2 interviews about leaving a house
Jul
10
Houses are very personal to many people, and often making decisions about houses and moving include strong elements of attachment (the endowment effect?) to the house and to the stuff that fills it up.
Here is a short interview with the nice people who are selling us their home about their feelings for the house:
And an interview about their feelings about getting rid of stuff:
My latest book, The Upside of Irrationality, explores some positive and some negative ways that irrationality plays out in our lives.
The accumulation of stuff is something I find is part and parcel of people who survived the Great Depression, or lived through long periods of scarcity. Then again, I suppose others horde as well.
The fact that the house is no longer practical is a bit sad. At the same time, there are more good memories to come in the new place.
It is my opinion that people have a hard time dissociating themselves from their houses (and all the stuff that fills them to overflowing) because many of us don’t look at our houses as “houses” but rather as “homes.” A home will inherently have memories and strong emotion involved.
What I find interesting, is the need to accumulate things. I admit I am a pack rat. Having just undertaken trying to sell our house, I had to come face-to-face with all my accumulations. (My husband was thrilled to see me finally purging!!) What fascinated me (and bothered me all at the same time) was the duplication of items I found while de-cluttering. Furthermore, I know that I am not alone, in the growing number of self-storage facilities that houses all of the “stuff” we can no longer store in our houses (homes?) but we cannot bear to throw away.
To those who are reluctant to throw out the acquired “junk” there are many great websites and newsgroups dedicated to “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” I’ve found it more therapeutic and easier to purge when I can give my “treasures” away to someone else rather than simply pitching it in the trash.
I found it interesting that the woman also had a pile of belongings she could not bear to throw away, but was going to bestow them upon her friends and family!
Dan,
Thanks for sharing this. I know this is really personal for both of the parties. I’m infinitely curioused about your curiosity. It really is something else, and I’m enjoying your work. Thanks for sharing
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