cube not square
The average American home is 2000 square feet. It's actually one of the first things that a real estate agent will tell you when you are looking for a new home. They start with the square footage then move on to things like distance from shops, parks, schools, etc. They have a list of things that they will tell you about none of which is really important.
When shopping for a home, you would think that the first thing you want to know isn't how many square feet are in it but what the house is made of. What kind of construction. The reason this is important is that no house built in mass, since 1970 is worth a shit. They are cheaply made of crap materials and are painted pretty to make you think it's glorious. The great irony to most homes is that they look great empty but serve little purpose when filled with your stuff. This happens because the actual footage of the house should not be listed in squares but in cubes. For example; If I told you a home had 5000 square feet of space you would think it was enormous, but if you actually saw the house and noticed that the ceilings were two feet from the floor, what good would the 5000 "square" feet actually be?
If your house is 2000 square feet, you have to take into consideration all the things that you own and how they fit together in the space allotted. A three square foot dresser actually uses up more space when you take into consideration the pull out drawers, any doors and the ability to maneuver around it. So three square feet is now 7 or 8 square feet.
Cubic feet. Why do we need so much space inside a house? We don't really use that much of it anyway. If you really think about what you need in a home, you will find that your list is short. You need a place to sleep (15 square feet) a toilet(less than two square feet), a way to store and cook food (10 square feet) and that's it. The rest of the house is storage. A place for all the stuff you want, but don't really need like children. If you ever buy a house and get an extra bedroom with the idea that it would make a good office, hobby room, quilt room or guest bedroom, you're really just giving a large indoor storage shed a pretty name.
In New Orleans, most of the people that were made homeless didn't own their homes. Those houses were rentals and they were old and built to last. They had withstood previous hurricanes, floods, rot, infestations and all other kinds of manmade abuse and still they were standing. Hell, Katrina didn't knock them down. But the feds have decided that these homes are now worthless and are going to rip them down and rebuild new homes for the displaced. With all the money the homeless are going to get (a la 9/11 families) they will be able to afford these new homes where before they were only renting and sadly the new homes will be made like the new shitty homes that the rest of suburban America has. The next storm that comes through and the new homes will wash away as fast as the cum smell that dominates the French Quarter.
I live in a house that is over 100 years old. It's floors are sagging and the walls creak in a strong wind, but it's still standing. Most of the space inside is taken up with stuff that my family does not need or use and it's hard to get in and out of it sometimes. Our cubic feet of storage isn't enough to accommodate the cubic space of all our shit. This week I started the transition from summer clothes into winter clothes and I decided that most of the stained, smelly summer clothes should probably be retired and new things purchased. This is hard for me to do as I am not one to own things and that which I do own, I like to hold on to to the bitter end. Some of these things have lived past bitter and are onto something indescribable so perhaps it's a good choice.
I hope that you notice that you are carrying around a lot of needless cubic space in your home and I hope that you lighten your load. I'm sure you would like to think that one day you will fix that handy ten year old walkman that you never use and don't own any tapes for and I know you would like to think that you are going to fix that camera that has not taken a picture since 1981 and I am sure that you would like to think that the missing earring will finally reappear and you will have a match set, but be honest with yourself and let it go. If one thing that Katrina has taught us is that what you really lose when your home is washed away isn't as important as you thought it was. What you really need is just some basics and you can survive.
When shopping for a home, you would think that the first thing you want to know isn't how many square feet are in it but what the house is made of. What kind of construction. The reason this is important is that no house built in mass, since 1970 is worth a shit. They are cheaply made of crap materials and are painted pretty to make you think it's glorious. The great irony to most homes is that they look great empty but serve little purpose when filled with your stuff. This happens because the actual footage of the house should not be listed in squares but in cubes. For example; If I told you a home had 5000 square feet of space you would think it was enormous, but if you actually saw the house and noticed that the ceilings were two feet from the floor, what good would the 5000 "square" feet actually be?
If your house is 2000 square feet, you have to take into consideration all the things that you own and how they fit together in the space allotted. A three square foot dresser actually uses up more space when you take into consideration the pull out drawers, any doors and the ability to maneuver around it. So three square feet is now 7 or 8 square feet.
Cubic feet. Why do we need so much space inside a house? We don't really use that much of it anyway. If you really think about what you need in a home, you will find that your list is short. You need a place to sleep (15 square feet) a toilet(less than two square feet), a way to store and cook food (10 square feet) and that's it. The rest of the house is storage. A place for all the stuff you want, but don't really need like children. If you ever buy a house and get an extra bedroom with the idea that it would make a good office, hobby room, quilt room or guest bedroom, you're really just giving a large indoor storage shed a pretty name.
In New Orleans, most of the people that were made homeless didn't own their homes. Those houses were rentals and they were old and built to last. They had withstood previous hurricanes, floods, rot, infestations and all other kinds of manmade abuse and still they were standing. Hell, Katrina didn't knock them down. But the feds have decided that these homes are now worthless and are going to rip them down and rebuild new homes for the displaced. With all the money the homeless are going to get (a la 9/11 families) they will be able to afford these new homes where before they were only renting and sadly the new homes will be made like the new shitty homes that the rest of suburban America has. The next storm that comes through and the new homes will wash away as fast as the cum smell that dominates the French Quarter.
I live in a house that is over 100 years old. It's floors are sagging and the walls creak in a strong wind, but it's still standing. Most of the space inside is taken up with stuff that my family does not need or use and it's hard to get in and out of it sometimes. Our cubic feet of storage isn't enough to accommodate the cubic space of all our shit. This week I started the transition from summer clothes into winter clothes and I decided that most of the stained, smelly summer clothes should probably be retired and new things purchased. This is hard for me to do as I am not one to own things and that which I do own, I like to hold on to to the bitter end. Some of these things have lived past bitter and are onto something indescribable so perhaps it's a good choice.
I hope that you notice that you are carrying around a lot of needless cubic space in your home and I hope that you lighten your load. I'm sure you would like to think that one day you will fix that handy ten year old walkman that you never use and don't own any tapes for and I know you would like to think that you are going to fix that camera that has not taken a picture since 1981 and I am sure that you would like to think that the missing earring will finally reappear and you will have a match set, but be honest with yourself and let it go. If one thing that Katrina has taught us is that what you really lose when your home is washed away isn't as important as you thought it was. What you really need is just some basics and you can survive.
posted by Daniel Loomis | 10:21 AM
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