Clutter is Good!
(Don't Fall for the Kondo Doctrine)
From The Guardian:
«Clutter gets a bad rap, but in a world where we’re told to optimize and streamline everything, its chaos feels stubbornly human. I think clutter, when done right, can be the clearest sign of a life being well lived. It shows that someone has character, taste and experiences they have grown from. I love seeing homes that look like people actually live in them.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/05/the-hill-i-will-die-on-clutter-house-is-good
On a personal note, our house is filled with art, rare books, framed photos, objets d’art, reproductions and various other memorabilia (plus gifts) from decades of travel across the U.S., Canada, Israel and Western Europe. We have culled things once or twice, but everything on the walls and shelves brings back wonderful memories. Why would I want to savage my past?
A typical corner in my study: Some of my many WWII books on one shelf, above them from left to right, a globe my spouse gave me when I was traveling to Europe; the Robin Hood cup I drink milk from as a very little kid; an inspirational quote from my mentor when my writing career was looking grim; a statuette that my mother loved and reminds me of her joyous laugh; a photo of her in the 1950s.
And another below. From right to left, my writing mentor in Henry James’s garden at Rye sometime in the late 70s; the gift she sent everyone on her Christmas gift list the year she recovered from brain surgery in the 90s when I urged her to simplify her list; and one of the marble bookends my girlfriend gave me in 1975:
Empty rooms, empty lives...
When the Kondo book first came out, I read it but I know I'd never be able to follow it. As I look around my "library," filled with books, notes, hard drives, cameras, folk art collected during my travels, my father's old files, I'm glad to think of them not as clutter but as records of my well-lived life. Still, it would be nice to be able to sit in one of the chairs without having to move piles of stuff. ;-))