BBC Future column: Why we love to hoard. Here’s last week’s column from BBC Future. The original is here. It’s not really about hoarding, its about the endowment effect and a really lovely piece of work that helped found the field of behavioural economics (and win Daniel Kahneman a Nobel prize). Oh, and I give some advice on how to de-clutter, lifehacker-style. Question: How do you make something instantly twice as expensive? Answer: By giving it away. This might sound like a nonsensical riddle, but if you’ve ever felt overly possessive about your regular parking space, your pen, or your Star Wars box sets, then you’re experiencing some elements behind the psychology of ownership.
This riddle actually describes a phenomenon called the Endowment Effect. You can see how the endowment effect escalates – how else can you explain the boxes of cassette tapes, shoes or mobile phones that fill several shelves of your room… or even several rooms? No trade Classic economics states that the students should begin to trade with each other. Adbusters’ War Against Too Much of Everything. The Clutter Culture - Feature - UCLA Magazine Online. By Jack Feuer Published Jul 1, 2012 8:00 AM "For more than 40,000 years," write the authors, "intellectually modern humans have peopled the planet, but never before has any society accumulated so many personal possessions.
" Get stuff. Buy stuff. Walk into any dual-income, middle-class home in the U.S. and you will come face to face with an awesome array of stuff—toys, trinkets, family photos, furniture, games, DVDs, TVs, digital devices of all kinds, souvenirs, flags, food and more. George Carlin famously observed that "a house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. " We are a clutter culture. A Cluttered Life: Middle-Class Abundance (Trailer) UCLA anthropologists venture into the stuffed-to-capacity homes of dual income, middle-class American families.
Click here to watch full episodes. Video by UCTV Prime Life at Home is co-authored by Ochs; Jeanne Arnold, UCLA professor of anthropology; Anthony P. Eulogy of stuff. Simplify your life. 60 Ways To Make Life Simple Again. 60 Ways To Make Life Simple Again. The Clutter Diet Blog. How Do I Organize My Piles of Paper Into Something Manageable? How to Organize the Perfect Pantry. Tasty Trash: The $55 million Squawkfox Food Waste Challenge is a series aimed at helping your family save up to $1,500 this year by reducing food waste. The environment may also thank us. To start from the beginning, read the introduction. I first learned about the existence of weevils in the summer of 1988. I had just come home hungry from soccer practice, and after chugging a massive glass of water, I popped open the pantry in search of a snack. Flour? Oats? Dried Melba toast dusted with cinnamon sugar? Ravenous after guarding our goalie from the mean chick who liked to kick where shin pads don’t exist (my knee caps), I munched on my Melba trying to avoid what athletes call ‘bonking’.
[series_heading]Despite being dry, kinda stale, and sickenly sweet from the granulated sugar, the Melba was totally hitting the spot. I swallowed my hurl. Anyhoo, my mother wasn’t impressed with the discovery. She removed everything from all shelves, seeking the source of the mysterious infestation. 1. 2. How to Live in the Land of Enough - Space. One word that often comes to mind when talking about minimalism is space. With space, we can direct our energy and focus on what means the most. Space is not just an empty room, but it is what surrounds us, everywhere we are. Let’s be honest. It is tough to appreciate your space in an airport or an amusement park.
Why? Because you don’t have any! This is the fourth post in a series from my guest post Living in the Land of Enough on one of my favorite blogs: becomingminimalist.com by Joshua Becker. Make Space Clear out some space in your house. Ask questions like: How do I feel when I am in an empty room? One of the biggest benefits of living with less, is that you can quickly create space. How to Make Space Closet- Start here and build momentum for uncluttering the rest of your home.
Start making piles of clothes and be ruthless. Pile One: I love these items. Bedroom – While I don’t recommend TV in any room of the house, it should absolutely be off limits in your bedroom. Series Links. How To Easily Declutter Your House By 40% | California Closets. You have too much stuffThe feeling of being weighed down by possessions is palpable and affects us every day. It’s time to pare down your belongings.
Most of us have at least one or two areas in our homes that could use a purge. Having a plan will help you get started easily and reap immediate rewards. Try this method. You’ll be surprised by how quickly you can see tangible results throughout your home. Start in your bedroomEvery day begins at your bedroom closet, making it the ideal place to start de-cluttering. Your success here will carry you through to other areas of your home. Take everything out of your closets and create four distinct piles: Now (the clothes you wear regularly), Someday (the clothes you will fit into again or finally find an occasion to wear), Never (the clothes you never wear), and Seasonal (swim suits, ski jackets, etc.).
The Critical StepTake a deep breath and move everything in the Someday pile to the Never pile. One more timeGo through the Now pile again. Simplify, LLC - Organizing Services and More! Organizing Services and More! Simplify, LLC is a professional organizing company that is focused on providing high-quality service and customer satisfaction - I will do everything I can to meet your expectations. As a result, a high percentage of my business is from repeat customers and referrals. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can help you get organized and get on the road to a simpler life. Call or email me today to schedule a consultation. Anne Bell Nashville, TN Image courtesy of Real Simple There are so many ways I can help you simplify your life!
Holiday decorations - Taking down, sorting, and storageGift wrappingRecipe booksClothing care/storageFiling/paper/financial systems - home, mail, home office . . . plus much more! Lessons from Tyler Durden & Ben Stiller – Stop Your Possessions From Owning You. Maneesh Sethi - 4HWW Success as a Digital Nomad. Pick One. Abundance is a curse. You can have anything that you want for lunch. So why eat another bland fast food hamburger and fries? There are literally hundreds of shows on the television. So why stare at another hour of screaming reality TV stars?
You don’t eat, drink, or watch bad things because they are cheap. You default to them because they are easy. You are responsible for what you consume. If I told you that you could watch just one movie this month, you might spend more time considering your choice. Your options are virtually unlimited. Pick one. Like this: Like Loading... Pick One by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Tagged as: choice, drink, eat, food, Movies, options, TV, watch. Living With Less. A Lot Less. I have come a long way from the life I had in the late ’90s, when, flush with cash from an Internet start-up sale, I had a giant house crammed with stuff — electronics and cars and appliances and gadgets. Somehow this stuff ended up running my life, or a lot of it; the things I consumed ended up consuming me. My circumstances are unusual (not everyone gets an Internet windfall before turning 30), but my relationship with material things isn’t.
We live in a world of surfeit stuff, of big-box stores and 24-hour online shopping opportunities. Members of every socioeconomic bracket can and do deluge themselves with products. There isn’t any indication that any of these things makes anyone any happier; in fact it seems the reverse may be true. For me, it took 15 years, a great love and a lot of travel to get rid of all the inessential things I had collected and live a bigger, better, richer life with less. My success and the things it bought quickly changed from novel to normal. It got worse. How to Get Rid of Clutter. In response to my raging spring fever, and in anticipation of our impending move in two months, I just finished a whirlwind cleaning of our apartment. People say I clean when I’m stressed.
I say I clean not to go crazy. Eight bags of garbage and a carload of Goodwill donations later, and who cares if I’m crazy, our apartment is clean, right? Clutter Prevention The best way to stop clutter from building up is to clean as you go. Put things away as soon as you’re done using them. Getting Rid of Clutter Start with a mass cleaning to get rid of your clutter.Chances are, if you’ve reached the point of looking for help getting rid of your clutter online, you need to do some serious cleaning. Use organizing “tools” to make getting rid of clutter easier. Share household chores and cleaning to get rid of clutter.
Use a cleaning schedule to get rid of clutter. Commit to a system of keep/donate/recycle/and throw away to eliminate clutter. More Ways to Get Rid of Clutter Additional Clutter Removal. Clothesline Tiny Homes. We have been living in our tiny house full-time since mid-May 2012 – a year and a half now. Sometimes the house feels WAY TOO SMALL and my busy brain starts wondering (again), “WHY are we living like this???” Why don’t we just get a loan? One reason we chose to build our own tiny house was to escape the debt of a MORTGAGE, the typical requirement of home “ownership.” (I use quotes because we often say that we own our homes, but if we’re paying a mortgage, the bank is actually the owner.) Read all of our reasons for going Tiny on our Why Tiny? During one recent period of tiny house discontent I started thinking about interest rates – only 5%!!!! (Personal note: I have never had a mortgage, always rented, primarily due to a deep loathing of debt, and secondarily due to the fact that I never could have gotten the funds needed to buy a condo in L.A. or Denver, especially not after the crash of 2008 – in 2009 I applied for a mortgage loan and was approved for $80k.
Tiny house too tiny? Born Again Minimalist. Living lagom. How to Live in the Land of Enough. While I love December and all of the festivities, I welcome the simplicity and quiet of January. Everyone is in a mini recovery mode. While food is always a big part of our lives, it is even more so during the holidays. We go out more and eat more. Things are creamier, heavier and more buttery. This is the seventh and final post in a series from my guest post Living in the Land of Enough on one of my favorite blogs: becomingminimalist.com by Joshua Becker. Eat Real Food. Only eat food that you prepare. That was the recommendation for a short hiatus in the Land of Enough. Ask questions like: Am I eating because I’m hungry? The more real food you eat, the healthier you will be. 5 of my favorite posts about food. 5 of my favorite books about food. While food is delicious and satisfying, I think we need to remember that first and foremost, it is nourishing.
Just as important as eating real food is, it is also important to maintain a healthy weight. Myth #1 – All vegetarians are skinny. Tinyhousefamily. Small Notebook | Simplify your home. Minimalist packrat | embrace simplicity. Geist und Gegenwart: Texte zum Minimalismus. Im Folgenden habe ich eine kleine Auswahl von Links zu Texten zum Minimalismus zusammengestellt. Vor allem, um sie nicht aus den Augen zu verlieren. Diese Auswahl ist nicht umfassend, reflektiert aber viele unterschiedliche Positionen. Alex RubenbauerMinimalismus als Weg zum erfüllten LebenMinimalist in 21 Tagen Der rauhe SteinDie innere Revolution und Minimalsimus FinnslandDownshifting Gilbert DietrichMein unfreiwilliger MinimalismusWie man alles im Kopf behältZufriedenheit im individuellen und gesellschaftlichen LebenDas Leben entrümpeln und frei durchatmen (auf Zeitzuleben.de) GoldgraberinFrau Ding Dong´s Experimente Mr.
Oliver PeissMinimalismus ist tot, es lebe MinimalismusMinimalist werden5 Wege für mehr Fokus Peter Hinzmann:Minimalismus und kein EndeMinimalismus als Mittel zum Zweck Reduziert lebenManuel reduziert Thomas Bagusche (zen monkey - Übersetzungen von Leo Babauta)Minimalistisch werden: Alle Infos, die Du im Blick haben solltest.
A Guy Named Dave. Declutter Diva. The Everyday Minimalist | Living with less, but only the best. De-clutter.jpg (JPEG-Grafik, 1100 × 792 Pixel) - Skaliert (80%) Simplify your life. [Update] Deutschsprachige Minimalismus-Blogger | German speaking minimalism bloggers. Und wieder neue Blogger in meiner Liste. Wow, es scheint doch schon eine große Minimalisten-Blogger-Gemeinschaft im deutschsprachigen Raum zu geben. Die Liste wird ständig ergänzt. Noch eine kleine persönliche Anmerkung.
Bei der Masse und dem Umfang heute verfügbarer Blogs schafft man gar nicht mehr, jedes ausführlich zu lesen. Ich persönlich fände es nett, wenn man auf den ersten Blick sähe, wer in einem Blog, das ich anklicke, schreibt, und worum es im Groben darin geht. Aus jedem Tag das Beste machen! Der rauhe Stein (Jan) Blog eingestellt Die Entdeckung der Schlichtheit (Daniel, Twitter @schlichtheit) Einfach bewusst (Christof, @einfachbewusst) Einfach schön leben (Marcus & Team) Einfach weniger Frau DingDong Happy ich (Sue, @Happy_Ich) ganzeinfachleben (Mark, @markritter82) NEU!
Geist und Gegenwart (Gilbert, @GeistGegenwart) Karin Friedli (Karin, @karinfriedli) MalMini (Pia, @Wuuuuusel) NEU! Mamadenkt (Rage, @mamadenkt) Minimalismus 21 (P., @Minimalismus21) minimalismusundmehr (Inka) Mr. The Everyday Minimalist | Living with less, but only the best. Simple Living.