William Morris, the founder of the Arts & Crafts movement, famously instructed:

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

Dude — that’s a tall order. And one that doesn’t exactly fit with our buy-bigger, buy-more culture.

But it does seem like our culture might be changing, doesn’t it?

Like more people  are stopping, looking around, and thinking: Where did I get all this crap?

While the answers to that question vary (though a store as big as stadiums used to be probably tops the list),

the answer to the question: What things should I keep? is pretty simple, if you believe old Bill Morris:

Keep only the things you really like, and the things you actually use — you know, regularly.

We’re not talking about the panini press, here.

Does that mean I can finally get rid of all these college textbooks that used to define me

but which now seem an unnecessarily cruel reminder  of the passage of time?

Yep. That’s what it means.

Sweet freedom! How about all that Tupperware stuffed in that drawer over there?

Do you have the lids that go with them?

Ummm…somewhere? Maybe? No.

Pitch ‘em. (by which I mean recycle them, of course, but Pitch ‘em is so much more fun to say.)

Goodbye, symbol of my inability to keep plasticware monogamous!

Of course, it’s all very subjective. One man’s trash is Nigel Barnes’ treasure, after all.

That’s why it’s fun to spend some time thinking about what YOU, not anyone else, find useful and beautiful.

And, if you would be so kind, do give the rest of us a glimpse.

Here’s me:

Useful: thesaurus.

Beautiful: rock collection.

You?