by Lori Deschene
In my last blog post I talked about hoarding—
compulsively collecting and saving an assortment of useless stuff. Maybe you went through your things and decided to donate some and toss the rest. Or perhaps you only
pretended to de-clutter, all the while visualizing yourself running hand-in-hand with your Atari to the tune of “Looks Like We Made It.” So that got me thinking: is asking a pack rat to minimize like demanding sight from the blind? How can you simplify your space if you’re operating with a poorly tuned useful vs. useless compass?
I think I have the solution, or at the very least a distraction from work. Here are 20 signs you don't need something:
20. You use the word “someday” to describe it—as in “someday I may want to practice make-up application using that mannequin head I found in my aunt’s attic.”
19. You forgot you owned it for more than a month, and remembering doesn’t evoke any type of emotional response (beyond generic statements, such as “I like it” or “I need it.”)
18. If you had a yard sale and someone offered $20 for it, you’d hand it over in a heartbeat.
17. If your friend gave it to you as a Christmas gift you’d make a mental note along the lines of “Give Lisa alphabet magnets and socks next year.”
16. If your friends asked you why you have it you’d turn into Deepak Chopra, saying something like, “We are all connected. You, me, that orange hobby horse.”
15. Its broken or, even worse, obsolete (i.e.: your old car phone).
14. If you decided to spend a year traveling you wouldn’t consider bringing it with you.
13. If you had to spend $20 every month maintaining it, you’d decide it isn’t worth it.
12. You’d admit it may be someone else’s trash, but have no justification for it being your treasure.
11. You cannot complete this sentence with an action verb: “I will use this to…”
10. If your child accidentally damaged it, your knee jerk reaction would be “I didn’t really need it anyway.”
9. It hurts to think about it: Your ex-boyfriend gave it to you. Your mother-in-law said you need it, but you disagree. You fit in it before your love affair with curly fries.
8. You got it from someone else and admit you’d never spend money your own money on it.
7. The Salvation Army might say no if you tried to donate it.
6. If you asked your mother’s opinion about keeping it, she might say something like, “Well, what do you think? That’s all that really matters!”
5. It smells like moth balls because it rarely sees the light of day.
4. Learning how to use it would take more time than you will ever devote. (And be honest—do you really think metal casting is your thing?)
3. You’re keeping it out of guilt—it’s still new in the box; it looks like something a smart person would appreciate; it’s a classic 500-page book you should have read freshman year in college.
2. You keep saying it could be valuable one day—but who are you kidding. You never want anyone else to have it!
1. You would never clutch it and say “My precious” in a gesture of playful self-mocking. (Assume you’re the kind of person who goes to medieval fairs and quotes Lord of the Rings.)
If it’s not valuable, meaningful, or important to your life, either trash it or
give it away. If it
does serve a purpose, get the most from it. (Shameless self-promotion: we list hundreds of
product tips and tricks right here!)
Know any other signs? Add them to the list! Or if you have something that doesn’t pass the 20-signs-test but you still want to keep it, let me know. I’m fascinated by the way we attach to things. Please excuse me while I go braid the hair on my life-size My Little Pony.