“Owning less is far more beneficial than organizing more.” – Twitter / Facebook
‘Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions. No doubt, over the coming weeks, many will set their mind to get in shape, lose some weight, or get out of debt.
Others will make a commitment to organize their home or declutter their stuff. After all, we are a culture that is drowning in our possessions. We take in more and more (especially during the holiday season), but rarely find opportunity to discard of it. As a result, our homes house more and more stuff. And because we believe the best solution is to find organizational tools to manage all of it, we seek out bigger containers or more efficient organizational tips and tricks.
But simply organizing our stuff (without removing it) is always only a temporary solution. By definition, organizing possessions is an action that must be repeated over and over and over again. At its heart, organizing is simply rearranging. And though we may find storage solutions today, we are quickly forced to find new ones as early as tomorrow.
Additionally, organizing our stuff (without removing it) has some other major shortcomings that are rarely considered:
- It doesn’t benefit anyone else. The possessions that we rarely use sit on shelves in our basements, attics, and garages… even while some of our closest friends desperately need them.
- It doesn’t solve our debt problems. It never addresses the underlying issue that we just buy too much stuff. In fact, many times, the act of rearranging our stuff even costs us more as we purchase containers, storage units, or larger homes to house it.
- It doesn’t turn back our desire for more. The simple act of organizing our things into boxes, plastic bins, or extra closets doesn’t turn back our desire to purchase more things. The culture-driven inclination to find happiness in our possessions is rarely thwarted in any way through the process.
- It doesn’t force us to evaluate our lives. While rearranging our stuff may cause us to look at each of our possessions, it does not force us to evaluate them… especially if we are just putting them in boxes and closing the lids. On the other hand, removing possessions from our home forces questions of passion, values, and what’s truly most important to us.
- It accomplishes little in paving the way for other changes. Organizing may provide a temporary lift to our attitude. It clears a room and subsequently clears our mind, but rarely paves the way for healthy, major lifestyle changes. Our house is too small, our income is too little, and we still can’t find enough time in the day. We may have rearranged our stuff… but not our lives.
On the other hand, the act of removing possessions from our home accomplishes many of those purposes. It is not a temporary solution that must be repeated. It is an action of permanence – once an item has been removed, it is removed completely. Whether we re-sell our possessions, donate them to charity, or give them to a friend, they are immediately put to use by those who need them. Removing possessions begins to turn back our desire for more as we find freedom, happiness, and abundance in owning less. And removing ourselves from the all-consuming desire to own more creates opportunity for significant life change to take place.
As you seek to get your home (and life) organized in the new year, challenge yourself to remove the unneeded things in your home. Rid yourself of the extra weight in a permanent manner. Carry a trash bag from room-to-room. See how big of a donation pile you can make. Or help eliminate debt by selling them. It doesn’t matter so much how you remove them, as long as you do.
For it is far better to de-own than declutter.
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My house is huge and full of tons of junk I don’t need I give away every day I am moving towards minimalism at a rapid pace and preparing to sell this house and move into a smaller one with myself and three children by March when I can pay for re-carpeting and paint so it will sell quickly I am so tired of clutter in my life. I want it all gone I don;t need it which is how I found this site thanks for the courage to seek out minimalism I will make it my goal in life Needs Only from this day forward.
i agree. i am keeping only necessary items and those items must be able to be reused at least 3 or 4 times for different purposes. for example my boxer shorts can also be used as a swath for my cat, or a rag to mop up stuff if i spill it, or a little flag i can use for flag football, too. this is the way to be
Great article. I’m moving house, and using it to get rid of everything but the essentials and the few (and I mean few) things that actually have meaning. Wish me luck.
Same here! We’re preparing for a move and it’s taken years to declutter our house. I think we finally got to where we want to be. Check out the before and after photos. http://clamco.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-our-home-has-changed-over-years.html?showComment=1361912026267#c8319222845999742225
I’m preparing for the same kind of move – Boom and Thenix are going on a year long sojourn around South America – we are driving down in a 1998 Honda Civic all the way to the tip of Argentina. This means, paring down hard. We can only bring anything that we can carry on our backs, as we are afraid of leaving stuff in the car, as it would attract unwanted attention. In preparation for this trip, we had to stop buying new stuff six months in advance, and start donating as much as we could. The good thing – we don’t own that much stuff compared to others. The bad thing – we still own a lot of stuff!
Wow…I love this article..reminds me of my B School days when my professor used to speak about a Japanese concept called Mooda…The Japanese used a process of eliminating all waste ie. waste of time or resources from their processes. As a result, they created world class products that include cars and electronics.He would always end his lecture saying that we must not only eliminate Mooda from our processes but also from our lives…only then can we focus on what really matters and move ahead…thanks for reminding me!
So true! I try to eliminate muda every day, in work and my personal live. I’m removing my possesions in fast and big steps, but improving the rest in small continuous steps (kaizen).
Organizing is just getting more stuff in a smaller amount of space – by way of more expensive and time consuming contraptions. This reminds me of the fact I had to have an electric foot bath. It was expensive and difficult to lug to refill and clean. I was so relieved the day it died. It would no longer be taking up critical space in my front closet and we wouldn’t have to fill/empty and clean it again. I have removed (donated, sold, etc) many things that have given us no added pleasure for the trade off of the work they involve. I won’t go back to over consumption and strive for a more minimalistic life every single day.
T, I must say I disagree with your idea of organizing. I am a new professional organizer. I feel that organizing is about prioritizing and only including things in you space that make you feel calm happy and move you forward with purpose. Everything else (like your foot bath) should be sold or donated.
That’s organizing AND purging. Imagine if you had so few things that organizing them would be unnecessary! Ahhh…bliss.
well duh!!!! hahaha!!! if peoples were to wise up you’d be out of a career, woudn’tcha???????????
I am in the final stages of a two year process of eliminating purchases and decluttering and removing items from my home. I come from a family of “collectors” and I am forever being given things and used to try to keep only the pretty or valualbe things even if i didn’t love them. I finally found something I wanted to collect and have been able to do it in moderation and slowly filter out the items I don’t love.
I hold each item in my hand and say to myself “Do I love this?” if not, it goes. I use paperbackswap dot com and freecycle to get rid of most things and also the library and local thrift stores too. I also have a one in/one out rule. I also weekly take a moment to look at my clothes briefly and pick one thing I don’t like/wear/fit in etc. I do the same with my books too. I used to have 7 book shelves, now I have 3 that I a constantly cull. I homeschool my children so I have had to really prioritize what to keep and not keep.
I love the library and yet still have a hard time getting rid of books I know the library has ready copies of, because usually I have the first edition or an antique book I can only find on projectgutenburg dot org.
I really appreciate this site and come often, every few weeks or months to re read the priorities and get new ideas of why I am having trouble letting go of this spoon or that book.
Thanks for all the help over the last few months and my 2 year project finally feels to be at a close. The end of having to battle each day and the end of the hard life styles changes. It feels great.
A year ago I started this process. but I will admit I was not vwey good with it. Then a month ago something clicked in my head. For years my late husband told me I always
” want stuff”, but once I got it it was not important. I deined it, but deep down I knew it was true. Once he died in 2011, my income went from middle class to poverty.BUT I still tried to live like his income was in the household. Now with no savings and a lot of stuff I am not happy. So I looked around my home and saw the stuff. I turned off the cable, started clipping coupons, and cleaned out the nightstand in my room. Then I went in my sons room that I use as storage now he is away from school and cleaned it out. OMG I had VHS tapes, av cords, a least 30 cable cords, old receivers, telephone cords and a whole lot of other crap. I threw them away. Then I got three lanundry baskets and started cleaning out my closet. Throw away, donate and keep. Then I hit the garage, threw away I was always ashmed of it beause it was always a mess. Not anymore, everything has it place because I got rid of stuff I will never use, like the lawn mower, I pay a kid to cut my grass. I sold it. Next I will sort out the tools, I have a propone tank and fryer, I am going to sell it. A bin of girl scout stuff, I am no loner a troop leader, I do not need it. After I write this post I will sort out the bedding that I have in vaccaum seal bags and throw them away. If I liked them I would have used them in the 3 years I have lived in this house. Sorry for the long post this is not a declutter issue, but a cleaning my life issue. I plan on donating my time to a kill dog shelter. and get the word out about not buying dogs but to adopt one. I could not do this because I spent so much time either shopping or eating out.
Lynne, Your post is very inspirational ! A suggestion about the bedding…believe it or not, sheets, towels etc. are very useful to orgs that house animals. I know that our local animal shelter does use towels, etc. for a myriad of things.
Also, it’s great to know there are othes on the quest to declutter and keep our lives simple.
It’s true that ” stuff” doesn’t bring us happiness….My now deceased Mom in law was a quilter….and she collected and hoarded so much fabric that it literally took two 18 wheelers to get rid of the excess fabric and other items that she had collected. Her husband donated these nice fabrics to orgs that made quilts for the needy. He drove from Virginia to I think Pennsylvania to do this donation of fabric.
When we streamline the excess stuff, it does give us a sense of accomplishment and great satisfaction.
I’m currently in the process of decluttering a junk room..your post and others have inspired me to keep to the task..as I’ve been working on this for at least 6 weeks.
I am proud of you eventhough we have never met. Cathy in Louisiana
Great post. Thanks for sparking enthusiasm!
Thank you for the wise suggestions. We just moved to a smaller home and have been going through the “painful” purging necessary to fit. Although it hasn’t actually been painful at all. It feel liberating to post everything up on CircleSavvy.com, FreeCycle and Craiglist and let my neighbors get use out of things I haven’t touched in decades.
Hey. Great thoughts. However, I believe one missing piece in this text is the fact that in order to truly deown things people need to first change lifestyles. Not only that, but some lifestyles absolutely do not support (on bigger scale) deowning of things.
I consider myself a minimalist. Yet this is the situation I am in. I live in continental Europe and we really do have 4 weather seasons. For this I need lots of different type of clothes, ranging from winter warm big jackets, to summer shorts and flippers. Of course, this means several types of shoes, two pairs of each type (two winter boots, two sneakers, two running shoes, … you get the idea). Then, I am into mountain biking and biking in general. This requires me to have two bikes, and for mountain bike a set of clothes (double, of course, while I wash one I ride in another). Shoes for bike. Tools for servicing, spare parts. Then, I am a designer and somewhat of a computer junkie. I love movies. I love some videogames. And one day soon I will want children, and I want to show to them, when they grow up a little, some of the things which formed my life. I was thinking on giving away my collection of DVD movies, since I watch all digitally or stream it. But I would _REALLY_ like to show those DVDs to my kids one day. Then, I like to draw. I have many Moleskine notebooks, pens, pencils, …. etc. Ah, also I am very much into camping and outdoorsy lifestlye. Therefore I own tent, few hunting knives, tools, cooking equipment… I own a car. I have tons of stuff to support that too. Etc.
So you see, the thing with trully minimalistic life is that you need to have lifestyle to support it. You must have a job which can be done using only laptop, you must have a hobby which requires only Kindle or iPad or something like that, you must do sport which requries you basically own next to nothing and go to gym, you must not think about future and having kids, you must have no additional hobbies (hello cooking for pleasure and things that come with that).
When all is said and done, true minimalism (Shaolin Monk style) means that you do not fully live your life. That you do not take real advantage of technologies and possibilities THINGS have to offer to us. And that fully lived lifes, which have multiple hobbies, have adventurous weekends and vacations, and a fully packed To-Do list REQUIRE things to be lived successfully.
no you are NOT Anything close to minimalist and I am. and believe me I have a fuller life than do you
Goran,
I disagree. You sound like a man who likes to have fun, but you don’t sound like a minimalist. That’s fine. It is your business. But many people with far fewer possessions than you are living quite fully because their focus in on family and friends. I think you are having trouble letting things go by placing so much in the “need” category. No one needs to imitate monks to practice minimalism. We should all do this our way and not make rules for others.
To me, being a minimalist is having “just enough” and eliminating the excessive and unnecessary. If you need and use everything that you have for your work and your hobbies and don’t have anything around that doesn’t fit your current lifestyle, then you are a minimalist. If you have things from your past that you had good intentions for but don’t use today, then you are not. You don’t have to be an extreme case. You don’t have to go without a family or pets, or get rid of your car or TV.
I made a deliberate choice to purchase what by todays standards is a ‘small’ home, and I do not regret doing that. Yes, the closets are small, too- no walk-ins, but the upside is that stuff doesn’t accumulate. When I moved from my slightly smaller apartment to my new home, I got rid of at least 1/4 of my stuff, and am still culling through it periodically. In my old place, one bedroom was filled with stuff, and looked like an episode of “Hoarders”. In the current place, I still have a ‘glorified closet’ room, but I periodically sweep through it and purge stuff. Goodwill gets a lot of it, and I get decent refunds on my taxes.
There is nothing more refreshing than creating space. I now replace things that I wear out when I need to, and rotate things like shoes and handbags to prevent both ‘fatigue’ and the urge to go buy something newer. While my home will never look like some zen-like Home and Garden magazine spread, it still feels like home to me. I like the things I have. And I know that I will never return to the days where all my stuff fit into the trunk of my car.
i totally agree that less is more. removing things that are not in use any more make me feel better. after the “just-in-case syndrome”, it is wonderful to live a more spacious house with my favorites items only
Wonderful article! I wish everyone would take this advice and realize life is more enjoyable and freeing with less “stuff”! I try to teach my clients this all the time. People will come around when they’re ready :)
Leading a more simplified life is so rewarding. We go through a purge on a regular basis. It always feels so wonderful knowing that the things we no longer need can help someone else. I encourage my clients to do the same. My tagline is: “Simplify your life. Discover more hours in your day.” It is so true. When you are not bogged down with stuff, life is so much better. I have a simplify your life blog that you can reach via the link below.
http://www.simplebettersolutions.com/category/simplify-your-life-blog/
I look forward to sharing your wonderful article via my website.
Tiffanyle, I too lost my husband. He was constantly telling me that we had too much stuff, I needed money when he passed away and went through my house to find so much junk I didn’t need. I had a sentimental reason to have these things. I tried to go back to work but being a hospice nurse, it was impossible. I decided to accept widow benefits from my husbands social security. Then I attacked my bills. I tried to glean them down as much as I could. But I talked myself into keeping my tv satellite and my internet. I love this as I don’t go out much except to my kids houses, so I decided I deserved tv. I am trying to work from home and have been scammed several times. I am learning slowly but surely that “less is more”. I am starting today to clean up and over what I would normally do… I am sitting within 10 ft of useless things that I don’t need and I will be getting rid of in the next month…or as soon as it is warmer. Good Luck with your new life…. We will make it…
Hi Karen,
I am sorry to hear you lost your husband. I admire all that you are doing to simplify. I came by simplifying and moving toward minimalism a very different way a few years ago and have been astonished at the things I can get rid of now that I was reluctant to six months to a year ago. This includes TV channels. I was intimidated at first by not having cable channels, but I finally made the break, and I don’t miss getting that bill every month. But I do watch some online things. Anyway, I mean to say that it’s a process that can yield really pleasant surprises over time. No hurry, but stay open. I read a lot of books now. Good luck.
Love the tips. I just wrote a small and not so indepth blog on ways to help the clutter down. I am new to Simple Living and I am blogging my journey as I go. Thank you for the tips, I will definitely be reading more from you!
ways to *help the clutter stay down :D
I grew up in a horrible situation or hoarded CRAP. I thus developed a hatred of STUFF… much like my disgust in seeing obese people. it’s a mental illness. I aways embraced minimalism. I didn’t even know it was such a hot topic til lately cos it’s been my way of life. can’t wait to move to my new smaller apartment this summer! I have the joy of the smallest apartment being luxuriously accommodating to me and my ”STUFF!”
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and I have learned lot of things from it concerning blogging.
thanks.
Yet again another inspiring article. My declutter and de-own process is still underway. I am beginning to really notice the difference. I have boxed items to go to the thrift store to sell, but they only accept so much at a time. I am looking for more ways to sell my usable stuff. As I clean out items, I find that I will go back and get rid of more than the first purge. It is really freeing to see less clutter in my home. God Bless!
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