Sunday, June 29, 2008

De-clutter ! De-junk !

We belong to the age of the great Junk.

Junk food
Junk email
Junk thoughts
Junk music
Junk household articles
Junk Documents - paper and e
Junk activities
Junk News in TV

Junk has hijacked our lives, denying us the bliss of plain existence.

I decided to eliminate as much junk as possible from my room yesterday. Started looking at my cupboard. Found many things that I could instantly send to the dustbin. Found many things that I could send to the dustbin after thinking for a few seconds. Yeah only seconds. I also found a box I had labeled as "Important Documents" a couple of years back. Determined to find at least one useless piece of paper, I examined the contents. Bingo ! Not a single "useful" piece of paper. How fast the perception of "importance" changes ! It contained mostly old credit card/bank statements.

Remember अपरिग्रह(aparigraha) ? See my earlier post for the philosophical angle of this.

I have regained some peace back.

Anti Plastic Steps

Steps I have taken so far to distance myself and my family away from plastics:

1. Replaced the of plastic containers used to store spices and condiments with glass
2. Stopped using all Melamine plastic kitchenware / tableware
3. Start looking at stainless steel and wood kitchenware with high respect
4. Stopped using fiber cutting board
5. Stopped buying pickles/sauces that come in plastic containers.

More to follow.

Besides this, our family took a collective decision not to buy the microwave oven.