“Owning less is far more beneficial than organizing more.” – Twitter / Facebook
We are a culture drowning in our possessions. We take in more and more (holiday, birthdays, sales, needs), but rarely find opportunity to discard of it. As a result, our homes fill up with so much 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 our 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 (without getting rid of our stuff and decluttering) has some other major shortcomings that are rarely considered:
- It doesn’t benefit anyone else. The possessions 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 getting rid of stuff 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.
If you’re struggling with how to get rid of stuff, you can:
1. Challenge yourself to remove the unneeded things in your home.
2. Rid yourself of the extra weight in a permanent manner.
3. Carry a trash bag from room-to-room.
4. See how big of a donation pile you can make.
5. Eliminate debt by selling what you no longer need.
It doesn’t matter so much how you remove them, as long as you do. For it is far better to de-own than to always be decluttering.
Carol says
Great post! Such a sense of emotional relief when you can purge your life of too much stuff. While I never considered my house to be cluttered, it’s amazing the amount of stuff I’ve gotten rid of over the past year. Each time I do a purge I feel that much lighter and more free. I know now that my urge to acquire most of the stuff I accumulated over the years–whether it was clothes or “collectibles” or sports equipment or whatever–was driven by some emotional imbalance–either anxiety, sadness, or even euphoria. I realize now that material goods will not soothe those feelings. Letting go of the desire to acquire & finding solace in nature and other people is the real path to peace.
UmmSultana says
I love what you wrote. My mom has been hoarding for some years now, and she passes a significant amount to me (of course they are all gifts) I definitely feel stressed out and overwhelmed from the stuff so I have decided to seriously get rid of these things either by selling them or giving to charity. I love this site :)
cynthia olson says
Yesterday I purchased your ebook
Entitled simplicity and was unable to download it and the link to your website was down. I don’t know how to obtain the download at this point. Can you help me with this? I paid with paypall.thanks. Cindy olson
joshua becker says
Hey Cynthia, I just sent you an email to try and figure it out.
Rachel says
What I did is I stuck my mattress on the floor of my walk-in closet, then put all of my stuff (and I mean ALL of it, down to the last sock) in there with it- and tried sleeping in there over night. It didn’t quite work out, so I’ve been going through my stuff- I currently am up to three totes for Goodwill and three garbage bags. Try this! It really works for putting into perspective just how much stuff you have!
Rebecca says
I’ve recently ( tried ) to adopt this philosophy. its hard to do, but once its done, the upkeep is even harder! Hoarding is in my blood, and I have to fight the urge to be a collector. luckliy my husband is an anti hoarder which makes this process better for me.
i have found that collecting all my “junk” and either posting on freecycle.com ( or combing thru the wanted posts and responding)or free on craigslist has helped the anxiety with just throwing away stuff has caused. but after a week or so on the boards, it gets boxed up and sent to good will/ savers. plus the tax deductions never hurt!
Tasmanian Minimalist says
These are my most favorite blog posts, because they remind me I am not alone in my quest for minimalism. I have been photographing my closet de clutter this week for my blog and I have a page of everything I have gotten rid of since April last year and that has been AT LEAST one thing every day, also on my blog, usually more like ten things. All the comments are useful and relevant well done folks.
Maggie says
i’m so happy to have found this site!!
we started the transition to a zero-waste lifestyle just over a year ago. a major part of that transition was to go through our posessions and donate/give away those things we didn’t use, want, or need. we live in a 900 sq.ft. cottage (2 adults, 2 kiddos, and 2 dogs) with no garage/attic/basement, and thought we were doing pretty well. a year later, we’re STILL downsizing! it’s amazing just how much STUFF we had and still have to go through. the silver lining is that the money we were going to spend on all kinds of crazy built-ins to organize all that stuff is now being used to do fun things — a trip to see grandparents, paying for a babysitter so hub and i can go out together, taking kiddos to the children’s museum more often, buying organic produce, etc. it’s been quite a learning experience.
joanna @ IWontBeAHoarderToo says
Absolutely agree. As someone who as hoarder parents and has hoarder tendencies herself, the question of why we keep clutter is a big one. Unfortunately it’s not the same for all of us!
petrichore says
Getting rid of stuff I don’t use enough feels good on so many levels–aesthetic, physical, spiritual even.
I enjoy visiting your blog to keep me motivated and remind me that less truly is more!
minima/maxima, a blog about minimalist style
Blogger Kate says
Joshua, I consider myself a seasoned rational minimalist, but even I came up with three trash bags of items to donate this weekend. Additionally, a friend on Facebook mentioned she wished she had a Rick Springfield’s Greatest Hits cd (I know, right???) and now, there is a Rick Springfield’s Greatest Hits cd in route from Springfield, Missouri to Lenexa, Kansas from me to her – a belated ‘Christmas’ gift…Thanks for what you do!
Carolyn Bostic says
@Blogger Kate, hi, we are from the same town. Just wanted to say howdy.