So, you’ve set a decluttering goal, maybe even a New Year’s resolution! You are ruthlessly sorting through all of your stuff! Excited and motivated by your progress, you pull out the next bin, pull out an item and then….you ask the dreaded question…
This may come in handy, what if I need this…one day?
Suddenly your progress is halted, because you decide that most of the things could be used at some point in the future! You look at your donate box, you now instead have a bin of “things I will use…one day!”
Before you can be done decluttering that bin, or room, you now have a box of odds and ends that you need to re-sort or find a home for, or just leave it haphazardly in the donate box!
What a disaster!!
So, instead of stopping at “What if I need this one day?”, ask yourself these devil’s advocate questions:
When was the last time I ever used something like it?
Chances are, you paused on the item because you hadn’t seen it in a LONG time, or maybe forgot you even had it! So, if it is a type of item you haven’t used in a year or more, it’s probably not worth hanging on to. If it is a consumable type of item, then sure, hold on to it, put it out in the open, and use it up!
How much would it cost to replace? Or how easy is it to replace?
With thrift stores out there, it’s relatively easy to replace an item, even a cool vintage item that you are trying to decide it’s fate. This comes down to a bit of a cost analysis. Decide how much it’s costing you in stress, or space, or time (like cleaning it!). Then look up how much it would cost to buy new and to buy used. Now decide where the win is. Where the least amount of cost is. Who knows, maybe you won’t miss it at all and you will never need to replace it!
Is there a better version of it out there?
If this is an older or out of style type of item, you may not even want to use it later. Maybe it’s already out of date. Some things that are out of date become in style again, but still it’s something worth considering.
Do you have a reasonable spot to store it?
Are you swimming in extra storage space so that storing it doesn’t take away from the ease of storing something you use more frequently? If you don’t have the space, it may not be worth hanging on to. It will likely just be in the way!
Sometimes holding on to something for later, simply translates into “this thing is going to be in my way now until I actually use it…at some point!”
To ensure that your stuff doesn’t overwhelm you, it’s worth being critical of why you’re holding on to it…for using some day! It may be worth keeping, but it may not!
Hope you don’t get stalled on your decluttering project!
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