“Sometimes I see kids my age hanging out, and I’m ashamed,” he says. “I wish I could study and have fun with friends.”
“I think house shaming is about comparison, but it can also be about a person’s own struggles,” he said.Barbara Fight was a TV producer for
for 12 years before going into home organizing in New York. She said house shame got way worse with the rise of social media and its idealized depictions of homes most people can’t afford or otherwise will never have.But there are lots of easy, inexpensive ways people can help themselves feel better about their living spaces if they so choose.The issue is often just too much stuff. She sees a lot of homes with row upon overlapping row of framed photos in ancient (not in a good way) frames. She suggests paring them down to the bare minimum and stashing the rest in a decorative box that can be pulled out for perusal.
Like Randolph, Fight has seen it all: People overloaded with things they’ve inherited from dead relatives. A young woman who wouldn’t bring her fiancé to her parents’ house, “because it’s such a mess.”Fight suggests: “Take away a third of what’s out.” One client, she said, “had this long, narrow, beautiful table in her living room just filled with stuff. It was the first thing you saw when you walked in. I said to her, ‘It’s going to take me 15 minutes to make this look Instagram-worthy.’ About five pieces stayed on there. About 10 things were thrown out, and we found a different place for the rest.”
Jamila Musayeva is the author of “The Art of Entertaining at Home” and
with over 1 million subscribers. She’s also an etiquette coach., 84. A legendary jazz vibraphonist, keyboardist, composer and vocalist known for his spacy, funky 1976 hit “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” that has been sampled by such R&B and rap heavyweights as Mary J. Blige, N.W.A., Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Mos Def and Ice Cube. March 4.
, 95. He was elected in 1967 as Mississippi’s first Black lawmaker of the 20th century and rose to the second-highest leadership role in the state House of Representatives. March 4., 64. A founding member of the Grammy-nominated group Tony! Toni! Tone! behind the classic songs “Anniversary,” “It Never Rains (In Southern California)” and (Lay Your Head on My) Pillow.” March 7.
, 71. A basketball standout who led Louisville to a Final Four, starred for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and then launched an even more successful career as a businessman with stakes in restaurants, publishing and the Bucks franchise. March 11., 90. A veteran broadcast journalist who was press secretary for President Gerald Ford and sought to restore the integrity that the position had lost during the Nixon administration. March 12.