Comments

Decluttering: Do You Use The ‘Future Use Excuse’? — 19 Comments

  1. Hi Alan

    You inspired me to finally retire some of my old t-shirts. I knew that I kept wearing the same ones, but couldn’t face saying goodbye to some old favourites. I was originally not too sure about the 50% rule, so I instead tried to set a rule of ‘if I haven’t worn in last 6-12 months – it goes in the charity pile’. It turns out that I got to 26 to keep, 24 to charity and 2 not sure. It was so close to the 50%, that the final 2 went to charity. It feels good looking at my uncluttered wardrobe. Not sure why I need 26 t-shirts, but it’s a start. I’m even going to be brave and apply the 50% rule for the next set of items – my work shirts. Cheers Jonathan

    • Awesome.

      Restricting work shirts to only the very best ones you have is both liberating and sensible.

      T-shirts you can get away with hanging on a bit longer as they start to get a little worn. Work shirts, definitely get rid of them as soon as they get even the slightest bit worn. It’s a good way to guarantee you keep them crisp and clean and keep space in your wardrobe. Go for it!

  2. Your idea of only adding one more thing if you get rid of another is one we’ve been trying (sometimes with more success than others) to practice. We call it “one in, one out.”

    As for the books. I’ve only recently received a Kindle and have yet to put it to good use. But loading items to it is on my weekend to-do list. I’ll see how this goes, because I do so love the touch and smell of real live books.

    One decision we made a few years back which has helped with our book problem was to only purchase reference books. We borrow (from that old fashioned place — the library) fiction and non-fiction we expect to read only once.

    • Hi Yvonne,

      I know what you mean about real books. There’s a kind of romanticism about them – plus you can’t sit on a kindle when your bum gets cold.

      – but I do like the convenience of a Kindle – plus I’ve wrapped mine in a lovely home-made leather binding which makes it feel like a warm old book personalized just for me (and by me).

      Reference books don’t really work well on a Kindle so I’d definitely agree with you there.

  3. Sometimes getting rid of clutter seems like a never ending task. It seems like there is always as much stuff going into my house as stuff I get rid of. For me, it’s that people give stuff to me that I don’t need and i feel obligated to hang on to it for a while. There are a quite a few gifts I’ve had that just sat in my closet for a year and then ended up in the giveaway pile.

    You make an interesting point that when you have less stuff, it makes you treasure the items you have left over more. I can definitely see that. The ones you keep around should have greater value. Plus you’re not mentally looking after them with other things too so you can focus on them more.

    My wife and I have been talking about getting rid of some of our clothes. We regularly donate a bag of clothes about once or twice a year, but it seems like there is always more. I think it’s time for another round of donating clothes. Maybe I’ll try to get rid of half and see how that goes.

    • I hear you Steve. I think you have to slowly and gently train people not to get you too much stuff.

      We have somehow slowly but surely encouraged gifts to be more of a consumable nature, if we get any at all, e.g. at XMas time – then there’s far less chance of waste.

      Getting rid of clothes is definitely very liberating – at least I have found so, I really like the clothes I have left, and the fact that when I want to get something new I find it hard to part with something in it’s place, means I value what I have left even more.

      Less stuff also makes the house tidier 😉

  4. Similar to Annie, I’m a reluctant minimalist having moved several times over the last few years. Getting rid of anything that wasn’t a necessity was incredibly liberating (emotionally and physically).

    Now that I’ve settled in Paris, I’ve started to accumulate things but my buying habits have changed – I buy fewer things (read:shoes) but higher quality things, which means I ultimately accumulate less.

    • A reluctant minimalist. I like it – that would proabably make a good blog.

      Let me check the URL…

      OK, so it’s not often that a good URL is available but according to godaddy, reluctantminimalist.cm is.

      Now, I think it’s quite catchy. Maybe it’s just the moment. Could be a good ‘niche’ – there are lots of blogs on minimalism, but reluctant minimalism. I think you’re on to something there. Gran that URL while you can.

      I’m not gonna – I have too much on my plate for the moment, especially for someone who claims to be retired 😉

      So how many pairs of shoes do you have (that’s not something a gentleman is supposed to never ask, is it?)?

        • I’ve never had to ‘gran’ anything before, Alan….not sure I want to know what it means 😉

          I guess you can add this to the list of questions a gent shouldn’t ask, but since you HAD the audacity to, I can tell you the number is currently at 15. And I only buy shoes now when a pair is replaced. Yikes.

          The reluctant minimalist eh….added to my projects list 🙂

  5. Twice in my life I’ve narrowed my things down to a small level (a 4×5 foot storage locker). Much like Annie’s description, it was quite liberating. While I now have a great deal more belongings, I go through everything I own twice a year and eliminate a LOT of things each time. It feels wonderful.

    One thing that I that I’ve learned is that it is just stuff. The memories are mine forever, whether I have these representations of events past or not.

    • Thanks for the comment Tammy.

      Good idea to periodically go through everything you own – and if you’ve got the amount of stuff down, then presumably this becomes quicker and more liberating every time you do it?

      • It does become quicker and easier each time I do it. I don’t know that it feels more liberating. Not doing it now makes me feel like I’m drowning in stuff. Purging excess returns me to feeling “normal”.

        • That’s really cool – I like the idea that you only feel normal when you purge excess – that’s got to be a good habit to have.

          I’m not sure when I feel normal but I’d like to think I’m similar – at least I don’t like any form of excess and I’m much more tuned into that these days – especially with things like eating out where I used to often order too much (now I order less and enjoy it more).

  6. Love this topic Alan. I don’t know the actual count of things I own in total but I do make sure that all of my belongings can fit in one 50 pound suitcase not including my violing and digital toys. By virtue of living in a place and moveing every 8 months has made me an unwilling minimalist.
    I fought it at first and missed a bunch of stuff but now, it is very liberating. My husband Blake has never recovered. He still buys things that he likes to have. He just bought some wellies because he likes the idea of them. He also buys physical books even though he will have to leave them behind while all my books are now digital and i can read them anytime i want.

    It would be a challenge for me to get down to 100 hundred things unless it was a necessity. I don’t think i would ever do it by choice.. It sounds miserable to me actually. I still carry a cheese grater with me in my luggage and a crepe rake and there is no way i am giving those up.

    • Hey Annie – me too, particularly the idea that by getting rid of stuff you make more room mentally as well as physically.

      I have to admit that was something of a revelation to me even though it’s kind of obvious when you think about it.

      These days to it’s probably far more possible than ever to have fewer things – an office in a laptop, a library in a kindle and a record collection in an ipod. That’s 3 things with a lot of ‘stuff’ packed into them.

      Wellies in the South of France doesn’t quite compute for me – you definitely need them where we live though.

      Also – you’re right – I think the numbers can be a bit distracting, the point is perhaps just to remove excess and appreciate what you have – the numbers don’t really matter (unless you need them for discipline).

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