I think I have too much stuff.
About two or three times a year I go through my closet and get rid of a bunch of things I don't wear and don't need anymore. It's a pain in the butt to go through everything and I end up creating a huge mess in the process, but when it's finally done it feels pretty great. I'm left with a better organized space and it feels kind of great to get rid of things I don't absolutely love.
But that's only clothes. I still manage to accumulate piles and piles of random things. Things that people give me, and therefore don't want to throw away. Things that I feel some sort of weird emotional attachment to for no apparent reason. These things are harder to get rid of. I'm not sure why.
For clothes, I have rules that I follow in the purging process. If I haven't worn it in a year, it goes. If I have never EVER worn it, it goes. If it doesn't fit right, it goes. But I don't have rules like this to apply to my other things. It's just... stuff. What are the rules for getting rid of random stuff? How do I figure out what to keep and what not to keep?
4 comments:
Well, there's always the William Morris rule about not having anything you don't know to be useful/believe to be beautiful. It helps me to keep reminding myself that it's my home, not a museum of my life. If I get rid of the whatever thing someone gave me, it doesn't mean that I'm going to suddenly forget about that person...
I do this once a year. You hang everything in your closet backwards (with the hook of the hanger hook pointing towards you). You then go 3 to 4 weeks wearing clothes as usual and when you wash/replace something you put it back normally (hangar hook pointing away from you).
At the end of 3 or 4 weeks - you get rid of every piece of clothing with the hanger hook pointing away from you....You don't wear it. ;)
Ooh, I TRY to do that closet thing, but I always forget. And I totally use that philosophy about getting rid of things people gave me; I figure they didn't give it to me to weigh me down with it.
I tend to keep too much stuff, always thinking I will use it one day. Still, I tend to go through it once in a while and follow the three piles idea of 1)keep, 2)toss, and 3)donate.
Then I go to a garage sale and hope I don't end up on A&E's Hoarders one of these days.
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