Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Torn

I feel inspired by this:

http://www.sunset.com/home/natural-home/zero-waste-home-0111-00418000069984/

I've been following her blog The Zero Waste Home.

My home looks nothing like hers. As much as I'm interested in not accumulating junk, and as much as I'm trying to be aware of where everything comes from and where it goes, and as much as I'm trying to keep toxins out of the home, I still find it difficult, and I've made an observation. It struck me when I read in the article that Bea has no books in her house except library books. I'm thinking, not even a dictionary. And thinking, where is the music? Is it all stored digitally? The only art on the walls is the green growing wall. Nice, but not really tapping into what what art is. I also noticed that my neatest friend, who limits all the clothes, shoes, music, books in the house, (who reads the school newsletter and puts it straight in the recycling bin) doesn't really care about art and music and fashion and literature. She likes what she likes, but she doesn't collect or revel in or really CARE about these things. When I told her how hard it was to try to throw out books, she suggested I should only need one bookcase of books. Sacrilege. Impossible.

So, I'm coming around to thinking, it is easy to keep an uncluttered house if you don't care about art and fashion and literature and music. Can I limit these? I can try. Can I cut back more on everything else? Yes I can. Can I try to use whatever I have? Yes I can. Can I try to bring not another thing into the house? I can try.

Do I know, love and use everything in the house? No.

Now on with the decluttering and dusting.

1 comment:

Melissa said...

I like a decluttering tip I read once on flylady - get a bag, go around the house and collect 20 things that can go - big or small. Do it often!

An e-reader is very attractive to me in terms of decluttering the bookshelves. We do regularly clean them out and give books away though.

Art work - esp kids art work - is trickier. Still, lived-in is just as good as minimalist, just different :)