Lifestyle: decluttering, part 1

Self-tutoring about housekeeping: the tutor mentions decluttering.

The following is according to my understanding.

When I was a kid in the mid-70s, people, at first, didn’t seem to own many things they didn’t use. This seemed to change, however, by the late 70s.

Someone might point to the idea that we buy things that don’t last nowadays, but that’s not necessarily what causes clutter. Rather, it seems to be that things last past their period of use. Otherwise, they’d be garbage and simply tossed out.

Nowadays, it seems, people go through more “phases” in life than they used to: they might change their way of cooking, so buy some new appliance, like a rice cooker. (I’ve seen a rice cooker, but never used one; I just cook rice on the stove.) They might make popcorn for years with a popcorn popper, but then change to microwave popcorn. Now, they’ve a popcorn maker they no longer use.

Moreover, people often don’t live the way their parents did, which seemed less true before. There seem to be a lot more options and different situations now.

Books, especially reference ones or textbooks, can eventually go out of date. This might be especially true with technology resources.

Then, of course, there might be children’s things: child gates and cupboard latches, steps up to the bathroom counter, furniture, and toys.

“Back in the day,” as they say, people tended to re-use things: a high chair or even toys might be kept for the next generation. It made sense: the children, of course, would eventually have children as well. Therefore, the bathroom step, the high chair, and the toys would all see use again. Yet, nowadays, it’s perhaps less predictable whether children will have children of their own. Moreover, many toys from the 70s seem not transferable to today’s context.

Even if the life cycle does predictably return to the next generation of children, one needs to store the children’s things in the meantime. Back in the 70s, where I lived, people might not have had a lot of money, but they did have a lot of space, compared to today. Therefore, storing things that would be used in the future didn’t cause clutter.

Nowadays, decluttering is perhaps a stage of life, but it’s one some people, including myself, can struggle with. Realizing why it might seem unfamiliar, relative to generations past, can perhaps be helpful.