Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale

by Adam Minter

Between 1967 and 2017, the money that Americans spent annually on stuff—from sofas to cell phones—increased almost twentyfold. Some of that stuff will become treasured heirlooms worthy of future generations. Some will be buried in landfills, turned to ash by incinerators, or—in rare cases—recycled into new goods and heirlooms. And some will persist, packed in basements, closets, attics, garages, and storage units. The precise breakdown is unknown, but there are hints. For example, one 2006 study of Los Angeles middle-class homes found that 90 percent of garage space is now used to store stuff, not automobiles.1 Americans aren’t alone in their love of stuff. But they are unique in having so much space to store it. That’s a luxury other people would love to have. For example, the Japanese are just as shopping-mad as any CX-7-driving Tucsonan. But their homes are much smaller. So, to make room for new, many Japanese purge. There’s nothing particularly unique in their approach, but millions of Americans—keen to bring order to their homes—have embraced what Marie Kondo, the entrepreneurial Japanese organizing consultant with bestsellers and a hit television series, calls the KonMari Method. It’s an enticing system: keep only what sparks joy; toss everything else. It also leaves open an essential and pressing question: What happens to all that stuff after it’s been KonMari’d?