I Should Have Stayed a Hoarder
PROCESS, PLEASURE, INTERIORITY, HAPPINESS AND DYING AGAIN
2024 was a big year for “underconsumption”. Although #underconsumption only has 28.1k tags on TikTok, it swept the headlines of PBS, The Cut, Forbes, CNN, Fortune, and more. We concluded the year with Emma Chamberlain “getting rid of (almost) everything” to the tune of 3.2 million views.
Decluttering, a common practice in underconsumption and minimalist content, was once a humble task reserved for an unruly sock drawer or outgrowing a pair of jeans. This satisfying act of subtracting is ripe for viewing, begetting a slew of questions and dogmas about what to declutter and when, catalyzing meta-consumption in which people become obsessed with tracking, monitoring, and organizing their consumption (which I do enjoy…as a treat…), or ending in regret once the cleanout dopamine fades.
In peak no-buy season where decluttering becomes a main event, this letter explores a reality in which getting rid of your things is not an option.
LA, I’m thinking of you in this unrelenting devastation. If you’re able, consider joining me in donating to Altadena Girls, which provides resources to teens who have lost everything.
I’m not going to pioneer a term like “item-neutrality” as we've reached the apex of “theories” and “movements”, but it’s a worthwhile mantra in the trenches of buy/discard cycle temptation. Sometimes doing the crossword in D&D jag undies is a spiritual experience; an eclectic, heavenly cotton escape I crave at the end of a long day clacking on frozen sidewalks in pointy boots…and sometimes it’s just cotton underwear. I have been God’s Very Inspiration for Womankind in a silk dress one night, only to be Ugliest Woman Alive Unsalvageable Even By Bias Cut Dress the next.
In a world in which “selling is as easy as shopping” (Croissant’s motto), is decluttering really the stress-relieving, circular practice it once was? Just yesterday, Business of Fashion reported on the out-of-control piles of unwanted clothing donations overwhelming resource distribution centers in the wake of the Los Angeles fires.
Is it possible that decluttering has devolved into a way to exercise control or run away from our lives. For a moment, an inability to radiate joy is a fireable offense. You can curate yourself into an existence unburdened from the chaos and uncertainty of reality…until you forget and buy again. And don’t worry, thanks to our culture of convenience and disposability, when you realize you’ve made a mistake in reactively decluttering, you can always buy something worse with same-day shipping <3 I would know, because I let myself fall down the reactive headspace to closet sale to regret to another purchase pipeline too many times.
Who stands to gain from aggressively popularizing decluttering? It’s no surprise contemporary brands want us to buy current season product, but even Marie Kondo released a line of organizational products following the success of her show. Emerging fashion tech platforms like Croissant and Future Reference rely on the accelerated pace of decluttering for their marketing. The Real Real, albeit a secondhand platform I treasure, texts me about every 21 days asking if I’m ready to clean out my closet again. I wouldn’t be “so lucky” to find near-new $138 last season Manolos on TRR if we weren’t decluttering shoes we purchased only two months ago.
What would it look like to remove decluttering from the equation entirely?
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