Why do we keep what we keep?
by Mindy Koch
Look at your stuff. Think about it. Think about what you are keeping in your home, your office, your attic, your closets, or your old files.
Why do you keep what you keep? I don’t think there is anything wrong with keeping it.. but understand WHY you keep it.
We all keep different things for different reasons. My husband.. he keeps the boxes of our purchases. The original TV box, the camera box, the cell phone box… he keeps the original boxes. I would not keep these things but he does. We move so often that he knows we are going to be packing these things up and moving them across the country every 18 months or so, so he keeps the boxes.
It is his way of “being prepared” for the inevitable move. Drives me nuts… but he is a grown man and he needs to keep the boxes… so we keep the boxes. No big deal. Especially since I understand why he feels the need to keep them.
So, why do you keep what you keep?
I have no idea what you keep but here are some thoughts on some of the personal things you might keep:
- Kids schoolwork or artwork
- Furniture from our childhood or our parents or our grandparents
- Clothes we don’t wear
- Clothes our kids don’t wear anymore
- Food purchases we probably won’t eat
- Outdated bills and old paperwork we filed
Do you keep any of these things?
Why do you keep them? Why wouldn’t you keep them? Do you keep “just enough” of them or “too much”?
Kids schoolwork/artwork
Obviously, I can see why we keep some of these. Every where, little junior and little precious disappear into bigger junior and bigger precious. Once gone, those little people are forever gone. Of course we keep the mementos of those wee ones.
Here I agree… keep some. Not all. Some. As an adult, I appreciate the few things I have saved from my elementary years and am glad I have them.
I think there is a valid reason to keep some of these. How much is up to you. For me, the dividing line between toss or keep is generally a gut feeling. I just KNOW whether it is worth keeping. I am pretty ruthless unless my gut says - there is NO way I could toss this.
But that is me. This isn’t a clutter temptation for me. Most kid schoolwork/artwork gets tossed.
If this is a clutter zone though for you… you may need to come up with a rule that will work for you. 2 items per month get saved. One a week. One a month. Whatever.
FURNITURE
Again, I can understand why we keep some of this old furniture. Heck, some of it is better quality than most of the stuff in stores these days. Old oak furniture? Heck yeah… better than particle board disposable furniture! Have you held on to too much? Are you holding onto it because you love it… or because you feel like you SHOULD?
I have some furniture my mother gave me. You couldn’t pay me for it. I genuinely love it. But the items that I have that I don’t love… I only keep it if it is a useful needed item that is used on a regular basis. They are in the “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” category for me. If I am not using it up… then it needs to be a “do without” item and it gets donated or tossed.
How about you… what are you holding onto?
CLOTHES
Are you wearing them? Do they fit? Do you like them? Are they flattering?
If not… no question… toss them. Get them out. Give them to Salvation Army, yard sale them, chuck them… whatever you need to do. Clothes are a “no brainer”. You are either wearing them or you aren’t. If you aren’t.. why not let someone less fortunate than you wear them.
Or are they such a no-brainer? Ask yourself… why am I keeping these? REALLY??
And while we are on the subject of clothes…
What about your KIDS CLOTHES?
You know.. the cute little outfits they wore when they were toddlers? Why do you keep those? How many do you really need to keep?
GROCERIES
Do you have food that you won’t ever eat? Cereal that never sounds appealing? Cans that just keep getting shuffled? Ingredients for recipes that you won’t make?
Why do you keep those? You know the food that is in your cupboard and you say.. man, there is nothing good in here.. I really need to go grocery shopping!! Well… before you do.. why not get rid of the “nothing good” food you do have first?
Why do you keep it?
BILLS
Here is my weakness.. once I file something… it stays filed for too long. I have papers that I need to get rid of. I like paper. I like documents. I like to keep them. They make me feel secure that I have a paper if I need it.
BUT… thank heavens I move all the time. That is when I do my paper purge because I sure as heck don’t want to move unnecessary paperwork across the country and find room for it in my next house. So I do purge my files at least once a year. Should I do better.. heck yeah.
Why do I like to keep old bills and old documents? Because they seem official and I like to keep official things. Silly, I know.
The important thing though isn’t decluttering just for the sake of decluttering. It is important that we understand.. WHY do we keep these things? And to go from there to decide AND what are we going to do about it?
Filed under: Organize Your Home, Organize Your Mind