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| Before and after cleaning under my bed |
"Every month, I go through this house, bag up things we don't need and give them to charity or throw them out, and yet there is never any less stuff in this house. What does that tell you?"
He answered, hopefully,
"That I'm a good provider?"
Anyone who knows me well can tell you that I am the opposite of a hoarder. Where some people are gratified by bringing into their home things that they then don't use, I spend my spare time getting rid of things or using them up. This is a great idea.
Getting rid of stuff you don't need is one of the easiest ways to improve your quality of life.
Let me explain why you, too, should become an anti-hoarder.
1. Using what you have will improve your quality of life. I presume you bought whatever it is - perfume, stationery or an exercise bike - because you thought you would actually like that thing. Use it or lose it. I have a lot of perfume that people have given me and on my quest to use it up, I try to remember to put it on myself or just spray it around the house. Both my house and I smell great, which makes me happy. Other things I use include books that I've been meaning to read - making a serious effort to read these and learn more.
2. Getting rid of the clutter in your house gives you more space - for free! In Santa Monica, where I live, rental space goes for about $5 per square foot. So, if you can get rid of 100 square feet of stuff in your house, that is $500 a month or $6,000 a year. That might seem like a lot of stuff, but if you have a few boxes here and there you can eliminate that can add up to 100 square feet pretty quickly. Personally, I LIKE having some open space and it is way cheaper to get rid of stuff than buy a bigger place - and you don't have to pay taxes on the money you save!
3. Instead of buying more stuff, using the stuff you have will save you money! Last night, we had dinner for 10 people. It cost me $4 for ice cream. Everything else was made using food already in the house and dishes we already owned. If I took 10 people to dinner at a decent restaurant in my neighborhood, it would easily cost $500.
4. Getting rid of stuff you don't need makes it easier to find the stuff you do need and want. How much time do you spend looking for a shirt you like to wear, a book you want to read, that tool you need? How often do you just give up? If your house only contains shirts you like, books you'll read and tools you need, it will be a lot easier to find stuff. You won't have to dig through all of the junk.
DO YOU FEEL LIKE READING THIS BLOG MAKES YOU SMARTER ?
When I'm not writing this blog, I'm making educational games that run on Mac and Windows. You can buy 3 for $20. Get them. Your cinye thinks you should.
4 comments:
From an old blog post:
Science tells us that there is about 4 x 10 - 80th (4 followed by 80 zeroes) atoms in the Universe as we understand it. With the older daughter moved out and the younger one away at school, the Mrs and I have embarked on a reduce the number of said atoms that call our house their home. In short, we're throwing things out.
This has been an interesting, somtimes gruelling, exercise. It's just amazing how much stuff you can accumulate, find places to stash and then pretty much forget about. We always have a ton of stuff at the curb and the garbage men must really be beginning to hate us now. I'm certain that they will put a contract out on me if we don't run out of things to put on the curb.
Take my books for example. I decided to go through my shelves and discard pretty much everything that I also had on my Kindle. Also books that I read once and will never read again (it's not quite so easy to make that statement about some books), books that I bought that I intended to read but never did and I don't think I ever will.
I ended up with 6 big Tupperware tubs full of books. I didn't count them but I estimate there were about 300
I took off those shelves. Ironically, that's about the number I have on my Kindle. I took them to the local library which runs a used bookstore to raise funds.
I am in 100% agreement
Rick , that's a 5th good reason to get rid of stuff - you can give it to people / causes that need it and will use it
I think this is a great metaphor for the idea that one should always be moving forward. What you did yesterday is fine...do even better today. Holding on to things, particularly objects, is generally detrimental to one's health. External influences such as recognition and validation are not something one can control, and therefore shouldn't necessarily factor into what one feels defined by. There's some deep stuff going on there. It's kind of frustrating for me personally when people don't see that they are holding onto a whisper or a shadow of what was. Everyone has their journey. And I also probably read way more into that than maybe you intended...it's a "gift" I have, lol.
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