If the problem is “too much stuff, not enough space,” what do you do? Get more space?
More space fixes the problem for a moment. But that eventually leads to more stuff. And again, not enough space.
That sounds like a vicious cycle.
Getting rid of stuff accomplishes the same goal, right?
I love, love getting rid of stuff. Our family does a clean sweep every 6 months or so. If we haven’t used it in 6 months, and it isn’t a seasonal item, it’s out of here! We plan to do it in the kitchen during Christmas Break. I have things to get rid of, people!
In my opinion, reducing isn’t living with less, nor is it making room for more. Reducing is recognizing the waste in one’s life, acknowledging it, clearing it out/giving it away, and making choices not to incur that level of waste in the future. With each clean-out I gain more and more perspective of what not to buy, what I don’t need, and a sense of contentment.
Blessings, Lenny!
Wonderful. I’ve heard of the “1-year rule,” but the “6-month rule” is even better.
Adding to your two qualifications, “6-month rule” or seasonal, I suggest applying the “would you miss it” rule. It seems to help for those items that aren’t so black & white.
At the same time, though, the “would you miss it” rule makes things more complicated. Answering “yes” should not, however, be a sufficient condition to keep it. Nor should should answering “no” be a necessary condition to discard. Answering “no”, therefore, is sufficient to discarding and answering “yes” is necessary to keep it.
My question, Heather, is what do you do with the priceless items? Old (home)school projects? Greeting cards? Stuff that isn’t necessarily used, but has (or had) a purpose.
Lenny,
It is too hard to comment on your blog. If I’m not logged into WordPress.com (which there is no reason for me to stay logged into as I have my own self-hosted blog), I have to keep entering my password for Gravatar.
So, I’m sending you this comment reply via email:
I have few priceless items. Old homeschool projects earn a photo in an album. Greeting cards are used as tags on next years gifts unless there are special words written specifically to methen, they earn a place in my journal. Everything cant have significance or nothing truly is significance. Things waste away, but people art forever. I put significance in living things and hold them close in my heart and sometimes, memory.
*HEATHER SANDERS* HeatherSanders.com
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Also, forgive the typos:
significant “people are forever”
Pain meds are taking my fingers down!
*HEATHER SANDERS* HeatherSanders.com
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On Tue, Dec 24, 2013 at 8:37 PM, Heather Sanders wrote:
> Lenny, > > It is too hard to comment on your blog. If I’m not logged into > WordPress.com (which there is no reason for me to stay logged into as I > have my own self-hosted blog), I have to keep entering my password for > Gravatar. > > So, I’m sending you this comment reply via email: > > I have few priceless items. Old homeschool projects earn a photo in an > album. Greeting cards are used as tags on next years gifts unless there > are special words written specifically to methen, they earn a place in my > journal. Everything cant have significance or nothing truly is > significance. Things waste away, but people art forever. I put significance > in living things and hold them close in my heart and sometimes, memory. > > > *HEATHER SANDERS* > HeatherSanders.com > > Facebook | Google+| > Twitter | Pinterest| > Flickr | Instagram| > RSS > > > On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 9:58 AM, Uncle Leo’s Blog <