Decluttering: When Less is More

 

     Once upon a time (about 8 years ago), I wrote about something I called "the houseboat principle". In sum, it was the idea that -- on a houseboat -- every time you brought something onboard you had to get rid of something. Otherwise the houseboat would eventually sink. Just like within newspaper/media topics and fashions, some ideas float back to the surface on a periodic basis.

     As part of our ongoing downsizing to prepare to move into a more permanent retirement  place, we continue to strive to eliminate the excess. However, excess is difficult to define and even more difficult to do something about. Why?

     The true core reason (I believe) is an underlying fear of change. There are excuses. These include "I might use that again in the future", "I paid a lot of money for that", and "I remember when I got that, it was at a store with great aunt Lulu".

     For different people, reasons for reluctance will vary. I fall primarily (I believe -- hard to clearly see oneself and our motives) into the "I might use that again ..." category. I can successfully argue myself out of the other categories. I have already spent the money so I won't be getting it back -- and it makes no difference whether I have given it to someone else who did NOT pay for it. I have recently recognized that taking a photo of something that triggers a memory can provide a much simpler, and less space consuming, trigger for the memory -- thus, I can take a photo and get rid of the object.

     As I said, I fall into that category of "I might use it again". And the hardest part is that it is SOMETIMES true. I have picked a book, that I last read 20 years ago, off of the shelf and read it again. I may actually make use of that pipe wrench I purchased for a plumbing repair 15 years ago. I have had to repurchase items that I know that I have given away in the past years. I have dozens of cables -- some of which would only be useful on equipment that hasn't been made in 20 years -- but I did need one ONCE. All true. Relevant? I am not sure.

     I have boxes of things in the garage that I have not opened, and accessed, for 25 years. How likely am I to use those contents again? Do I even know what exists within the box?

     But why? Why bother? There are people who are quite content to keep renting storage facilities for the next batch of overflow materials. For us, the prime reason is knowing that we will have less space in the future. But that also means less to move -- saving time, energy, and money. It is also difficult to argue with the likelihood that you can find something more easily looking through 30 items than looking for it among 300 objects -- no matter how well organized (even in electronic files).

     How about you? Do you have boxes you haven't opened in 10 years? Are you running out of room? Did you need a loan to afford a sufficiently large moving truck? What advantages are there for you to have lots of stuff around that you don't use? What advantages can you see in NOT having them around?