I recently had occasion to review an old website (Home-Museum.com) I used when I was designing and making display items for museums and collectors. I found some interesting stuff that might be stirred THE ZEN OF BANANA BOXES. It is about collecting as a hobby and touches on collecting -hoarding actually- when it becomes mentally challenging if not dibilitating. The hobby of accumulating a single category of interesting items is still accumulating. Not very ZEN.
Permit me to toot me’ own horn just a little. On reviewing some writing I posted 20 years ago, I conclude it’s some good stuff. There are a wealth of articles on collecting at…
http://www.home-museum.com/howto/how-to-contents.html
...and a shallow dive into the psychology of four differentlevels of collecting at…
http://www.home-museum.com/howto/HowToArts/Psychology/psychology.htm
Here begins the practical portion of the banana box thing. (I will revisit the Zen part anon.) This is to say, here is some HOW-TO and this sort of thign takes more words and some pixtures. Take what you like and find useful, Ignore the rest.
BANANA BLOG #A TOTES
Slightly more complicated than banana-luggage, these are only slightly at more so for the simplest kind, and well within the capabilities of a moderately handy person. If you aren’t handy but willing to learn, these are a good way to nail down some skills -and do so more or less free. No doubt the first one you make will be less than the last one, and just maybe you will find yourself making a few. You may even find yourself making totes for friends and family.
BANANA BLOG BLOG #16
I have just dipped my toe into using AI to write books. I am concerned that there is a lot of AI content out there, but it seems people -at least the early adopters- are making money off books that the machine writes. I watched one Youtube where in a chap ‘wrote’ a 130 page book on de-clutering in literally 19 minutes and one second. Some of this time was spent in explaining how he did it.
So I signed up for the free version and asked for title suggestions with my admittedly fuzzy mission to avoid clutter in the first place; it will essentially be an anti consumerism rant. Much to learn in this direction, but I think I see value in AI, if only to help me come up with ideas to research and flesh out. The app burped up a list and I selected the ones that I thought might be worthwhile.
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Minimalist living: reducing clutter by not bring stuff home in the first place. for financial savings
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Thrifting: finding unique items at second-hand stores
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Sustainable living: eco-friendly choices that save money
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Budgeting: tools and techniques for effective financial management
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Understanding the psychology of consumerism and its impact on spending habits
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Financial independence: strategies for achieving long-term savings goals.
PS. The pix is their cute little robot logo you push instead of Enter.
BANANA BLOG #15 and a Half
You will need to check your banana luggage and so there will need to be a little tag with your destination abbreviated attached. OK -rules is rules. Loop a piece of rope or cord in thru the handle hole and out thru the top outside of the Kraft paper. Tie a stout knot but watch whomever does the tag thing. You may need to explain to them how rope works. Always remember that there a lot of people for whom thinking means doing whatever is easiest at the moment. Your socks and undies etc. may end up in a warehouse for orphan luggage in Topeka. Or where ever luggage goes to die.
BANANA BLOG #15: BANANA BOX LUGGAGE
Make sure there is no banana goo in the bottom of the box, fold the Kraft paper into thirds making sure to fold inward the stained or sticky side. Put this paper into the bottom and pack it full. If you are fussy, involve some manner of plastic bags. Take another Kraft paper thing from a different box and fold it up like the first and put in on top of your stuff. Cram on the top and tape it closed. Now don’t be stingy with the tape. Scrawl your name and address with a fat marker and head off to the airport. Check your luggage with the assurance the baggage handlers will not be able to to destroy it no matter how contemptuously they toss it around. If you are traveling thru an especially snooty airport, you may get some odd looks. Once I had to go to the Where-the-Fuck-is My-Luggage counter to collect it, but only once. It didn’t look Samsonite enough so some little pea-brain airport functionary got in a frightful twist.
BTW, don’t show up at the gate with your banana box and claim it’s carry on. Official dimensions are 22 in x 14 in x 9 in (56 cm x 36 cm x 23 cm). A banana box is very close, but it’s too wide at 15 inches. Some airlines claim to be a little more lenient. It depends on what kind of mood the Gate Nazis are in that day.
https://www.google.com/search?q=airlin+luggage+handelers&oq=airlin+luggage+handelers&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yCAgCEAAYFhgeMggIAxAAGBYYHjIICAQQABgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMggIBhAAGBYYHjIICAcQABgWGB4yCAgIEAAYFhgeMggICRAAGBYYHtIBCDg5MTZqMGo3qAIIsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#cobssid=s&fpstate=ive&vld=cid:524a19ed,vid:Rhp7MhP1-Rg,st:0
BANANA BLOG # 14, DEEP THOUGHTS #2
You may be asking your self, ‘What, prey tell, do banana boxes, de-cluttering, and eastern philosophy have to do with one another?’ Truth be told, I’m formulating my thoughts. But take heart gentle reader, we are fixing to take on some practical How-To and begin with a tentative...
MISSION STATEMENT
The whole de-clutterint thing is a good solution to a problem. THE ZEN OF BANANA BOXES seeks to avoid the problem in the first place.
PS: WTF is it with the pix? It’s from THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and is the universal computer Deep Thought. It’s one of those, “If you have to ask…”
BANANA BLOG # 13, A VISIT TO THE LIBRARY
Recently found I missed reading a book by a favorite author, so I headed out the library and while there, decided I might to a little open-air research with the help of another old friend -the Dewey Decimal System. I learned...
648 is HOUSEKEEPING and sits between 648, BARS AND RESTAURANTS and 649, INFANT CARE.
648.1 is Laundry and 648.9 is about Moving, but between these bookends are various topics like Organic Housekeeping, Pest Control, and Simple Living -in theory anyway. The reality was 11 shelves each holding about 2 feet of books each, The first shelf was on laundry and the last shelf was was pitifully only half full and covered everything except de-cluttering. I’ll do the math for the middle bit: 9 shelves with 2 feet of books averaging ¾ of an inch thick comes to 288 books dedicated to getting rid of stuff.
TODAY I ALSO LEARNED...
* “Home-Econ” is no more. It’s now a Bachelor of Science in family and consumer sciences (FCS), BUT, a class in home economics shows up as a requirement within some school’s masters in education degrees. Please do not ask me to explain anything about
education.
BANANA BLOG #12: MORE ON SWEDISH DEATH CLEANING;
I copy shamelessness from the various corners of the inter-web that all seem to have the same list so I don’t feel I am plagiarizing anyone. Or if I am, I am doing so 2nd or 3rd or even 4th hand.
Step 1: Let Your Loved Ones Know.
Step 2: Start With Less Personal Items.
Step 3: Gift Possessions Away Gradually.
Step 4: Keep Mementos for Yourself.
Step 5: Donate and Sell the Rest.
Step 6: Make a List of Important Documents and Passwords.
Step 7: De-clutter Regularly.
The first 4 steps seem to me to be about making a grim task less grim and more doable. Step 5 could have come straight out of THE TIGHTWAD’S GAZETTE* Any tedious book on estate planing would hit you with #6 in the first chapter, and # 7 is all around good advice whether you are doing the death-cleaning thing, or trying to improve your tennis serve.
* This book by Amy Dacyczyn is aptly titled and very worthwhile. IMHO, this is better that the death cleaning book(s), but clearly going in a different direction. Find a copy on line, buy it, and I promise you will more that save yourself the cost of the book following Dacyczyn’s advice.)
BANANA BLOG #11 and One Half: MYSTERY SOLVED
The titles of these these books are very similar, but not quite same-same. Margarete Magnusson’s book was copywritten in 2018 Linenea Gustafsson’s book came out in 2019 and was off the races with everyone jumping on the bandwagon. I have a particular distaste for claiming another person’s work, so I confine myself to Magnusson.
Have you have noticed all the get-rich-quick ads online that suggest you write a book without bothering to write a book? Better to let AI do the hard parts for you and we will tell you how to get rich. Of course, this is after you send us some money. As is always the case, the only people getting rich are people selling programs on how to get rich.
BANANA BLOG #11: SWEDISH DEATH CLEANING
From de-cluttering your space to get some mindfulness, purification, sincerity, loyalty and self-sacrifice. (the Shinto side of things), Istep over to Zen and it’s usefulness surrounding funerals. Now take up THE GENTLE ART of SWEDISH DEATH CLEANING by Ashley Knierim. This is also a nice little book (117 pages) even if the title is a tad gloomy. Ashley offers two important thoughts: her first is to do what you can (while still alive obviously) to avoid having your survivors having to deal with your clutter when you are gone. Her next goal is to make what it must be said is done in contemplation of death,* a happy thing or if not grins and giggles, at least cathartic and life affirming.
To do the review thing, the author exercises a remarkable economy of thought relative to the words she uses, but if you are in mourning it might be of some comfort and inspiration.
*Donataiones mortis causa -Latin Literally donations for death but in real-speak, it’s about contemplation of death -i.e., last wishes etc. It’s a legal doctrine full of legal tricky bits designed to make work for lawyers.
PS I just noticed two different authors -one from the book I read and another from the pix I uploaded. Not at all sure what to make of this. Stand by.
BANANA BLOG #10: MORE ON MARIE
I set aside my feeble attempts to unravel the East / West thing and take up numbers -a more comfortable field for me personal
