Long-time readers of Get Rich Slowly know that I've been waging an ongoing battle against Stuff — the clutter and crap I managed to collect during 20 years of wanton spending and debt. Though I've managed to curb my spending (and have slowed the influx of Stuff), I'm still surrounded by constant reminders of my old habits.
Last week, Colleen wrote to ask for an update on this seemingly-endless war:
I was wondering if you would update us soon on your battle with “Stuff”. I, along with others I'm sure, struggle with this, and reading your blog has been a great help. I'm curious how you've progressed since the last post when you decided to clean the workshop.
I'm pleased to report that over the past two months, I've launched a number of successful campaigns to take control of clutter. There's still much work to be done, but I can finally envision a future that isn't filled with useless Stuff. Here are a few examples of my progress:
Guarding the Guest Room
On Saturday, Kris and I spent several hours cleaning our “guest room”. I put guest room in quotes because for the past two years, it's been incapable of housing guests. Instead, it's been a home for my photography equipment, Kris' cooking magazines, my board game collection, upcoming Christmas gifts, and more. It's just a holding place for Stuff.
This weekend, we decided we'd had enough. We sorted and purged. We cleaned. We re-arranged the furniture. The toughest part for me was culling my board game collection. I had to admit that although we used to play games once a week (or more!), we're now lucky to play them once a year. I don't need 50 board games. In fact, I'm sure that next September, I'll be wondering why I kept 25 board games.
After a few hours of work, we'd managed to turn a dumpy useless room into an actual guest room. (We also managed to move all of the science fiction books and comic books into the guest room, freeing up space elsewhere in the house.)
Conquering the Closet
In June, based on a GRS reader suggestion, I set up a year-long experiment. I moved all of my nice shirts and sweaters from the hall closet to the guest room closet. Whenever I need something, I go to the hall closet first. If what I need is there, I wear it. If not, I pull it from the closet in the guest bedroom.
After I've worn something (and it's been cleaned), it's hung in the hall closet. After a year has elapsed, the guest bedroom will contain a bunch of clothes I have not worn for twelve months. I'll take these things to Goodwill.
This trick is awesome. It's surprisingly liberating. When I open the hall closet, there are only a handful of shirts — the eight shirts I wear most often. This makes me realize that most of the other 25+ shirts hanging in the guest room are nothing but clutter. (I can't evaluate the sweaters yet because the cold weather hasn't arrived. Still, I think it's safe to assume I don't need 19 of them.)
Waging War in the Workshop
My biggest victory so far — one that I hope to finally achieve later today — has been the reclamation of my workshop. When we moved into this house five years ago, I had dreams of learning carpentry in the shop. Or converting it to a photo studio. Or something.
Instead, the workshop became a dumping ground for all the crap I'd managed to accumulate. (And continued to accumulate.) At the beginning of this summer, the building was packed to the gills with computer parts, record albums, magazines, and boxes of useless junk. After weeks of slow progress, however, I've managed to reduce the mess to a single bench. It will take me several hours to sort these last few difficult piles — but once I do, the workshop will be a homey place to pursue my hobbies.
Fighting the Good Fight
Though I've achieved some major victories in recent months, my war against Stuff is not over. There are some tough battles ahead. But I'm a veteran now. I'm confident that I'll emerge victorious.
It seems like I always end these posts with a list of lessons learned. Today is no different. Here are some of the things I've been thinking about lately:
- The best way to fight the battle against Stuff is to prevent new Stuff from entering your home. If you continue to acquire new Stuff, you just make it that much more difficult to turn things around. (It was difficult for me to learn that “free” Stuff is rarely actually free.)
- It's best to convert your Stuff to cash, no matter how little that cash might be. I used to think I had to get what my Stuff was “worth”. This is a great idea, and I encourage those who have time to do so, but extracting maximum value from Stuff requires a lot of effort. I'd much rather sell my Stuff on Craigslist or on eBay or at a garage sale.
- Don't be afraid to give your Stuff away. Though it's best to get money for it, there's nothing wrong with donating your Stuff to charity — or giving it to friends who can use it. One man's Stuff is another man's treasure (or something like that).
- If it's possible to outsource your Stuff, then do so. Why should I own thousands of books when there's a public library down the street? Why buy DVDs when I can use Netflix? Why purchase CDs when I can buy songs through iTunes? By outsourcing my Stuff, there's less clutter in the house. However…
- Beware: Digital Stuff can be almost as insidious as physical Stuff. I have thousands of digital photographs, tens of thousands of mp3s (legal mp3s), 20+ years of Word and text documents, as well as a vast array of other data. This digital Stuff is nearly impossible to organize. If possible, organize your digital Stuff as you go.
- Focus on quality. Sometimes there's a thin line between stuff that is Stuff and stuff that is useful. The difference often comes down to Quality. I've learned that I'd much rather pay more for Quality that will last a lifetime (or most of one, anyhow) than to save a bit now but end up with Stuff later.
When I started this battle two years ago, it was difficult for me to imagine getting rid of any of my Stuff. At that time, I had over 3000 books. Since then, I've managed to trim my library by more than half. But this didn't happen all at once. Every six months or so, I get rid of another batch of books.
Purging Stuff is like peeling the layers of an onion. You gradually shed layer after layer after layer. As you strip away the trappings of your old life, you come to realize that all you really need are the bare essentials. Everything else is just Stuff.
For more on this subject, please visit Unclutterer and Zen Habits. (Many GRS readers also recommend FlyLady, but I haven't ever explored the site thoroughly.)
Author: J.D. Roth
In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals.
Man, my parents are pack rats too… they just bought extra shelves to store more stuff, and ended up coming back from Costco with 2 pillows, a comforter, and a microwave as well. I was staring as all the stuff went to the top shelf.
I was like, what is the point of having this stuff if you’re not using it?!?!?!
I really like the idea of getting rid of stuff and am getting into it more and more myself. The thought of every little thing in my life actually having a real purpose is very appealing. However, I’ve noticed that there are quite a lot of things I would classify as “semi-stuff”, ie things I don’t use on a regular basis but still need every now and then. Lots of things used in the kitchen is “semi-stuff”. Do I really NEED two pots? Most of the time no but sometimes I do. Do I need that pair or really ugly,… Read more »
I do something similar regarding the pruning of the closet. I start hanging used/cleaned items on the right. As time goes by, unused items will naturally move to the left.
For non-hangable items in drawers, I just put t-shirts/sweaters/pants on top, making the less-used items go to the bottom.
Then “spring cleaning” comes around, and I grab everything on the right/bottom, and get rid of them.
Also, I doubt my roommate will let me usurp their closet to hold my clothes. 😉
I live in a 500 square foot apartment, so obviously, stuff has to be strictly controlled or stuff will take over. I find that once you get to a certain point in your life you have to change your mindset from “accumulate” to “replace.” Personally I chose to replace with used stuff over new stuff but that’s just me. JD since you have your workshop to do your manly DIY tasks, perhaps you can make some sort of display case/shelving for your game collection. If the games are out in the open, you may be more likely to play them.… Read more »
Our basement is the warehouse- I try to eBay things, but it is still a big job. We are more careful about new purchases so at least the problem is capped.
There’s one way to clean everything out in big shot … make a gigantic move really far away where you can’t bring it with you. That’s what happened to us — when we moved overseas, we gave away everything within a week.
You mention digital stuff being as insidious as physical stuff. The upshot of digital stuff is searchability and the fact that hard drive space tends to increase with time. Most files (especially video, audio, and images) contain metadata. Applications like spotlight on OSX and Strigi for Linux can crawl your filesystem and index this metadata to make finding files easier. I generally find that it is not worth spending a lot of time developing complex taxonomies for your digital stuff because search has gotten so good. For example, I have four folders for my email: inbox, sent, drafts, archive. I’ve… Read more »
I like the idea about outsourcing stuff and it’s a very good point. I have a stack of movies under my TV that never get watched. Too many movies aren’t really re-watchable, and if I did want to watch them again, it wouldn’t be much of a financial stretch to just rent it again.
I recently did a blitz of filing cabinet de-cluttering. I overheated my paper shredder.
“After I’ve worn something (and it’s been cleaned), it’s hung in the hall closet. After a year has elapsed, the guest bedroom will contain a bunch of clothes I have not worn for twelve months. I’ll take these things to Goodwill.” One of your later tips is to convert your extra stuff to cash, even if it is a small sum. Could I recommend a garage sale? Every few years I have a garage sale along with other families and a few friends. I usually make about $100 or so and my main source of income? Old clothes. I never… Read more »
I also have slowly been fighting the battle against stuff. My stuff basically consists of books, not as many as you have but I still have a ton. Every couple of days I list some on paperbackswap. Five at a time they are slowly going out the door, the only problem is that I am ordering books that are coming back in. So far more are going out then coming back in… but what happens when it reverses…
We moved last July 2008 and rented our house to college students for the year while I was on a fellowship. We tried very hard to not purchase things for our temporary space, but still ended up buying things (and nesting) even though it was just for a year. Now, back at our house with all the stuff we left behind and the stuff we carted back, I am shocked to have 2 or 3 of some items. It has actually been a good lesson or me, although painful to think about financially. As we plan a yard sale, I… Read more »
One of the ways I convinced myself (and especially my b/f) to get rid of stuff was staying in this studio apt for 4 years. My friends bought houses and they keep getting more stuff to fill them up. I used to think I wanted a house too, but now I just want less and less stuff around me. I really LOVE these posts about clutter. I think that once I’ve gotten down to the most essential, I’ll feel like I can focus on what I really want to do with my life. Maybe that seems dumb, but I’ve always… Read more »
Hey JD (and commenters), have you seen the TV show Hoarders on A&E? I just saw it yesterday for the first time and this post totally reminded me of it. It’s about people who compulsively buy stuff and hoard it in their homes.
http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/
During this time when so many are loosing their “Mega” houses I have thought some of us should win an award for getting rid of stuff and making our affordable 3 bedroom ranches a castle! I think before the economy issues we were looked down on for not buying bigger which meant holding more stuff! Now we are in style! I am reading this blog from the extra bedroom/den. It took a lot of work over the last two years but we purged and now have a nice sized organized room. The trick? Run to Goodwill when the other family… Read more »
Lol. That last sentence got me. So true!
Holy cow…I love that idea about moving clothes between the two closets.
I wonder how easily a similar system could be implemented using DVDs, video games, board games, and other Stuff…
I think George Carlin puts it nicely about Stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
It’s implied (since it’s Carlin) but NSFW
I’m glad you’re getting so organized, JD. I have to say that having a clutter-free world is way more relaxing. I am stressed out when my apartment and desk at work are messy and packed with Stuff, so I do my best to clean & purge whenever I can. I used to be a bit of a pack rat, but when I moved out of my parents’ house, that changed. Of course getting rid of some things is difficult, and I definitely have *some* stuff I don’t really need (and doesn’t even hold much sentimental value either) that I still… Read more »
If you ever want to get into the psychology of NOT buying stuff, throw a garage sale.
You will be absolutely shocked at how pitiful your sale prices will be, and will therefore never buy anything again, be it on sale or otherwise. You’ll probably just end up being happy with what you have, and go to other garage sales.
Trust me, when you sell $1,000 worth of stuff for $10 bucks, your mindset will change.
I am sending my husband to your house right now for an anti-board-game-hoarding pep talk 😛
I find it’s much easier to get rid of Stuff when I see it as a moral issue. There are people out there who don’t have enough clothes to wear, and my closet is stuffed full of perfectly good clothing I never wear? Huh, think maybe I could correct that imbalance.
I highly recommend Don Aslett’s books about decluttering; FlyLady just annoys me.
I recommend “Hoarders” for a real boost in Ruthlessness too. It’s amazing – I can only watch about 20 minutes of that show before I HAVE to get up and start sorting Stuff. The hoarding habit IS often a medical problem of some kind. I feel for those people, and admire their courage, even when they slip a little and try to cling to a box of worthless junk – the episodes I’ve seen, they have a counselor with them who is very calm and non-judgmental, but helps them recover their focus on getting better. Their “reasons” for wanting to… Read more »
I think that our clutter issues are inherently tied to our financial issues (and to our health issues, as well, for that matter.) If you can unlock the trigger that causes you to spend money you don’t have on stuff you don’t need and to eat/drink/smoke stuff you don’t need, you are well on your way to sorting it ALL out. So often people focus on one of these ‘issues’ at a time, when really for most of us they are all a symptom of the same struggle. Rarely do you find someone who totally has their financial house in… Read more »
When I moved from France to Canada, a move that was supposed to happen in September but at the last minute happened in May, I only had a weekend to pack everything. I couldn’t afford to ship all my things on such a short notice. And with the two of us (my husband and myself) we were allowed 4 suitcases, plus carry-ons. It was heartbreaking, in a lot of cases. Hard to choose, hard to leave things behind. Even harder considering we didn’t only have a size limit, but a weight limit, too (plane restrictions). So stuff like books, that… Read more »
I just made a system out of it—every six months (or more if needed) we get together a donation for our selected charity.
Then we take as much time as it takes to go thru all closets and so forth. Anything that hasn’t been worn or used in that last six months–goes.
If you stick tight to this or a similar system, you should be able to win the war.
I clicked through from RSS to post a link to that Carlin video but Jonathan (#16) beat me to it. LOL… Great minds think alike!
I’m sick of seeing cases take up valuable bookshelf space.
I’m buying nice sleeves (Tyvek, not paper) for all the CDs/DVDs/HD-DVDs I have and filing them in a couple of media boxes.
My husband and I go through our stuff every year to 18-months. We’ve really gotten good at narrowing down what we need vs. what is just sitting there not being used. Usually we sell higher-quality items on ebay and then send the rest to Goodwill. Last year we did sell a few things in a garage sale. The only things we now have some “collectible” items: Star Wars memorabilia, comic books, collectible glasses, etc. However, I’m okay with this because they are neatly packed in rubbermaid bins and stacked on shelves in the garage. Some day we’ll say these items,… Read more »
It seems fortuitous that the New York Times has an article about self-storage, and the people who accumulate the stuff that goes into it. Here’s the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06self-storage-t.html?em=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1252346433-J8B09pqWmy2IEhP5d0GBJA&pagewanted=all
Does anyone have any good ideas for storing comic books? I have 4 children plus my husband who are all big fans ( I read them too, mostly to stay in the loop). My husband saved tons of comics from his childhood and my kids read them now, which is okay with me because they are more visually appropriate than many comic books produced today. We also have new ones coming in every month. I’m swimming in them now!
Hi J.D., I have a suggestion for paring down the collection of cooking magazines if you are interested. I, too, subscribe to several different cooking magazines. I store them in magazine files which I put on a bookshelf, but after each calendar year is over, I go through the magazines again and tear out the recipes I’ve either tried and liked or want to try. Whatever I don’t tear out goes into the recycling bin. Then I put the recipes I want to keep in plastic sheet protectors which I store in a 3-ring binder with my other cookbooks. When… Read more »
Generally speaking, I disagree with the advice regarding getting money for one’s stuff. In my experience, this makes it infinitely more difficult to get rid of stuff. Selling the stuff becomes another to-do item on my endless list, and then the stuff continues to sit in a pile forever waiting to be sold. Sure, if the stuff is worth a lot of money, try to sell it. Otherwise, I just give it away ASAP. If I think about the stuff too long, I’m likely to decide to keep it or to keep it around for ages until some theoretical time… Read more »
I think your post just convinced me to forget waiting for someone to buy my Coach shoes, name brand clothes, used furniture, etc. on Craigslist and just give it all away. It’s hard but I think the value has to be placed on not having “stuff” hanging around rather than an item’s possible resale value.
Joining a local FREECYCLE group (via Yahoo) has helped me rid my home of unwanted items that would leave me feeling guilty if I threw them away and they ended up in a landfill. I simply post the unwanted, FREE item (semi-rusty tomato cages, mixed plastic party cutlery, unopened but wrong color mineral powder make-up) and when another local member e-mails me indicating interest (although it’s usually multiple members and you have to pick one), provide directions to the item that is waiting out on my front porch.
KF, I completely agree about selling stuff. I’ve only ever sold a few things because they were valuable. Despite finding buyersrelatively easily, it was still too much work. The only reason I wanted to participate in a community garage sale was to have fun and meet some neighbours. I know we’re all supposed to strive for minimalism and have this war on stuff. But I can’t get on board with that. For example, sometimes I don’t wear a certain item for months and months and then wear it frequently a few years later. I don’t agree that those with clutter… Read more »
Try going from a 4,000 sq.ft. home to a 2,000 sq. ft house after you had a job loss and have to pay for your own moving expenses moving 1,000 miles. Your stuff loses it’s luster when you have to pay to move it. Many, many books sold or gone! Lots of stuff donated or dumped. Very freeing. Two car are in garage at our new home. No more stuff storage.
I was also about to post about not selling! My rule of thumb is to only sell if I believe I can get at least $10 for the item, otherwise it goes to charity.
I do occasionally consign baby clothes, since I can use the credit to get more clothes for my kids. Plus it’s easily done in a single batch.
I would also add that once your are in a de-stuffing mindset, you can you use many opportunities to clean out the clutter. Just this weekend I went camping in the Adirondacks, and was able to get rid of some Stuff. Years ago, my husband and I developed a system of re-packing our camping crates as soon as we returned from a trip and cleaned our equipment. This simplified packing for the next trip as things were ready to just grab and go. However, since I hadn’t been camping in a year, I forgot how much Stuff we put in… Read more »
I’m a librarian, so borrowing books from the library is not only great for limiting new books but also convenient for me. However, I don’t recommend depending on your local library to keep every book you want to read in stock. Libraries purge, too. Books go out of print, and some library patrons are not good about returning books…ever. Your favorite book may not be there the next time you visit. If I’m not sure how I’ll feel about a book I read a borrowed copy. If the book is something I’d like to read again, or a favorite author… Read more »
I am a board and card game junkie! I have some favorites that I could never part with and I would love to hear what yours are.
Mine are Fluxx, Killer Bunnies and the quest for the magic carrot, and Wit’s End.
The Mrs. waged her ‘de-junking‘ war earlier this year, which was quite effective. Two areas that are still in enemy hands were two that you mentioned – the guest room (more of a sewing room/home office) and the workshop/garage. Not to mention our own little DMZ – the breezeway.
The two rug-rats make it tough to make progress, but I have a feeling that we may have to engage these pockets of resistance before the end of the year.
@KF (#30): You beat me to it, but I was going to say that I disagree on the selling point, too. Just get the stuff gone: it’s a sunk cost; the money is gone along with most of the market value. The trouble to sell almost anything is not worth the effort. I would say it would have to be worth hundreds of dollars to consider it, therefore it’s probably consignable and still out of your house. The relief of having it gone far outweighs the incidental income. (I know, Dave Ramsey says have a garage sale, but I think… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more – selling your own stuff, unless it’s a car or a house, is generally not worth the effort (unless you’re completely broke and have a weekend to burn anyway). Otherwise, just donate/discard.
The best thing to do before all this, is to read Marie Kondo’s book and understand how to de-junk your life _categorically_. It is a proven method that is permanently applied to the rest of your life.
The nice thing about digital stuff is that if you back up like most people do, it will eventually go away.
Sorry, I meant to say first, “Good post and thanks for the update, JD! I enjoyed this post and found it useful and inspiring, as always.”
Then go into my “just get rid of it” rant.
A few additional thoughts about how to get rid of Stuff quickly and without dragging it out into a drawn out item on your to-do list: I live in an apartment building, so as soon as I decide I want to purge something, I drop it off in the building’s laundry room for someone else to take. This rids me of the item immediately and doesn’t give me time to second-guess myself. When I lived in a house, I would immediately put the item in a bag in my trunk to drop off at a nonprofit or drop-box whenever I… Read more »
The secret to decluttering is to do it regularly. I don’t accumulate much but four kids do (or did, they’re older now), and DH is a bit of a packrat. I go through every closet every year. I help / helped my kids go through their rooms every year. I hate clutter but I am sentimental about my kids’ stuff: artwork, a couple of favorite toys, letters). The rule is everything must fit into the storage room in the basement, on shelves. (We don’t own a garage.) We declutter the basement every winter. By the next winter there is inevitably… Read more »
I may have posted this before, but I thought I was moving in August so I went through all my bags of miscellaneous ‘things’ and culled them down to two bags of financial papers and I gave away fifteen garbage bags of stuff to charity and five huge bags of books to the local swap library at work.
I just knew that I would not commit to selling everything and just wanted it out of the house!
Selling even small stuff on eBay makes me feel accomplished. I am in the midst of the largest purge of my life and it is really hard letting stuff from my childhood go. However, it is stuff that has been sitting hidden away, taking up room and I just don’t have room anymore. I can’t even concentrate in my room to study as it is driving me crazy. I have a table of stuff that I am selling on eBay; once the stuff is sold, it leaves the table! I know my eBay profits are not huge, but for someone… Read more »
Great post! I fall into the trap of keeping things that I feel will get some attention on eBay or Craig’s list. A year later most of it is still in the house. This is a big encouragement to me to just go ahead and donate this Stuff to the Goodwill. I think the important thing is to lose the “mental baggage” that the Stuff represents. It’s gotta go.
@debtheaven: My DH is a packrat too, and he finally began to see the light when I asked him if he wanted to be buying a new house to keep all the Stuff that was sentimental or might be useful someday. Our previous neighbors had to do that, and I think that was the light bulb… it’s cheaper to spend $200/year replacing Stuff you got rid of than an extra $200/month on a mortgage for the bigger house to keep the Stuff. What cemented it was going through all the Stuff and realizing how many of those “might be useful”… Read more »
This post inspired me to get rid of some Stuff today. lol thanks, JD.
I’m gradually clearing out stuff. We’ve been back here for 21 years. I can barely believe how much we have. Of course there’s a lot that we needed when the kids were little that is sstill here.It is starting to wear out though. I sort throught things every season change. It gets easier all the time. The big thing now is our comic book collection. The kids have claimed their favorites. We have everything scanned, so we don’t really need the print copies. Our oldest daughter says that if/when we move, she will adopt all of our books. We’re good… Read more »
regarding selling stuff, especially books … if you’re ready to get rid of it, then it is no longer worth anything to you. Doesn’t matter how much you paid.
I took a lot of books to a reseller recently, and they didn’t want many of them; had to bring a lot home, and initially of course you try to think of how you can get a little money out of these. But why should anybody else pay for them if I don’t want them? They’ll go to the library’s donation store, good riddance.