Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids and I want to get back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my out of office has a forever setter.
An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IGprivatewealth.com. It's a minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily Episode 1277.
The four reasons you're holding on to possessions that don't matter. By Katy Ping of WhatMattersBlog.com and I'm just a molecular personal narrator and the guy that reads to you every single day of the year from some of the best blogs in the world, all for free and with permission from the authors. For now, let's get right to it as we optimize your life. The four reasons you're holding on to possessions that don't matter.
By Katy Ping of WhatMattersBlog.com. Minimalism isn't living within a sterile environment. Minimalism isn't a closet with five shirts, two pairs of jeans, and one pair of boots. Minimalism isn't only buying used.
But minimalism is a practice of evaluating what you have, discovering what has value and purpose, and removing the things that don't. Minimalism is a mindset to keep you focused on your time and space and experiences that matter far more than any item ever could. Minimalism is the definition you give to it as it relates to owning less and living more. To some, this means selling their homes and traveling the world in an RV.
And to others, it means donating the boxes you've been storing for years and refraining from bringing in more things that don't have a function in your daily life. To me, minimalism means cutting out what isn't necessary and reducing the number of items I own. This includes limiting purchases to quality items that I genuinely need thinking critically about whether something that is commonplace is actually something that I need or want. And sometimes the answer is yes, but a lot of times it's no.
I decided we didn't need extravagant seasonal decorations, or several pairs of bed sheets that would usually sit on a shelf when not being used, or a whole block of knives when two to three sizes will do. Earlier this year, I donated a carload, like SUV size, of clothing that I'd saved for years. The dresses were shorter than I would wear now, but I'd spent good money on them, so I had trouble letting them go, until I did, and I've never thought of them again. We'd become attached to our possessions for one or more reasons.
Here are a few reasons you might be met with resistance. Number one, they're still in good shape. Yes, it's in good condition, but that doesn't mean you will use it, especially if you haven't in over a year. Don't let the guilt of a purchase follow you around.
You'll only continue to pile on more guilt as you neglect to use it. You don't need to make space for it anymore. Let it go. Number two, you had such great memories associated with it.
I am not devoid of sentimental feelings. In fact, I'm extremely sentimental. Who else saves crosages from high school dances and movie ticket stubs from elementary school? P.S.
the movie dick about Watergate was kind of okay, but I don't need to be reminded by a 20 year old square of cardstock. Save the important stuff if you want. Some of it. Put it in a special box along with a few other treasured mementos.
You can't save them all. Write about them, take a picture of them, but ultimately decide which ones hold value, and let go of the rest. Number three, you or someone might need it someday. Chances are you won't, and they won't.
What is the value you place on it? Is it more valuable than your stress, time, and living space? If it were to be ruined in a flood or a disaster, would you be distraught, or would you buy a new one? There are treasures worth passing down or saving for future generation, and there's the whole, they don't make them like this nowadays argument.
But most things you are saving for this reason are being saved out of the fall security it brings you. I'm not suggesting you cycle through things for the sake of buying new. What I'm suggesting is that you make a decision on whether you will actually ever need all of your favorite VHS tapes into the future. I love split infinity and Barbie workout, but I can't think of time when these will be in my imaginary VCR.
Number four, having two or multiple of an item means you always have a backup. When we got married, we accumulated 12 plus wooden spoons. Some were different sizes, and some had slots, and others were square at the top, but overall just a lot of wooden spoons. I struggled when Eric suggested we had too many.
They'd been gifts, or had been my grandmas, and I couldn't get rid of any. We never used 12 spoons at one time, but surely it might happen. It didn't. We now have 8 wooden spoons.
Still a lot. But we do use one to two when preparing nearly every meal, and there are things I choose to have a moderate amount of, like one or two, more none. We keep things because we think we need them, society tells us we need them, or we feel such immense guilt that we better just keep it forever to appease our guilty conscience. Though I can't let go of clothing and quote-unquote keepsakes, heavy on the quotes here, gadgets, and trendy purchases, I draw the line at our new kids on the blog lunchbox.
That thing was a collector's item, and my mom knows it, and will never let her forget it. But honestly, her giving away will always be more memorable than ever keeping it to begin with. And that's what matters more. You just listened to the post titled, The Four Reasons You're Holding on a Possessions That Don't Matter by Katie Ping of More of What Matters Blog.com.
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