Live with less stuff, it's better for you!

Items of General Interest
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2303
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Live with less stuff, it's better for you!

Post by MSI »

March 10, 2013: NY Times: In the Sunday review today an interesting article Living with Less, A Lot Less
Reminds me of articles like those dealing with the Lottery winner syndrome wherein folks who win or earn a lump sum quickly waste it on all sorts of stuff, get all stressed out and then go broke!
The main difference of this article is not that the author went broke after the windfall (he sold an internet company and gots lots of moola), it was that he realized before too late that the accumulation of junk was what causing problems in his life so he shed all the extra stuff and is living large with a small living area and a small amount of stuff.
Some things in the article
  • Researchers at UCLA in the study “Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century,” observed that mothers’ stress hormones spiked during the time they spent dealing with their belongings.
  • Families in the study had so much junk that 75% of the 32 families couldn’t park their cars in their garages because they were too jammed with junk!
  • Average home size has increased in the US from 983 square feet in 1950 to 2480 square feet in 2011
  • 3.37 people lived in each American home in 1950 whereas 2.6 people lived in each American home in 2011
  • The increase in home size still isn't enough! Our country spends $22 billion on the personal storage industry to store even more junk
  • From the Natural Resources Defense Council 40 percent of the food Americans buy finds its way into the trash.
Interesting article, give it a read, and give thought to getting rid of some of the clutter in your life!