GON Reader Letter
1
It's not too early to start Shu-katsu
Hi Maria,
As you might know, the Japanese live VERY long.
Once a person hits the age of 50, many consciously start the Shu-katsu
(end-of-life activities). Sound too early? I don’t think so.
Usually they start weeding out clutter. Their house is very tiny and often they live in homes the size of America's typical kitchen. Probably because we were raised by the parents whose motto is Mottai-nai (too good to waste) in a good or
bad way.
Many have guilt to toss anything. Usually they purchase their house in their 30s and they live in it until they pass away.
You can easily imagine how much clutter has accumulated by then. Danshari (decluttering) is a very popular concept here. It translates to, “don’t trap the past. Focus on this moment." Do you really need your college hoodie while you’re 50?”
Without feeling so much guilt, many people try to remove unnecessary things, including toxic relationships, unwanted gifts, and handed-down clothes from moms who couldn’t throw them away themselves.
Many magazines and
e-magazines feature Shu-katsu almost every month to encourage people to declutter.
Shu-katsu is never pessimistic, but rather getting organized for anyone's
future.
-- Akemi
GON Reader Letter 2
What I did (do) for my college kids
In response to your September 6
issue, my youngest (of three kids) is in his third year (of a five year degree), so I have experienced your changes not so long ago. My oldest went to school in Ohio and we live in Connecticut, so it was far away!
One thing I did when they were sick at college is to use Uber eats and order chicken soup to be delivered to their dorm. I would order a couple of servings so they had some for later that they could warm up in the microwave. In your daughter's case, she may need to meet the delivery person in the lobby of her dorm due to security locks.
I also sent comfort boxes each month their first year. I would include a card, something homemade (cookies or banana bread), candy or snacks and a little silly something from Walmart (think Silly Putty, Goo, Mad Libs, or a small game) and
I would decorate the outside with notes, drawings, or stickers. This made them feel loved and gave them something to look forward to.
I hope your daughter has a great college experience and hold strong Mom! You will both get through it!
-- Lisa
GON Reader Letter
3
How I save my articles...and a question about digital photos...
To answer your question in
your August 29 issue,
Do You Save Articles?, I am definitely guilty. I have varied interests on different topics. I collect Medical, Financial, and Computer/iPhone information.
I have large 9x12 envelopes
each, labeled for the appropriate subject. Just recently, I did purge some articles that are no longer useful to me.
In addition, if your daily "GON" subject is of interest, I file it in a separate folder in my iPhone. It's easy to find, thanks to your headings.
An issue that I do have: Once I got my iPhone, I stopped using paper photo albums. I have about 3000 photos just on the phone dating from 2019 to 2022. My biggest problem: finding that certain photo, which often I can't remember
what year I took it.
By the way, I have purged my photos many times. Some are just dear to me as they are of family members during special occasions or just watching the grandchildren
growing up. Perhaps you could suggest a way I could find these. I have adapted your suggestions for several years now and thank you for sharing so many wonderful ideas. Sincerely,
-- Linda
L.
P.S. to Linda: Thank you for your note. I usually suggest folks upload digital photos from their phone to an online storage/sharing service. I use one called SmugMug. It has a
great "search feature."
However, if you want to exclusively store those photos on your iPhone, I suggest you set up "albums."
Just go into your Camera Roll, click on ALL PHOTOS, click on ALBUMS, click on the plus sign (upper left corner on my phone's version), click on NEW ALBUM and type in a name, and then save (i.e. Christmas photos, grandkids, vacations,
etc.).
You can even make sub-categories within your main folders, such as Vacations being your main folder and Disney, Colorado, Georgia, etc. being your sub folders.
You can make as many albums as you want, and pull photos into the appropriate labeled main album, or sub album.
On another note, if you always "caption" your photos (label them with descriptions), you'll be able to easily find what you need with the iPhone search tool. On my phone, it looks like a magnifying glass and is in the lower right corner of the screen in the Photos
app.
Even if you don't caption, you can sometimes search on words like "lake" and the search tool will find photos with a lake in the background.
Hope this helps!
