This is something which could make our mundane life a little better. Nothing original but practically highly rewarding!!
Every household suffers from one disease-Clutter!
(a) We keep buying but seldom dispose of old items
(b) We retain things telling ourselves we will use them some day-so consign them to the loft;and you know what happens to them.
(c) Our children bully us and we keep buying toys for them, which lose their sheen the very next day- they lie around quite foresaken but occupying expensive space, nevertheless!
and so on....
In my view we could do with the following:
(1) Just attack the problem ruthlessly-your spouse, children, and you yourself will be the biggest stumbling block-just don't give in- In my view, as a rule of thumb, one can easily get rid of 40-50% in the first round of "safayee abhiyan".
(2) Obviously the best way to get rid of will be to ask your house helps to lend a helping hand in the process-you pass the stuff which they will be only too delighted to take over; if they feel too full themselves, they will get their friends, relatives and so on..I speak from experience-I got rid of about 70% of the stuff we had, when I was moving to Dubai, and I am none the worse for it!
(3)The process above has to be a dynamic one-I try to follow a simple formula again as a rule of thumb-When you buy one shirt give away two of your current shirts!
Such a "no brainer" as the one I have talked above has remarkable advantages:
(i) You are immediately creating an economic value for an object which has been lying around inert, abandoned, and perhaps consuming expensive floor space, especially if you are in a place like Bombay.
(ii) You start liking your home better; you feel a lot better - for example, if you visited a Marks & Spencer showroom, you get impressed with the ambience- simple-> they do not stuff their showrooms; they simply offer a few elegant choices and that's about it! Nothing blase' about them.
(iii) When you get rid of things, you have a rationale to go and buy fresh things-always a pleasure; Life mein bhogna bahut zaroori hai! Without Bhog you are not ready for yog! - not my gag, though!! I remember Sanjoy always used to say : "I want money not to keep but to spend" - how very sensible!!
(iv) Imagine if all of us did that, our 7-8% economic growth will not simply depend on the call centre kids-we, we, the not so young kids will be proud contributors too- by the way, people of our generation spend a portion of our income but the current kids spend a multiple of their income! Deficit Financing at its best but that\'s another discussion altogether.
So why not? you are happy, your maidservant is happy, Chidambaram and Montek are thrilled!! I simply can\'t find a flaw here!!!
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2 comments:
Just thought of 'Walmart'. I think consumers love the clutter there. It so much more fun to rummage through a pile and then find something important. Getting it immediately makes it so less important.
Although i have tried hard, all my life, to give a clean look to my work table, I have never succeeded. I am sure that 60% of what stacks up is rarely used. But the keyword here is 'rarely'. When required this rarely used object, paper reference, etc is very useful.
Coming back to Marks and Spencer, I don't think anybody has visited their godown. This is where they have the clutter.
I am all for clutter. It carries memories, bitter and sweet, of good times and bad, and of intelligent as well as stupid decisions. These are the memories that makes life livable.
Sanjoy has put a wrong post for this item. As usual he talks about the uncluttering of the mind. All this nonsense about uncluttered house and uncluttered mind is clutter on my plate.
Can we have someone sane talk about this.
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