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Comment by cobookman | Hacker News Reader

+1. Noticed this trend as well

This coincides with Marie Kondo's arrival

Could you provide some context? Why is she important for US incomes? Arrival of what kind? Where from / to?

It was humor. She advocates asking whether or not an object "brings you joy" before deciding whether or not to buy or keep it. A very popular person on the topic of keeping your home organized.

Millenials generally speaking are broke, inundated with loans, and the resulting zeitgeist is antimaterialism. Marie Kondo’s popularity is a symptom of this trend. People don’t want to buy crap anymore.

That’s why instagram is full of travel pictures not of “I bought a house/car/etc” pictures. Us millenials don’t see possessions as a status symbol anymore but almost as a liability.

The classic embodiment of this was A Twitter trend months ago of people posting pics of the "room of couches you aren't allowed to sit on" in their parents houses, or "cupboard full of dishes we never used."

was the "room of couches..." trend immediately after an episode of The Goldebergs aired with exactly that scenario? (except the 80's version)

also the "stuff we never use" is probably mostly just parents fed up with their kids breaking stuff just by looking at it and they'd like to emerge from parenthood with at least some sentimental items still intact. (source: a parent with 7 and 2 y/o energetic, clumsy boys who I'd very much love to share my own personal memories with lest they be destroyed on contact with one of the whirlwinds of destruction...)

This is so very true. I've got an 8- and 6-year old, and we've resorted to using mostly disposable Ikea furniture because it's a lost cause. Even so, in a few years I'm going to have to do a light remodel of the house to fix all the damage.

Anecdotal counterpoint: my friends and I are slowly being given all that stuff we weren't allowed to touch, by our parents who preserved it to "pass it down"....and it's mostly stuff we have no space or need for. A china set? Antique clock? None of us wants it.

That I get. I have no desire to keep my parents crap but I also don't want my kids destroying my stuff while I can still enjoy it. There is no expectation for them to "inherit" it just respect that I want to keep it. If they actually want any of it great but I'm not forcing anything on them

Would make a good South Park episode

Wasn't that basically the episode about the 2008 economic crash, where Randy leads the town in a drive towards simplicity by wearing sheets and such?

Her book has been out since 2014, I couldn't stomach the show it was too "cute" and slow paced. Book is excellent though.

I think her show is the most viral thing I've heard people talking about at work (and my wife's work) since GOT

But the meme lasted for a few weeks tops. I never hear people reference the “does it bring you joy” thing anymore.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears :-D

She applied a basic rule for which I buy anything that isn't essential. It might seem like a dumb rule, but discovering that buying stuff doesn't make you happy, and finding a way to break the buying stuff addiction, is really fantastic to me, especially because I believe that contentment and happiness are essential measures of economic success.

I hope it spreads quickly. I think it will help a lot of people who own too much stuff, and find themselves exhausted due to it.

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