ot. the life changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering

[NotCranky]

I have always like a kind of healthy hippie kitchen arrangement with lots of seeds ,grains beans, and other food stuffs in little jars all over the place and fruit ripening here and there.
Maybe some live herbs to pinch off, a braid of garlic nailed to the wall. Pot racks with stained pots hanging all over the place. Maybe a pan for some crepes still on the stove. Not too tidy at all but not dirty. Well a little dust here and there some smudges on the fridge is O.K. It would be a shame to sanitize a place like this. I bet the would have a vegetable garden outside.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=Blogstar]I have always like a kind of healthy hippie kitchen arrangement with lots of seeds ,grains beans, and other food stuffs in little jars all over the place and fruit ripening here and there.
Maybe some live herbs to pinch off, a braid of garlic nailed to the wall. Pot racks with stained pots hanging all over the place. Maybe a pan for some crepes still on the stove. Not too tidy at all but not dirty. Well a little dust here and there some smudges on the fridge is O.K. It would be a shame to sanitize a place like this. I bet the would have a vegetable garden outside.[/quote]

thats kind of what we have…

[FlyerInHi]

Blogstar, I don’t really believe like it that way. By “you” I mean people in general. You like it that way because it’s easy to live, and doesn’t require much effort. It seems decent enough so you don’t want to exert the effort. You’d rather hang out, watch TV or whatever. You’re not going to clean up if your home pretty much conforms to your peers’ houses.

I think that people generally demand perfection, and love it, if it doesn’t require effort on their part, or other people do it for them. I observe how people fuss over little things when they pay for services, even though at their own homes it’s much worse.

Messy people who can afford it just hire people to clean up for them because they know full well that messiness is not “normal.”

If you have the discipline to put thing away immediately, then there’s not much of a tidying up effort.

[njtosd]

[quote=FlyerInHi]Blogstar, I don’t really believe like it that way. By “you” I mean people in general. You like it that way because it’s easy to live, and doesn’t require much effort. It seems decent enough so you don’t want to exert the effort. You’d rather hang out, watch TV or whatever. You’re not going to clean up if your home pretty much conforms to your peers’ houses.

I think that people generally demand perfection, and love it, if it doesn’t require effort on their part, or other people do it for them. I observe how people fuss over little things when they pay for services, even though at their own homes it’s much worse.

Messy people who can afford it just hire people to clean up for them because they know full well that messiness is not “normal.”

If you have the discipline to put thing away immediately, then there’s not much of a tidying up effort.[/quote]

Brian – you must be a hoot at parties. I’m glad you’re here to let Blogstar know how he feels about things. And just to clarify – by “discipline” I assume you mean “raging OCD.”

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=Blogstar]I have always like a kind of healthy hippie kitchen arrangement with lots of seeds ,grains beans, and other food stuffs in little jars all over the place and fruit ripening here and there.
Maybe some live herbs to pinch off, a braid of garlic nailed to the wall. Pot racks with stained pots hanging all over the place. Maybe a pan for some crepes still on the stove. Not too tidy at all but not dirty. Well a little dust here and there some smudges on the fridge is O.K. It would be a shame to sanitize a place like this. I bet the would have a vegetable garden outside.[/quote]

This is like my cousin’s house in the Midwest.
They are newage hippies who only eat organic food and only patronize local businesses (no big corporations). They have a veggie garden, jars of all kinds all over the house.

The sad part (in my view, not theirs) is that they have a great modern house (like Neutra house). It could be such a show house. In LA, such a house be would highly coveted.

[CA renter]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=Blogstar]I have always like a kind of healthy hippie kitchen arrangement with lots of seeds ,grains beans, and other food stuffs in little jars all over the place and fruit ripening here and there.
Maybe some live herbs to pinch off, a braid of garlic nailed to the wall. Pot racks with stained pots hanging all over the place. Maybe a pan for some crepes still on the stove. Not too tidy at all but not dirty. Well a little dust here and there some smudges on the fridge is O.K. It would be a shame to sanitize a place like this. I bet the would have a vegetable garden outside.[/quote]

thats kind of what we have…[/quote]

Well, that explains why we all have such different opinions about the amount of (and value of) work a housewife does! 🙂

[FlyerInHi]

I was talking to my 70yo cousin. She’s cleaning her house and throwing out decades of stuff. Old documents her husband is scanning and shredding. All the kids’ stuff in storage. All the gifts that were given to her over the years (she plans to give most of them back to the heir of her friends)

It’s a full-time job she said.

Belongings are very burdensome.

[CA renter]

Yes, they sure are!

Oftentimes, simple really is better.

[NotCranky]

The right kind of Dirtbaggism makes the world a better place, and is in some people, reflective of their awesomeness. Like Jesus when he wandered around in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights starving , he must have been a dirt bag. Sometimes it’s a requirement to lead an awesome life. I don’t trust people who are anti-dirtbag. I am sure there is something seriously wrong with anti-dirtbaggism.

[NotCranky]

Anti-dirtbaggism is inhumane.

[scaredyclassic]

pigpen in charlie brown was a nice dude

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=Blogstar]The right kind of Dirtbaggism makes the world a better place, and is in some people, reflective of their awesomeness. Like Jesus when he wandered around in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights starving , he must have been a dirt bag. Sometimes it’s a requirement to lead an awesome life. I don’t trust people who are anti-dirtbag. I am sure there is something seriously wrong with anti-dirtbaggism.[/quote]

I have wandered the world backpacking for months. Not quite starving in the desert, but eating whatever was available in local markets (it’s harder to do now because globalization is reaching every corner of the earth). I’ve slept in pretty dusty places, traveled dirt roads. I know what it’s like to be dusty when there’s no other choice. In this aspect, anti dirtbagism is inhumane.

That’s not the same as living in America and hoarding all kinds of junk in a 2000sf house.

Just had lunch with a friend. He told me about a mutual friend back East who has so much stuff piled up in the place that you just have to push things over to find room to sit.

[flyer]

It’s definitely true that “stuff” can own you, if you allow it to. Perhaps, as human beings, we tend to cling to “things” in order to validate our existence, and to give ourselves a greater sense of self worth.

Realizing that everything on earth is temporary–great to have while you’re here, and then pass it on–really puts the value of “stuff” into perspective for me.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=flyer]It’s definitely true that “stuff” can own you, if you allow it to. Perhaps, as human beings, we tend to cling to “things” in order to validate our existence, and to give ourselves a greater sense of self worth.

Realizing that everything on earth is temporary–great to have while you’re here, and then pass it on–really puts the value of “stuff” into perspective for me.[/quote]

Most of the things I have aren’t even satisfying to have

[NotCranky]

People seem to be having to balance living to survive, living to live an enjoyable satisfying life, and pressure to live to be seen, as in ” keeping up appearances” . Maybe some people deal with all three pretty well but it’s impossible to tell who they are or realistically keep score. Impossible.

I am starting to immediately recognize “score keeping” attitudes and behavior. It is not a sign of superiority or correctness.

[Author]

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