Is your stuff weighing you down?
Our economy is driven by consumption, and let’s sure hope that doesn’t change to driven by war expenditures. As a result you likely have quite a bit of physical baggage. If not you, congratulations, yet you still may have parents with a garage full of junk that you’ll be the proud owner of one day.
At some point all that stuff becomes more of a hinderance than an added comfort. There are many methods to determine whether you should keep or toss something, including if I got poop on this would I clean it or throw it away? Only you can decide, but I imagine most of us have a bias toward keeping too much.
How much is too much?
If your stuff is making it difficult to move around your home, then you probably need to stop buying stuff. Some people may take this as a sign to get a bigger home, but stuff is like a liquid, it will spread out to whatever space you let it in.
If you are using a storage unit with no end date, then you have too much stuff. You are very unlikely to convince me otherwise.
If you can’t afford it, stop buying it. Your stuff is acting as a constraint to the experiences you really want to have.
Exploring examples
Say no to storage units
The sunk cost fallacy makes you think that since you paid for your stuff then it would be better to keep it around. However, you can sell it, give it, or throw it away.
People load up their excess belongings into a storage unit never to be seen again. Maybe they put their furniture and kids clothing that they think they’ll use again. They’ll pay $100 a month to store $1000 worth of goods. For years it sits there, maybe a bike gets pulled out and used. Yet, if they simply threw the items into a dumpster and purchased new items that they actually used they would have saved money. You could have even rented one.
Pets
Pets aren’t necessarily “stuff” but they can certainly weigh you down and restrict what you can do. I know people that can’t be out for more than 4 hours because their pets can’t handle it. So before you get a pet, a house plant, or a sourdough starter, consider the implications on your life. For many this is a joyous addition, but for others it may be a burdensome constraint.
Furniture
There was a person who tried to sell furniture at a yard sale but couldn’t get their asking prices, so they took all the unwanted furniture back to their home. It cluttered their home to the point where they couldn’t use areas of the house. Is holding out for an extra hundred dollars worth losing the use of your home? No way.
Seasonal items
To each their own, but I do not own Christmas decorations or any sort of thing that requires me to put it up for a limited period and then take it down. So much work.
Endowment effect
You may be unwilling to let your stuff because you suffer from the endowment effect. This is the bias that you think your items are more valuable than the same item if it wasn’t yours. You see this all the time on resale marketplaces. Someone bought something for $100 ten years ago and they say it is “gently used” and then attempt to sell it for $90. It’s probably worth less than $30 and if you asked them if they wanted to buy your same item for $80 they’d definitely say no.
So take a look around. What aren’t you using? Personally, I love to think of my house having a scale underneath it and I’m constantly trying to decrease its weight. Being willing to let the item go could be a momentary pain that could pay dividends.