"Nothing new. Nothing that pees." - Valgardr
Look around at all your stuff. How many of those items would you buy again?
... or would you really rather just have the money?
Look around at all the stuff you hang on to but don't use, and you don't even love it. Isn't it selfish to keep all these items you don't even use, when someone else could be making use of them?
Declutter and let go of the person you imagined you'd be with these unused items.
Beaded curtains and a fondue pot won't make a bunch of hippie friends show up to play acoustic guitar on your back porch.
All these unused craft supplies didn't magically turn you into an artist.
Those long skirts and birks don't make you any more likely to hang out at a coffee shop discussing literature.
Bookshelves full of DIY and home improvement projects don't add value to your house if you never actually do the projects.
Let go of the people you'd hoped to become. Work on being the person you *are*, and being the best you.
I liked being able to "save the day".
Do you have an extra sleeping bag/ tent/ lantern/ cooler?
Do you have orange knee-hi socks? I'm going as Velma for Halloween.
Do you have an extra cat carrier?
Do you have a wok/ popcorn popper/ waffle iron?
Do you have *every novelty cake pan Wilton ever made* because my kid wants a *insert theme* birthday party.
Do have extra snowpants/ ice skates/ roller skates/ skis/ tennis racket/ karate sparring gear?
Do you have an extra floor lamp/ rug/ recliner/ comforter?
I am a superhero and my superpower is always having the very item you need. I have 3,000 sq ft of house plus two sheds *full* of stuff just waiting to be borrowed by a kid or friend.
I'm retiring. They can get it themselves, or do without.
I have 2 dozen pool towels. We don't even go to the pool!
One pool towel per person might do.
I'm just now realizing I don't need to bring enough extra towels so that everyone at the party who forgot their towel has a towel.
Literally hundreds of movies I will never watch again.
"But what if someone needs to borrow Rabbit Proof Fence?"
Textbooks. Let's face it. My kids are quasi-morons and will never study molecular biology.
"But what if? What if they pick up this book and it sparks something in their brain and they go on to cure cancer?!"
I'm realizing my kids are far, far more likely to *get* cancer than to cure it, lol.
We are already doing what we'd be doing. Readers read. Writers write. Bakers bake. Shoppers shop. We do what we would be doing. We keep the rest around for guilt.
If you aren't ready for the bandaid method, I've found it helps to box it all up and let it 'season' a few months. If you find you really do need it, go get it. But if after a year (or whatever "dooms day" date you write on the box), you've barely thought about the contents, get rid of it. It's so freeing.
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