View Full Version : My basket collection
While doing my vacuuming, I took note of the excess of baskets I have in my spare room and I did a quick count around the house and found I have appx 45 baskets in the house. Most are small and about 15 of them are in use at the moment. That leaves about 30 baskets just sitting around. I gathered up the 3 least appealing small ones and a large one that takes up too much space without providing much storage and loaded them up in my car. I also loaded up about a dozen other things I noticed sitting around not being used.
The thing that strikes me though, is that the last 5 years or so I've had to make a concerted effort to not buy any baskets, no matter how appealing they are. At first it was tough. I mainly shop at places like Ross and Target and they often have very pretty woven baskets for cheap. And the styles keep rotating so that they always seem 'new' and therefore very enticing. I've had to resist the real urge to buy them, even though I know I don't need them. How many more would I have if I hadn't forced myself to walk away empty handed?
What does it say about our culture, and ourselves, that we are so easily seduced by these newer (and presumably better) versions of things we already own to excess? How does this minor difference in looks cause us to override our rational mind (which knows we don't have any need or use for these things) and tap into a primal desire to acquire without thinking of the consequences?
I have the space to store and display the remaining small baskets in an attractive way, and that's probably what I'll do. But what's that about? What purpose does that serve? Is our desire to acquire and consume things just an empty substitute for real meaning and purpose in our lives?
What are these things a substitute for?
In Marie Kondo's books, she recommends natural materials for storage so this might be perfect.
It is sooo easy to shop. I find that even my super simple, small apartment gets filled up easily. My son is getting more into plants, I love them but I had to move books and see how many I have after giving away my whole Stephen King collection to my daughter.
I would give all the gifts I usually give throughout the year in the baskets, you can add cloth napkins to a food basket gift or a baby blanket to put over a baby gift. They could also be donated, but that is my idea. I keep pretty baskets and boxes and use them to give gifts in.
rosarugosa
8-23-16, 4:27am
My Mom downsized her basket collection by using them for gifts. I guess you could consider them reusable alternatives to wrapping paper. I've done the same, but never amassed too large of a collection of baskets (but vases are another story!)
It is indeed so easy to shop and then to cross the line from putting together a nice collection to having WAY too many of whatever.
I've found in the past that I had a tendency to over-buy accessories when I needed something major done to my house that I didn't have the resources to complete, e.g. buying throw pillows because we needed a new floor in the living room. It was relatively cheap and easy to buy the pillows. As our house has progressed, this tendency has diminished, so I think it was kind of substitute shopping. I think we women especially tend to use shopping as a substitute for all kinds of things.
I stay out of stores unless I have something I need. Then I go buy that something and then I stay away again.
People go into stores not knowing what they want. So of course they buy things they don't need.
This is easy for me because I hate shopping. :)
I can use them as gifts, but the real issue for me is that I won't want to because I'll want to keep them. I was really trying to get to the psych of why we want to hold onto such an excess of the same thing. One pretty basket - sure, makes sense. 40 pretty baskets not that different from each other? That doesn't make sense to me. There seems to be some pathology there that needs some examination. If each basket was an average of $15, that means I have $600 or more worth of baskets in the house just sitting around. Crazy. Even crazier is that when I see new baskets at the store I want to buy them.
I was doing some web searching on the subject and most research is focused on how a materialistic and consumer driven lifestyle affects us, but very little research on what drives it, other than the obvious (very powerful) advertising industry plus cultural focus and pressure. The one article I read about causality theorized that insecurity is the driving force behind a compulsion to shop and amass large quantities of consumer goods. Worth thinking about.
Rosarugosa - I've done the same thing with throw pillows! Right now my sectional is looking ragged from the pets and I know I can't replace it till they get older so I'm using pillows and blankets to manage the situation. But at least in that instance, there's a logic to it. :)
In this case, the KonMari method does help because it's easy to dismiss one or two baskets here and there, but when you put all of them together in one spot and take a hard look at what you're doing, it really drives the point home.
Chicken lady
8-23-16, 11:32am
Well, I'm the enabler who is going to say - if you enjoy the baskets and you have room to store/display/use them, then go ahead and collect baskets. Even if they're "not that different" there is clearly some significant difference to you, or it would be easy to downsize the duplicates.
do you have a place you can pack the extras away and then periodically "shop your stash" to change them out and feel like you have new baskets? I love seasonal stuff. I like to dust/wash/whatever is needed, the stuff that is out, pack it away, clean the surfaces, and put out the new stuff - it makes my space feel new and fresh.
the trick is doing the whole job before dh comes home because otherwise he argues for keeping the stripped down version.
ApatheticNoMore
8-23-16, 1:00pm
I don't think "stay out of stores" does much good in 2016 when people do much of their shopping online anyway, maybe "stay out of virtual stores" is the updated version, and probably does work.
I was doing some web searching on the subject and most research is focused on how a materialistic and consumer driven lifestyle affects us, but very little research on what drives it, other than the obvious (very powerful) advertising industry plus cultural focus and pressure. The one article I read about causality theorized that insecurity is the driving force behind a compulsion to shop and amass large quantities of consumer goods. Worth thinking about.
I think sometimes when I think an item is rare (not worth a fortune necessarily, that's seldom the case, but not so easy to come by), I want to collect it, because if I don't get it now, I may not be able to get it latter. And the truth is I like rare and unusual things which is what drives me to seek them out initially and then I want more. Sometimes shopping might be for the addictive potential, or really most people lack a decent addiction that they can throw themselves into when life becomes overwhelming (marijuana might work for some), and shopping is one addiction for this (it's not a very effective one, but hey at least you don't gain weight as you would with food etc.). I wonder whether life without addictive (ie transcendent, ie ability to escape the rut) potential even makes sense. Also you put in so much to earn money there is a fervent wish to think it buys more than survival (as in: at least it buys nice things) but even the nice things may be fairly meaningless in the scheme of things, so no all the effort is just for survival if one is more honest about it. Also sometimes I think: ok what if I earn less in the future (I even interviewed for a job paying 15k less - that's serious - I didn't get it anyway), I will be glad to have stocked up on nice things when I earned more or something since my income isn't going to allow the purchase of them then.
While doing my vacuuming, I took note of the excess of baskets I have in my spare room and I did a quick count around the house and found I have appx 45 baskets in the house. Most are small and about 15 of them are in use at the moment. That leaves about 30 baskets just sitting around. I gathered up the 3 least appealing small ones and a large one that takes up too much space without providing much storage and loaded them up in my car. I also loaded up about a dozen other things I noticed sitting around not being used.
The thing that strikes me though, is that the last 5 years or so I've had to make a concerted effort to not buy any baskets, no matter how appealing they are. At first it was tough. I mainly shop at places like Ross and Target and they often have very pretty woven baskets for cheap. And the styles keep rotating so that they always seem 'new' and therefore very enticing. I've had to resist the real urge to buy them, even though I know I don't need them. How many more would I have if I hadn't forced myself to walk away empty handed?
What does it say about our culture, and ourselves, that we are so easily seduced by these newer (and presumably better) versions of things we already own to excess? How does this minor difference in looks cause us to override our rational mind (which knows we don't have any need or use for these things) and tap into a primal desire to acquire without thinking of the consequences?
I have the space to store and display the remaining small baskets in an attractive way, and that's probably what I'll do. But what's that about? What purpose does that serve? Is our desire to acquire and consume things just an empty substitute for real meaning and purpose in our lives?
What are these things a substitute for?
I think you've discovered your gazingus pin!
I dislike internet shipping just as much. Ha!
I really find delight in living as simply and minimally as possible, while having my needs met and enjoying my life. My only spendy thing is books. Someday I should add up what I've spent at Amazon on my ebook collection. However, I have read every single one .... At the rate of 3-4 a month for years.
iris lilies
8-23-16, 4:25pm
I dislike internet shipping just as much. Ha!
I really find delight in living as simply and minimally as possible, while having my needs met and enjoying my life. My only spendy thing is books. Someday I should add up what I've spent at Amazon on my ebook collection. However, I have read every single one .... At the rate of 3-4 a month for years.
Good lord,it is so Easy to buy ebooks on Amazon it may do me in. I have purchased many I would not ever buy in print form. I dont like physical books sitting around other than my collection of illustrated children's books. But yeah, we do have a few hundred volumes despite my strong "no book buying" stance. Our home library is on the third floor and I seldm go up there. we have just a few books in our downstairs bookshelves and thats where I place Library books, an ever changing small collection.
But with ebooks, when I saw a title I wanted to read and the wait list was long at the Library, I bought them with two clicks. I like always having a couple of long juicy novels to delve into, when I am ready. Ive got a few short novels that were cheap and should be good, and then Ive got the typical amateur titles that are cheap and not especially compelling.
I love real books and don't have a ereader and my old computer won't let me download books.
You can't read an ereader in the bathroom while you are having a long soak anyway.
My library is doing a lot of the downloadable books now but most people don't have the money for every piece of technology on the market.
I gathered all the baskets and stacked them to fit in the three long shelves. And I am so embarrassed. It looks like some kind of inventory overstock. I'm thinking of leaving it there and being embarrassed every time I walk by - it's right across my bedroom door so I'll see it a lot.
Some of the baskets were purchased to use on my kitchen island which has two metal shelves for such things but the baskets scratched the heck out of the metal and I had to remove them. I've also found that they scratch most wood furniture so I have to be careful where I use them. Duped by pretty magazine pictures.
Anyway, maybe this will cure me of my gazingus pin. One can hope. :|(
rosarugosa
8-23-16, 7:00pm
Geila: As another enabler, I'll tell you that you can put those little felt stick-on surface protectors on the bottom.
I use the kindle app on my iPhone and I've read in the bathtub. Just don't wanna drop your phone ... 😄
My other problem is allergies to dander and dust. I've run into used books and library book both causing me to wheeze and itch. So I've decided that there is one thing in my life that I will spend money on and that's ebooks.
Oh! I discovered that if I trust someone with my login and password, they can read my books on their own device using the kindle app at no additional cost. So my son has read lots of my books.
Apathetic No More--your thinking resonates with me; makes perfect sense.
I made the mistake :~) of subscribing to BookBub, and now I get a daily rundown of ebooks available for minimal or no charge. So I have over a hundred waiting to be read. Having "too many" ebooks is not what I consider a problem, though. Currently, I'm re-reading an oldie--Lloyd Biggle's Watchers of the Dark , which I read so many years ago, it's all new to me. If a book comes up that seems interesting but over-priced, I just order it from the library. I still have plenty of "real" books--mostly richly-illustrated art/craft instruction books, and a few children's titles like Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase, and Jan Brett's books. And some cookbooks. Ebooks don't readily lend themselves to flipping back and forth, so my collection is mostly comprised of novels.
I am still using a minute phone! I have to upgrade in the next few weeks from 2g to 3 or 4 g because 2g is becoming obsolete in my neck of the woods. Of course this is a scam because you don't get to keep your double minutes from the old phone and many folks have serious issues transferring their minutes to the new phone.
Geila: As another enabler, I'll tell you that you can put those little felt stick-on surface protectors on the bottom.
I never thought to do this! Thanks rosarugosa! Ok, I might be able to make some of these functional again. That would be good.
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