Minimalism And My Middle-Class Guilt
I finally gave away most of my older electronic gadgets. It felt good!
I must admit that it was a bit of a struggle to part with some of it. I had paid good money for it. There was the nagging feeling that somehow I would need them in the future. The iPhones, the external hard drives, and the laptops were in rather good working condition.
It was all part of my foray into minimalism. At least, my version of it.
I say my version because minimalism, as a lifestyle, is not something that I have ever consciously aspired to. I believe in the “Life is too short, so, have a good time!” philosophy.
I like the good things in life.
But I am beginning to believe that it is more about quality than quantity.
The folks to whom I had given my old electronic gadgets seemed really appreciative. Unlike me, they would use them.
With that out of the way, I was ready for the next phase. I still had a bunch of things that I could live without. So I figured this would be a good time to write a follow up post about it.
In the process of researching for the post, I came across another article.
It was titled: Why the poor cannot afford to be minimalists.
The premise behind the article was that the poor have less than what they actually need and do not feel the necessity to declutter. They are not in a position to. The author, Stephanie Land, went on to point out that “Minimalism is a virtue only when it is a choice, and it is telling that its fan base is clustered in the well-off middle class.”
I had to agree.
Which meant that I had to completely rethink the approach to my post.
After all, I fit squarely in the middle of the middle-class that she is talking about.
I feel guilty.
But I can’t change facts.
I certainly have accumulated more things than I need. And I do feel good about decluttering. Somehow, I have to make the best of my current situation. Things could have been worse.
I could have had it tougher, like Stephanie.
There is something about being middle-class.
We are thankful that we have most of the necessities of life — food, clothes, home… We may even have the means to occasionally get a sense of what the segment above us lives like — a business class flight, a fancy restaurant — without ever taking it for granted.
We, the middle-class, consume and drive the economy. And in the process, we accumulate things that we grow out of. We have our excuses to buy new things. Electronic gadgets need upgrading, clothes go out of style, shoes wear out, cars get old, the reasons go on and on.
And often, we hang on to things that we replaced. We clutter and hoard.
Just in case we need it for the future.
A quick inventory of things that I don’t use anymore brought up the top three categories: Clothes, shoes, and more electronic gadgets.
Since my plight didn’t happen overnight, I decided to examine how I got here. It would be sort of a root cause analysis. Perhaps I can work at avoiding the offending behaviour in the future.
The electronic gadgets were the easiest to figure out.
The TV was not “smart,” couldn’t stream Netflix directly. Who wants the hassle of hooking a laptop up to the TV’s HDMI port every time? Mobile phones followed the same pattern — not enough storage, no dual camera. As for the laptop, it was too heavy, needed something lighter for travel.
Clothes and shoes were harder to justify.
Some clothes were well-worn, others barely used. A lot of them were impulsive buys that looked good in the store and not so much on the body. Some fit snug now — not sure I can blame the clothes for that. A few were gifts that I never really liked but kept anyway.
As for the shoes, I cannot think of one sane reason for having more pairs than I ever really need or use. I am sure that there was a perfectly logical-sounding reason at the time of the purchase.
Unlike impersonal things like electronic gadgets, clothes and shoes are harder to give away to people you know. There is always the sensitivity aspect of hand-me-downs and then there is the matter of sizes and styles.
Pondering my options, I figured that the Value Village Store nearby would be a good bet. The Goodwill Store that used to accept “gently used” items had gone out of business.
As I dropped off a couple of bags of clothes at the “collection centre,” I thanked my stars that I was middle-class. I vowed to never complain about the little things again.
I spent the drive back home in quiet contemplation. The second phase of my decluttering had brought up a question:
How many clothes does a man need anyway?
I did some more research online to get a middle-class sounding response. Here’s what I got:
Shirts/Other tops: 30
Pants/Jeans/Chinos: 7
Shoes: 7 pairs.
Hmm…
