Why do Mormons have no stuff in their houses?

[Anonymous]

I like the aesthetic and I think it makes the pieces that are in the house stand out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting observation! I too had some affluent LDS friends growing up and their houses were indeed incredibly clean (like, sparkling clean, in spite of having a ton of kids) and remarkably clutter-free.

My friend told me they had a cleaning schedule and they had to clean before someone came to inspect their house from the church--maybe on a biweekly basis? They had a ton of cleaning chores down to things like cleaning blinds every week and wiping down the entire kitchen and cleaning the stove fan grease trap each and every time you cook.

I agree a lot of it for social media is probably studio set homes that they don't actually live in. But for regular folks I think it would be impossible to keep to those incredibly high house cleanliness standards without living in basically an empty space.

No one from the church was coming to inspect their house, absolutely not. Maybe they just liked a clean house. I grew up Mormon and have been in many homes, some neat and tidy, some messy, just like non-Mormons.

Yeah. I was raised Mormon and still am active, but I’ve never lived in Utah so can’t speak to the Utah culture. So, no. There were no church inspections. There were visits from other church members and my parents would want to clean up for them, but cleanliness isn’t a requirement. We did have a chore chart that we needed to finish by noon on Saturday, but that was just regular family stuff. Not religious.

[Anonymous]

OP thinks TV is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they aren't interested in consumer culture. Good for them! When I visited Bangladesh I was surprised lots of my husband's family did not have anything on the walls and they are upper middle class. They have maids and drivers, and send kids to expensive private schools, etc. In some cultures, they focus more on relationships instead of accumulating stuff. They also don't throw away stuff but repair it and they don't use lots of plastic bags, birthday goodie bags etc.

But how will you know if they have any personality unless their travel tsotchkes are on display? Do you actually have to talk to them and get to know them if you can’t scan their counters and walls for the junk they collect?

The average Bengali hasn't stayed in a hotel or been outside their country. You need to be very weathly to do that. The conversations I have with his family are very different than anything I would talk with an American about. It usually involves what I am eating there (they think all I eat is pizza and pasta), they ask about my family and we talk about clothing. I get gifted a lot of traditional Bengali dresses while I am there and I wear them on the trip. We talk about the kids and simple stuff like that. Most of his family doesn't speak any English. My husband had a blanket from Kuwait airlines and I learned later his uncle gifted it to him and it's like 20-30 years old lol. I thought it was special for my husband because he got it on his first flight which was to the US but it was his uncles from years prior. My husband also told me he would use the same pencil the entire school year and when I visited I learned you can buy just one pencil.. or colored pencil... buying the whole box doesn't seem to be common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am home sick and I’ve been watching the secret lives of Mormon wives (it’s very dumb, don’t watch it) and they all live in giant houses with no stuff in them. I would think this was just a reality show thing, and that they’re sets not homes, but I went through a period of following ballerina farm and she has almost nothing in her house either. Her sister lives in a giant mansion, not a farmhouse like ballerina farm, and she also has nothing in her house. No rugs, very few pictures on the wall, no decorative accents. I realize these are all social media people so it’s not representative of the entire religion but I grew up in a place that isn’t Utah that had a ton of Mormons and when I went over to the Mormon houses I noticed a dramatic lack of stuff. I do know some Mormons that have what I would call a normal amount of “stuff” in their houses by North American standards, which, of course, is way too much. But of where I grew up I have a bit of a Mormon radar, and having not very much stuff in your house sets it off for me.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is it just because it’s not emphasized in Mormon culture to decorate your home? Is it because they have so many kids they don’t have money for extra? (Unlikely, because ballerina farm and her sister are quite well off, and so were the Mormons who I knew growing up.) Is it because cleaning and life need to be made easier when you have so many kids so you limit the amount of stuff in your home?

This is not a scientific sample but the only two Mormon homes I have visited in DMV had so much clutter I had to restrain myself from offering to help them to clean up. Neither of them had multiple wives though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So it just that there are lots of Mormon influencers and influencers have bare homes with a few TJ Maxx tchotchkes?

A trends marketing consultant at my work once called "Real Simple" magazine "p0rn for women".

I believe the uncluttered visual aesthetic is a "rich" aesthetic just as other posters have said. It's a largely unattainable state for most of us mortals.

Another aspect of this is the "sad beige children" upmarket children's product aesthetic.

In olden times, the Victorian cluttery aesthetic looked rich because it was hard to get and afford those objects. No longer true...ornate secretary desk, china for 14, ostrich egg, 20 lb geode, books by the foot...all available with a few clicks.

It’s because we have bigger houses. There’s a place for everything. The kitchen counter isn’t cluttered with appliances, spices, and utensils because they all have a space to be stored away. People with small houses who like a lot of stuff have to keep it all out on display.

I also just hate clutter. I don't like appliances, utensil holders, spices, etc. on my kitchen counter. I don't like things sitting out on tables because they just collect dust. We do have some things obviously but not a ton. People have commented that our house is so neat it looks like it's staged for a sale but they'll also say it's very comfortable (which it is, we have lots of comfortable couches and chairs and nothing is off limits or too fancy). We live in our house and we use most of the space all the time (we usually eat in the kitchen rather than the dining room but kids may do homework there and we don't always use the guest room) but I don't like things out. We have dogs and we're pretty casual people, it's just the stuff I don't like. Our house isn't cold, it's just neat. But I totally get if that's not your aesthetic and that's ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting observation! I too had some affluent LDS friends growing up and their houses were indeed incredibly clean (like, sparkling clean, in spite of having a ton of kids) and remarkably clutter-free.

My friend told me they had a cleaning schedule and they had to clean before someone came to inspect their house from the church--maybe on a biweekly basis? They had a ton of cleaning chores down to things like cleaning blinds every week and wiping down the entire kitchen and cleaning the stove fan grease trap each and every time you cook.

I agree a lot of it for social media is probably studio set homes that they don't actually live in. But for regular folks I think it would be impossible to keep to those incredibly high house cleanliness standards without living in basically an empty space.

No one from the church was coming to inspect their house, absolutely not. Maybe they just liked a clean house. I grew up Mormon and have been in many homes, some neat and tidy, some messy, just like non-Mormons.

Since you grew up mormon, answer this:

Are mormons Christian-nationalists?

NP but also a former Mormon. Christian, yes, but not Christian-nationalists. Mormons are very tolerant of other religions and greatly respect almost all faiths. The BYU Center for Religious Studies brings in scholars of different faiths' conferences on various studies. One of my favorite professors at BYU was Jewish. My closest girlfriends who are still active in the church are Republican but not voting for Trump. There are fringe people in every religion, including Mormonism, but the general vibe of the Church is very respectful and inquisitive of other faiths and not at all pro-Trump.

On the point of the original post, growing up, most of my Mormon friends' houses were cluttered. Incidentally, we have almost no clutter in our house, but that is because I have ADHD, and everything has to have a place, and DH (never Mormon) is a little OCD and hates clutter. We have art on the walls, but no nicknacks, etc.

Mormon and tolerant don't belong in the same sentence. Are you even aware of your church's history and teachings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting observation! I too had some affluent LDS friends growing up and their houses were indeed incredibly clean (like, sparkling clean, in spite of having a ton of kids) and remarkably clutter-free.

My friend told me they had a cleaning schedule and they had to clean before someone came to inspect their house from the church--maybe on a biweekly basis? They had a ton of cleaning chores down to things like cleaning blinds every week and wiping down the entire kitchen and cleaning the stove fan grease trap each and every time you cook.

I agree a lot of it for social media is probably studio set homes that they don't actually live in. But for regular folks I think it would be impossible to keep to those incredibly high house cleanliness standards without living in basically an empty space.

No one from the church was coming to inspect their house, absolutely not. Maybe they just liked a clean house. I grew up Mormon and have been in many homes, some neat and tidy, some messy, just like non-Mormons.

Since you grew up mormon, answer this:

Are mormons Christian-nationalists?

NP but also a former Mormon. Christian, yes, but not Christian-nationalists. Mormons are very tolerant of other religions and greatly respect almost all faiths. The BYU Center for Religious Studies brings in scholars of different faiths' conferences on various studies. One of my favorite professors at BYU was Jewish. My closest girlfriends who are still active in the church are Republican but not voting for Trump. There are fringe people in every religion, including Mormonism, but the general vibe of the Church is very respectful and inquisitive of other faiths and not at all pro-Trump.

On the point of the original post, growing up, most of my Mormon friends' houses were cluttered. Incidentally, we have almost no clutter in our house, but that is because I have ADHD, and everything has to have a place, and DH (never Mormon) is a little OCD and hates clutter. We have art on the walls, but no nicknacks, etc.

Mormon and tolerant don't belong in the same sentence. Are you even aware of your church's history and teachings?

NP. Do you know any Mormons? Regular lay people are people, not the inner circle. That is true for Mormons and for every other group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting observation! I too had some affluent LDS friends growing up and their houses were indeed incredibly clean (like, sparkling clean, in spite of having a ton of kids) and remarkably clutter-free.

My friend told me they had a cleaning schedule and they had to clean before someone came to inspect their house from the church--maybe on a biweekly basis? They had a ton of cleaning chores down to things like cleaning blinds every week and wiping down the entire kitchen and cleaning the stove fan grease trap each and every time you cook.

I agree a lot of it for social media is probably studio set homes that they don't actually live in. But for regular folks I think it would be impossible to keep to those incredibly high house cleanliness standards without living in basically an empty space.

No one from the church was coming to inspect their house, absolutely not. Maybe they just liked a clean house. I grew up Mormon and have been in many homes, some neat and tidy, some messy, just like non-Mormons.

Since you grew up mormon, answer this:

Are mormons Christian-nationalists?

NP but also a former Mormon. Christian, yes, but not Christian-nationalists. Mormons are very tolerant of other religions and greatly respect almost all faiths. The BYU Center for Religious Studies brings in scholars of different faiths' conferences on various studies. One of my favorite professors at BYU was Jewish. My closest girlfriends who are still active in the church are Republican but not voting for Trump. There are fringe people in every religion, including Mormonism, but the general vibe of the Church is very respectful and inquisitive of other faiths and not at all pro-Trump.

On the point of the original post, growing up, most of my Mormon friends' houses were cluttered. Incidentally, we have almost no clutter in our house, but that is because I have ADHD, and everything has to have a place, and DH (never Mormon) is a little OCD and hates clutter. We have art on the walls, but no nicknacks, etc.

responding not much to the decor thing (although I don't like the bare echoing white/beige barn aesthetic) but there's a pronounced over-representation of Mormons in the sci-fi book realm (Orson Scott Card, for one, but there are others), the theology definitely has some sci-fi attributes, and the Mormon missionaries who used to live behind me often stopped by when we had a fire outside and talked about sci-fi and only a bit about the religion in a non-proselytizing way. That doesn't line up with Christian nationalism for me, Mitt Romney and John Huntsman come to mind. The equivalent of nationalism is probably more within the church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting observation! I too had some affluent LDS friends growing up and their houses were indeed incredibly clean (like, sparkling clean, in spite of having a ton of kids) and remarkably clutter-free.

My friend told me they had a cleaning schedule and they had to clean before someone came to inspect their house from the church--maybe on a biweekly basis? They had a ton of cleaning chores down to things like cleaning blinds every week and wiping down the entire kitchen and cleaning the stove fan grease trap each and every time you cook.

I agree a lot of it for social media is probably studio set homes that they don't actually live in. But for regular folks I think it would be impossible to keep to those incredibly high house cleanliness standards without living in basically an empty space.

No one from the church was coming to inspect their house, absolutely not. Maybe they just liked a clean house. I grew up Mormon and have been in many homes, some neat and tidy, some messy, just like non-Mormons.

Since you grew up mormon, answer this:

Are mormons Christian-nationalists?

NP but also a former Mormon. Christian, yes, but not Christian-nationalists. Mormons are very tolerant of other religions and greatly respect almost all faiths. The BYU Center for Religious Studies brings in scholars of different faiths' conferences on various studies. One of my favorite professors at BYU was Jewish. My closest girlfriends who are still active in the church are Republican but not voting for Trump. There are fringe people in every religion, including Mormonism, but the general vibe of the Church is very respectful and inquisitive of other faiths and not at all pro-Trump.

On the point of the original post, growing up, most of my Mormon friends' houses were cluttered. Incidentally, we have almost no clutter in our house, but that is because I have ADHD, and everything has to have a place, and DH (never Mormon) is a little OCD and hates clutter. We have art on the walls, but no nicknacks, etc.

LDS / Mormons are not Christians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting observation! I too had some affluent LDS friends growing up and their houses were indeed incredibly clean (like, sparkling clean, in spite of having a ton of kids) and remarkably clutter-free.

My friend told me they had a cleaning schedule and they had to clean before someone came to inspect their house from the church--maybe on a biweekly basis? They had a ton of cleaning chores down to things like cleaning blinds every week and wiping down the entire kitchen and cleaning the stove fan grease trap each and every time you cook.

I agree a lot of it for social media is probably studio set homes that they don't actually live in. But for regular folks I think it would be impossible to keep to those incredibly high house cleanliness standards without living in basically an empty space.

No one from the church was coming to inspect their house, absolutely not. Maybe they just liked a clean house. I grew up Mormon and have been in many homes, some neat and tidy, some messy, just like non-Mormons.

Since you grew up mormon, answer this:

Are mormons Christian-nationalists?

NP but also a former Mormon. Christian, yes, but not Christian-nationalists. Mormons are very tolerant of other religions and greatly respect almost all faiths. The BYU Center for Religious Studies brings in scholars of different faiths' conferences on various studies. One of my favorite professors at BYU was Jewish. My closest girlfriends who are still active in the church are Republican but not voting for Trump. There are fringe people in every religion, including Mormonism, but the general vibe of the Church is very respectful and inquisitive of other faiths and not at all pro-Trump.

On the point of the original post, growing up, most of my Mormon friends' houses were cluttered. Incidentally, we have almost no clutter in our house, but that is because I have ADHD, and everything has to have a place, and DH (never Mormon) is a little OCD and hates clutter. We have art on the walls, but no nicknacks, etc.

LDS / Mormons are not Christians.

True - Mormons are not Christians:

https://www.christianity.com/church/mormonism-is-not-christianity-11628184.html

[Anonymous]

What a weird post.

OP thinks that what she sees on a screen is real and also doesn't know many people from different backgrounds. And, we have four pages of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a social media thing. It makes you look affluent to have a large new-build home with 0 clutter. Lots of decorative stuff can look kitschy and cheap. Look at any reality show about poor people - there is stuff everywhere.

I don't agree at all. It makes it seem like you have no personality. I was always aghast at how bland and boring the Kardashian houses were-beige on beige on beige. Literally anyone could have lived there.

I agree. When I go into homes like that I am taken aback. My house is also very clean and organized, but I have items from my travels, family heirlooms, paintings, and rugs. Same with the house I grew up in, where we had a full time live in maid. I think it’s so weird when people have nothing in their house besides new stuff but I think it’s a cultural difference.

I feel like I am in a museum that feels grandmothery in some places that have tons of mis-matchyt things on the wall and too much stuff. It makes me claustrophobic. Everyone is different but I couldn't live in a place peacefully with a lot of stuff

And I feel like I'm in an industrial building when there's loads of space and no personality or comfortable furniture.
Why have these giant mausoleums? So much wasted space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting observation! I too had some affluent LDS friends growing up and their houses were indeed incredibly clean (like, sparkling clean, in spite of having a ton of kids) and remarkably clutter-free.

My friend told me they had a cleaning schedule and they had to clean before someone came to inspect their house from the church--maybe on a biweekly basis? They had a ton of cleaning chores down to things like cleaning blinds every week and wiping down the entire kitchen and cleaning the stove fan grease trap each and every time you cook.

I agree a lot of it for social media is probably studio set homes that they don't actually live in. But for regular folks I think it would be impossible to keep to those incredibly high house cleanliness standards without living in basically an empty space.

No one from the church was coming to inspect their house, absolutely not. Maybe they just liked a clean house. I grew up Mormon and have been in many homes, some neat and tidy, some messy, just like non-Mormons.

Since you grew up mormon, answer this:

Are mormons Christian-nationalists?

NP but also a former Mormon. Christian, yes, but not Christian-nationalists. Mormons are very tolerant of other religions and greatly respect almost all faiths. The BYU Center for Religious Studies brings in scholars of different faiths' conferences on various studies. One of my favorite professors at BYU was Jewish. My closest girlfriends who are still active in the church are Republican but not voting for Trump. There are fringe people in every religion, including Mormonism, but the general vibe of the Church is very respectful and inquisitive of other faiths and not at all pro-Trump.

On the point of the original post, growing up, most of my Mormon friends' houses were cluttered. Incidentally, we have almost no clutter in our house, but that is because I have ADHD, and everything has to have a place, and DH (never Mormon) is a little OCD and hates clutter. We have art on the walls, but no nicknacks, etc.

Mormon and tolerant don't belong in the same sentence. Are you even aware of your church's history and teachings?

NP. Do you know any Mormons? Regular lay people are people, not the inner circle. That is true for Mormons and for every other group.

I do know Mormons. Many of them. PP said Mormons, as in all Mormons. Mormonism is wildly intolerant, so to say that all Mormons are is...untrue.

I wouldn't say Christians are tolerant either, even though I consider myself a tolerant Christian.