I have moved to a flat, after selling a six bedroom Edwardian terrace house. Gone is the luxury of the sheer number of rooms, the study, the library, the dining room, the breakfast room, the sitting room, the drawing room, etc.
It was not as grand as it sounds, just a shabby old house, full of possibilities.
But it has gone.
Now I have to start again, and owning too much stuff seems very wrong. It is not just the news of the last few weeks, but a horror at how different our lifestyles are from most of our neighbours.
We have the luxury of looking at our habits not as necessity, but as 'lifestyle' choice. Damn the politics, but absurd over consumption, and an addiction to expensive toys, seems destructive beyond belief. I am posting this in off-topic knowledge, because I would rather a practical debate might begin. How to avoid the normal traps, and how to re-cycle, or give away the excess that our luck and money has enabled us to accumulate.
If this post has to be moved, then I will go with it, but I really don't want a big contentious argument , but a decent discussion about things that I would prefer to be liberating, some constructive suggestions, i.e practical strategies for people who have the option to avoid the consumerist rubbish, get rid of stuff, save some money, and hopefully send out a message.