It takes effort to get rid of stuff once you have it but getting rid of things is not just about achieving an organized home or organized office it is also about
Asking yourself why
Why do you have all this stuff? If something doesn’t either excite you or seem extremely useful to you, why are you keeping it around? At the same time, if you have a bunch of stuff that excites you that’s just sitting there unused, why are you buying more things?
Go through your stuff every so often and ask yourself why you have more of one thing and less of another. Go through your closets and boxes and see how much stuff in there is just sitting there unused. Take that stuff out and have a good look at it. If you’re not excited by some of your possessions, then get rid of them!
Clean out your closet and your shelves and just get rid of all of that unexciting stuff. If you look at that shelf of books or DVD’s and feel nothing, put those things in the hands of people who would be excited to have them.
Do it once year, once every half year, once every month, or every weekend. Just do it!
Focusing on what is meaningful
Quite often, people buy items because they want to appear in a certain way to others. If you are one of those people that want to appear fashionable, trendy or “well off” it will come as a surprise to you that most people barely notice these things.
Most of the time, people pay little attention to the stuff you have, and remember a thing or two about your personality. People remember if you are being friendly, charming, generous or funny. And so if you dress in clean clothes and practice good hygiene, most people are going to be fine with you.
Keeping on top of things
How many stories have we heard about people opening a box of household goods they thought they had and finding the box filled with old newspapers and finding the items- missing! Or offering to lend someone a piece of software or equipment only to find the item is obsolete because the regular upgrades were never done.
Things can degrade while they’re just sitting there, they can be stolen, or they can miss the upgrade date and become obsolete. Less is more sometimes and if it’s not something you’ll use, then you don’t need it. Do not keep things around just because you want to be seen to have it. Or because so and so also has it. Just because someone else might use or value an item doesn’t mean you’ll use or value that item.
Avoiding becoming bogged down and complacent
Things in your cupboards and shelves and closets and floor not only fill up the space in the physical sense but also in your psych. When things take up space not just in the physical sense but also in your psych they will block you from making decisions. Decisions to change your career, to start a new venture or to enrol in a course!
Things can be a hindrance to your growth and to making a move to another level in your life. And all those items represent a choice you made to take money and your time away from other things. Other things you might need to improve your life.