Minimalism, Stuff, and Brains

Reading the comments on my post on junk I was surprised to see the extent to which people's relation to rarely used possessions varies. Some people forget rarely used possessions, and get minimal benefit from having them stored. When they need something, they don't know whether they already have it, and the effort to maintain an index [1] wouldn't be worth it. Ben writes: I end up with curtains I don't need. I decide to store them for the future in case they are helpful. Years pass. I need new curtains. I have forgotten the ones I kept, so I buy new ones and put them up. Months later I find the ones I kept while looking for something else. Other people know exactly where everything is, and can walk down to the basement and make a beeline for a tiny thing they put down there years ago. Sarah writes: I can remember where I put a specific doohickey that my brain labeled as "this could be useful" years later with very little recall effort; something will come up that actually matches the…

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