Is American lifestyle maxed-out?

Posted by Mrs Zeee on 04/30/2009

With all that’s been going on during this economic crisis, I have been thinking: As an American culture, are we over the age of excessive living?

Are we about ready to dial it back to a simpler lifestyle with less “stuff” to clutter our homes and heads?  Will all of our electronic conveniences promote more simplification, or will it just nurture chaos?

For example, I think about the house I live in…it’s a 1200 sq ft colonial built in the early 1920’s. When my home was built, the hardship of The Great War was fresh in the heads of the new homeowners, Prohibition was in full effect and the Great Depression was long from rearing its ugly head.

How did the original homeowners furnish the house? Was it minimalistic or cluttered?  What was their version of the lazyboy or california king? 

Today, American made furniture has become rather large (I guess you can blame McDonald’s, ultimately) and space restrictions are an issue every time we try to buy something new to fit into this home.. I had to have a custom couch made, I had to buy one of the thinnest refrigerators on the market and I had to disassemble all of the bedroom furniture in order to get it upstairs. 

The room I call a living room/TV room was originally referred to as a parlor; television was not yet a household item. In fact, the patent for television wasn’t secured until 1927. The first homeowners probably used to sit in the parlor, maybe around the fireplace, and hold conversation as part of their nightly routine. Almost a century later, my husband and I sit in front of the flat screen and take turns holding the popcorn and the remote control. 

The baby’s nursery is considered a bedroom, meanwhile all I can fit in there is a crib, a chair and a changing stand with no space to walk. Granted, it’s a fancy sleigh crib and a glider chair that hits the wall every time I lean back, but you get the point. I am pretty sure that 9 decades ago all baby needed was a standard crib and a rocking chair.  The greater generation is laughing at us and all of our baby gear, I just know  it…

Also, I can barely fit my large SUV in the space we call a driveway.  Did the original owners even have a car? I think about it all the time. 

I know they didn’t have AC units in their windows, elliptical machines in their sun room or a massive TV mounted over the mantle piece. How did they ever survive? Sometimes I dream of tossing it all away and just living off of a few select pieces and my lovely hardwood floors as I imagine the first homeowners did…but life has become too convenient for that. Evidently we can’t live without forced air, forced exercise and forced entertainment.

Thinking more about this home, I often wonder how long we as a family will live here. Is this tiny spot a good enough nesting place for 2 or maybe 3 children? We don’t have all of the modern spaces that other households have: playroom, garage, laundry room, office, etc… Where will we put all of the toys, sports equipment, projects,  computer “stuff”…?

Should our goal be to move to another, larger home when the time comes? Although it’s an attractive option (and may be necessary in time), my heart says otherwise. I feel like no matter what the space allowance, we’ll find a way to fill it with junk unless we make a major lifestyle change: back to basics.

Maybe it will be a good lesson for my family to learn to live with less or at the very least, be practical about what to hold on to. An even better lesson would be the importance of using that parlor for its original purpose.

Since the 1920’s our culture has experienced a sonic boom of want over need as more and more products flood the marketplace. It’s time to step back and reassess. It may just be the answer to surviving this historic recession.

Growing up in a small house means less space but it may also mean less to clutter our lives. We’ll be forced to be deliberate about what we own and how we use it. We may even have more conversations… and better arguments…and greater memories and closer relationships to bond us overall…

In my book, that’s all the good “stuff.”