A moment of picking up free swag at an event or a giveaway results in a lifetime of living under the chaos of clutter. Now there’s an entire industry of “decluttering” — people who make a living off of telling other people to throw away all that junk they’ve spent years picking up for free.
America’s cabinets and drawers are cluttered with unmatching plastic tumblers, fast food sauce packets, plastic spoons and knives leftover after all the forks get used up, T-shirts with brand logos, can holders and more and more.
It’s a strange phenomenon that the thrill of victory soon turns into the dread of defeat.
The victory is that exciting feeling we get when we pick up free giveaways – the more exotic, the better: candles in glass jars, plastic cups, shot glasses, little stuffed animals, flimsy-corded earphones that put static into your music, stickers, plastic sunglasses, frisbees, plastic-feeling polyester socks which make your feet sweat even while they feel cold, sharp-edged flip flops — all with some company’s logo.
The feeling of defeat is that of not having any space on your counter, stuff falling out over you as you open a cabinet, having to shove past useless junk to find a pen in the drawer, piles of stuff on the floor, a cluttered bedside table. When your home is cluttered, your mind is, too. It’s not relaxing to be at home when everywhere you turn you’re faced with the sight of some mess you’ve got to get under control.
It’s so much easier to keep it all useful and looking good when you have less stuff, and the stuff you do have matches. For example, take plastic cups. Depending on the size of your household, two or three might be the ideal amount: one you keep in the bathroom for rinsing out the tub and sink as needed, and another couple that the kids are allowed to take outside when they are playing. Other than that, the way to go is a matching set of glasses, just a few more glasses than there are people in your family (or if you use a dishwasher which holds a couple of meals’ worth of dishes at a time, then get a few more than double the amount of glasses you need).
Not only does that approach give a much tidier and more useful cabinet, but better yet, the set table looks great when the drinking glasses all match, rather than be a hodgepodge of assorted sizes and garish colors with partially faded company logos.
The hardest time of clutter is when the children are little. Clutter just explodes from them. Some of it is pieces of intentional toys, such as Legos in a set or Barbie doll clothes. Others are junk that are given to children in goodie bags by adults with good intentions.
When we were growing up, did we get bombarded with goodie bags? If we did, the items were consumables that we’d eat up fairly quickly.
However, with growing concern over avoiding junk food and candy for kids, well-meaning adults now fill gift bags with plastic and foam things from sources such as Walmart or Oriental Trading Company (if there was any benefit of Trump’s crazy tariffs, it should have been to make Oriental Trading Company too expensive to be worth it).
Since candy is becoming a no-no and non-recyclable plastic items are bad for both the environment and for a well-run household, hopefully some parents will be brave enough just to give goodie bags with useful items such as fruit and nuts — or refrain altogether.
It may take a few runs through the Trade Show or other such events to train oneself not to grab at as many free giveaways as we can. The true victory is not getting a lot of stuff the companies want you to have, but maintaining the sanctity and specialness of home by preventing tacky intrusions.
