Wage War Against Stuff

In a sensational article from TIME a few months ago, Kurt Anderson wrote, “But now everything really has changed. More than a year into the Great Recession, we still aren’t sure if there’s a bottom in sight, and six months after the financial system began imploding, it’s still iffy. The party is finally, definitely over.”

America has defined excess for too long. We were all at the party of irresponsibility and unaccountability. Some may have been drinking skunky beer, and some were drinking Dom, but we were all at the party. Thankfully the bloat is over and we can begin anew with a focus on efficiency and discipline.

A great way to begin with this new theory of thought is to wage war against stuff, or better put, crap.

There was a time when I believed the exact opposite. Kids in our generation all wanted the 5000 SF waterfront spread with a luxury yacht and private jet. It is just fact. Blame it on the media, movies, TV, magazines, whatever. We all wanted to be obscenely rich with tons of crap to fill all that space.

We have a weird feeling toward “stuff”. We show off our stuff, feel a sense of pride on in our stuff, enjoy that we paid money on that stuff, and put a false sense of happiness into that stuff. How much do you actually need? Really.

This school of thought leans most strongly to minimalism. It can be applied to almost every facet of our daily lives and I strongly urge you to consider some of its principles. Why?

1. It is more appealing. Think of your own experiences. What looks nicer, a cluttered wall and room or a bare minimum room with a very few awesome features?
2. It is cheaper. Buying less stuff means more money in your pocket.
3. It is less stressful. Less stuff to clean, less stuff to protect, less stuff to organize, and less stuff to worry about. Less stuff = less stress.
4. It is environmentally friendly. Less stuff = less consumption.
5. It is organized. Some people simply have trouble staying organized. I am too organized personally, I take too muck time organizing, that’s a flaw. Having less stuff in a more coordinated way means easy filing and easy reference.
6. Quality always beats quantity. One really nice table is nicer than six pieces of IKEA pressboard.

The major misconception of minimalism is that you have to live poor. Quite the opposite actually. We have this ingrained notion that wealth is measured by what we have. Your true wealth will accumulate exponentially the greater you minimize.

So how does one go about fighting stuff? It can be very difficult. Those from backgrounds with lesser economic means tend to cling to possessions extremely tight. This trait is not easy to break but can be worked on. Others simply can’t break from objects that they spent their hard-earned money on. Also a fair and prevalent ideology, especially when we tend to have a psychological attraction to items we’ve bought. Here are some tips to help you break the love of stuff.

1. Start where you live. Clear surfaces (Except for a very few accent pieces you love). Store stuff out of sight. Clear your walls (Only permit one or two art pieces). Have an assigned place for everything. This isn’t easy, and may not be for everyone, but the benefits will set in very quickly.
2. Look at your wardrobe. Consider simplifying what you wear. Start shopping with the intent of buying items for more than one outfit. How many pants can you wear that audacious top with? Look for clothes that can be a part of many different outfits. That said, how many clothes haven’t you worn in the past year? Really. It is time to get rid of them. It only hurts at first, like a tight band-aid. But as soon as you pull it off, you will wonder what took you so long. There are tons of great consignment shops across the country. You can even try to sell your clothes at places like Plato’s Closet but I definitely urge you to consider donation. Places like St. Pauly in Rochester are a great place to start.
3. Get rid of one thing, then another. Go to a room, or your desk, or your bookshelf. Find something in some area to get rid of. Then, immediately, or a day later, or a week later…get rid of something else there. You’ll be amazed how quickly you want to clear stuff away.
4. Sell something you don’t use. Turn to eBay or Craigslist to sell something of value that you no longer use or care for. You’ll feel like a genius for clearing out the item and cashing in on it. And I bet you’ll do it again.

I’m not encouraging you do start eating granola only and begin living in a tent. Just think about the physical items around you in your life and ask what purpose it is serving. If you don’t use those items, don’t see the message in that wall art, can’t remember where you bought it or why, it is time to consider getting rid of it. A complete abandonment of possessions isn’t called for but we do need to change our way of thinking in a new world. As that TIME article I opened with also states:

We have to adjust the way we think of ourselves. The same goes for our individual senses of lifestyle entitlement. During the perma-’80s, way too many of us were operating, consciously or not, with a dreamy gold-rush vision of getting rich the day after tomorrow and then cruising along as members of an impossibly large leisure class. Now that our age of self-enchantment has ended, however, each of us, gobsmacked and reality-checked by the new circumstances, is recalibrating expectations for the timing and scale of our particular version of the Good Life.