Do you keep things that might spark future joy?

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up has been on my must-read list for a while. In it, Marie Kondo says we should ask ourselves a single question when deciding what to keep:

Does this spark joy?

As we prepare the nursery for the baby’s arrival, I’ve been itching for another big spring cleaning. The nursery was our dining room, and we use it to store stuff that doesn’t fit in our tiny, 1920s closets. In the room, we have a big storage cabinet, two bookcases, a dresser, and a new dresser/changing table for the baby. And we just added a crib!

These pieces of furniture hold all kinds of things, from cleaning products to ski gear to liquor cabinet to family heirlooms passed down from grandparents and great grandparents (think quilts and silver… things we won’t exactly put to use but tie us to generations past).

So, as I’m trying to think about how to clear out space in that room, my question to YOU is this:

What do you do with things that you think might spark future joy?

For me, the family heirlooms fall into this category. Right now, they’re sitting in cabinets and drawers gathering dust. But if we one day have a bigger home, perhaps we’ll display my great grandmother’s handmade quilt on a wall in a guest room. Or maybe we’ll put out the silver coffee and tea serving set from my grandparents in our dining room.

These are the things I struggle most with.

I don’t want to store things that I may never use, or even take out of the cabinet. That doesn’t bring me joy. It feels like a burden.

But it seems rash to make such a permanent decision based on our current situation. I see our small apartment as a temporary stop before we eventually have a larger home, or at least a home with more storage. And, later on down the road, I don’t want to regret a choice I’ve made simply because it was best for me at this particular stage of my life. As a result, I feel like I should keep these things for my future self, for the future joy they might spark. But the minimalist in me struggles with that conclusion.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you hold onto things that you think you might want someday in the future, even if doing so feels like a burden right now?

(Photo credit: David Jubert, Flickr)

Minimalism, baby

I’ve been wanting to read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up for some time now. The author argues that we should be asking ourselves a very specific question as we consider what items we should keep in our home:

Does it spark joy?

I have to admit — in our tiny apartment, so many things do not spark joy for me. I have work to do. A lot of work! But let’s start with something manageable, yes? As we are preparing to welcome our first baby into this crazy world, I find myself contending with all the stuff.

There seem to be two camps — the “newborns don’t need much more than a place to sleep, some diapers, and a few changes of clothes”, and what I’ll call the Baby Industrial Complex. The latter tries to lure you into buying all the stuff with horror stories of babes calmed only by this special product (costing just one arm and one leg, and taking up a sizable fraction of the nursery floor space). I think the truth is somewhere in between. Newborns do actually need some stuff.

It’s in my nature to minimize what we get. I don’t want all the stuff. And yet… our list is growing and looking more like what I once thought to be so ridiculous. Watching it grow makes me decidedly unhappy. I find myself considering things that I don’t want, simply because others insist so strongly that they are life savers:

• A mechanical swing (“It was the only thing that calmed our crying baby.”)
• A stroller frame, or wheels for your car seat (“Taking the baby out of the car seat and into a carrier is sure to wake him up.”)
• A breastfeeding pillow (“The baby will latch and feed better, and your nipples won’t be so sore.”)
• Sophie la Giraffe (“Babies adore Sophie.”)
• A video monitor (“You will have so much more peace of mind being able to see in the crib without walking in and risking waking the baby.”)
• An activity gym (“Bright colors and different textures are important for developmental growth.”)
• A baby towel (“Babies can get cold very easily, and the hood helps them stay warm.”)
• A diaper bag (“They’re designed to easily organize baby’s necessities like diapers, wipes, changing pads — and who wants to be digging around with one hand trying to find something when baby needs you?”)
• A pack-n-play (“You will need this when you go to Grandma’s house.”)
• A stroller (“You could use a carrier, but your back might ache on longer walks, and your baby might not like being in a carrier.”)

Sure, we could do without all of these things, and I yearn to simplify, but is this the right time? Or is this the time to make things as easy as possible on ourselves, given how many challenges already await us in the coming months?

What do you think — should we get all the stuff? Even if it does not spark joy? How do you handle this balancing act? Happiness via minimalism, or happiness via convenience?