Stephanie Land Nostalgia

Many people are not happy with the things they own because it is “too much” of they have and it is not worth keeping it. However, they have spent money on it therefore, they cannot throw it out easily or they could have stored memories within it. Similarly, in the article “The Class Politics of Decluttering” by Stephanie Land, published on July 18, 2016, suggests how Marie Kondo’s tidying up methods do not give joy. Land explains how throwing away things make you sad because they are not only the things which require space, but the memories that you have created with them. Land defines nostalgia as a sad emotion because she has to throw away her stuff to have enough space in her house. Therefore, she cannot keep all these things even though

Kondo’s ideas forces people to lose their connection from past because people are tidying up their houses. However, they may not realize that these are nostalgic and they have memories from the past. Land writes, “My stuff wasn’t just stuff, but a reminder that I had a foundation of support of people who had loved me growing up: a painting I’d done as a child that my mom had carefully framed and hung in our house, a set of antique Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls my ferret once chewed an eye out of when I was 15, artwork my mom had collected over the decade we lived in Alaska” (1). The quote shows how her stuff was not only her stuff, but she had her experiences in them, her life lessons which help her to do better in life and memories with people who she grew up with. Kondo’s methods would define this as owning “too much” of stuff, therefore, it does not bring joy. However, Land shows how her paintings, dolls and artworks bring nostalgia to her. Land shows how her relationship with the past is pure happiness, but her helplessness forces her to distance herself from her stuff. Kondo’s ideas fail to show that “too much” stuff cannot bring joy because Land shows how her stuff has values and bring her joy. Therefore, Kondo’s ideas complicate the feeling of nostalgia because if people follow her methods and throw away things, they would lose all of their memories and experience whereas Land shows

However, many people do not believe her ideas and methods because not everyone can afford everything. Many people have to put a limit on their spendings and many have to keep an eye on sales and deals in the store to buy affordable things. Kondo’s methods forces people to tidying up things, but some may have memories with it or experiences. However, her methods are shown as if people own too much stuff and those things do not bring joy. Therefore, Kondo’s ideas make people to lose their contacts with their past and make people sad about nostalgia. Land shows how all of her stuff had values to her and how the things taught her something in the past, which help her now to overcome a challenge or just to feel happy about all the things she has done it in the past. After all, most of the stuff people own is supposed to make nostalgic and how it makes people joyful. Also, whenever people go through their stuff, they relive their life and enjoy their past with their loved ones or they can show it to the new generation. Instead of throwing away, they should keep them and feel nostalgia and feel happy about the things they have done in the life. People should always learn from their past, therefore, keeping things will help them more to remind them not to repeat same