Repellent for the IKEA Bug (somewhat)

Don’t you wish you had a dime for every thing pictured in the IKEA Catalog? Not just the IKEA furniture and frames and rugs and cabinets and dishes and bath towels, but also all the stuff that IKEA’s way over attractive Scandinavian models litter their houses with. --Dave Bruno

I think I got my catalog at least a week after he got his, but I still fell victim temporarily to the IKEA syndrome, flipping through the pages while sitting at my corner workstation, resisting the urge to pull a stack of post-its from the matching drawer unit and mark all of the impossibly awesome items that would give me that shopping rush if I could go buy them. IKEA has proven that anything sounds cooler if it has a Swedish name, even if it sounds just like an English name (but it's from IKEA, so we know it's a Swedish name, right?). And nearly every piece of furniture in my room is from IKEA. So the question is: why am I not impossibly awesome (or at least cool)?! Reason #121 to not trust in possessions to identify you: when they become old news, you're screwed.

Anyway, back to the IKEA bug and reading Dave Bruno's post...

I had to remind myself that I'd have to bring the stuff home, assemble it, and find a spot for it within my living space. And that buying and keeping a lot of things defeats my minimalist living space goal. And of the reminder of that in the "IKEA 2008 Catalog - Ambivalence Never Looked So Good" on stuckinstuff.

So my bookcases are filled up? I need to put some of the books up on SwitchPlanet this week rather than buy a new bookcase to squeeze into this space. My extra craft supplies could fit into sweet, stylish boxes? I'm not going to use all of my stash, anyway, so I may as well give a good deal of it up and make real use of all of those Sterlite boxes I found so cheaply. And it's not like my Target sheets are going to defile my Alvine Bär quilt cover, making it necessary to pick up some textiles the next time I make my pilgrimage to the big blue and yellow building.

So it's time to close the catalog yet again and be happy with what I have in my possession already (and what I will soon not have in my possession, too). Thanks, Dave. You may have saved me from overdraft fees and/or another month with high credit card bills.