This is a guest post from Niki at Debt Free By Thirty. She blogs about living a frugal lifestyle and how she reached her goal of being credit card debt free before she turned 30.
Self-storage facilities and shops like The Container Store are multi billion dollar businesses and they are growing everyday. It makes sense. Americahas an obsession with stuff in general. It only stands to reason we would need somewhere to store it or someway to organize it or somehow contain it all. It, of course, being our prized possessions.
Why pay for more for these solutions? It only prolongs the problem. There is a simpler and much more cost effective solution. Get rid of it. This solution is free or can actually earn you some money.
I’m not talking about throwing out your family heirlooms. I am not a true minimalist. I am always striving for that balance, but I know there are some things, okay, a lot of things around my house I just don’t need. I know I am not the only one.
Our houses aren’t too small. We just have too much. It’s time to take back our home and our money from our possessions.
These are much more practical solutions:
Yard Sale. Why not make a couple bucks from your old unused items? If you don’t think you have enough for a yard sale you could use Craigslist or Ebay.
Ask a Friend. You might know someone who may be in need of whatever you’re trying to get rid of.
Donate. There are always people in need who could use your kindness.
Throw It Away. If all else fails just throw it away. It may not be environmentally friendly but sometimes peace of mind is worth it.
“It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.”
-Bertrand Russell
Comments
Trackbacks
-
[…] there, make sure you read the guest post fromNiki at Debt Free By Thirty, whoencourages us to StopStoring and Organizing and Just Get Rid of Your Stuff. If you read my lastpost with my 7 goals for the rest of this year, you know this is something […]
Not only do these containers encourage us to keep more stuff, but they’re expensive! I’ve seen magazine holders (that only hold a handful of magazines, so of course you need bunches of them) selling for $12 a piece. One magazine holder costs more than a year’s subscription! We definitely need to rethink how much stuff we’re holding on to, instead of just buying more containers for it all.
Excellent point. The cost is ridiculous and it just enables the problem.
I’m sort of an organizationaholic, when I have time. In the past I’ve been guilty of being a bin buyer. The Container Store is my mecca. But we’ve been on a decluttering kick lately, and I’ve noticed that more and more empty storage bins are ending up in our yard sale pile. It feels good, but it would have been nice if I hadn’t needed to buy them in the first place!
I used to be like this too. Especially when my kids were little and had waaayyy tooo many toys. Oh man, all the things I would do differently now.
Facebook is great for this when you are trying to give things away. Take pictures, upload them to a file in facebook and ask friends to claim wha tthey want.
That is a really fantastic idea. Super easy too.
I tend to spend a lot of time organizing, putting stuff away, finding places to store things. Thanks for the push to just GET RID of it! 🙂
I like pushing people. 🙂
I kind of needed this too. I have a few things I have been holding on to that I really need to just get rid of.
Consignment Shops can be your best friend! Or flea markets. You mark what’s yours and when it sells, you collect the money. That way, it’s not cluttering up *your* house still. It’s a balance we all seem to struggle with.
I am just now figuring out how much I love consignment shops. The key is not to buy more stuff though. I have been doing pretty well.
I’m in total agreement here. I can’t stand things being cluttered or overtaking my house. Getting rid of excess stuff is great for making extra cash, as well as saving time cleaning/organizing it all.
It’s also a kind of lazier way of keeping your place clean. The less stuff you have, the less it will be all strewn about!