Survey #201 Response from rowan
| Pronouns | She/her |
|---|---|
| Describe an experience in which clutter—yours or someone else’s—had a negative impact on a relationship. The relationship in question may be one of yours or someone else’s that you’ve observed. | I lived at a hoarded house. I say "at" because I rented the back porch (and access to a bathroom). for the first few months I was literally living in the midst of their piles of destroyed stuff (it got rained on so it was mildewed). I finally said I could not go on and the wife let me sort through and bin the items (I bought the bins) and I moved the bins to the driveway (this was in a very expensive area, no one was going to steal anything). Once I cleared the porch it was lovely but I finally moved. I saw that they could not have anyone to their home, no one was even supposed to know about the state of the house. Later I lived where one housemate lived with a lot of frustration and resentment because the head housemate stored his friends' stuff in the dining room and living room. He would not even give her room for a sewing machine (even though he had seven file cabinets and a clothes rack in the living room). A former housemate had left 4 large bins-worth of LP's - IN THE LIVING ROOM - and was very angry when I persuaded the current head housemate to let me bin them in the basement (and yes, I paid for the bins). I have a lot of feelings about people believing they are entitled to more space just because they have chosen to have more stuff. Not stuff that they physically need (mobility devices, etc) - stuff they have decided the world must accomodate because they "feel" they need it. [note to Ed & Gayle - you are welcome to read this out but considering most of your viewers, I think some judicious editing will be important so people will not feel attacked/insulted. thank you for reading this. |
| How might reducing your clutter or making your home more organized affect your most important relationships, for better or for worse? If you live alone and/or don’t feel that your stuff affects any of your relationships, you may answer this question instead: How might reducing your clutter or making your home more organized affect your health, happiness, wellbeing, attitude, or mood? | My housemate is very easy-going about the house (which he owns - I pay rent for a bedroom and access to bathroom and kitchen) and while he will never mention it, it matters to him that the house not have stuff laying around (recycling to be removed, etc). I still have 4 reams of paper to shred 🙁 |
| Choose the option that best describes your feelings about Valentine’s Day: | It’s the day right before the best discounts of the year on chocolate. |
| Future topics | systems for keeping track of the organized stuff (i.e. I know I put all the sewing supplies together but where did I put them). Redefining "need" - a journey to personal empowerment but discovering how much we really don't "need" in order to live a happy life. Living an en-LIGHT-end life - finding out how much we are weighed down by the physical weight and volume of our stuff. Redefining luxury - having a home that is so easy to care for it is almost as if we had staff taking care of it for us. A luxurious life of slow and gracious living. Escaping the mountain of stuff we somehow thought we really did "need". |
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