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A good death cleaning

I think the recent rise in the popularity of minimalism is a direct response to decades of consumerism and consumption. If you go into the home of someone over the age of 70, it often has a lot of stuff. That stuff has emotional value to the homeowner but not often to the folks who would get it when that person passes.

It passes one generation, where the emotional connection to the item has little to do with the item itself but with the original owner. Then what? It’s really a burden. You’re giving people burdens.

Why I Did My Own Death Cleaning at 39 [No Side Bar] – “What will happen to your stuff when you die? […] It has to go somewhere, which means that someone still living at that time- likely someone close to you- will have to go through it all and make decisions on your behalf. Imagine your loved ones combing through piles and boxes of your stuff. Not knowing what to do with them because you didn’t make it clear what your wishes were. Imagine the time, the physical and emotional energy spent doing this. This is the burden on our loved ones that we have the opportunity to avoid. How? Death cleaning.” Morbid but accurate.

Prices [Restaurant-ing through history] – This post is just a list of years and meals with their prices. It’s a fun little trip through history and how much different meals cost at the time. As the years go on, there are more images of the meals which add to the fun. I don’t recognize any restaurant until 1964, which is $1.49 for a turkey dinner at Howard Johnson’s.

I also discovered a meal, Welsh rarebit, that is sauce over bread. It was originally called Welsh rabbit but had its name changed since it contained no rabbit. Fascinating!

The Man in the MTA’s Money Room [Curbed] – “Armored cars, pocketless uniforms, coin-sucking vacuums: Al Putre, who counts $1.5 billion a year, lets us inside.” Quick fun read about how to handle massive amounts of money.

When One City Gave People Cash, They Went Out and Got Jobs [Reasons To Be Cheerful] – “Besides feeling less pain and anxiety about their lives and their financial situations, a surprising percentage of the program’s recipients got jobs. By the end of the first year of the study (2019, before the pandemic began) full-time employment in the recipient group had risen from 28 percent to 40 percent — double the increase found among folks who didn’t receive the money.”