It’s August. Often a time to pause, relax, refresh, and reset before hitting it again with school and/or work in September.
One way to help refresh and reset your personal space is to get rid of items that you haven’t used in a while or items that have outgrown their usefulness altogether.
Shocking as it may sound, we do that a lot here around the chateau. Of course, some of the stuff–furniture, sports equipment, appliances, and just general junk–was left here by the previous owners. Still, more than a few trips to the local thrift shop and the local trash dump involve donating or disposing of our own items that no longer serve a purpose.
And we’ve only been here a little more than 18 months.
So before you go out and buy The Back To School Wardrobe, or anything else really, open the closet door or the garage door, take a hard look at the contents, and ask yourself the following questions:
Are there things in here that I haven’t used or worn in the last 6 months? If so, why haven’t I used them? And am I honestly going to use them in the next 6 months?
Why am I really holding on to them?
Are these material possessions holding me back emotionally or taking up physical space that I could use differently or better?
Would the energy in my residence flow more freely if I had less stuff?
Am I a different person now than when I purchased these things? How am I different? Can this change in me be applied to other material possessions? Can I let go of those, too? Can I let go of the self-image I had of myself and replace it with a new, updated version of myself?
Am I afraid of letting go of material possessions? Why?
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being a hoarder and 10 being a minimalist, how do I rank?
Are the material things I own and value going to age well as I grow and change? Or will they quickly be obsolete?
How much are ‘dead weight’ material possessions costing me in terms of money, time, and space?
Am I paying for a storage unit to store things I don’t use?
Is my closet packed with clothes? What am I trying to compensate for?
These are just a few questions you can ask yourself to assess how you’re interacting with material possessions, and how you can get rid of things you no longer need.
I’d love to hear your ideas about how you stay streamlined, organized, and orderly.
Thanks.
- BGT
Debbie Downer here! I’m looking at having surgery next week, and am too preoccupied to add anything of value to the conversation. But I am keen on hearing about how others handle this. Myself, I have a nasty habit of keeping some (unused) items a long time. Why? Simply because I’ve had them a long time. Hard to refute THAT logic!
I can’t fit any more clothes into my closet at this point. I wear about 40 percent of what is in there regularly, and for at least the past decade. The clothes I barely wear are usually fall or winter clothes that were purchased for me as gifts. I may have to start requesting less clothing as gifts from family during the holiday season, but they might be offended or, worse, not listen.
Looking around my home it is mainly filled with items that I have not chosen! Either they have been inherited ( the word inherited can conjure up thoughts of valuable paintings, jewelry, books etc. but I am talking about jugs, plates chairs, garden tools ) or gifted. So I have to ask myself is this a good thing? Yes, in so much as these inherited items didn’t go into landfill and the gifted items were given with love. Beyond that though they are not necessarily me, my essence, my choice and that needs to be changed. So yes, a weekly trip to donate to the charity shop for me.
😊
Great questions to ask while deciding what to keep and what to liberate from your life. The solution is to get a castle with unlimited storage or a tiny apartment with almost no storage. On a more serious note, the challenge with decluttering is that it can be overwhelming and super time consuming. Döstädning is the way to think about it.
SO true, Maurice! Years ago, aunt and uncle in NY passed, and left a lot of things in their apt to be sorted out and disposed of. The woman handling the estate advised me to learn from that, and to go through clutter periodically to make life easier for the person(s) who would have to deal with it after my passing.
In my last three single life apartments, ca. 1994-2003, I can still envision the empty counter tops, drawers not bulging with items, bare floors under art on the walls, and an immaculate inside of the car. When deciding whether to keep or purchase an item, my attitude was: Can I possibly live w/out this? rather than: Will I possibly ever need this ? But alas, now after 18 years of marriage and with two sophomores in the house, those days are gone forever—as I suppose they should be. One needs many more things in life. I am left wondering if the arrangements in my heavenly mansion above will be more sparse. But for now, love of family trumps things—or the lack thereof. In the meantime my excesses are a 40ish collection of Oxford cloth button-downs and perhaps 15 pair of relaxed fit khakis. The wife indulges me splendidly.
Love the mention of the Oxford shirts!