Over the years we all tend to accumulate stuff… lots of stuff. Our homes, garages and gardening sheds are all full of stuff. Instead of getting rid of stuff we buy new cupboards, fill up spare rooms. Some of us buy beach homes or country retreats to relax in for long weekends and holidays. Within a few months we fill those up with stuff as well.
- Deciding what you really need requires a good long look at how you live your life daily and prioritising the activities and items that are already a part of your actual lifestyle – not those activities or items that you want to be part of your lifestyle, but haven’t got around to yet.
- Take a walk through your house or apartment and evaluate everything you come across (furniture, books, food, etc.). Ask yourself if you’ve used it in the past year and, if so, how often? Be honest with yourself. If you think you could live well without it, out the door it should go. Make a note of it.
- Consider that most of the stuff people keep without using is a tribute to an unmet goal. The most common example is probably exercise machines that we always say we’ll use, but don’t. Then there are those books we intend to read, that table we eventually want to have dinners and brunches on, etc. We keep things around ‘just in case’, or hoping that their presence will eventually encourage us to use them. But let’s be realistic, if seeing that treadmill get a coating of dust hasn’t inspired you yet, what makes you think it ever will? Make room for the things you’ll ‘actually use’.
- For stuff that you really have a hard time getting rid of, make this agreement with yourself: Put the items in storage. If you don’t need or use them within 6 months, give, sell or throw them away.