State of Excess

1. If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realise it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now. Marie Kondo An objective collection and reﬂection of the clutter accumulated by Singaporean millenials. State of Excess Singapore: Material Items Wealth

3. State of Excess Singapore:

4. First published in 2017 by Sunshine Plaza. This edition first published in 2017 by Pan Books an imprint of Pan MacMillan Publisers Limited Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR Basingstoke and Oxford Associated companies around the world www.panmacmillan.com ISBN 978-0-330-52060-7 Copyright@ 2017 All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Typeset by ADMVC Ltd, Sherilyn Veera, Essex, Printed in the UK by CPI Mackays, Chatham ME5 8TD This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the oublisher’s prior consent in any formof binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.

7. An objective collection and reflection of the clutter accumulated by Singaporean millenials. We live in a world that is obsessed with having more. We are saturated and cornered in our rooms, our working space and this bears down on out mental state. My main goal is for readers to reflect upon their own lifestyles and recognise excessive buying habits or hoarding. Singapore has the 7th largest ecological footprint per capita in the world. If we do not consume wisely, we will soon become overwhelmed by sheer amount of things we buy. Furthermore, the more we consume, the more we risk environmental implications. In cutting down excess, I also hope for youths to gain a better mental wellbeing, particularly in Singapore where stress and mental issues are rising quickly. By documenting the excessive number of material goods that people collect, I hope that people become more aware of how mch and what they own. I would like them to question how much of their belongings are actually needed and important. Preface 1

9. All photos in this book are taken by Singaporean youths aged 19-24. They were asked to capture their closets and living spaces in their natural state. This was done with the aim of making this book relatable to youths. As such all analysis and evaluations are made with the lifestyles of Singaporean youths in mind. Introduction 2

11. Content 01 How do you begin to cut down? Most times, we do not even realise how big of a problem we are in because the accumulated mess has become background noise in the busyness of our everyday lives. This book will go through the process of helping you cut down on your excess in 3 simplified steps. 02 03 Recognise. Organising messy spaces. Labelling and drawing focus to forgotten nooks and crannies. Focus. Turn off the white noise and focus on what is truly important to you. Cut down. Donate, Sell and let go of your excess. Live a cleaner life

13. 01 Recognise. Organising messy spaces. Labelling and drawing focus to forgotten nooks and crannies.

14. Fast Fashion & your closet Fast fashion is described as “low cost clothing collections that mimic current fashion trends.” These trends change incredibly fast, often causing new styles and trends to become obsolete in a matter of weeks. Fast fashion keeps up with these trends, but unlike with high fashion, fast-fashion garments are cheap and usually made out of lower-quality materials. Fast fashion offers the option of buying a number of stylish and trendy items that can or must be trashed after a few times of use since they do not represent a significant, durable investment. According to the Fashion Theory Journal’s article on “Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands”, the demographic that most consumes fast fashion is under 28 years of age, although older individuals are becoming more interested. Fast fashion appeals to the younger generations, as they typically are more aware of catwalk trends and want to emulate high-fashion looks without spending a fortune. Fast fashion is bought mostly by young consumers who have a deep desire to look stylish and appear on-trend. 4

15. Female,Aged24,UniveristyStudent 5 ..trends change incredibly fast, often causing new styles and trends to become obsolete in a matter of weeks.

16. She shares this space with her sister. Both sisters seem to cherish dark clothing. Clothes are arranged orderly from the center outward. When the clothes don’t fit on the hanging rod anymore, you run out of hanger space. Do we really that many clothes for one body? “It’s interesting to see that people had so much clutter even thousands of years ago. The only way to get rid of it all was to bury it, and then some archaeologist went and dug it all up.” -KarlPilkington 6

17. Female,Aged24,UniveristyStudent 7

18. This person uses space for different uses: a desk, closet, storage area and worktable. This person has accumulated files, papers, notebooks and stationary that have been stacked up into the pile shown below. To the point, where things at the bottom will surely get forgotten and unused. “...that once were urgent and necessary for an orderly world and now were buried away, gathering dust and of no use to anyone.” -PatriciaA.McKillip 8

20. “Fast fashion is like fast food. After the sugar rush, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth” -LiviaFirth There is little breathing space with clothes crammed into every corner of the closet, from the stacks at the bottom to the multiple clothes hanging on the same hanger. She aims to maximise space in a space that has no more to give. Grey, blue, green, black, grey. Clothes are not arranged by colour but by their length and material. Long sleeved shirts are placed next to short sleeved shirts which are placed next to sleeveless tops. 10

21. 38 Hangers 4 Striped Tops 3 Flowery Tops 9 White/Cream Tops 7 Dark coloured Tops 1 Striped Top 3 Flowery Tops 4 White/Cream Tops 5 Dark coloured Tops Cut Cut 11

22. 12

24. Female, Aged 21, Univeristy Student 14

25. Lets talk money. How much does your closet cost? Quantity Average Price*Item Skirts 12 $120 Short Sleeve tops 82 $820 Long Sleeve tops 21 $210 Dresses $15015 Pants/Jeans $707 Shorts $505 Total: $1420* Assumes that every article of clothing costs S$10 Every teenager is different so there is no set number for how much an average American teenager spends on clothes, it all depends on how much spending money the teenager has as well as if his parents buy him a lot of clothes or not. Some parents do not buy a lot of clothes for their teenagers, or might only buy clothes at the beginning of the school year. Teenagers who have parents like this will often buy their own clothes along with the clothes that are purchased for them. Spending habits of teenagers also depend on their gender. 15

26. What is the true cost? Although fast fashion allows access to a large variety of on-trend clothing at cheap prices, factory workers and the environment are feeling the impact. Reports from the Ethical Fashion Forum indicate that factory workers have to work extremely long hours to complete orders for retailers. Use of cheap, easy-to-produce, petro-chemical-based materials such as polyester and acrylic also wreak havoc on the environment, as does the cultivation of pesticide- heavy and water-thirsty conventional cotton. Transportation exhausts have also increased due to shipping of numerous new collections. However, the largest impact on the environment is the amount of clothing dumped into landfills every year. According to TriplePundit, in 2010 in the U.S. alone, 11 million tons of clothing waste were put into landfills, contributing to global warming with the release of methane as the fabrics decomposed. The true cost is not money, but the environment, human rights and other negative impacts that often go unnoticesd. 16

27. Most of us wear synthetic fabrics like polyester every day. Our dress shirts, yoga pants, fleeces, and even underwear are all increasingly made of synthetic materials — plastic, in fact. But these synthetic fabrics, from which 60% of all clothing on earth is made, have a big hidden problem: when they’re washed, they release tiny plastic bits — called microfibers — that flow down our drains, through water treatment plants, and out into our rivers, lakes and oceans by the billions. The sheer scale of the problem is immense—in the United States alone, it is estimated that there 89 million washing machines doing an average of nine loads of laundry a week. Each load can emit anywhere from 1,900 fibers to 200,000 per load, a nightmare scenario. So, we’re adding synthetic fibers to our soil and our sea at the same time. Five years ago, European researcher Mark Browne released a groundbreaking study that found widespread microplastic pollution on shorelines and coastal waters around the world, particularly near densely populated areas. One significant source of this pollution was synthetic clothing fibers, less than 1 mm in size, that are discharged from clothes washers, through water treatment and into the environment. Then in 2015, our friends at the San Francisco Estuary Institute released a study on microplastic pollution in San Francisco Bay, finding that on average, water treatment facilities released an estimated 7 million particles of microplastic per day into the Bay—the largest Pacific estuary in the Americas. The biggest sources were found to be plastic microbeads and, you guessed it, synthetic clothing fibers. 17

28. “But here’s the thing--no matter how many possessions you have, you never feel secure. As soon as you get one thing, there is always something else you “need”.” -KarenKingston In total, some 90 percent of garments are transported by container ship each year. While we don’t know what percentage of cargo garments comprise on the world’s 9,000 container ships, we do know that a single ship can produce as much cancer and asthma-causing pollutants as 50 million cars in just one year. The low-grade bunker fuel burned by ships is 1,000 times dirtier than highway diesel used in the trucking industry. These ships do not consume fuel by the gallon, but by tons per hour. 18

30. “Fast fashion isn’t free, somewhere, someone else is paying for it.” -LucySiegle We are increasingly disconnected from the people who make our clothing as 97% of items are now made overseas. There are roughly 40 million garment workers in the world today; many of whom do not share the same rights or protections that many people in the West do. They are some of the lowest paid workers in the world shirts are placed next to short sleeved shirts which are placed next to sleeveless tops. and roughly 85% of all garment workers are women. 20

31. Bangladesh: Workers underpaid and working overtime China: Underpaid workers inhale toxic fumes on a daily basis Pakistan: Children work long hours without safety gear Vietnam: Workers underpaid and living below the poverty line 21

34. Clutter Stress 23

35. There’s a reason your parents told you to clean your room as a kid; clutter can have negative effects on your mental and emotional well-being. That’s right, they weren’t just being bossy parents, they were looking out for your best interests. Now that you’re an adult, keeping the clutter under control can be a little bit tricky since mom and dad aren’t around to keep tabs. Clutter accumulates for a number of reasons. Whatever the reason, that clutter has to go if you want to function at optimal wellness.All of that stress and feeling disorganized hinders your ability to concentrate. There is a direct correlation between living in a cluttered space and reduced mental focus. This can cause difficulties in problem solving, memory retention, and concentration. Considering the effect clutter has on your mental well- being, clutter is particularly harmful to people working from home. The clutter in your home could be affecting your work performance and ability to perform tasks. This is true, too, for people with children; clutter can affect your judgement when it comes to parenting and managing a household. 24

36. It can also increase allergy symptoms due to the accumulation of dust, mold, and animal dander. All of these factors are harmful to people with asthma, too. Reduce your clutter so you can breathe easy. All of the negative emotions and mental stress caused by clutter affects your physical health. A cluttered space can make you feel chronically tired and drained of energy. Feeling frustrated by the mess can raise blood pressure and have negative effects on heart health. 25

38. Considering the effect clutter has on your mental well-being, clutter is particularly harmful to people working from home. The clutter in your home could be affecting your work performance and ability to perform tasks. All of that stress and feeling disorganized hinders your ability to concentrate. There is a direct correlation between living in a cluttered space and reduced mental focus. This can cause difficulties in problem solving, memory retention, and concentration. 27

39. Male,Aged20,NationalServiceman 28

40. A study at Yale recently discovered that letting go of personal items affects your brain the same way as it responds to pain. Simply touching an item can create an emotional connection to it, which makes you want to keep the item around, even if it creates clutter in your home. Being in a cluttered space is more painful than letting go, so rip off that bandage and get rid of your clutter. Disorganization caused by clutter causes stress hormones to spike and can leave you feeling frazzled on a daily basis. This can even compound feelings of sadness, anger, and depression and can make it more difficult to maintain positive emotions. “..rip off that bandage and get rid of your clutter. ” 29

41. Female,Aged22,UniversityStudent 30

42. Materialism 31

43. There is no correlation between wealth and happiness. Study after study by psychologists has shown that there is no correlation between wealth and happiness. The only exception is in cases of real poverty, when extra income does relieve suffering and brings security. But once our basic material needs are satisfied, our level of income makes little difference to our level of happiness. Research has shown, for example, that extremely rich people such as billionaires are not significantly happier than people with an average income, and suffer from higher levels of depression. Researchers in positive psychology have concluded that true well-being does not come from wealth but from other factors such as good relationships, meaningful and challenging jobs or hobbies, and a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves (such as a religion, a political or social cause, or a sense of mission). Many economists and politicians believe that acquisitiveness - the impulse to buy and possess things - is natural to human beings. This seems to make sense in terms of Darwin’s theory of evolution: since natural resources are limited, human beings have to compete over them, and try to claim as large a part of them as possible. One of the problems with this theory is that there is actually nothing ‘natural’ about the desire to accumulate wealth. In fact, this desire would have been disastrous for earlier human beings. For the vast majority of our time on this planet, human beings have lived as hunter-gatherers - small tribes who would usually move to a different site every few months. As we can see from modern hunter- gatherers, this way of life has to be non-materialistic, because people can’t afford to be weighed down with unnecessary goods. Since they moved every few months, unnecessary goods would simply be a hindrance to them, making it more difficult for them to move. 32

44. Another theory is that the restlessness and constant wanting which fuels our materialism is a kind of evolutionary mechanism which keeps us in a state of alertness. (The psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi has suggested this, for example) Dissatisfaction keeps living beings on the look out for ways of improving their chances of survival; if they were satisfied they wouldn’t be alert, and other creatures would take the advantage. But there is no evidence that other animals live in a state of restless dissatisfaction. On the contrary, many animals seem to very slow and static lives, content to remain within their niche and to follow their instinctive patterns of behaviour. And if this is what drives our materialism, we would probably expect other animals to be acquisitive too. “Dissatisfaction keeps living beings on the look out for ways of improving their chances of survival” 33

45. Male, Aged 20, National Serviceman 34

46. 35

48. “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself” -AndyWarhol 37 Beyond a minimum threshold of poverty, having more things doesn’t make people happier. But in a society driven by consumption, it can be hard to realize this truth. Living a less materialistic lifestyle doesn’t mean becoming a monk and abstaining from all of life’s pleasures. It means shifting your focus away from possessions so they become less important by comparison. Owning things becomes important when you have an internal void. When your internal world is deprived it is only natural to want to fill it with external things. Unfortunately, this is like filling a sieve with sand. The sand may fit in the sieve temporarily, but it will soon sift through the holes, leaving you empty again.

50. We look to external things to try to alleviate our inner discontent. Materialism certainly can give us a kind of happiness - the temporary thrill of buying something new, and the ego-inflating thrill of owning it afterwards. And we use this kind of happiness to try to override - or compensate for - the fundamental unhappiness inside us. 39

52. Excess and clutter is a problem in our society. Let’s come together to solve it. Pinpoint the areas of your home that are cluttered. Sometimes all it takes to reduce clutter is to put things away. Books can be placed back on shelves, clothes can be tucked into drawers, and shoes can be stored in closets. Many times clutter exists simply because it has nowhere else to go. “The only real way of alleviating this psychological discord is not by trying to escape it, but by trying to heal it” 41

54. 43

55. 02 Focus. Focusing on what is truly important.

56. Sorting: What should I keep? Once most people have recognised the problem of excess and clutter that they have, they should look at what they have and start separating what they should keep and what they should let go off. Konmari’s method of asking yourself if that item ‘‘sparks joy” is one good way of finding out. An interview was conducted among Singaporean youths to undestand better what about what they find most important to them. 44 If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realise it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now. -Marie Kondo

57. Youths were asked 4 interview questions: 1 Name one thing you want to throw away but you cannot bear to. 2 Why can’t you throw it away? (Are there any emotions/stories attached to it? What are they?) 3 If you threw it away now how would you feel? 4 If possible, do you mind taking a photo of the thing? Or if you are unable to, please describe it to me. 45

58. Things that remind you of better times 46

59. Dead Flowers. Clichéd, from ex He gave it to me on our first anniversary. We had booked a movie: not the regular type - design film festival, i.e. There isn’t 15 minutes of advertisements at the start so you cant show up late - but i completely showed up half an hour - 45 minutes late because I went all the way back to ntu to dress for the date just because i didnt want my parents to find out i had a boyfriend. He was pretty upset about me being so late because he really wanted to watch the full film - but he handed me the bouquet silently. I felt really guilty about it. But i was also happy, it was my first time receiving a bouquet of flowers from anyone. He specifically picked baby’s breath because i said they were one of my favourites, and there was some roses thrown inside that were pink-ish and I still remember he kind of lamented that they didnt have my favourite colour - and i was also touched by this because i’m not obsessed with my favourite colour i just casually off handedly mention it now and then so i was pleasantly surprised to see that he’d been picking up on these details about me and storing it in his mind. 47

60. Things that make you feel good 48 I had it since primary school along with ten other piglet soft toys. But my mum didn’t like that I kept soft toy so she threw them away. I only have this tshirt to remind me of my childhood and my love for piglets back then. And it’s also special because my dear auntie bought it for me as my birthday present.

61. My soft toy dogs were my childhood. Memories of me playing with my dogs. Might be a little sad and painful to let them go. 49

62. Things that you need 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 Apple iPhone 6 2 Wooden Bowl of coins 3 Hanging brown watch 4 Digital Alarm Clock 5 House Phone receiver 6 Jug of Water 7 Pair of Scissors 8 Pair of Pen and Pencil 50

63. 51

64. What to let go off 52

65. Don’t let the darkness from your past block the light of joy in your present. What happened is done. Stop giving time to things which no longer exist, when there is so much joy to be found here and now.” Karen Salmansohn 53

66. 54

67. Things that you don’t want to remember A paper bag full of letters/cards/and random stuff from my ex I don’t really want to throw it away because I can’t bear to throw away something that represented this 3 years of my life. Even though I hate to be reminded of it. Maybe somehow, I just didn’t want to feel like it was truly a waste of my 3 years Every time I see it or read back some of the stuff he wrote I just get angry Maybe I will feel a little 可惜 too... After all, no matter how bad it was, we really gave our all to maintain this relationship and try to make it work. And this effort is probably the only redeeming thing in this relationship and all that is left of this would be this bag of useless memories. 55

68. 56

69. Images of the one I once loved. A picture of her in the sunset. Once the images have been deleted they will never again be able to be retrieved. So many good memories attached to them. Whether it is of the person or the time together. And yet so much pain. In some ways I have archived them and put them out of my mind. If I threw them away, I would feel like I’ve lost a part of my life. Things that bring you pain 57

70. 58

73. Letting go helps us to to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress. -Melody Beattie 59

75. 03 Cut down. Let go of your excess. Live a cleaner life

76. Shop Smart Would you wear it 30 times? The rapid turnover of trends characterising Fast Fashion means clothes are disposable. Along with the deflation of clothing prices this has put the supply chain under unprecedented pressure leading directly to outrages like Rana Plaza and Tazreen (the 2012 Dhaka fashion factory fire that killed over 100). Just asking yourself if you will wear a prospective item 30 times is a great place to start shopping smarter and more intentional. Break the Cyle. The traditional spring/summer autumn/winter of international fashion weeks is just for show. Zara, the Spanish fast fashion behemoth broke the mold, introducing mini seasons every week. 50-100 new micro seasons a year is the new normal. So slow down your fashion cycle. 60

78. Detox Detox your wardrobe. 10% of the world’s biggest fashion brands have committed to phasing out toxic substances through Greenpeace’s Detox programme. Next time, when you go shopping, let’s shop clean and buy items that are good for us and the environment. Some of these brands are: 1 Benetton 2 H&M 3 C&A 4 G-Star 5 Mango 6 Valentino 7 Adidas 8 Burberry 9 Levis 10 Primark 11 Puma 12 Marks & Spencer 13 Esprit 14 Nike 15 Inditex 62

79. Be the change you want to see in your wardrobe. 63

80. Repair & To get the most for your money and lighten their impact on the earth, buy products that can be upgraded, repaired and repurposed, so you can get full use of them for a long time. All products and packages contain ’embedded’ materials and energy that went into making them. They will go to waste if you dispose or even recycle or compost them prematurely. Look for opportunities to repair rather than replace. Get those creative juices flowing and find ways to repurpose products and packages for a brand new use. Repair belongings so they will stick around a long time instead of dying a premature death in a landfill. Support local repair shops and check out the Fixers Collectives that are now springing up in some areas. Try your hand at fixing things yourself. 64

81. Get creative with products that can no longer be used for their original purpose. Many items can be repurposed, or even upcycled into something new and different. Pinterest and Etsy are great places to find inspiration for DIY repurposing and upcycling projects. Give your clothes new life by donation them to the salvation army or to any of the brands in the list below. Brands that recyce your old clothes: 1 Jansport 2 Osprey 3 Lands’ End 4 Zippo 5 Columbia 6 Orvis 7 Patagonia 8 Nordstrom 9 Adidas Repurpose 65

82. Get Started Don’t go to the Shopping Centres. The only purpose of these places is for you to spend money. If you just want a place to spend your Saturday afternoon, find a place where you don’t need to spend money to have fun — a park or a beach, for example. Don’t browse and walk around looking at stuff. You’ll get sucked in. Monitor your urges. When you’re online, or watching TV, or at a store, keep track of the number of times you want to buy something. Once you become more aware of your urges to buy things, you can start to control them. Declutter. When you do this, you may be less likely to buy more stuff. Especially if you enjoy the decluttered look of your house as much as I do. Use some of the attached labels to get started on separating and labeling items. 66

83. Buy less, choose well, make it last. VivienneWestwood 67

85. Labels Use these labels to get started on decluttering on letting go of oyur excess. Use Chapter 2 as a guide to sorting through what to keep and what to let go. Donate Donate Donate Donate Repair Repair Repurpose Throw Throw Repurpose 68

86. 69

87. In creating this collection of information and stories about the excess we accumulate, I would like readers to firstly cut down on their belongings. For readers to live a life where they buy less and spend more time cherishing the few items that they truly need or want in their lives. Us humans are constantly in search for happiness and often many equate happiness with buying and owning more. Yet, constantly searching for more has been proven to offer the opposite instead. Let us live simple, humble lives. One where we worry less about the newest model or the hottest clothes. Let us focus less on the temporal material items and more on the eternal intangible emotions. Let us find the peace of mind and happiness we yearn for. Thank you. Conclusion 70

88. Bibliography Kuta, S. (2016, November 17). These 43 Brands Will Fix or Replace Anything You Buy From Them — Forever. Retrieved March 5, 2017 Sweeney, G. (2015, August 13). It’s the Second Dirtiest Thing in the World—And You’re Wearing It. Retrieved March 5, 2017. Riviera, L. (2016, April). The true cost of ‘fast fashion’: why #whomademyclothes is trending this week. Retrieved March 5, 2017. Wilson, S. (n.d.). Microfibers: Small Plastics, Big Problem. Retrieved March 5, 2017. Siegle, L. (n.d.). 5 Tips for Shopping Smarter. Retrieved March 5, 2017. G. (n.d.). Who Is Walking The Toxic Free Talk? Retrieved March 5, 2017. The Negative Effects Clutter Is Having On Your Life. (2016, September 6). Retrieved March 5, 2017. Taylor, S. (2012, March 10). The Madness of Materialism. Retrieved March 5, 2017. 71

89. Acknowledgements I would like to thank all my anonymous interviwees and people who sent me photos of their room. Thank you Nanci for your guidance and all my friends for your comments and input. 72

91. 056749659080 How do you begin to cut down? Most times, we do not even realise how big of a problem we are in because the accumulated mess has become background noise in the busyness of our everyday lives. This book will go through the process of helping you cut down on your excess in 3 simplified steps.

State of Excess

State of Excess

State of Excess

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