Now this house (once so lovely) feels like a dump sometimes. I honestly believe that 75% of the items in this house do not have a home. I am working on that. Here's what I'm wondering though, when our grandparents were 20, 30, late 30 years old were their homes messy too? I doubt they were but were they? Is it something we grow into and master with age or really am I just broken?
I have a feeling that it's a generational thing. I have a feeling that my grandparents never lived in a messy home, that everything always had a place, and that they held high value for everything in their homes. I'm sure my grandparents didn't throw things away when they got "old" like this generation is in the habit of doing. They didn't "need" as much as we do. They took pride in cleanliness and were taught to do so by their parents. I don't know though. I could probably type pages on this vein. Do you think they had messy homes when they first moved out on their own and were learning how to house keep?
I think about these things a lot when it comes to spending money. I think we're messier now. I think things are so come and go now a days that we don't feel the need to find good homes for them. I'd like to place high value on the items in my home just as my grandparents did. I'd like to kick things out that don't belong and I'd like to invite less things in; goals, lots and lots and lots of goals.
I think that maybe when the grandpa and great grandpa and grandma generations were young, they maybe literally had one bowl to keep water in to wash themselves in, one pair of work pants, one pair of shoes, something like that.
ReplyDeleteOften a big family lived in very close quarters. So when you finally could afford to rent a room in the city, you really had maybe only a handful of things.
Very interesting topic! :)
You're right you know. I know we have more stuff but I guess I don't really think about the extent of how much more stuff we really do have. SOOOOO many non-essentials now a days huh. Wow.
DeleteBack in the day people didn't have the internet to buy things and they would order from catalogs. Today I live by three Targets and three malls plus with all the advertisements we have the need to buy more, buy new. I struggle with finding a place for everything too, this just is beyond me how neat some people keep their houses.
ReplyDeleteYep, we're living in a consumer culture for certain. That's why no spend days are such a challenge for me. I work in a supercenter. It's just so easy to buy this or that and one other thing. I don't buy very much "stuff" anymore but you're right, keeping a home neat and tidy is ALOT more work when there's so much stuff in it.
DeleteI agree, I think that was a lot of it - there were not as many things.
ReplyDeleteThey had to work harder for things as well - not that we don't work hard, but it took longer to save up and there was honest more respect for it.
Things were made better - there was not as much plastic. Just overall, less things.
Precisely why I am downsizing.
I'm working on downsizing too. Isn't it weird though that we first got to this place of too much stuff before we realized that we don't need so much stuff. I almost blogged about that "cheaper" stuff point because that is very true. Things just don't have the quality anymore which I think is mostly because of a cultural mindset.
DeleteI think people generally would rather pay less for something and purchase another one a bit down the road (after all newer is better and there is a thrill involved with acquiring something new) than pay more for something of better quality and hold onto it for a long long time.