So I’ve finished up the first week of the year of less so I thought I’d give a little bit of an update on how it’s going. I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet to help keep track of things so the big math is that I got rid of 44 item, 24 of which I donated and 20 of which I either gave away or trashed. My guestimate of the value of the stuff I donated is $290. But you know, I basically gave it away so who really knows.
In actual practice I ended up getting rid of stuff on 6 out of the 7 days, but on those 6 days I got rid of more than one thing every day. I talked about the ‘stuff every day’ thing last time and the truth is that finding time to sort through things and pick out something to get rid of every day is rougher than I thought it would be. The one day I didn’t get rid of something I spent all day hanging out with my family, which I think is a pretty good use of time, so I’m going to revise the “no matter what get rid of something every day” to “try really hard to get rid of something every day, and as long as it’s more than 7 things a week it counts” – It’s a little bit of a stretch I know, but I think it’s a realistic middle ground. I’m gonna give myself a 9/10 for the week.
In the not acquiring things arena, it’s more like a 5/10. While I didn’t actively guy buy anything, I did get some packages of things I bought in December that hadn’t been delivered yet. So the “look new stuff!” part of my brain was still getting it’s fix, which is what I’m trying to get away from. But everything has been delivered now, so next week should be more of a test, but I’m happy that I didn’t give in for anything. I haven’t even started thinking about what my one item for January would be either, so that’s a good sign.
I know this is kind of an academic update but I wanted to document it regardless. Because of all this I’ve been thinking a lot about inventory, both physical and digital and I think doing this is helping me organize things mentally a bit more. But it’s only been a week, so what do I know. More next week. Stay tuned.
*What is all this? Go read about day 1.
Related posts:
- The Year Of Less update #4 – A new exception
- Year Of Less update #5: 1 month down
- Less than a week
- In DC this week
- Meetups in Vancouver and Portland this week
So I've finished up the first week of the year of less so I thought I'd give a little bit of an update on how it's going. I've been keeping a spreadsheet to help keep track of things so the big math is that I got rid of 44 item, 24 of which I donated and 20 of which I either gave away or trashed. My guestimate of the value of the stuff I donated is $290. But you know, I basically gave it away so who really knows.
In actual practice I ended up getting rid of stuff on 6 out of the 7 days, but on those 6 days I got rid of more than one thing every day. I talked about the 'stuff every day' thing last time and the truth is that finding time to sort through things and pick out something to get rid of every day is rougher than I thought it would be. The one day I didn't get rid of something I spent all day hanging out with my family, which I think is a pretty good use of time, so I'm going to revise the "no matter what get rid of something every day" to "try really hard to get rid of something every day, and as long as it's more than 7 things a week it counts" – It's a little bit of a stretch I know, but I think it's a realistic middle ground. I'm gonna give myself a 9/10 for the week.
In the not acquiring things arena, it's more like a 5/10. While I didn't actively guy buy anything, I did get some packages of things I bought in December that hadn't been delivered yet. So the "look new stuff!" part of my brain was still getting it's fix, which is what I'm trying to get away from. But everything has been delivered now, so next week should be more of a test, but I'm happy that I didn't give in for anything. I haven't even started thinking about what my one item for January would be either, so that's a good sign.
I know this is kind of an academic update but I wanted to document it regardless. Because of all this I've been thinking a lot about inventory, both physical and digital and I think doing this is helping me organize things mentally a bit more. But it's only been a week, so what do I know. More next week. Stay tuned.
*What is all this? Go read about day 1.
Thanks for sharing this. Your person experiments during the Year of Less are quite interesting and the questions/struggles you face through this are pertinent to many people. One thing that slows me down any time I try to declutter is the desire to not just throw things into a landfill or just dump at the Goodwill. Instead I always try to list it for free on Craigslist or somehow get to someone who will still use it. This ends up being enough of a barrier that I never get around to following through so it just sits. Well the ideal way vs reality are always in conflict it seems. Best of luck to you this year.
Ed, totally know what you are talking about here. See this post I wrote about that very thing a few weeks ago:
http://blog.seanbonner.com/2011/11/26/just-walk-away/
Sometimes you have to just give up, admit defeat, and move on. Holding on to stuff because you *know* there’s a better use for it very rarely results in you cleaning house.