We have too much stuff. Us personally, and us as a collective society. We hoard junk. We develop emotional attachments. And they hold us back from more.
We’re moving, so we have to declutter
This past week, I’ve been getting rid of a lot of stuff. We’re in the process of moving to a smaller place, and so we’ve had to reevaluate what we own.
My wife and I started off in a 1 bedroom apartment, and we had a storage shed. So naturally we filled it with stuff we don’t use normally.
Then we moved into a 2 bedroom townhouse with a garage and patio. And like most people, when you get more space, you fill it with more stuff.
We weren’t buying frivolously. We bought stuff that we needed at the moment, and thought we would use regular, but didn’t.
But now we’re moving to a smaller space and and realizing we don’t have a place to put it.
It’s easy getting rid of stuff. It’s hard deciding what to get rid of.
The task of deciding what to get rid of is mentally exhausting. Even if it’s stuff that’s stored away and we haven’t touched in over a year.
You come up with all these reasons to hold on to it.
What if we need it later? (We won’t). Or the sunk cost of having already spent money on it (It holds no value if we don’t use it though). Or just it being sentimental (even though we don’t look at it or think about it because it’s in a box).
We grow an attachment to stuff we don’t use or need, and end up accumulating stuff for the sake of owning it. Soon they end up owning us. They’re anchors holding us back from moving forward. They’re burdens we carry from place to place. And they take up space in our home and our lives.
Even the just thinking about the stuff to mentally catalogue what we have is draining.
So we let our stuff go
I’ve been selling stuff, donating stuff, recycling stuff, and if I have to, throwing it away.
As a side note, don’t just throw stuff away, that’s so wasteful. If you originally got it for $50 or more, try selling it, you might make $20 or so. If it’s not sellable or not worth the trouble, donate it goodwill. Recycle stuff that not usable. Then trash what can’t be recycled.
It’s hard at first, but gradually becomes liberating. Having something leave your hands that has just been cluttering your life, knowing you’ll never have to think about it again, feels so freeing. I soon began looking for stuff to sell or give away.
It’s a good practice to have, whether you’re moving or not, whether you have more or less space. Because we have so much stuff that we just don’t need.