Purchasing Extra Items to Make Your Life Simpler
To do or not to do, that is the question...
Photo by magicalstock.art
A final post this month on the relationship between our finances and our clutter!
Many people don’t think about it, but most people who struggle with clutter fall into this trap while walking the fine line between whether they should purchase items to make their lives easier, or make their lives easier by having less items.
This is especially common when it comes to ‘storage solutions’ or ‘organizational tools and systems’.
We think “If I just had a better functioning space, I’d be organized all the time!”
So, we buy an organizing system. A set of drawers or a closet hanger. A bookshelf or a drawer divider insert. Back-of-the-door hangers and hanging shelves. We buy bins and buckets and boxes and usually crafty stuff to decorate them with because we fancy ourselves DIYers and get all excited about beautifying our extremely cluttered, messy homes.
But then the funny part happens… our stuff doesn’t fit into our new, beautiful, fancy system! The shock! Have you ever bought what you thought would be the perfect solution for a space, and it almost immediately backfired?
I know I have. I used to do it all the time.
I loved the Marie Kondo method with all the tiny boxes, and went crazy buying and finding all sorts of different sized and shaped boxes for sorting my stuff in a beautiful, organized manner. Only… too much stuff simply doesn’t fit into tiny boxes! They’re adorable. They’re beautiful. And they aren’t at all effective until you declutter (admittedly, Ms. Kondo tells you to declutter first, too)!
There is nothing wrong with any of the organizational systems, for that matter. Not one. Not with the set of drawers that didn’t work or the bins you broke by overfilling them. They all work. Once you declutter.
The key is to declutter first.
I can’t tell you how many bins, boxes, bags, and other storage “solutions” I had to declutter, after I was done decluttering (cringe!). I thought there was nothing as wonderful as a nice big bin, or a decent sized box, once upon a time. I saved them all because I thought they would solve all my problems.
They became my donate-able donate boxes even though they were good, usable, and often expensive (relatively speaking).
Instead of buying all these, I should have, could have, and would like you to… declutter first, and then purchase a storage solution that fits both your home and your things, as well as their intended use, perfectly. At this point, you get to pick something you love. You can gradually update your things and your storage options in time, based on your actual needs.
Other scenarios…
Sometimes this can get really complicated though. If you have ADHD like me, these types of complications might grind you to a complete halt, and leave you paralyzed from taking any action at all:
Scenario 1: I use my phone as an alarm clock. Great, minimalist way to ‘kill two birds with one stone’. But then, I learn that looking at your phone first thing when you wake up is not good for mental health or productivity. It complicates my morning and allows other people’s needs to overtake my own before I’ve even had my first coffee. Do I buy a stand alone alarm clock and add an item to the home I’m decluttering? Do I try (and likely miserably fail) to exert my self-control and never, ever, ever, ever, EVER, look at anything but the alarm on my phone? Do I change the entire format of my life so I can wake up to my natural bodily rhythms and not need an alarm clock at all (I tend towards the extreme when I panic hahaha)?
Scenario 2: I usually smash garlic with the side of a big knife, then chop it into tiny pieces. One day I see that a thing called a garlic press exists, and I think how much easier it will make my life. It’s big and bulky, but I buy it, then promptly forget that I bought it and continue smashing the garlic cloves with my big knife. As I’m decluttering my utensils drawer the following month because it’s so full it keeps jamming, I see it and think “I need to use this!” and put it back - the first round of a never-ending cycle of wishful thinking.
Scenario 3: I have trouble maintaining my toy room. I have a couple sets of plastic drawers and a big open chest or “toy box”, and when all the toys are ‘put away’ the box is overflowing, and there are toys on top of the plastic drawer sets, as well as lined up along every wall of the room. The kids are always dumping everything and I think I need better storage. More organizers, or maybe just another big toy box so they each have one and can put their own toys away in a ‘sorted’ kind of way? Keep the toy room door closed at all times so I can’t see the mess? They love their toys so I couldn’t possibly declutter too many of them…
Let me tell you a secret: Less.
Whatever makes your life less stressful.
Whatever makes your cleaning time less.
Whatever makes it so the problem occurs less.
That’s usually the answer. Beyond that, you have to think for yourself.
I’ll help with the scenarios I used above:
In the case of the toys: I will say that kids actually use their imaginations more and get more creative, as well as being calmer and happier in general, and clean up after themselves with no problem at all, when they have less toys.
Re: the garlic press. If you don’t actually use something, it is not making your life easier. Let it go, and make it easier to open the utensil drawer. (Don’t stop using garlic instead, it’s delicious!)
For the alarm clock: Consider other things when making this decision - dig a layer deeper. What else is on your nightstand? Can you have less of something else so that you have room for an actual alarm clock? Are you a snoozer, and it would be best for whatever form the alarm takes to be away from the nightstand anyway so that you have to stand up and wake up enough not to hit that sweet nap button? If so, which one would be less likely to wake up the rest of the house if it were across your room or even out in the kitchen? Do you struggle to exert self-control first thing in the morning? If so, get that alarm clock so you don’t accidentally look at your phone!
The truth is, there isn’t one right answer, even though that’s a pain in the ass to admit to ourselves when we want someone to hand us the magic pill. What you have to do to figure it out for yourself is get really honest with yourself.
Is there an actual problem happening that you need to solve and think you’ve found the solution for (the alarm clock)? OR…
Are you getting caught up in shiny object syndrome and ‘solving’ a problem you didn’t have (the garlic press)? OR…
Do you have too much stuff to decide yet (the toys)?
Only a ‘yes’ to the first one warrants a purchase right now. If your answer to either of the other two is ‘yes’… then wait. Don’t buy it yet. If you’re not sure, also wait.
If you really need it, you can buy it later.
And yes, it’s worth waiting even if you might miss a sale. The right solutions are worth paying full price for, and the wrong solutions cost more than you’ll save - in the long run.
A pause is always worth it when buying, and fast decisions are usually the way to go when you’re decluttering your already owned ‘stuff’. Cross my heart.
x
Bri