8 posts tagged “simplify”

One of the things that haunts me (and you can tell it haunts me, because I've written about it on numerous occasions before) is how much "stuff" I own. Stuff here, stuff there, stuff everywhere. How much of it do I need, and how much of it is just insulating me from some primal, deep-seated nervousness about some kind of nonexistent scarcity? What are twenty pairs of athletic socks going to protect me from, exactly? Granted it's been unseasonably cold recently, but at best I'd be able to get three pairs of socks on before it turned into an exercise in foolishness. So really, all those socks just keep me from having to do laundry as often- but when I do finally do it, there it is, a massive pile of socks just looming, waiting to be washed. The socks, of course, being a metaphor for many items, seem to represent an instinctive fear that if I don't have too many, that means I don't have enough.

I own a lot of stuff. A lot. I've been working on reducing it and I still have a lot of stuff. A lot. It's overwhelming. I don't need all this stuff!

So what to do about all the stuff? Well, I instituted a "one in, one out" rule. If I buy something new, something old has to get pitched or preferably donated. This has worked out really well for things like clothing, and somewhat less well for things like books- it's hard to let go of books, especially good ones. But I've reached a point in my life where even if I read a good book, and rave about it to anyone in a five mile radius who will stand still long enough to listen, chances aren't great that I'll ever find the time or inclination to read it again. Once is enough. So instead of buying books, I started a subscription at Booksfree and now I borrow two books at a time. Once I read them, I send them back, and they send me two more from my queue. Netflix and Blockbuster Online users are already familiar with the concept, but not being a movie person myself, I found this to be quite innovative when I discovered it last year. The local library is a bit of a disappointment, not for the lack of material, but for the fact that I can't seem to go there without getting accosted by gentlemen of questionable intent who hang around the downtown library. When I find myself walking the long way around the block to get to my car just to avoid those folks, it stops being worth it to bother.

Anyway, aside from my little library tangent (which is a topic for another post), back to the stuff reduction project. One in, one out seems to be the way to go. We'll see. Maybe I can write about it less as time goes on and the effort progresses. It sure would be nice to move on to something new to try and fix!

Christmas is ramping up, and while I do enjoy this time of year, I just can't get jazzed up about the "stuff" part of the equation. I own too many things to really enjoy them all, and there's more on the way in the form of beautifully wrapped, carefully chosen gifts to be opened on Thursday. Sometimes I wonder, if we got robbed and for some weird reason the robber took personal items of little monetary value, how long would it take me to miss everything that was gone? Would there be things I never missed at all? If so, why do I own those things to start with? Every day I follow the same routine with the same items.

1. Wake up to a combination of my phone alarm and clock radio alarm.
    a. Mobile phone
    b. Clock radio

2. Get dressed, straighten hair, put on perfume and makeup.
    a. Clothing/shoes
    b. Straightening iron
    c. Perfume
    d. Makeup

3. Drive to work
    a. Purse
    b. Car
    c. iPod

4. Work
    a. Pens/pencils

5. Come home and read books and surf the web.
    a. Books
    b. Laptop

6. Take a shower, go to bed.
    a. Towels
    b. Toiletries
    c. Bed

So from a cursory analysis of my habits, those things are what I really need to get through an average day. Obviously there's a second tier of items that are not needed but would be missed, like magazine subscriptions, jewelry, furniture, and the digital camera. But the rest, I'm not so sure. My bathroom scale and my shot glass collection come to mind as things I could probably ditch without feeling much guilt.

I do an awful lot of writing about this topic, and awfully little acting on any of it. 

I never thought I'd have this problem.

I cannot come up with 100 personal items to pare my crap down. As you can see, I make it to somewhere around 30, and then I'm all, what now? I'm out of stuff!

If I buy a Kindle from Amazon and donate all my books to the local library, that'll take care of pretty much everything. Prioritizing can have some strange consequences!

20. Jewelry box
21. Makeup bag
22. Purse
23. DVD collection

14. Comb
15. Hairbrush
16. Wallet
17. Hair dryer
18. Glasses
19. Prescription sunglasses

10. Camera
11. Calendar book
12. Wedding rings
13. Flip flops

7. Clock radio
8. Day planner/calendar
9. Photo printer

I recently read an article about a man who is paring down all of his possessions down to 100 things, no more and no less. I don't know if this is something I will actually implement, but it will be an interesting exercise.

1. Laptop computer
2. Mobile phone
3. Car
4. Hair straightening iron
5. iPod
6. iPod docking boombox