For many of us, the more years that go by, the more things we accumulate. Old memorabilia from school or friends; clothes we barely or no longer use; unique collections we've started that are now defunct or other things we have an emotional connection with. While all of our reasons excuses to keep things may make sense to ourselves, they may be irrational to others around us – and they might be right. Here are 13 quotes you'll most likely hear coming from the mouth of a pack rat when watching them go through their beloved things:
1. "I might need this someday."
Mhm, okay.
2. "It's my collection."
3. "This is an investment and antique. It can be worth a lot more someday."
4. "There's too much value in them to let it go."
5. "I got this for such a good deal."
6. "I can save this as a gift or for my future family someday."
7. "These hold so many memories and sentimental value in them."
8. "I need to save this to show (old friend connected to item). They'll be surprised I still kept it after all these years."
9. "I can still use this when it comes back in style someday."
10. "I can save this as a prop."
11. "You can still get this fixed."
(But they never do.)
12. "You can never have too many of these."
Says the pack rat standing next to an overstuffed bag of plastic bags falling out of it.
13. "I can use this for (purpose that they never end up doing)."
Helpful tips to de-clutter and let go of things that you no longer need:
- New one in, old one out. If you bring in a new item of the same kind, an older one will have to go out. This will prevent an overload of the same thing when you only need one or a few.
- When checking the mail, go through each item you receive and on that same day, take a few minutes to throw away what you don't need to avoid mail clutter.
- OK... I'll give you a cheat method. You can – if you must – take a picture of the item so you can still have a "memory" of it without taking up extra physical space. You'd just be using more memory space, though.
It's OK to let go of old memories and make new ones! And it's even more OK to have cleared spaces with no items to fill it with. Extra space doesn't mean you need to buy more things to fill it up with. There will be many things that'll be hard to let go of, but I promise you, you'll feel so much better and emotionally lighter once you do!
