Before we kick off the “preparedness” posts, I have a quick thought experiment for you.
Let’s say I’m coming over to your house for dinner. Let’s also pretend that I’m the official representative of the Office Of The Minimalist Inspector General, and I’m going to be performing a complete “minimalism audit” of your home.
Obviously there will be some universally “approved” items. You need some amount of clothes, a way to prepare food, maybe a computer (some claim there’s a bonus if that computer is made by Apple), and a few other miscellaneous things. There are also universal “no-no” items. Any huge stacks of junk (be it paper, food, garbage, etc.) that are obviously a result of neglect rather than attention would fall into that category.
Then there’s everything else. For each item, you have to make a case for why you’re keeping it, and I make careful notes. Everything is going well until we come to it.
I take one look at it, and exclaim, “what the BLEEP are you thinking???” You don’t have an answer, because there is no answer. There’s no logical reason whatsoever that this thing lives in your home. Yet keeping it is intentional; it’s not an oversight. There’s no “should I keep it?” question. It’s there because you’ve decided that’s exactly where it needs to be. You might fail the inspection, and you don’t care.
The question is, what is “it” for you??
For my wife and I, there are a few of them. One “it” is a small collection (less than 20) of small (7″ or less each) stuffed animals. Mostly walruses, a few porcupines, and a couple of others thrown in for reasons that are hard to explain to anybody else. We like them, and we don’t see the need to get rid of them.
Another “it” is a tenor recorder (the musical instrument, not an electronic device). I played soprano recorder in grade school; this is the much larger cousin of that instrument. I got this for free from my brother, who rescued it from somebody that was going to throw it away. It’s made of a beautiful wood called “pearwood”, it’s about two feet long, it’s the perfect size for my large fingers, and it has a very pleasant sound. I can barely play right now, but I intend to remedy that situation someday. It’s an exquisite instrument, and a replacement of comparable quality would cost over $400 new – so I’m keeping it until I learn to play.
The salient point here is that both of these fail the standard minimalist “keep it or pitch it” tests. The stuffed animals have no practical or collectible value, and I’ve been carting that used 25+ year-old recorder around for three or more years. If they were in your house instead of mine, they’d probably be consigned to the “donate” bin without a second thought.
I don’t care, because they’re my “it” items.
Don’t get me wrong here; I’m not attached to them in a life-or-death sort of way. If I moved and for some inscrutable reason I had to downsize or eliminate them, I could do it. Until that day comes though, I enjoy having them around – and I don’t see the need to throw them away to prove how hardcore of a minimalist I am.
Unless I miss my guess, I’m betting that any minimalist worthy of the name has “it” items of their own. Items that any objective observer would’ve tossed long ago, but that they just enjoy too much to get rid of.
Does that sound like you? If so, I’d like to do something fun here…assuming you’re game.
What I’d like is for several readers to each take a picture of one or more of their “it” items, and send me the picture with a write-up of why that item (or items) is exempt from the decluttering rules. You can be serious, silly, long-winded, short, whatever you want. The main criteria here is that the item(s) should be something that the average minimalist wouldn’t be hanging onto.
I’ll collect the submissions and post them on this blog over time. If you’re a blogger, the post can link back to your blog. If you’re not a blogger, you’re still free to send in your submission. I’ll even leave your name completely out of the post if you want. Just let me know your preference.
Drop me a line via the contact form letting me know you’d like to participate, and I’ll get you the email address to send your picture and description to.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with!