Material obsessions: when is enough... ENOUGH?

I never meant for this blog to be a study into consumerism or minimalism... It is not.  But at one point last weekend I realised finally what it is that I am doing here: I'm trying to figure out when enough is ENOUGH.



I have a subscription to Vogue Australia and the January issue arrived last Friday. There was an article in there which I found rather fascinating...  Titled “Material Obsessions“ by Kelly Doust, it narrates one woman's decision to sell her home to upgrade to another.  This involves culling back her wardrobe and putting all her worldly possessions she does not need on a daily basis into storage to better present her home for sale. I will not give away what happens in the end, but it opens her eyes as to the true necessity of her belongings. 

 
I must say that the contents of this article resonated with me A LOT. 

My boyfriend and I have now totally moved into our new place and as per most Australian homes we now have a dedicated “junk” room. Yay.  This is in fact the spare bedroom in which all our unpacked boxes live. Somewhere in the midst of all the boxes are our dining table place mats – one of the few things in those boxes causing us to say “Where are they? We need them!”. Everything else it seems... we can live without. So why do we have all this stuff?  I don't know why, but I know that I tend to hold on to things 'just in case' or if 'this' or 'that' happens. Or worse still, I have plans for some things that never eventuate.


In reading this Vogue article I asked my boyfriend if he possessed anything which in his mind was irreplaceable. He said that apart from his photographs - everything he owned could be replaced... Suffice to say I feel the same about most of my possessions also. Especially the contents of my wardrobe.


I now know for sure after my last post that I am not a minimalist (I doubt that I could ever call myself that), but what I didn't expect to experience as I unpacked my wardrobe over the weekend is the monumental disappointment that I would feel at the sheer volume of clothing that I own that I DO NOT LOVE.  There are plenty of things I do love, having carefully planned and thought through a number of purchases over the last year, but plenty still that just sit there in my so called 'twilight zone'. 

Back at our old place these pieces could just be stored in my 'twilight wardrobe', but now my so called 'twilight wardrobe' is our only wardrobe and everything we own just does not fit in there.  I could go to IKEA to buy yet another piece of particleboard furniture to store all of our unnecessary stuff... or I could just pare down for real. No more dillydallying... Enough is enough.

12 comments:

  1. I don't think it's necessary to draw the minimalism/maximalism differentiation. I'm probably not a minimalist. But I would say I'm a pragmatist. The purpose of my objects is to serve and delight me--but I think most people greatly overestimate how many things are really necessary to fulfill those functions. As a result, my wardrobe is barely even filled. The number of empty clothing hangers far outnumber the number of clothes in my closet. I achieved this, basically, by dumping the things that no longer served me or selling the items for very cheap. If you're not strapped for cash, then I don't think there's any real reason why a person should insist on selling something for x price, when the whole purpose of getting rid of it is to just be rid of it. I gave almost all my clothes to my sister (who is now the best dressed teenager in school) and threw the clothes she didn't want out or sold them to a consignment shop for cheap. The point wasn't money, but shedding the mental weight that comes with junk.

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    1. I totally agree with what you are saying. With some items I really honestly feel like just taking it the charity shop instead of dry cleaning, mending and ironing before selling. BUT then I think to myself of all the things that my boyfriend and I need to buy for our home so I'm keeping at it.

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  2. I had the same revelation when we made a decision to move to the UK. We decided there wasn't any point to hire a storage unit since we have no idea when we would ever return to NZ. We sold/gave away/threw everything with the exception of 7 boxes. The act of getting rid of stuff was enough to scare me to never ever accumulating that much junk anymore. I live with 2 hoarders (husband and daughter) so I have to be extra vigilant to ensure that we don't live like packrats.

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    1. Wow, just 7 boxes. Very impressive. I just can't wait until the Christmas break (I have three weeks off work again). I will have some free time to finally sort with no distractions :)

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  3. I am packing up my house as I type (procrastination form an incredibly daunting task), and with 7+ years of accumulated junk/stuff/clothes I 'totally hear you'!!! *sigh* Trying to cull/declutter as I go, there's just so much!

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    1. Are you moving interstate or overseas? Or are you staying in our beautiful city?
      I tried the decluttering as I packed trick, but then eventually I just started to throw things in boxes randomly as it was taking too much time to sort at the same time (but don't listen to me). Good luck with the move x

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    2. Thx K! Am staying in our 'fair' city :) Hubby just drove off carting out 1034th bag to the charity bin. We have lost count of how many bags we've taken, and how many have gone to the bin. And this is only a rough declutter, some 'areas' (e.g. bathroom, which is already teeny tiny, so shouldn't have that much stuff in it) were decluttered several 'rounds'. Some of my clothes bags have some pretty good stuff, and I hope they go to a good home (inc. some Dries Van Noten, Zimmermann, Chloe, Scanlan), but then there's a huge bag and more of stuff I will somehow one day (don't know how) try to sell off on Ebay or something *sigh* It truly highlights how much your title question is applicable to us. I hope that this will teach me to buy less...

      We haven't even started on the shed..some bags still have stuff from when I moved to this house!!! Even in our 'decluttered' state we'd be 200% more cluttered than any average person, I'm sure, terrible!

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  4. I have been in my current house for 5 years and there were some boxes which were virtually untouched for about 3 of them. Every now and then I go a little mad and actually manage to get rid of some things ... but inevitably we fill up again. The best way for me to "cull" years ago was to get the hubs to go in to the cellar and clear it out. I hired a skip and told him to get on with it and not let me see what was going in the skip. You have to realise that I am the kind of person who saves a piece of blank paper ... so the children can use it for drawing on. I am bad.

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    1. I am slowly getting better. It's now just the personal effects that I need to cull properly. My boyfriend successfully convinced me go through all my paperwork earlier this year... I threw out so many old bills and receipts!

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  5. I think I'm going to feel this same way when I move home with my boyfriend in January - or at least I imagine I will. I have so many things that I know I don't need, that I don't necessarily love, but I keep them anyway. Sometimes you need a little perspective to put that into light!

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  6. I wish the word 'minimalism' reflected the person I am, but am too far from it. I think its genetic. My grandmother is a hoarder, so is my mum. I've inherited it whether I like it or not. I came over to Melb for school with a couple luggages full of clothes etc and 11 years later it seems my unit is spilling out with crap I no longer use, let alone need. I've tried numerous culls and selling stuff off at the markets and donations but somehow it all piles up again. It becomes so confronting during moments like these when you're going through everything (well try to) and you realise there's so much crap weighing you down. I dread the thought of when i'm going to have to finally pack up in 2014. By then it'll be thirteen years of my life being shipped off to another country. And naturally, the hoarder and 'sentimental' being that I am will insist in keeping every little scrap of everything!

    All the best sorting! I have faith haha, serious.

    To put into perspective. One of my closest friends said to me, "why do you need these books? really tell me why? are you doing your vce's again next year?!". Mind you i'd already finished my undergrad degree and had just enrolled into my masters. Often it helps having a non hoarder around to think for you.

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  7. This is a great writeup, I think it's an innate part of the Western world. For me, it comes from being not happy and content with life, and filling in a shallow void with 'material' things. My wardrobe is also exploding, but I cannot help but continue to procure items, only to let them rot in the back sides of my closet. The worst is when I stand in my closet in the morning and feel like I have nothing to wear. I need to snap out of it.

    Anyway, I'ms o glad to have to come across this blog. Would you like to follow each other?

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