I don't think there's a "war on stuff" so much as there is a tendency among many people to accumulate and tend to way too much stuff: <a href="http://paulgraham.com/stuff.html" rel="nofollow">http://paulgraham.com/stuff.html</a>. And I'd include myself in that group. And the price of stuff is not just in the original acquisition cost (which may be zero); it's also in real estate needed to hold stuff and the time needed to search and sort it.<p>I've got a loose rule: if I've not used it or worn it in the last six months, it should go, no matter how much it originally cost. Some seasonal clothes and and a few tools are exempt. For books, I ask if I'm likely to re-read it, and if the answer is no, it goes. In the post-Amazon world, books are very rarely hard to re-acquire. In short, "The Possessions Exercise" is useful: <a href="https://jakeseliger.com/2010/02/13/the-possessions-exercise-according-to-geoffrey-miller" rel="nofollow">https://jakeseliger.com/2010/02/13/the-possessions-exercise-...</a>.<p><i>America had entered a time of peak stuff, when we had accumulated a mountain of disposable goods</i><p>Right.<p>It's strange to read the article and not see "cost" and "trade offs" mentioned. My guess is that we're psychologically wired for a world of limited and scarce stuff, but many of us no longer live in that world. A similar problem can be seen in our predilection for refined sugar.
At first I thought Marie Kondo hated stuff, and wanted me to be minimalist. That is absolutely wrong.<p>She doesn't mind of you have stuff. She wants you to only have stuff you enjoy. All those extra things that are like a load on you, weighing you down, get rid of <i>those.</i>
George Carlin has a pretty great comedy routine on our relationship with "stuff". <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac</a>
There is an interesting interplay between stuff and space. I'm married and have two children (3 and 18 months) and we live in a two bedroom apartment. Whether I'm justified in wanting more space or not, I really, really do want it. My wife and I talk all the time about how having more space would be nice.<p>I'm interviewing for jobs (finishing phd) and our income/cost ratio will hopefully increase, and I think we'll end up in a place with more space. But I don't have the experience to have calibrated to the exact amount of space I'll need. We'll probably overreact and be gluttons for space. Then we'll fill up the excess with stuff.<p>I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. It just feels like you want space, then you get it, then you fill it with stuff you don't want.
If she hasn't she should set-up a subsidiary recycling co. Which takes the rejected items and in turn reconditions them and cycles them back into useful items for other people, either as nonprofit or even for profit.
I have way too much stuff that I really don't care much about. For a good while it was a feeling in the back of my mind, but packing and hauling all this stuff in a recent move has made this a very clear thought.<p>Currently 'at war' ensuring the next move will require far less effort and stress.