Monday, March 09, 2009

Brooklyn: a Study in Minimalism

This past weekend we moved Christopher into his apartment in Brooklyn. It's a small studio, rented to us by a very nice musician who is on tour for the next 3 months.

The apartment is the perfect size for Christopher and has a comfortable amount of space for a week's worth of clothes, frozen food from BJ's (Costco-equivalent), and the Xbox + games. But moving in there it really made us think about all the "stuff" we have back home. From ski/golf equipment stashed in our attic, to bookshelves filled with paperbacks, and textbooks from our student days. We have even gotten into the habit of buying things like shampoo & deodorant in multiple quantities from Amazon for cost savings

But this suburban style of living - where we can park our car steps from our front door, and we think nothing of buying 4 cases of soda when it's on sale, along with buying jumbo packs of paper towel & toilet paper is definitely not conducive to city living - especially in NYC.

I find it pretty cleansing to have a clean space. Sometimes when I go into our attic and am surrounded by all the clutter it makes my pulse race. And I know that my closet is definitely in need of a good spring cleaning. But when I think about giving/throwing away my stuff, I can't help but feel a little protective... What is it about "stuff", especially the stuff we don't use, that we're so attached to?

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