Since August, I’ve been on a quest to reduce the clutter in my life. Back when I was a spendthrift, I bought a lot of Stuff. Stuff comforted me. When I was buying things (even on credit), I felt wealthy.
Stuff doesn’t make me feel wealthy anymore — it makes me feel cramped. With time, Stuff simply becomes clutter. Slowly but surely, I’m banishing excess belongings from my household. I still sometimes buy more than I ought, but mostly I’ve been guarding the borders of my life against the invasion of Stuff. Here are some of the defenses I’ve been employing:
- I ignore the proverbial Joneses. One of the most dangerous paths to clutter (and to overspending) is the urge to own the same things your friends do. Peer pressure can be powerful. I’ve come to realize that lifestyles are not a competition. What does it matter what others buy? I’m content with what I have — more Stuff is not going to make me more happy.
- If I don’t need it, I don’t buy it. As I’ve purged my Stuff over the past year, I’ve been shocked by how many things I bought but never used. I would see something in a store — a voice recorder, for example — and convince myself that I needed it. Or I would tell myself, “I might as well buy a jig saw — we’ll need one in the new house.” But I used the jig saw only once in four years (on the day we moved in). I never used the voice recorder at all! These items are clutter, and were a waste of money. I’ve learned not to buy something unless I know I’ll use it.
- I try to value experiences instead of things. Make no mistake — experiences still cost money. But a trip to England or the entrance fee to a marathon or a nice dinner with friends all share a common characteristic: they don’t take up space in my home. I get value for my money, and there’s no residual Stuff.
- I’m trying to practice the one-in, one-out rule. I’ll admit up front that I’m not good at this, but Kris is trying to teach me. I’m attempting to keep a steady state of Stuff. If I have, for example, twelve pairs of socks, and then buy another, I must get rid of one pair. Practicing this rule prevents a build-up of Stuff.
- I focus on quality. It’s been difficult for me to realize that sometimes it makes sense to pay more for the things I buy. My instinct is to buy whatever’s cheapest. (And sometimes that is the best choice.) But I’m learning to base my purchase decisions on the value an item will give me. Often it makes more sense to have one excellent expensive item than to have several lousy cheap ones. The lousy items just become clutter.
- I borrow and lend. Shakespeare might have advised against it, but I’ve found that by borrowing and lending things among friends, there’s less we each need to own. I’ve loaned out a drill, a rototiller, some golf clubs. I’ve borrowed books, a video camera, a lamp. By sharing these items, we’re each able to have less Stuff in our lives.
- I’ve reduced my exposure to advertising. Since I stopped watching television a few years ago, I buy much less Stuff. But it’s not just television. I used to enjoy reading the ads in magazines. Now I try to ignore them. The less I pay attention to advertising, the less I buy.
I don’t want to pretend like I have Stuff licked. I don’t. I’m still especially susceptible to free and cheap things. In the past year, for example, I’ve dragged home:
- A carload of scrap lumber I picked up for free. (Admittedly, this did get used as a border to our garden.)
- Several pieces of free exercise equipment that have remained unused in our garage.
- A box of free books — books that I now realize I will never read.
Just because something is free or cheap doesn’t mean it’s a bargain. If I don’t need it, I shouldn’t bring it home. Despite this weakness in my defenses, the tide of the battle has turned. I’m winning the war against Stuff.
There’s nothing wrong with owning Stuff that you use and value. But when you accumulate Stuff that you never use, that’s a problem. Guard your borders. In his excellent The Joy of Simple Living, Jeff Davidson writes, “By keeping watch over what enters your personal kingdom, you end having to initiate possession-purging exercises.” The best way to cope with Stuff is to never let it into your house.
This article is about House and Home, Odds and Ends, Self-Improvement
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Uhm, the Joneses… My “Joneses” were once the beautiful girls I met in Milan, always perfectly groomed, expensively dressed and aggressive-looking. I never really tried to be like them but sure for a moment I thought I had to be that way, that I was missing something, and I was never satisfied with what I found in my closet. Then I slowly came to my senses and realised that was not my style entirely, that most of those women are exhibionist clones and that my closet *is* full of nice things…
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@Stanley Parent-Good point. I read the post again and you are right.
I still don’t often loan or borrow tools or other stuff. I find people don’t take care of them like I do.
That being said, I will always help a friend or neighbor. I guess you can say they don’t borrow my tools, they borrow me!
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Good post and lots of good comments.
I went through a major purge about a year ago when I moved from a 3,000 sq. ft. house to one that was 1,600 sq. ft. Not only did I have to get rid of the clutter build-up from 12 years of living in the previous house, but I had to get rid of major pieces of furniture that just wouldn’t fit into the new one! So I know how to ruthlessly apply the excellent clutter busting rules that have been discussed here.
However, I think that when you’re a great book lover and a voracious reader you have to make some exceptions to the rules when it comes to weeding your library.
For instance, one person suggested donating your books to the local public library on the grounds that you could still have access to them but the library would have to house and store them for you. In reality, though some donations will end up on the library’s shelves, others will not. Libraries have to consider their own space limitations and must also decide whether a donated book will circulate enough to justify including it in their collection.
Also, if your interests are not mainstream you will find few of the books you really want at the average public library. (Though if you’re lucky enough to live within the boundaries of a large city library, such as the LA Public, you can get almost anything you’d ever want. They’ll send it from any of their libraries to your local branch for free! Yes, smaller libraries can do interlibrary loan with other independent libraries, but there’s usually a fee. And the chances of finding the book you want are also smaller.)
I think the basic rules of “Do you love it?” and “Is it beautiful?” can also be applied to books. But because books are used at a slower pace than clothing, power tools, or crafts materials, “Have you used it in the last year?” may not apply to books. I may not reread my two volume collection of the Letters of Lewis Carroll every single year, but when I want it, it’s nice to have it handy on the shelf.
And I think it’s okay if years go by between the purchase of a book and my actually reading it — especially if it was originally added to our collection by my husband — because there have been so many times when a book bought long ago becomes the right read at the right time, and it is so nice to have had it on the shelf waiting for me.
So how did I weed my library? Very, very cautiously. It had to be something that I really, very truly, was no longer interested in. For example, books about how the original Star Wars movies were made. It’s just not important to me any more. How-to books about things I’m sure I will never, ever do in the next ten years. Gift books I never liked in the first place and only kept to be polite. Text books that I’d never sit down and reread for pleasure — unless it’s a standard reference on the subject that I’d like to have available.
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Amen!
More on the “one in, one out” discussion:
http://frugalize.blogspot.com/2007/10/return-to-minimalism-one-in-one-out.html
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@ 53 makes an important point that public libraries face the same limitations that we do (and more) and cannot be counted on to do our book storage for us.
The library system my mother works for sells almost all donated books to a man who re-sells them on eBay. The book you donate is unlikely to be a book that they need at that specific time – it is likely a duplicate or isn’t going to be popular enough to merit taking up space.
Her specific branch has a policy of removing books from circulation that have not been checked out for more than two years. Though they do not adhere to this policy slavishly, and make frequent exceptions, they force themselves to make a case for keeping a less often used book rather than having “keep forever” as the default. If they didn’t do this, they would never have room for the new books that come out and patrons would be annoyed trying to find desired books among the chaff.
Different librarians have different philosophies, so your public library system may keep books longer or be more interested in incorporating donations into their collections, but I would not advise anyone to count on their local library functioning as a repository for their own overflow.
This being said, though, I have found that I can rely on my own public library system and the two local univeristy libraries for an amazing amount of stuff that I do not have to duplicate at home. Maybe my interests are insufficiently esoteric…
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I’ve been getting better at limiting new clutter and getting rid of stuff I’ll never use again… but now I’m pregnant. How much stuff do you actually need for a very young child? I’m trying REALLY hard to keep it minimal, but friends and family would rather get us more baby clothes and toys than cloth diapers. Not to mention all the baby-related furniture that’s being foisted upon us. I say NO to a lot of it, but plenty is things that we will probably need… I just can’t figure out what we can possibly get rid of that takes up as much room as a crib, a dresser/changing table, a swing, and a rocking chair.
It’s a problem for my own wardrobe, too – I’d been slowly getting into the “less quantity, more quality” mindset for my clothes, but I can’t afford to do that when I need a complete wardrobe of maternity clothes. (The only solution proposed for this is to borrow: unfortunately, I am taller and wider than any of my recently-pregnant friends who offered to lend me clothes, and my job has a strict dress code.)
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@Anitra:
In many cities there has been the growth of good-quality but used maternity cloths stores. Alternately, you can always go with the old back up of Good Will, or the like. Good Will washes all the cloths they receive before they put them on the racks, but feel free to do it again when you get home. When you’re done with the maternity cloths, just take them back to the Good Will! Get a receipt for your charitable donation!
As for how much space the crib, dresser, swing & rocking chair take up…. I don’t think they take up any more space then the kid will when he has is own furniture when he’s, say, 3.
Besides, Rocking Chairs are nice! The swing you can take to good will too, once the babe has out grown it, along with the crib. They even have cribs these days that mutate as the child ages to become more and more of a bed. The dresser will still be useful for YEARS if it is more then just a changing table, and actually can store cloths of your “Youngling”
Congrats, and good luck!
Check out Unclutterer.com for more advice on how to stay clutter free, with a baby on the way!!
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I just learned from a friend today that she has spent almost $11,000 (an inheritance) in the last year – on meaningless stuff. I was so saddened by her confession.
She has had a tough go – including a cancer diagnosis in her early 20′s – that left her disabled, and buying is one way she comforts herself.
On a happier note, Carrie and Danielle (www.carrieanddanielle) recently talked about cheap being more expensive in the long run, and I’m trying hard to remember that. It’s so much more satisfying to spend more and get something you really love.
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