Are you feeling "stuffocated" after Christmas? "Stuffocation" is a new word - and the title of a book - invented by my friend James Wallman, a British trend forecaster. As you will have guessed, it's all about feeling suffocated (étouffé) by having too much stuff. James believes that we spend too much time acquiring objects, rather than experiences and knowledge. He advocates giving our homes a good clear-out and getting rid of everything we don't need. Once we have simplified our lives, we can focus on truly experiencing the world. It's a trend called The Experience Economy.
Christmas is the Ground Zero of Stuffocation, so James has a few words of advice for the New Year. He suggests de-stuffocating by throwing out (or giving away) everything in our house that we haven't used for the past 12 months. He also advises buying experiences instead of possessions: tickets to plays, exhibitions and museums. We certainly shouldn't feel guilty about getting rid of unwanted Christmas presents. Some people in James's book ended up moving to smaller houses and living less expensive lives after de-stuffocating. Talking of books, I won't be giving any of mine away - a book is both an experience and an object, even in digital form. But a year of experiences sounds promising. I'm off for a stroll in sunny Paris. In the meantime, I wish you a happy and uncluttered 2014.
