Simpler Life

In yesterday's Times Union Newspaper (Albany, NY) I came across the following fact:
"The National Association of Home Builders reports that in 1950 the average new single-family home was 983 square feet. By 2004, the average square footage had grown to 2,349 square feet".
Is it any wonder that things were simpler in the 50's? You couldn't be bogged down with too much stuff because you wouldn't have the space in your house to store it. And to think, couples typically had much larger families. Especially Irish Catholic couples! You wouldn't think twice about sharing a bedroom with one or more siblings. I remember that being wonderful fun. My parents even let me paint the 8 by 9 foot bedroom that I shared with my baby sister the darkest purplish-blue you have ever seen. We never had any decorating magazines at 62 Interboro Parkway.
When I went to Nursing School and didn't have a roommate for awhile I dragged my mattress down the hall so I could sleep in the room with a couple of my friends. I didn't like sleeping alone since I had shared a bedroom my whole entire life. The next day, the sh__ hit the fan when the housemother found my my mattress under my friend's bed. I had left my mattress there as I intended to sleep in Gerry and MM's room every night until they found me another roommate. The nuns made a big thing out of this finding. If I remember correctly, they even sent me to speak with the psychologist. I think they thought that I was gay and they wanted to nip in in the bud. Surprising they should feel that way since my Nursing School was in the heart of Greenwich Village. I did get another roommate pretty quickly and after that all was well again.
Back in the 50's the whole family made due with one bathroom. Only the wealthy had more than one bathroom. When you have only one bathroom you don't have to clean three. Wow, what a pleasant thought.
So the moral of the story for me is that I will make a conscious effort to simplify my life in 2010. Goodbye excessive stuff, goodbye clutter. I even have a couple of friends who have offered to help me since they know this is not an easy challenge for the daughter of the Junkman. We didn't have a huge house when I was growing up but a lot of my schoolmates lived in apartments so I felt lucky . In spite of a relatively small home, (I have no idea of its square footage but it was a railroad flat design with two stories - bedrooms upstairs) my parents threw out NOTHING! Never, ever. At 94 years old, my father's e-mail address contains the word junkman and rightfully so. This apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But ask me again next Christmas and I will tell you that I am once and for all clutter free. Except of course for the sentimental things!!
Mary Beth