Don’t Let Minimalists Make You Feel Guilty About Your Mess.
Ever since Marie Kondo took the cluttered world by storm, just having things seemed like a bit of tactlessness. There are countless practical guidelines on how to organize our closets and reduce our book collections to ones that bring us “joy,” whatever that means. I recently read an article that proclaimed that the best minimalist workspace is one that doesn’t even have a desk, paper, or computer – ideally, you’d just sit on the ground and think. Looking around my desk, hung with books, magazines, pens and pictures of my family and friends, I couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed of all my possessions. Did I really need a pack of 10 Sharpies? Have I enjoyed the two new novels I bought for the upcoming trip?
At Lifehacker, we take spring cleaning very seriously. We are far from missing out on an opportunity to refresh, reorganize and streamline our home life. We’re also very excited to hit the reset button with our technology, take a close look at our finances, and get the better of our day-to-day habits that have gotten a little musty. Welcome to Spring Cleaning Week as we clear away the winter cobwebs and set the stage for the sunny days ahead. Let’s clean up, okay?
But Marie Kondo’s mindset, as I understand it, is not just for cabinets and bookshelves. You can see it in the widespread dissemination of minimalist aesthetics in the clothing, Scandinavian design and tiny houses, the popularity of alternative methods of purification of waste and sterile monotony of coffee and start-ups in Silicon Valley .
And I call BS.
It’s true that clutter can be distracting, and many of us have much more than we need. But the constant eradication of the inherent virtue of fewer things now seems more like a signal of virtue than a path to happiness.
A certain level of classism is involved here. Who can afford $ 88 Everlane silk shirts , or throw away great clothes, books, and party decorations as soon as they are no longer needed? “Minimalism is a virtue only when it is a choice, and it suggests that its fan base is concentrated in the wealthy middle class,” – wrote Stephanie Land in the New York Times back in 2016. “For people who are not so well off. , the idea of having even less is not really an option. “
This kind of thinking is deeply rooted in the personal finance community. FI / RE preachers demonize buying more than absolutely necessary (if you ever feel upset about yourself and your spending habits, read some budgeting comments on personal finance blogs and Reddits) … Any list of ways to save money, including those I’ve written in the past, will include things like “never eat out” and ” cut your hair yourself .” Cut out everything but the essentials and you’ll save enough to retire quickly.
It seems that all our problems can be solved simply by consuming less and throwing away more.
Naturally, this is not true, and most people do not live like this – and it should not be. I keep piles of books that I don’t “need” because they store memories, moments in my life that they remind me of. But I have other things just for convenience, like extra towels (do I have more than two?) And sheets, half a dozen wallets, and too many coffee mugs for one person. And, of course, my desk, decorated with photographs and littered with paper. I could get rid of it all, but what exactly would that give?
Make sure to donate things you don’t need and shrink them if you find yourself buying things just to have more. But let’s stop pretending that keeping our lives and possessions to a minimum is essential to happiness and moral excellence. It’s okay if you have boxes of Christmas decorations, a stack of books you haven’t read yet, and knick-knacks from your last vacation spread across your robes. What do you get from sitting on the ground when you already have a perfectly good table?