of sanity. Even now though, I struggle with inadequate storage (closets are miniscule in a 120 year old house) although I've managed to 'right size' most of the furniture. One blessing arising from the earlier part of the pandemic, when we switched to ordering items and doing curbside pick-up was the opportunity for impulse purchasing was eliminated. Not only did we discover we really didn't need those potential items - we saved money too! But it's an ongoing challenge. One small goal I have is to reduce at least some of the excess paper (stuff in the filing cabinet like old bills, etc) before I allow myself to put up any Christmas decorations. Wish me luck!

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