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The point is not to browbeat, guilt, or coerce someone into a behavior/action (whether to retain or divest).
It's a personal choice, and everyone's going to conduct their lives differently,
as we all have unique preferences (and wants & needs) for how to construct our living environments.
I was in the lifelong habit of acquiring stuff, but after my mother passed I was suddenly overwhelmed by a mountain of her possessions-
which caused me to switch directions and work towards the new habit/mentality of getting rid of stuff instead.
It's not an easy transition to make, I don't claim to have it all figured out,
but it's been important (to me) to regularly ask myself "do I really want this thing in my (limited) space ?".
One doesn't necessarily do it all at once, it's more like a process that one returns to from time-to-time.
My bikes, they are the last thing to really look at. I'm losing the attachment to them. I will try to sell them and if I can't...I will take them to the dump and push them into the pit! And leave with an expensive, but important lesson learned.
Please, please, if they are still in any kind of decent shape at all, don't take them to the dump! If you can't sell them, find a Boys' Club or Police Athletic League or some local rec center. I'm sure they'd be able to find good homes for the bikes.
Every time I move, the load gets lighter. When I moved to Maryland from New Mexico in 2008 I had to reduce my life to 100 lbs. I still laugh at how my baggage was exactly 100 lbs when I boarded my flight. I gave away furniture, clothes, art....everything but two duffle bags full of only the important stuff.
Funny thing is that even those two bags could have be given away. I realized many years ago that it's just stuff. It can be replaced. It isn't important...it's not like I can take it with me when I die.
Here's a suggestion for people with gear-intensive hobbies, as well as people who compulsively collect tools, etc. Take a detailed inventory of your possessions. Note (honestly) how many times a year you have used the object in question. Then look up how much it would cost to rent the thing. Figure out how much renting would cost for the times you actually, truly need the object in question. If the item is used less than its monetary value or causes you some problem in your life because you have no place to store it, then sell the item(s) and keep the money in a kitty so you have cash on hand to rent it when you need it again. It's amazing how many things can be easily rented today online. For example: https://www.renttherunway.com/rtr_home I will never buy an expensive dress for a one-off event again.
I've personally done a similar thing with books when I moved across country. I asked myself: Is the book valuable in some way (autographed, a first edition, etc.). Is it out-of-print or is it available in the public library or a paperback edition I could buy easily if I needed it again? What is the likelihood I will use the book repeatedly in the future? I was able to sell or donate about two-thirds of a huge book collection I had amassed by doing that. Now, almost all the books I have are signed, valuable first editions, out-of-print books I will read again, or reference books I use in my work. For other reading I go to the library and I belong to the free Paperback Book Swap for entertainment reading. How to Swap Books » PaperBackSwap.com
For things you don't use but have great sentimental value (your grandfather's snowshoes, your granny's old Singer sewing machine, your late brother's surfboard, etc.) is there some way this object can be incorporated into your home decor by making it into an art object displayed on a shelf or hung on the wall? For example, I have my mother's Remington typewriter from the 1940's on a shelf in my office displayed as I would a sculpture. In my bigger house, it was shoved in a closet. In my small house, it's here for me to enjoy.
Sometimes old objects can gain new life used for not-their-original purpose. I store my extra office supplies in the toy chest we used as children and I have my the handsome leather luggage set my parents took on their honeymoon stacked beside my bed for use as a nightstand. I use the white metal drawers from a 1930s refrigerator as organizers in my pantry. Way cooler than plastic boxes from the Container Store. I recently saw a woman's "train case" from an old set of luggage re-purposed as a charger for electronic devices. These kinds of things make a home uniquely yours.
They have my name, address, and organization I am associated with on the cover.
I think what the poster was getting at is there is no need to remove the whole cover, just the part with your personal information. I used scissors to remove my information before passing the magazines on.
I've read the recent hoarder thread with interest, but don't want to hijack it so I'm starting a new thread with my story on how I embraced downsizing.
I have 650 square feet of living space. It was crammed to the gills with my "stuff"; books, and outdoor gear mostly. I had oversized furniture and so much clutter it was difficult to walk from room to room. My place looked like a second-rate library/REI warehouse.
I'm posting this in Psychology because it really forced me to ask myself some tough questions about what I really value. I had to get brutally honest with myself on why this stuff was so important, and why I didn't want to let it go.
I gave up cleaning because, "I live in my place, it's not an Artchitectural Digest piece, so I don't clean it."
Well, not cleaning showed. I had tags from things that were 5-6 years old on the floor. Receipts from the mid-90s. Paper all over the place, piles of it. Yeah, no one wanted to come over here either. There was simply no room for anyone. I kept buying more shelves to put things on as I crammed more stuff in here.
Then I heard about minimalists who swore that there was a freedom is getting rid of all the clutter that they accumulated. They said it was freedom. I've read things on simplicity before and thought, "Well, that's nice for some people, but I have too many hobbies. I need to store my hobby stuff."
Question right there. Why do I need so many hobbies? Does my life suck so much I have to drown it out with "hobbies"?
I've been clearing out things in my place since the beginning of the year. First I started with "low-hanging fruit", stuff I never used that was easy to get rid of. Then came things that had some attachment. I felt the resistance on not wanting to give it up. I asked myself the tough questions again. Things that represent memories, I still have those memories, they will never go away. The memories fade, I don't remember some details, but I still have the memories.
As my place started to look better, I kept looking for ways to downsize. "But I had this for almost 20 years!" "Yes, but is it adding value to my life now?" No, out it goes. The hobbies got downsized too. I can take pleasure in a walk at my local park, since the big multi-day treks in wilderness never materialized. There's nature all around us.
Stuff was like a thief. It stole my money, it stole my time, it stole my peace, and stole my serenity. I was the classic case of buying stuff I didn't need, with money I didn't have, to impress people I didn't like. I'm starting to reclaim all of those things. It is freedom. For days, I walked back and forth because it was so nice to walk from room to room and not stumbling over things.
My goal is not to only have "100 things", nor is it to have my condo look like a Carthusian monastery. My goal is clean, open, tidy space. Right now my living room has a bookcase, an end table, and a plain wooden rocking chair.
This got long, thanks for reading. Not trying to tell anyone how to live, but this is my story, and I'm sticking to it.
OMGoodness, congratulations, you have done a very tough very emotional very brave thing here and succeeded and are better for the experience.
Even though I do not know you, I am so proud for you and of you.
I wish you the best in the future and I understand how much you are enjoying just walking unencumbered through your home.
My Husband brought a lot of stuff with him and we are finally slowly getting it cleared out and I hope to be done before the snow flies around here.
Six hundred fifty feet would be perfect for storing my Halloween things. There's five big new things on the table now. Help me I need an intervention. Oh and all the antiques that live every where in the house. Every square inch of prime real estate is taken. Nope, just can't think of down sizing to any thing less then two thousand square feet without having a major anxiety attack, but good for you IheartWA. I don't expect to live that way until I'm well into my 90's and need way less to take care of. Until then there's this talking witch I have my eye on being sold by Spirit. She'll be standing in my hallway crammed full of antiques soon.
You want to talk to a Witch? Call me I'll talk to you and you don't have to stuff me in the hallway with all the other antiques.....
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