13 Comments
User's avatar
TBoy's avatar

Every time I see these dumpsters I get sad. I start to think about where it all goes … how did we become so needy of so much stuff? And then we expect that someone will just take it away to the trash when we’re done with it..

Stephen's avatar

I agree. Our society is so wasteful and built way too much around consumption.

lex πŸ’Œ's avatar

Tell your possibly dead neighbor that I said thank you, too! For this piece and for my new found inspo to declutter my entire apartment

Stephen's avatar

Better to do it bit by bit, those dumpsters can not be cheap!

Gen πŸ‚'s avatar

Oh America :)

Stephen's avatar

Land of the free, home of the clutter

Gen πŸ‚'s avatar

Haha 🀐

PeachySunday's avatar

Nice article! I enjoyed how you transitioned from the anecdote about your neighbor, into how it applied to your life and made you think. There's definitely something to be said for having a clean space. I've heard it called the "golf course effect" Something about having things uncluttered on the outside gives a serene feeling on the inside.

Stephen's avatar

I definitely feel less stressed whenever I've given my place a good cleaning. Very stressed while doing the cleaning though... You have to wonder where is the sweet spot?

Jasmine Carlson's avatar

I recently decluttered my closet and that sparked joy for me! I'm glad your kitchen drawers got cleaned out. Thank god for your neighbor or else they might have stayed like that forever haha

Rion Ashley's avatar

Yet again, I find this super relatable! I've always called myself an organized pack-rat, because while my house is fairly tidy, I'm an expert at stacking and keeping things in boxes stored under beds and closets (or worse, the attic! you don't want to go up there!) But slowly over the last handful of years, I've really been working on reevaluating my things, deciding which to let go of, which to keep etc. My husband is not a keeper of things, very few things he keeps, photographs etc (similar to you) while I, must have it all haha it's a slow progression, but I'll get there!

Stephen's avatar

I can totally understand the impulse to keep things. I'm sure there is a joy in rediscovering something you haven't seen for a while. The only problem for me is I get that same level of joy from throwing stuff away! πŸ˜‚

Thanks for reading! I'm glad you were also able to take something away from me creeping on me neighbors.

User's avatar
Comment removed
Jan 17
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Stephen's avatar

It's definitely weird that witnessing others chaos can bring us to such a realization! Thanks for reading