Home

In your own home, there's a place that's so terrible, so horrendous, few dare to venture within its poster-plastered walls where plates with old food are left to accumulate mold. Behind the permanently shut door, heavy bass music shakes the entire household to the groove of whatever is No. 1 on TRL. The mysteries of the teenage room are boundless enough, but what I want to know is: When did I collect all this stuff? Not only is my floor, and bed, and dresser covered in clothes, but the mess spills over into my bathroom, amassing near-empty deodorant sticks and almost-finished perfume bottles.

As the excitement builds in anticipation for my freshmen year of college, I'm starting to wonder if growing older and accumulating more stuff walk hand in hand. Half a dorm room is a dramatic change from owning a luxurious upstairs suite, complete with a desirable amount of closet space. Next fall, where will my four different pairs of Converse All Stars go? How can one shower bag possibly fit all of the lotions and toiletries needed to sustain my everyday routine? Can my snowboard double as a coffee table?

I read a book in middle school that dealt directly with the materialism of American teenagers. Though the title of the novel is lost to me, I remember the main character having 75 objects, including clothes, toothpaste, CDs and pens. If something needed to be replaced or he decided to buy something new, the character had to dispose of the same number of items to maintain his 75-posession budget. I remember thinking of his simplistic lifestyle as ideal, but then I'm pretty sure I went out and bought the book.

As teens, our lifestyles are saturated with advertisements encouraging us to buy more and spend money. It's no wonder we're targeted. Still developing our tastes, we are in fact impressionable and can be easily dissuaded into buying the newest iPod or yet another pair of jeans.

Spring cleaning is under way. Along with three of my four pairs of All Stars, I think it could be time to downsize in preparation for next fall. Because, as I'm reminded every time I bring home a new winter jacket or collection of DVDs, if it doesn't fit in the car, it isn't going with me.