Against stuff
Computer guru Paul Graham has a new essay on, well, stuff. Very worth checking out. Here’s a taste:
I first realized the worthlessness of stuff when I lived in Italy for a year. All I took with me was one large backpack of stuff. The rest of my stuff I left in my landlady’s attic back in the US. And you know what? All I missed were some of the books. By the end of the year I couldn’t even remember what else I had stored in that attic.
And yet when I got back I didn’t discard so much as a box of it. Throw away a perfectly good rotary telephone? I might need that one day. …
[Stuff can be] worse than worthless, because once you’ve accumulated a certain amount of stuff, it starts to own you rather than the other way around. I know of one couple who couldn’t retire to the town they preferred because they couldn’t afford a place there big enough for all their stuff. Their house isn’t theirs; it’s their stuff’s.
Hat tip reader Bob!
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Posted by Jerry on Aug 6, 2007 |
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18 comments posted
Posted by Julie - 08/06/2007
That is a great essay! I lived in Europe for awhile and I really learned that you can live with less. Everyone else there did it, why couldn’t I?
I’m enjoying your blog. Lot’s of good info here. I’m going to add you to my blogroll.
Posted by StarXLR8 - 08/06/2007
I’m trying, I really am, but how does the stuff-less person engage in their hobbies? Do they have only stuff-less hobbies? I sew, knit, paint, draw, scrapbook, lead a girl scout troop, read books & magazines, watch movies and have the tools and materials for these endeavors. Most items are not things you use up in one sitting. What am I missing?
Posted by Jennifer - 08/06/2007
I think that every time I travel.
Posted by Jerry Brito - 08/06/2007
StarXLR8: The idea isn’t to get rid of everything, but to pick the things you want to keep and let go of the things that are in the way. Someone who knits can have a whole knitting room full of knitting stuff and still be organized. In fact, being a minimalist in other aspects of their lives would probably let the knitter have room and time for their knitting hobby.
Posted by StarXLR8 - 08/06/2007
I struggle mostly with that question of what is “in the way”? If I lived in a studio or 1 bedroom apartment, then all of these craft items (and much of my other stuff) would be in the way. So I choose to live in a 2 bedroom space, so that there is room for my hobbies too. Is that really letting my stuff own me?
Posted by Michele - 08/06/2007
This is such a great article – thanks for pointing it out. I love the comment about building a model of your environment and how the more complex (cluttered) it is the more energy this consumes. I’ve felt this way for years, but could never put it into words.
Posted by Brian - 08/06/2007
The ideas are basically sound, but the column is full of Paul Graham-isms that give one the impression of a know-it-all librarian endlessly staring down his nose at you and wondering why, oh _why_ can’t you see the simple logic of his thinking.
Posted by Louise - 08/06/2007
Great article. I disagree with him about books, though. So many people are addicted to their books and keep hundreds or thousands. And yet, books are easily available to borrow or inexpensive to purchase (especially used).
To me, most books are a single-use item. Few novels are so good that I will read them more than twice. Why keep them around? For me, the answer used to be that having a room full of books made a statement about who I was: a reader, a thinker. Browse through my personal library and you got a glimpse into my hobbies and interests. It was a status symbol, a marker of class and education level.
When I realized that they were there primarily to impress or influence other people, it was easy to get rid of 90% of my books. I now have one shelf of reference books that I use monthly, if not weekly, and several shelves of books I want to read soon. After I finish one, I give it away.
Books are heavy (a big issue for me since I live in my RV now), collect dust, are a pain to box up and move, and take up space. Get rid of ‘em!
Posted by Patris Katholos - 08/07/2007
Consider that most of the traverse of the known world was done with bare feet.
Posted by disconnect - 08/07/2007
I’m with Louise. I recently made the first round through my books and easily culled 25%. In that stack were a few textbooks from my first semester of college, one of which I never used past that first semester (ended 12/1992). I took that book back and forth to school every year, the occasional weekend home, then when I left NY for CT, and finally on the intrastate moves here. All told, I’ve carried that book close to 2000 miles, and for what? For information that (a) I don’t need (text is circuit analysis, I work in fluid mechanics), (b) is commonly available on wikipedia, and (c) can be obtained off Amazon.com for $cheap if I were to find myself needing a daily reference.
Also in the donate pile are copies of “Gravity’s Rainbow”, “The Bell Curve”, and “The Mismeasure of Man”. Look, I’ve got kids, a job, and I’m trying to open a dojo. I’m lucky if I have the brainpower to read through Harry Potter.
Posted by Louise - 08/07/2007
@disconnect: Funny! I never got around to reading “The Odyssey,” either. We named our bus that, instead.
About old textbooks: I, too, last used my textbooks about 20 years ago. When I went to sell them on Amazon.com, they were worth very little. Too many newer editions had been released in that time. So my advice to those of you who are more recently graduated, sell those old texts ASAP, while there is still a market for them!
Amazon.com, BTW, is a really easy way to sell used books.
Posted by bloggomio - 08/08/2007
Ha! This is a timely essay. I’ve just started my uncluttering project and after a week of going through old files, stacks of papers and magazines, I put 9 30-gal. garbage bags out for the trash this morning. Nine! And, I’ve just begun. I’ve decided if it isn’t a necessary document – out it goes. I’m stacking magazines in a pile to take to the homeless shelter. God help me, I’m done with feeling like my own living space owns me. I’m glad I found your site. It’s given me even more incentive to unload the burden of too much stuff! Wish me luck, willya
Posted by Bakari - 08/08/2007
Wow, this article is so right on. I don’t know how many mornings I wake dreading the amount of stuff we have in hour two story house. I’m seriously tired of it all. I’m not a materialistic person, and neither is my wife. But we both accumulate a lot of stuff (books, magazines, lots and lots of mail) that simply need to be gotten out of here. Even though we have kids–whom also just make a mess of everything–I know if my wife and I could just get rid of 50% of the stuff in our home, we’d feel much, much better. At least I know I would.
Posted by Tony - 08/08/2007
Graham makes an interesting case convincing himself that his large book collection isn’t clutter and, as such, isn’t up for purging.
Going by his essay, I could say that my large clothing collection is “fluid” and isn’t subject to the thinning I may do with my other “stuff.”
Posted by George - 08/08/2007
It’s more insidious than Graham describes. There are those around us who are trying to get us to take more and more “stuff”. And our kids are on their side.
http://tubalcainsworkshop.blog.....-crap.html
Posted by chocolatecrunch - 08/10/2007
i moved to my house 3 yrs ago and i just emptied the last box in my garage last month. you’re right about not missing those things. don’t get me wrong my garage is neat, my car lives there and my washer/dryer. my boxes are all labeled so everytime i have a free time (i’m single and work nights and lots of overtime to pay my mortgage ugh) i emptied at least two boxes. the first two years i have roommates so they occupied the other 2 rooms. now that they are all gone i have storage inside the house. but then i realized i don’t need all the books and magazines i’ve read, clothes and jackets that didn’t fit or not comfortable enough to wear again, kitchen stuffs that i no longer need.i decided to purge them. most of my books went to the library and some i gave away to my friends back home. the clothes,jackets and kitchen stuff were donated to goodwill and salvation army. the only boxes left are my christmas decorations, 4 of them, my tool box and two small clear bins that has my small sander and the other one has the screws, nails, laser level, wall plugs and some loose items. so far so good.
Posted by VegeBrain - 08/11/2007
I find it interesting that The Unclutterer has found out about Paul Graham. I’ve been reading his essays for several years now and really like a lot of them. There are other essays readers of Unclutter may find of interest. His Taste for Makers has so good points about good and bad design. Why Nerds Are Unpopular is fantastic for anyone who felt odd or out of place in school; I certainly would have appreciated it when I was of school age. What Youll Wish You had known is another good essay for anyone who wonders what school REALLY is about.
Posted by Fenrir - 08/21/2007
Haven’t read his essay, but I just can’t believe Unclutterer just posted about a LISP programmer. Wow….Small (tubed?) world?
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