Different strokes, different folks
People have never regarded their possessions in purely utilitarian terms. The relationship has always been fraught with various levels of sentimentality and psychology. Although we tend to quickly find fault with others for acquiring so much “junk,” we all have our own soft spots for collecting certain items.
The television personality Claudia Lin and the writer Cai Shiping have been happily married for many years. Yet Lin has long held that Cai’s book collection of nearly 200,000 volumes is a great waste of living space. Three years ago, she took advantage of a trip that her husband took by picking out a bunch of books that she felt he would never read again and lugging them to a used bookstore. Unexpectedly, the store called a few days later to ask about what to do with the letters and name cards that its staff had found jammed in their pages. When the usually even-tempered Cai found out what had happened, he brooded angrily for three days. Just thinking about the incident gives Lin the chills.
Hideko Yamashita believes that the feelings of attachment expressed in such statements as “What a shame!” or “I hate to part with them” constitute the thorniest issue encountered in the quest for danshari. Yet unused stuff that takes up space engenders its own kind of emotional burdens, and objects that trigger memories can also serve as shackles. Constant hoarding isn’t healthy. Sometimes disposing of these objects requires a special ceremony, such as bringing them outside to burn or offering a few words before saying goodbye.
The Japanese author Marie Kondo, who has developed the “heartbeat organizing method,” explains that decluttering techniques typically set numeric parameters—say, by mandating that you discard anything that hasn’t been used for two years. But Kondo believes that people should set their own yardsticks. “When you come into contact with an object, do you feel that it moves you in some way?” If not, get rid of it. She also recommends that beginners avoid starting with objects that have sentimental value. Instead, she suggests the following order: clothes e books documents keepsakes. That approach keeps dillydallying spurred by nostalgia to a minimum.
New joy in old loves
In Taiwan, the decluttering movement has been abetted by a growing number of stores selling used goods, as well as other channels facilitating recycling and reuse. Take Mollie Used Books, which is as elegantly appointed as the Eslite bookstores. When the store was established 10 years ago, consumers in Taiwan lacked a conception of how old books could be recirculated. To fill its shelves, Mollie had to buy books from paper recyclers. Today, it has become a chain with five branches and a never-ending supply of books that booklovers sell or donate. “What’s more, half of our suppliers don’t ask us to collect the books but instead bring them to us,” explains owner Mollie Dai. “They identify with our mission to protect the environment and to serve the public interest.”
The Catholic Kuang Jen Social Welfare Foundation has pioneered the model of “sheltered workshops,” using handicapped workers to staff its stores selling second-hand products. When its first store opened nine years ago, Taiwanese lacked an understanding about reusing goods. But the model has gradually caught on. Today, the foundation has six thrift stores in the greater Taipei area. They collect and resell clothes, furniture, appliances and other used items in good condition.
The dao of discarding
In pursuit of danshari, some misgivings are inevitable: To what degree must one dispose of one’s possessions? Won’t impetuousness sometimes lead to regrets?
Steve Day, the chairman of Wowprime Group, once shared with the media his own experiences at organizing. Twenty years ago he found it difficult to part with any of his possessions, and so, for his year-end cleanings, he forced himself to close his eyes and simply get rid of all of that year’s clutter. But he ended up having deep regrets.
Now he uses a folder in which to place each month’s items that he can’t bear to part with—a particularly moving letter from a customer, say, or an invitation to a colleague’s mother’s funeral or an illustrated itinerary created by his children for a family trip. These precious keepsakes are then stored in boxes, which he will be able to peruse and savor at his leisure after he retires.
“My principle for decluttering is that I keep those items that are connected to memories. Just imagine suddenly losing your memory so you couldn’t recall anything. It’d be like you had never lived at all. But those stored items would give you back your past.”
In a society of affluence like ours, we may forever be searching for just the right approach to take to our possessions. Surely, it will remain a love-hate relationship, but let us hope that it will become, on balance, a more joyous and enlightened one!