By Living Room Realty, July 9, 2021
Whether buying, selling, or renting we have found that relocating to a new home means reshuffling the necessities of life. In this reshuffling moment, we have an opportunity to simplify. Here’s three most likely ways we’ve accrued stuff, and suggestions on how to let them go:
“Someday” Stuff
Perhaps you needed a 3’2″ bench at your front door in your last house, and when you moved you said the words that vex us “someday I might need this.” While there’s truly something beautiful about discovering and hunting down items which held unique purpose, trinkets of utility aren’t always meant to hold deeper purpose than their momentary usefulness. Perhaps you were entrusted with a relative things, and the process of releasing such items comes with a sense of obligation regarding using what they found useful or needed for someday.
In situations where you feel like an object has specific utility that won’t serve you in the near future, you have choices: make it available for someone else through reselling/donation or find a suitable recycler. My favorite perk of freeing an item up for another person is that you can become the end of some stranger’s quest. Perhaps you’re locked into the “Someday” utility, like “someday you’ll need a 3’2″ bench and if you keep this one then you’ll have it”. On such occasions the questions we don’t ask are “if I do need another [utility thing], someday, will I want this one? And if I need this one, will it still be able to do the thing appropriately or most efficiently given technological advancements?”.
“Someday” Gifts
You know those things you’ve collected because someday you’re going to visit your cousin in Kentucky and they really love ornate spoons or fancy knitting needles… well, maybe it has been four years since you started a small collection of gifts for them, and maybe now is the time to send all these items with a loving note instead of waiting to hand them over. If your relationships shuffled and you’re left holding surprises for an recent “ex” then releasing these items can free your heart-space for new surprises.
Occasionally, you might have bought an item as a gift that was one of those “gag” gifts, and the joke hasn’t stayed as funny for as long as you thought it might. Now is your time to either rekindle that gag or let the dead joke go. In addition to selling to a merchant, donating to a charity, or recycling items, you can also try a garage sale. Some people live for garage sales, and they’re excited to find that one item that has been sitting unused in your life.
“Someday” Collectibles
Did you gather up every Kid’s Meal toy made in the year 1995? Some day those items will be collectibles, that’s impressive, but how long do you want to be known as the person you gathered up every Kid’s Meal toy from 1995? Will you want to hold space for these future collectibles through the next ten years? Another twenty years? Some collectibles take a long time to reach peak value, how long do you really want to wait?
Now is the time to decide how long such collections should stay with you. These items have been claiming real space in your life, and figuratively claiming space in your story. Is it time to make space in your life story for a new chapter? Our decisions don’t define us, but our collections describe us, and if the description illustrates a character that you no longer wish to develop, you can let go of the artifacts from that chapter.
Whether you’re battling the “someday” dialogues or you’re at ease with the things in your life, finding new space in your life or finding some confidence in your intentions of how your space is utilized can bring you a renewed sense of purpose. Additional benefits to managing your stuff now, is that someday you won’t have a say in what items have value to those who inherit your stuff, and preparing them for an easier experience is an invaluable gift.
