Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
The Soul of Your Stuff
My son was obsessed with the movie Toy Story 2 when he was little. We watched it a lot. A lot. One of the big themes in that movie (well, all three of them actually) is that a toy isn’t really happy unless it is being played with. This resonated with me because as a child not only did I love playing with dolls, but I also adored the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, who explains that by the time you are real “most of your hair has been loved off…and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.”
I think about this in many of the homes I visit, because when there is too much stuff, a lot of stuff never gets used. Now I know that file-folders don’t really have feelings, but still I feel sad for them. They are meant to hold files, not spend eternity stacked on a shelf. The same goes for the T-shirts at the bottom of the drawer, the saucepan at the back of the cabinet and the craft kit high on a shelf. Things are meant to be used, loved, worn, touched. If we have too much, we can’t appreciate, or even use, what we have.
My husband used to joke that we had the “shabby” part of shabby chic down, but I like that I have my grandmother’s rug and it is worn in spots. I like it that my file-folders are dog-eared and I like to wear things until they are worn out. I try not to buy lightly, and once I buy, I am committed.
A lot of energy, human and otherwise, goes into making stuff. It isn’t just that I’m frugal, it is also that I want to honor that effort: the tree that made my file-folder, the person somewhere who sewed my winter coat. I know that an economist might say that I need to keep consuming in order to keep the wheels of the market turning. But I reject that. I say slow the whole thing down. Make less, spend less, enjoy more. Wring every drop of pleasure and usefulness out of every object you own.
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