MORE vs less: Dealing With “I Might Need It Some Day”

Day 21 – It happened again this past week. I recently (like in this month) got rid of something, And I needed the exact thing this week. Luckily I found another item that was similar which was good enough.

How do you deal with the stronghold of “I might need it someday, so I can’t part with it today”?

This is a hard one for me. And many times, I’ve gotten rid of something to need it within the week.

Has that ever happened to you?

Hazel Thornton is a professional organizer and time management consultant. She also has a helpful blog. She helps her clients by having them answer 4 questions about their clutter.

1. What are the realistic chances that I will need this someday?  (If you don’t know, just take a guess. 20% is a fairly low probability. 80% is getting closer to certainty.)
2. What is the replacement cost of that item? (Consider the time involved, the financial cost, and the energy required. Do not use numbers, just use your gut.)
3. How much space would be recovered if you were to let it go? (If the item is tiny, the incentive to let it go is reduced. We want the biggest bang for our decluttering buck!)
4. What is the worst thing that might happen if I needed this someday and no longer had it?

I (usually) have a logical approach to life, but holding onto my stuff defies logic. Answering these questions help take the emotional attachment and illogical thinking out of the equation. These questions help me get back to logical thinking.

Your Turn . . . Do you hold onto clutter because you might need it someday? How do you get yourself to let it go?

Day 15 –  31 Minutes of Decluttering = Decluttered in the porch closet.

Related Resources . . . 

• Dealing with I-might-need-it-some-day thoughts by unclutterer.com. Ask the right question. Instead of asking yourself, “Will I need this some day?” consider the alternative question: “Is this stuff affecting the organized life I want?” If the answer — the honest answer — is yes, it’s time to let it go.
• Don’t Just Declutter, De-own. By Joshua Becker. Merely organizing our stuff will not help our clutter situation. Becker tells us why organizing versus decluttering is harmful.
• Check out this blog: Organized for Life: Less Clutter, More Life.

Go here for the landing page with all the posts for MORE vs less: 31 Days of Decluttering. #write31days  . . . I am joining 100’s of bloggers who are determined to write every day in October on one topic. To read more about #Write31Days, go here.

Join me in this experiment of MORE vs less. If you’d like, you can join our private Facebook group that is encouraging one another in this task.