Surplus

I was charmed when I saw a post on Chairs and Buildings about a Yale design student, Benjamin Critton, who for 100 days will be putting objects that he owns up for sale. This is his mission:

DAY IN, DAY OUT: A Workshop in 100 Parts
November 18, 2009 - February 25, 2010

"Looking around my home; identifying unused, underused, inessential or redundant objects; collecting and curating a selection of one hundred (100) of these objects; assigning them a dollar value; making one of them available for sale every day for one hundred (100) days."

My husband and I have spent the last three months or so seriously clearing out our loft in New York. I can now vacuum under any bed in the apartment without hitting some kind of storage obstacle, and the feeling is beyond gratifying. This weekend, I just finished reorganizing my girls’ toy bins and I got rid of the old to make space for the new. In our office, we have been editing and purging too (but mainly because we have a camera crew coming in to film and we need to look good.) If you dont feel as motivated as I am, I would suggest watching an episode or two of A&E’s Hoarders. I guarantee that watching this will set the purging wheels in motion immediately since we all have a little hoarder in us somewhere.

Let’s keep in mind that however merry this holiday season is (and I plan on making mine super merry this year) a dangerous time of year where consumption is at its highest. Lets face it, eventually a lot of the stuff we give or receive may well end up in the garage sale pile or surplus website somewhere down the road.