For some, collecting is oddly satisfying.
For others, decluttering is oddly satisfying.
Today, we have articles for both types of people. 🙂
Oddly satisfying: what’s behind our drive to collect useless items? [The Guardian] – “Mariana Conti Schwartz has one daughter, two dogs and 103 stainless steel drinking tumblers. The 40-year-old from North Carolina works from home running her family business, Big Al’s Pub & Grubberia, and likes to match her outfits to her reusable cups. Pink, purple, blue, green and grey “Stanley Quenchers” are lined up like soldiers on clear acrylic shelves across her kitchen; Conti Schwartz estimates she’s spent $5,000 (£3,900) on the lot. Yet perhaps the most exceptional thing about her exceptional collection is that it is not exceptional at all.”
90/90 Minimalism Rule [The Minimalists] – “Whenever we attempt to simplify our lives, we often get stuck before we get started. When faced with a hoard of possessions—some useful, others not—it is difficult to determine what adds value and what we’re holding on to just in case, which makes letting go nearly impossible without some sort of rules to move us in the right direction.”
For those in neither camp, here’s an interesting concept – Habit Fields by Jack Cheng for A List Apart. “Consider the desk in your office. Maybe it reminds you of when you opened the box and put the pieces together. Or maybe it recalls your first day at work, when your colleague showed you where you would sit. The desk, the computer on top of it, the chair you sit in, and the space they comprise are all repositories for memory. But these things don’t just store our memories; they store our behaviors too. The sum of these stored behaviors is an object’s habit field, and merely being around it compels our bodies and minds to act in certain ways. By understanding these invisible forces and employing strategies to shape them, we can enjoy more frequent, sustained periods of flow.”