Stuff

Every time I clean out my closet or put something "away" in my garage I'm reminded I have too much stuff.

It wasn't always this way. In college all my belongings fit into a teeny tiny closet and in boxes I shoved underneath my bed I raised up with cinder blocks. When I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in the summer of '98 all my belongings fit into my Ford Tempo. Life was simple back then.

I was looking through my closet today. About once a month I open my closet doors and peruse the contents trying to convince myself to clear out the junk. Most of the time I end up shutting the doors to escape the chaos. Cleaning out my closet is just too much work. It's full of clothes (most of which I don't wear) and my shelves are full of stuff I've deemed as "too difficult to put away" or "needs to go in a box somewhere else, but I haven't gotten to it yet." As I was starring into my closest I let my mind wander and I thought about all those houses built a century ago with no closets. Where did they put all their stuff? I wouldn't have survived back then.

I think a lot of people, including myself, overvalue stuff. Have you ever gone to the store and found something so cheap you had to buy it? Why do we do this to ourselves? The value of an item is only dependent upon its use and not it's cost. Yet, I find myself buying things because it's a good deal. I get sucked into this way of thinking a lot quicker at thrift stores where everything begins as a good deal. I can't begin to tell you how much stuff I have collected over the years because I found a good deal on something I may use in the future. My husband is the King of collecting things we don't need. To him, everything is useful even if you never use it. In reality, the things I (we) buy and/or keep because they were cheap or because we may use it later end up being totally worthless in the end because we don't need it and never use it. It's all very frustrating.

Essayist, Paul Graham, put it perfectly. "Stuff is an extremely illiquid asset. Unless you have some plan for selling that valuable thing you got so cheaply, what difference does it make what it's "worth?" The only way you're ever going to extract any value from it is to use it. And if you don't have any immediate use for it, you probably never will".

Amen.

My sister-in-law told me recently that when she moved into her new and bigger house a few years ago she couldn't imagine ever filling up the bedrooms and the closets and garage with stuff. Bam. 5-years later her house is full of stuff. Empty space is just asking for it. It's like thinking about how awesome life would be with an extra $200 a month raise. You lay awake at night thinking about how much money you can save and the new car you can afford. But, before you know it you have that $200 a month raise and nothing to show for it because you've spent the extra $200 (and then some) before you've realized it. Suddenly, it's 2 years later you wonder why your savings account hasn't reached beyond $500 and how it's possible you can't afford that new car. The more money you make the more you spend. And it's true with space; the more space you have the more stuff you collect.

I have a problem in constantly scanning rooms and closets; mentally organizing and categorizing the contents. For me, cluttered rooms and closets full of stuff is literally exhausting. I can't relax at night knowing my closets are in disarray or that my file cabinets aren't organized. If you know me you'd know my house isn't organized, my filing cabinets are shoved full of excess papers and my closets are a mess. I'm exhausted all of the time. It's something that drives me crazy and my husband up the wall.

14-years ago I packed up a lot my childhood belongings and put them in boxes in my parents attic for safekeeping. 3 years ago, my mother brought me my boxes of stuff and we went through them to weed out the keepers from the junk. I was amazed at how much stuff I deemed valuable enough keep all those years ago. Baseball mitts, sandals, my glasses I wore in the 3rd grade, notes from boys passed to me during elementary school and even my first bra. I do realize some things have sentimental and emotional value and should be kept in a safe place, but most things I hang onto don't have any value at all. And yet, I find myself going through my belongings and still keeping things because I may need it someday. Heaven forbid I toss that 1980's TV I found in the dumpster...it may come in handy. Seriously, I have one of those.

I've found the only way to combat stuff is to be extremely organized. I try to be that way, but it's much too overwhelming to maintain on a daily basis. Hence, my closet situation. Today, I tried to conquer my stuff by cleaning out my pantry (it was easier than cleaning out my closet). It was a big job and it put me in bad mood. Now my feet hurt and I have a headache. But, I can breathe easier and hopefully I'll sleep just a little bit better tonight knowing my pantry is as clean and as organized as it can get. At least until next month when I'll do this all over again.