Challenge Recap

We started the second month of yearlong quest to simplify our lives with a game where Emily and I competed to rid ourselves of our excess stuff.

The gist of the challenge was to get rid of n number of items for the n^th day of the month. On the first day, we each tossed one item. On the second day, we each got rid of two. 28 days later, the grand total of all items purged would be 406. All items were supposed to be out of the house by midnight. The tally to date: Emily 208, Daniel 153. Bollocks.

The first few days went by without incident. On day one, I tossed a pair of holey socks. Day two was just as easy. It was so easy in fact, I “pre-tossed” items for the next few days.

Meeting the midnight deadline started to become more difficult. This wasn’t an issue for trashed items- the garbage chute is just down the hall. We came to the realization that not all items should be destined for the trash; they were either in great working order or too new toss. By the end of the first week, we modified the rules. Trash still left the house, but we allowed for certain items to stay by creating two piles: donate and consign/sell. We’re giving ourselves a six month window to full rid of the donate/consign/sell items.

Week two would have transpired just as smoothly if it weren’t for the wrench thrown into our plans. I won an all-expenses-paid trip to the glamorous Texas panhandle, courtesy of work. By won, I mean sent, and by glamorous, I mean the opposite of that (no offence, Texas). We also made a small long weekend family excursion. Nothing was tossed during that week and the clutter stayed put.

The rest of the month was spent playing catch-up. I got rid of old cd’s, clothes, unused gifts and even three staplers. We tagged small kitchen appliances, dvd’s, and electronics for sale. I haven’t yet gotten to the jackets, shoes, bookshelf or the abyss of a storage locker downstairs in the basement!

Why Do We Keep It All?

Somewhere in between tossing my special edition dvd of Tombstone and my “Cereal Killer” t-shirt, we got to talking about the different reasons as to why we keep things we no longer need or use.

It reminds us of the past
I’m a sucker for things that remind me of past experiences. Take, for instance, a number of glaringly fake soccer jerseys I picked up with my friends during my first trip to Rome. The jerseys are a link to a past with friends that are now scattered all over the world. I have an attachment to items with sentimental value.

We want to be that different version of ourselves
We keep things to feed a romantic notion of who we’d like to be. Emily’s been keeping a box of screen printing supplies because she has a vision of herself making prints and sending cards. She’d like to spend more time crafting but there are several other projects ahead in the queue. Besides, she doesn’t much care for that artform.

Just in case
This is my other weakness; I keep things because I think that I’ll need them one day. Four years worth of university textbooks sat on a bookshelf gathering dust. I put them there thinking I would need to refer to them at some point in my career. However, I haven’t needed the likes of Fluid Mechanics or Control System Design in the 7 years since starting work. I ended up donating the lot.

I spent money on it
I’m reluctant to spend on new things so if I have, good luck getting me to part with it. Enter my cereal killer shirt. I’ve only ever wore when snowboarding back in school. I’ve acquired better performance wear that I use instead, and yet the shirt still took up space in the closet.

Because I can
Though it was ages ago, moving around every few months during my high-school years meant living out of two suitcases. I didn’t have any room to keep anything. Since returning to live in Canada, each of my subsequent dwellings have grown in size and now with my own home, it seems like I have the space for everything. I thought I had the advantage of living in a small space and assumed I didn’t have that much stuff, but it’s surprising how much we’ve accumulated over the five years we’ve lived here.

The Cost to Keeping All This Stuff

There is a cost associated with keeping unnecessary stuff. Emotionally speaking, it’s stressful to have too much stuff lying around. It is difficult to find a place for things, and items can easily be lost in the clutter. An unnecessary amount of time can be spent looking for lost items leading to wasted time and more stress.

Financially speaking, having excess stuff can lead to storage costs. When my parents left to work overseas, they rented a storage locker to store their belongings. They recently moved back to the country and we sorted their contents. After more than fifteen years, many of the items had lost their value and need to be discarded, deemed too old be of use or to sell. Heaps of boxes still sit in a garage.

Taking Little Steps

Getting rid of things is easier for some than it is for others like myself. An all-in, full purge approach can be overwhelming. Here are a few little steps can help to kick the packrat habit:

1. Play the declutter game: The declutter game is a fun way to start purging. The competition is incentive, and the gradual approach helps ease the stress of decluttering rather than going at it cold turkey and throwing useless everything out. We didn’t reach 406 items, but we sure are glad to be rid of the things that we tossed. Our place is also a lot neater.
2. Take photographs: We take pictures (digital, of course) of the kid’s art projects instead of keeping them. The kid’s art is archived in digital form and can be brought up whenever desired, but it does not require physical space. I did the same thing with my fake jerseys; I took photographs of them. Flipping through the pictures, I can still be reminded of my Roman holiday, but the jerseys no longer clutter my closet.
3. Sell it: Early on in the decluttering challenge, we realized we realized we could make money off certain items rather than throwing them out. The extra little incentive of cold hard cash was enough incentive to get it out the door. Now if just someone will respond to my Battlefield4 ad on Kijiji. $40. Any takers?
4. Put it to better use: We’re blessed to be in possession of more things than we know what to do with. Letting items go unused is wasteful. I think that’s a concept that far too often either takes a back seat or goes forgotten. In giving away these items, I can rest easy knowing that they can be put to better use by others. You know what they say about one man’s trash.

The Last Word

The decluttering process has been trying. I’m learning to come to terms with this getting rid of items that have sentimental value because things are just things. Over the years, I picked up rocks from different places along my travels. They’ve been sitting in the washroom by the soap dispenser for no particular reason. I’ve been hesitant to throw them out but I don’t need them to remember my travels. Rocks are just rocks with no particular significance to anyone other than myself. Memories of these shared experiences are in our heads not in our things.

I’ve also learned that those just-in-case scenarios I’ve been saving things for only come once in a blue moon. I could have realized the value of my textbooks and sold them to a student who would use them instead of hoarding them. I was reluctant give up a water bottle thinking that I needed an extra for soccer (I already have two). Each time I throw something out, I think of hypothetical situations in which I might need them; the probability of those cases actually coming true are slim.

Having an excess of stuff holds us back. It is wasteful, unproductive, stressful and costly. Getting rid stuff helps to shed a burden that allows us to move forward. We plan to hit the books and the locker next weekend but this new found wisdom should make things a little easier. When I pick something up, I’ll put it by the Emily-qualifier: “If I can throw it out without you ever knowing that it’s gone, it’s time to get rid of it.”

Do you have an item that you’re not willing to part with?

Photo Source: Wall.Alphacoders