I am all about minimalism and try to live a bit of a minimalist lifestyle. I know I live as one person in a small-ish apartment, so there’s no point to me in having to get things that would involve groups. Like there was a time when I got lots of board games, card games, kitchen appliances like an 8 quart air-fryer and a large size slow cooker. Like who is all of this for? I’m only one person.
So I do pride myself in getting smaller appliances, getting rid of shit when I know I will not have guests ever over. And for the past few weeks, I’ve been condensing and getting rid of more things that I feel no longer apply to me anymore. I thrift so I have picked up numerous amounts of things that peaked my interest, gotten things because I was thinking of a friend and their interests, gotten things because people online said it was the best thing to get so I sought after it until I had it. Books, movies, games .etc the sort.
But it’s like, this shit has been sitting on my shelves and been moved around for years untouched, while I pretty much spend all of my time just doing general life things. Like work, errands and sitting infront of the computer.
And besides the thought of maybe having to move this year, I finally had twisted my own arm to finally get rid of these things as much as I could. Because I don’t want to cart these things around again, I did it before. In fact, three years ago before I moved into my apartment, besides clothes, 4 totes were filled with books. Just books. The same books that mostly sat around unread since I unboxed them all.
And I’d like to not do that again, so I donate. I love to give back as much as I can and as much as I like to spend. If I won’t give the things I’ve spent so much time and money for the time of day, fuck it, they should go to places and people where they could be enjoyed.
There’s also an article I had read recently, I’ll link it here. Because, cutting things out cold turkey never worked for me, because I keep crawling back into wanting that thing again overtime. Though just evaluating where I am, who I am, what the future entails and my ever-changing interests helped a lot more in getting rid of things.
And that’s my method. Yours?
Like others have stated, I go by how often I use an item. How often I’ve touched it over a few months, do I think about it, etc.
I also look for items that may have a dual purpose. For instance, do I need a meat shredder or will my hand mixer that I use for other tasks work for it? (It does) I also use this logic to prevent acquiring new items which is the other half of this equation. You don’t have to purge what you don’t acquire.
The last thing is being honest with myself. There are some hobbies I used to love doing, but have no desire now and will probably not have time to do anyways. So items related to those get sold/donated. It may seem financially wasteful, but it also provides a test for yourself on whether you actually will use the items. If you end up buying some of those things again, forgive yourself and keep them next time you think about it.